 |
| ||||||||||||
Another update. I hope I did not forget anything you said, if I did, please be so kind to hint them to me. Eliminated three colors.
Thank you for your support to improve this picture and to tame IrfanView.
It's better, but still not enough. Not enough contrast - darkest color can't be used to define shapes to make a distinctive outline, so place where one leg overlaps other is very hard to read.
Issues from previous comment plus some more:
- Palms are too tiny.
- His left arm has no elbow.
- Head is too big.
- Back of the head is flat.
- There is enough place for a mouth, so draw it.
- Check image->decrease colour depth->[]Use Floyd-steinberg dithering (UNCHECK) to get rid of artifacts when saving GIF.
- You can eliminate a couple of colours more.
Eh, I didn't want to bail out... o_O
Made an update. Hope you like it. :)
I think that with such small sprite you could not bail out with 'avoid in the future' sentiments but just update it now.
First: Thank you! 
You're right, the arms seem short, somehow. I didn't see it before you said it.
I saw it as a challenge to use a skin-shade for cloth and try to make it seem like cloth, not like muscles or so (his shoulders shrinked twice or so and his waistcoat had to hang more straight down... but now, that I achieved this aim, I can avoid it in future with good conscience. 
Limited palette is something I will try the next piece I'll do; something that was also recommended by iLKke in his feature. I used a restricted palette on a piece and it developed much faster (and was more fun). Weird that I didn't came on this idea by myself...
IrfanView: Second attempt to find a working installation file was successful. Thank you for hinting me on it!
And, oh, by the way: It is very adorable that you not only use retro palettes, but that your gals (as on "To the Stars (plus mockup)") are in an 80's anime style. Impressing.
It is the right way you're on. Some critiques still:
- Klause's sprites you refed have bent arms, on yours they are straight, so they should extend towards upper half of the leg, palms should be under the crotch line.
- Using the same color on costume as on the skin makes costume look like naked skin, not cloth.
You can use existing limited palettes (like C64, EGA, CGA, ZX spectrum) or pick colors from limited (like 2-8 colors) palettes you like. It is always rewarding as you don't spend time thinking which color to pick, but how to draw the pic using given ones.
I use IrfanView for transparency and for saving to GIF (just Decrease colour depth with UNCHECKED dithering to have colors without artifacts).
I'll share my quick edit which I made before writing previous comment. It is by no means a primer, as I am not a great spriter yet, just a variant. You can judge what is better and what is worse than your variant:
http://www.ljplus.ru/img4/p/i/pinwizz/lytron_pastelle_boi_edit.gif