Ok, first off let me say that if you want to improve, you need to live and breath sprites. Look at other peoples sprites. Edit sprites. Try to copy other sprites. Just making stuff from scratch won't get you far unless you're an expert on human anatomy. And then there's also basic pixel art knowledge.
Someone linked me this tutorial a while back, and I've been reading it several times, and it's only now after a few months that I really understand most of the stuff.
http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299Now for this particular sprite:
- Lacks contrast
Needs heavier outline. More contrast between shading and highlights.
- Perspective
In a 3/4 perspective, you'll be seeing mostly the top of the head, and thus the shoulders should be closer to the head.
- Skin tones
Try to make the darker shades red and the highlights yellow. But don't overdo it.
Just using shades of brown makes it look strange.
- Jaw line
Looks kinda weird with the pixels placed like a L, try to avoid that.
I'm not that good at anatomy though, so my arms and legs might look strange. (I'm really bad with feet too)
I also tried to make him more square headed, but that's a personal preference I guess.
Edit: I should probably not have moved down the ears, because that messes with the perspective.
Edit: tweaked it further with improved perspective. (also removed mouth, personal preference for low res sprites)
I also thought the eyes were a bit too feminine on my edit, so I made a female version too with slimmer shoulders and no shorts