I feel like I've gotten worse after I took a little break so I decided to go back to making basic items but I still can't get those down it seems. I'm sorta stuck with this so I'd really like some advice.

I really wanna practice pixel art more but usually when I try to I just open photoshop and don't really know what to do. I just sorta stare at it. I sometimes think of something I wanna draw like maybe a head but no matter what I do it just doesn't feel right and I can't get a feel of what I want at all. There's just very rare occasions where things just work out and I know how to draw something. Thing is I can draw fine with a reference but even then I don't tend to do a very good job of it and I usually look at other pixel art examples to get an idea of what I should do (I don't like making things super realistic. I'd rather they have a style to them like chibi). I know I'll get a lot of "just practice" but like I said, I just find it hard to do anything when I try to practice so if I could get advice on what to do besides that it'd be great.

Yes thank you that post was very helpful!! One thing I don't understand though is how I should go about picking colors when I start something new without a reference I'm having issues with that when I try to start something new because I'm not sure if i should decide on all the colors I want in the image beforehand or not;;

Aaah yeah your edit looks better. I'll try and look up how to better use proportions and shape of a body but one thing I'm having a lot of trouble with is picking and using colors. I know it'll look better if i read up on how to use proportions to my advantage but until I read up on that and redraw it I'd like to know how to pick and use the best colors so I've been working on the head I drew.



I've got several problems with what I've done for one it doesn't look right and while picking the colors I pretty much purposely went for something similar to what you've done because I'm not too sure how the whole thought process behind picking colors works.

Things like contrast and making sure I don't use too many or too little saturated colors I sorta understand but with things that are hue related I sorta understand a bit less. Like for instance I'm not sure if you made your palette because you knew you'd need purple and red so you worked it out to include them or if there's some other thought process that helps you choose colors that you need for your image and would look nice together.

As for using the colors with a limited palette I find it sorta harder to know where to use them. You used your purple as an outline + for the things that actually are purple and it looked good but normally I wouldn't think to use the purple as an outline but I thiiink you did because it was the darkest shade?

basically I'm having trouble understanding colors and I have read up on it I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around it so if anyone could help me understand it or give me advice on coloring the head in general so I can sorta get used to it I'd really appreciate it.

Aaah that's great thank you for the help! I still feel like something's off with the shading on the sprites looking left and right although I can't put my finger on it but it does look nice enough for now.