Ai, it feels like so long since I've pixelled anything... anyway, I tried to break out of my slump today with the beginnings of a darker take on the Queen of Hearts from a deck of cards   That unintelligible blog next to her face?  That's going to be a heart she's holding... and yes, she's supposed to look creepily insane

I know it's rather sketchy and perhaps too early to crit anything, but I thought I'd throw this out there now in case anyone had any suggestions.  Much appreciated!

Because it may make sense, although it may not be your style/sensibility.
Queens of Hearts by definition are slightly 'used' therefore I recommend either big hips or saggy/banana boobs.

That's really good, though I would really love to see some coloring going on

Not older, used.

Oh the eyeball is awesome.
Is your pixel BG in dolling? Are you worshiped in the doller universe?

Yet another reason why you are sooooo cool :D

I was really wanting you to enter the car challenge from last week and said so in the thread. Someday I'd love to see you try some 'boy-centric' pixel. i.e. car, truck, train, spaceship, etc. Your take on something like this with your unique touch is sure to be original, unique and most likely surprising to the boyz.

EnsilZah: thank you, that is indeed the case  I need to fix the shape the hair; it's been a bit tricky because I want the eye to be clearly visible, but it's so huge it's blocking the hair and is creating even more a plastered look than usual.
Jal: you're very kind... those kinds of things are not my strength (actually, I don't think I've ever drawn any of those things ), but maybe that's all the more reason I should try some time...

Thanks, and I will play around with the eyelashes .  I don't mind the unnatural look because she's supposed to be wearing too much makeup, but I agree the bottom lashes could have a nicer curve to them.

Here's an update, it's starting to take shape :

On-topic: I tried adding a hair strand before, but I worried that it would take away the impact of the eye... however, it's worth trying out again, as the shape of the hair is giving me trouble .  As for the dress, I'm going for the concept of a crone wearing a inappropriately girlish clothing--so lots of frills and things--but to show the decay the lace will be yellowing, the edges ripped, and things like that (think Miss Havisham from Great Expectations).  The end result shouldn't be too pretty

Off-topic: From Italy, hm?   Not sure how that came about, though maybe it's because of my real name?
I think you can play the game on a Mac if you download a version of AGS, but I'm not sure how that works... in any case, don't worry, with that screenshot, you've seen half the game

I apologize for the triple-post, but since I'm mostly done the body (though there's still a little more detail to be added, especially to the heart area), I would like any crit people have so I can tweak things while I work on the hair, which will likely take me a long while.  The crown and border are unfinished as well.  Thank you

Must say it's an awesome piece...

The bright white pixels on the skirting kinda throw me...specifically the ones on our right near the red skirt edge...But aside from that everything looks really tight... Can't wait to see the finished product...

Thanks guys!  I see what you mean about the lace, I will try to sort that out   It's a bit tricky because I want the lace to look "yellowed" but not naturally yellow, if you know what I mean, but I guess it's still too blue and just looks weird .
I rather liked the black corset too, but it seemed not girlish enough and I thought it would be a little jarring to have a large black area in the middle of the picture.
Agreed on the heart

I'll be upfront with you Jal: I'm not going to change the bodice back to the black one   I liked the black one as well, but I think this one works well with the fashion of the dress... the stripes make it look more French--or something--I don't know
However, I do like the greying hair roots idea   The difficulty is that already the hair is difficult to read against the skin... if I was going purely on aesthetics, I would probably give her darker hair, but I wanted her blond hair to look like a bad dye job (hence the rather dingy yellow I'm using). 
I'll most likely be adding an additional yellow like you suggest for the hair and lace.  I've got 19 colours right now, which isn't too much I don't think

Aw, I didn't mean to make it sound like I took it that way

What's going on with the red dot on her cheek?

I also find the face to be quite a bit subdued...it's just a bit weird, since I had to search for the nose. The other parts are looking great.

The lace looks perfect now...And I really like the direction you're going with the hair...

The lace is perfect now.The hair color choice is spot-on. Now that your colors have shifted the heart is not wrong and I see what you see with the veins still attached, as in ripped off. However, they being this thick, this long may lead to comments about the blood dripping. That made no sense, did it :(

Should the pupil not be 1px to the right and 1px down so that her stare is focused on the heart?

Question: Why is she so clean of blood? Was the heart handed to her very delicately?

Yes, it could be taken that way.

Mind you I understand what they are and its great. I'm just thining about them thar useless comments you might get once its on the gallery from the 'Skulls' of PJ.

For those interested, I've finished this and it has been submitted
Thanks for the help, all!  Here is a WIP animation of what seems like a long time but was actually only two weeks, and I couldn't work on it for 5 of those days so that's pretty fast for me... I'll stop babbling now