My Brute.

After my Bane Spider last time, I decided to go bigger.
I am never going this big again. The cartilage on the shoulder could use some tweaking, but quite frankly, I don't care. [rubs pained wrists]

The sprite on the right is provided for size comparison, and is Kyo Kusanagi from “King of Fighters”. Kyo is copyright SNK, and I claim no ownership of him.
I wouldn’t want to claim ownership of someone so boring, anyway.

I have no idea how you did this, but he looks cool I love that animation-ish style.

I think the grin makes it. The other guy looks like he's ready to get the heck out of Dodge, which makes it even better.

Okay that's just fun.

No texture work, a weird pelvic region and zero light source... your brute is more boring than Kyo.
Character and personality aside, Kyo's pixel avatar has depth, has a stance and attitude in the pose.

Learn from Kyo instead of slating him.

Light source is the upper-right, actually. Note how all the darker shades linger more heavily to the left and the bottom than the right.
What's up with the pelvis, though? I thought a bigger amount of darker shades on the left would make it seem more rounded and cup-like.
No texture is noted. I was trying to go for a smooth and sleek body, but I'll need to research what makes them look like that.

Also, character and personality is what I was talking about. Art-wise, Kyo is brilliant--SNK has some of the finest artists out there, cramming in only 16 colors and still providing a multitude of textures and colored clothing on an (until recently) outdated system. I can only hope to dream to match their status ten years from now. I'm not slating the pixel-work, yo.
Character-wise? GRRRRRR I MUST LIVE UP TO MY FAMILY LEGACY.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suichiro Fixed for you.

Design-wise? ALL-BLACK JEANS AND JACKET WITH WHITE SHIRT YEEEEAAAAAHHHHH.

Plenty of color seperation, there's numerous different shades and types of blue, instead of just one type. And I'd assume the hair is the strandy thing on top of his head, where hair traditionally exists.
If you'd like to send me money for art design school, I'd be thrilled. It'd definitely help me out in a lot of ways. I accept cash or checks, and I'll be sure to tell everyone your tact is only matched by your generosity.

But either way. I'd like this to be critique on the cheap sprite art, please, rather than a comparison of whose costumes won't get who ***** in prison by the ShamWow guy while Rick Astley plays in the background. What looks mis-shaded, what looks over-shaded, what looks out of proportion, what angle is off, etc, that's what I would like at the moment. I have a long, long way to go as a spriter, guidance would be nice.
If you'd like to PM me design suggestions for a fish demon, I'm all ears--I don't have anything for his last costume slots.

Try breaking the sprite down both in color count and in size. Pixel Work is not intended to be "large scale"; keep to that regiment. 8-Bit, 16-Bit and 24-Bit were the original basis as things progressed. Multiple items of varying types can enlarge your color count, but when we're talking one character alone, try and stick to 24 and under. Kyo has four in his pants, three in his coat, and three separated between his feet, belt, and hair, plus the possibility that one of those colors was extended to a facial shadow (I'ven't the desire to break open anything to grab the color codes for comparison).

You personally may not feel a large sense of design accomplishment in a simple jacket, but when you're working to confine a character into as few elements as possible, a jacket becomes a big thing. I've an old collection of animated sprites in the hundreds, and the continual design aspect in each is simplicity. How many elements can you bring together in a small, 24 color environment without over cluttering your piece.

Light sources and attitude are developed in that same confining atmosphere. Hard edges created by definitive differences between the dark, the flat, and the highlight in an area give the direction. Four black pixels, one white, and three tan define Kyo's eye and give it part of the character's attitude with a notion to a scowl along with the stance. Your brute has probably over 20 per eye of one color. You generally only want three sources of color per area, sometimes four for clarity. The flat color, the highlight, and the shadow. Some cases for brighter light sources you may put a secondary highlight (like straight white).

That makes sense. Kyo's sprite looks just as good at 2x magnification than 1x magnification.
It'd also be significantly less stressful.