I see dhaos. Thanks for the info.
The main problem I usually see with people from a spriteedit background is that whereas they have learnt how to shade elaborately done hair or cloth folds like in KOF, they can't draw a realistic head or the leg under the pants that the folds are on. They've learnt sprite art ( NOT pixel art ) but they don't have the general art skill to put it to original and cohesive use. I personally find artists that only do fighter sprites, or only rpg sprites and tiles, or only whatever, to be 'crippled' pixel artists. To be a great pixel artist, I think, you must have solid skills with a pencil before anything else. To design and have a personal aesthetic. When I was younger it was much more easy for me to be wowed by a good fighter sprite. Now that I know how they're made and what they amount to, a person like this efex really does nothing for me. I see fighter sprites, a lot of them. Some good techniqes. But pixel art is much more, and I don't think anyone really sets on that path through editing. He might pass through editing in that path, but editing doesn't put him on the path. If the height of your ambition is to 'do sprites like the KOF people' then that's not the path I'm talking about.