After that giant citation I wrote on your fist pixel art, there's not a lot I have to say about this. I do have to say that you are immediately better at pixeling fire than I ever have been, which is a pretty promising sign to me. Here are some notes, though:
If you want the gradients on your art to be as smooth as possible, you want to make sure you don't put any of the hues you've made to waste. I spy at least one yellow-orange on the tip of the wick that could really even out the dithering on the flame, and at least one dark red that could smoothen the transition from the wick to the bed (or whatever that's called). Try not to think about your art in sections, color-wise. Reusing colors from other parts of the same piece can bridge contrasting parts and balance the artwork.
The edges of the candle are dithered with a brown that really serves no other major purpose. I think that you could achieve a better effect by just choosing a brown that contrasts a bit less with the main red, and forgoing the dithering entirely. If that brown happens to be the same brown connecting the wick to the bed, you can easily lighten that brown without impacting your piece much at all.
And just one final thing about making gifs; framerate will probably change based on what you want to make, but for smoothest results, set the frame time to .02 seconds (20 milliseconds), or 50 frames per second. If you don't want to draw so many frames, a frame time of .04 reduces it to 25 frames per second, and .05 reduces it to 20. Honestly, I usually make the frames first, then find a proper speed.
This is still good stuff, though. Working from photos shows you're not afraid to use references, and to me that means one fewer young artists who need that fear exorcised. I can't wait to see what you make as you study the work of other, more experienced artists like Snake, Jinn, Manupix, or any number of other big names on this site.
There is so much great stuff you have laid out here. Again, I cannot thank you enough, you're too much!
Thank you for recommending I study the greats! I really really will, and I am excited to do so. However, some things are really over my head at the moment. I'm having a hard time understanding color theory, dithering techniques, anti-aliasing and some other pretty major things that are integral to the medium.
I am writing all of this down so that I can use it when the time comes. But especially reguarding your help with smoother animation and frame timing, I have no clue what any of it means, haha! I love your work and the compliments you have given me. (I even attached some to my vision board as inspiration!) So please feel inclined to continue giving high level critique because I can feel I can handle it.
Today's workout will be tommorow's warmup!!! I will concur these obstacles!
Thanks again! With love.