I have limited experience with spriting, but a pretty decent background in art in general. Here are a couple examples of my current skill level. I'm experimenting with dithering and I've decided that I absolutely hate generic dithering (as in the far right) and adore patterned dithering (as in the far left). Got any examples of patterned dithering I can see? I'd like to look at more techniques and Google has been oddly opaque on that.

   

My question:

What should I work on? What area do you see that most needs improvement? What type of practice would you recommend?

Also, where do you stand on combining traditional digital with pixel digital? Is it extremely taboo? Such as using a traditional gradient in some areas and a dithering effect over/under it.