this so so beautiful! all those little swirls, circles, squares and crosses... the texture is mesmerizing 8O 
(also the strangest flag of denmark i've ever seen) 

Hehe, got lucky there. :)

Thanks! And cheers for voting.

But you beat him at monthly top.
Congrats with 2 places btw.

Haha, thanks a ton, mate! That means a lot.

It's just impossible to beat Pikachu.

As I said, for me it's the 1st :) 

Thanks a lot, buddy!

Glad to see you back on the Joint again. :)

Another great pixel, lovely use of the available colours!

Hehe, too kind! Thank you very much, showtime! ;)

Surely you are some sort of pixel wizard! Amazing. :)

Nur fertige Produkte gelangen an die Öffentlichkeit.

Das klingt aufregend! Wo melde ich mich für's pre-alpha-release an??

Awesome, man! Thanks a lot, I really appreciate that. :)

I put my vote to your pic. Great texturing and it looks like a complete poster, if write some text or title. Just think, it's most awesome thing for this challenge.

@ bobo

Hehe, Danke sehr!

Der Bart ist im aufgrund der Sonne abgefallen... oder ich war einfach nur zu faul. :P

Danke nochmals!

Ja, die Technik die ich hier anwende funktioniert ganz gut mit Farbpaletten die sehr eltsame Farbkombinationen bieten. Ich versuche immer ein wenig ins klassische Malen zu gehen und lege erstmal Mitteltöne und Schatten fest. Der Rest ist dann ein ziemliches Rumgefuchse..... Highlights, ein paar Übergänge und natürlich Antialiasing.

Ich arbeite gerade an einem kleinen Pixel-Tutorial, welches das Thema "Augen" behandeln wird. Vielleicht kann ich so ein paar Pixel-Neulingen helfen. :)

@ Muffin

Thanks a bunch, buddy.

Sounds like a good idea! Gotta find a nice topic for this though. :)

@ Emperor

So many great entries this week! Competition is keen, as always.

But I understand the compliment! Thank you very much. :)

Mal wieder großartitge Augen und Texturen!

Ich vermisse allerding den Zwergen-typischen Bart

Die Farbpalette finde ich persönlich ziemlich häßlich und damit auch sehr schwierig, umso beindruckender ist es dann aber zu sehen was manche (so wie du hier) daraus machen können. Dickes Lob!

it's really neat to see this style develop into something that consistently looks cool. 

This was probably the wrong challenge for it, but I'd love to see you try a piece with lots of different textures and see how that works out, with all the different shading styles you do :D 

I smell first place....

@ dumbo

Hehe, thanks a lot, buddy. Great to hear that.

@ nedink

Thank you very much, man! Your critique is always appreciated.

@ PBDP

Agreed. It has some gorilla features.

@ Theoden

Thanks a lot, buddy. ;)

@ rklesmit

Hehe, thanks.

@ Mr.Fahrenheit

Thanks, chap!

@ Cynips

Wow, thank you very much! I really appreciate your comment. :)

@ Aureliano

Thanks a lot. :)

@ Finlal

Thanks, just trying to be polite.

I totally am diggin' this piece, Mandrill! Nice work here.

Winner.. Winner... Chicken Dinner!

Incredible, the highlights and shadows are perfect. My hat is off to you again.

Spooky gorilla man.

This is an awesome work again Mandrill!

The eyes are incredible.

Looks awesome!

You're selling me dreams.

Damn. You're such a good guy (not a sarcasm).
Now I blame myself for not doing like this.

It's so beautiful and fluid!! A marvel!!

@ Vinsanity

Haha, thanks a ton, buddy. :)

@ Swordless

Don't make yourself smaller than you are. It doesn't look bad!

Keep in mind that this is your first upload and the palette is ridiculously hard to work with. :)

Thanks again!

@ Finlal

I feel like everybody who takes the time to judge my art deserves a personal message. Everything else would be impolite in my humble opinion.

Well, now we know who is going to win this weeks challenge :P looks AWESOME

Thanks!
I wonder, do you post so many comments because you are a good person and want to thank everyone in particular or because you are obsessed with level system and want more points.

trust me, its better than anything I could do, just uploaded my response and it looks like trash compared to this, really great work and I love everything about this piece :D

@ Swordless

I don't think so, there are already some really awesome entries and I bet there will be even more.

But thank you anyway! Glad you like it. :)

@ Naji

Thanks! You are right, it does look like a lion.

@ Finlal

Thank you very much! I like your new avatar btw. :)

@ fawful

Haha

@ scottiand

Hehe, thanks a bunch! :)

@ failureboy

I haven't heard of them before, but their work is brilliant! Quite a compiment, thanks!

I work on one single PSD file and hit ctrl + s every 10 minutes. Hence, I haven't got a wip for this one unfortunately, but I'm gonna do that for the next piece! :)

@ xegnma

Thanks a lot!

Yep, the lack of distinctive features leaves room for interpretation. A manticore? That's cool. :)

@ Manupix

That means a lot coming form a master pixel artist like you, Manupix.

Thank you very, very much.

@ CELS

Haha, thank you for that awesome comment! I really appreciate it.

I owe this interest in fantasy/sci-fi creatures to Paul Bonner. Every time I look at his work, it inspires me to pixel something like that. I particulary love the way he draws anatomy and renders various surfaces. I learned a lot from that!

Thanks again! I'm more than happy, that my work improves and becomes more and more distinctive. I like the idea of having a own style that is easily recognizable. Yeah, eyes are just too much fun to do! Simple to pixel, but yet so crucial to character's essence.

You and Manupix are absolutely right, a low colour count is sometimes the best way to have a try at new pixel techniques.

I think you've won this, amazing entry :D!

Superbe

thought it was a lion tho

This is awersome in every aspect of it.

oh boy jimminy cricket

This is awesome! Very good use of a limited pallette!

This has a very Brian Froud/Dark Crystal feel.  I'd be interesting in seeing an animated WIP. 

Stunning...I don't see a dwarf though...this creature's features (see what I did there) are more leonine...I'm thinking Manticore

Pixel perfect

Wow! I'm really impressed with what you've accomplished with this tricky palette. I love the dithering and the way you create texture. And you definitely have a knack for pixelling scary creatures, I really hope you keep going with that! Those eyes are terrifying, even though the palette itself is hardly very scary :)

Truth to be told, I knew this was yours the second I saw the preview. Not a lot of diagonal lines in this one, just here and there. But the way you apply texture to the skin and the way you draw faces is unmistakable. And the way you pixel eyes is basically a trademark at this point! 

I think this just confirms what Manupix recently said in the chatterbox. These restrictive challenges are great, and from time to time, they can lead to some really original and creative work. Great job. Accept all my green squares :)