So cool that you are attempting to elevate your pixelling so quickly. Keep doing that.
In this piece the contrast is rather low and in small sprites like these the use of dithering is not the best design option. Dithering in small things when zoomed just tend to look like a pixel pudding. Cell-shading is a better choice.
Make sure you review cure's pixelart thread in the forum, k.
Awesome, thanks for the advice. I think you are quickly becoming my pixel sensei!