Hello

I am creating human avatars for an 2D pixel art MMO I'm making and I'm having some difficulty getting the shading and dithering down. I have read the big tutorial on the site here but I'm still a little lost.

This is the human male I'm working on:
Just FYI, a lot of this is unfinished purposely, because I'd rather be sure I'm doing this correctly than to do it all wrong and have to redo it all later.


I am certain that the arms are pillow shaded (even though part of it looks good to me) and there are parts of the body that seem not well shaded. To my eye it looks off but I am unsure of how to remedy it. Yes, this is the actual avatar size, so you're looking at 1:1 here.

Below are the parts I think I have shaded well (size blown up to show detail). Please share any pointers on how to make this better.


And the parts I think are not good, and I'm not sure how to fix them


When creating avatars, is it better to have the body the exact same on both sides? (ie draw one half and flip to finish the other half) or to have a light source on one side so it's more dynamic? In the example above, the avatar body is mirrored, but the underwear is dynamic.

These avatars in their finished stages will be fully movable with ability to walk around and gesture.

Any pointers on what to improve and how to do so would be greatly appreciated. I also have a female avatar that needs a lot of work but it's a lot worse than this one so I can't show it yet.

If anyone wants to help me design and create avatars for this game I'm making please get in touch with me! my email is michelle.mousel@gmail.com

If this is in the wrong section of the forum feel free to move it.


Thank you!
Michelle