These 2 sprites are a good start, but there are some not-so-small issues ;)
I generally like thick outlines, but I'm afraid they also help you hide linework problems (jaggies).
The palette is made of rather boring, separate ramps (6!): you need to integrate it and recycle clors. There are also more colors than it looks like (and more than needed), possibly from gif issues.
Skectchy / cartoony is good, but the feet are too sketchy. They actually have a lot of importance in sprites (and more so for these because of size): they need a little more readability so the viewer can understand the pose dynamics better.
Dithering sprites is generally not recommeneded because of size and readability. These sprites could afford it as they're large, but they don't need it! This style calls for simple cell shading. If you really want detail, try texturing instead (as in the red cloth). Be warned that dithering and texturing are advanced: better none than bad! Plain uncontrolled checkerboard areas such as in the hat create harsh, unwanted planes and only achieve confusion.
Last but not least, animating humans can't look good if you don't move organically all body parts (even feet!). Meaning, each frame has to be drawn from scratch. Here, the legs and hair do change in a fluid way, but the main part of torso/head/arms/sword/hat only moves as a block. Also the moving dithering is physically meaningless and an eyesore.
It looks fine but there are some small issues: you can use more aliasing in the border lines, specially in the sword. And you could fix the animated shadows in the hat.
Wow Manupix.
Thank you very much for so many tips. Very useful.
My next animation will be better! Swear it!