Thanks for the suggestions!  I appreciate it; usually people just look at my junk and say "wow, that's junk."  The clouds really do look better with more contrast, don't they?  And the sun's reflection doesn't look so awkward.  I totally agree with you on the dither-shadows, but the black is too dark and I can't find a way to make it look good.  He shouldn't even have a shadow anyway; the whole top of the cliff should be a shadow, since the sun is below it.

Not that bad for someone who can't pixel! ;)

You might have made the shadows solid black, dithering doesn't really work. Ronin's shadow should angle a bit more to the left and diverge.

The clouds might use the dark red too.

And you've got the sun's reflection upside down: it should spread down, not narrow down.