hey guys, im brand new to pixeljoint. you guys make some good pixel stuff here!
anyway, heres my little monster dude. 6 colors including transparency (ignore the other colors on there.. the palette used is the one on the far left + white). hes supposed to be a meatsack looking thing, sorta like pacman with a biiig smile and teeth. i have a few problems, though. i want him to give off a more "kid-monster" ish, rambunctious but on the good side vibe, but he doesnt seem to be doing that for me. also the lighting + shadow seems to be a bit of the problem. could anyone help me out?

your edit looks good, but a bit too asian like for my tastes. also i dont want to add any more colors... i followed your advice though:

i shortened up the shadow and fixed up the outlines and made it look a bit more like yours.. also fixed the eyes up a bit. then i tried making one with its eyes closed as you can see... i feel like it could definitely work its just that my closed eyes dont really look that great haha. any ideas?

just a pixel. though yeah you are right.. the eyebrows should be up a tiny bit...