Right now I'm posting simple objects I drew myself.



starting with this one.

critique me please. Its a floppy disk in case you're wondering.

Edited by Artwark - 13 July 2012 at 9:40pm

heres some critiques on your floppy disc.  Ill compare it with a floppy disc symbol from another program. 

Because the small size of yours is reducing readability, Ive also included yours at 2x, but notice that despite being bigger now it is still less readable.
First thing to keep in mind is that at very small sizes, each individual pixel becomes more important.  So look how you rounded the corners off.  Even though you only removed one pixel from each corner look how it now looks kind of bubbly, and overly rounded.
Next the blue youve used is too similar to the black, and the two colors become indesernable from each other at this small size.
So take a look at that other floppy disc sprite and see if you can see how they made it look more readable at a small size.

Some things to consider in regards to readability at small sizes:
1. Contrast - higher contrast will make the different parts stand out from each other.
2. Saturation - high saturation colors can be a little garish especially at small sizes, especially that max saturation blue you use on the disc and guy's pants.
3. Black outlines - or any outlines for that matter, can take up valuable space on small sprites.  you might try blocking things in as SHAPES of color rather than as LINES which surround color.  Not to say outlines are bad, but just dont always work on small things.  Also begginers tend to work by starting with outlines and simply filling them in, but this is only one way of working.  Another is to skip outlines and block things in as shapes.  Not that one to work is better, but try both ways and see what works for you.

and since Ive already written this much, heres a little bit on your other sprite.  Ill be looking at pixel tech on the arm

yours is left, the other 2 are ideas.
First thing I notice is that on that arm there are a bunch of unnoticable colors, you dont need these here, you may have put them in accedentily if you used a brush with auto AA.
But next there are also some unnoticable colors that you put in purpusfully.  You have a light band on the bottom and a dark band on top, I assume to show lighting.  I dont have time to go into why this doesnt work as lighting, basically it doesnt describe the form.  In any case there is so little contrast that it cant be seen at 1x anyways.  If the sprite is intended to be seen at 1x and something is unnoticable at 1x that means it doesnt need to be there at all.
Next your lines look messy and uncontrolled.  So I did 2 edits, one is a stylized edit using only 90 and 45 degree angles.  The next just shows the typically way to make smooth lines in pixels and isnt meant to address arm anatomy.

I really like the floppy disk.

Your human sprite still could use some work. You should get rid of those bulges on each side of his legs.

Yeah, much better. ^^