Thanks for the replies. Sorry it took me so long to get back -- I've been moving into my new house.
Trev -- The pants definately aren't a skirt, but I agree with you about the mantle. The only think is, every picture I saw of Aang with his arms down, there are deep folds along the sleeve-lines.
ex:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l35/avatar_portal/official_pics/aang01.jpgAdarias - I was actually trying to get a small outline (selout?) on the star. A full one-pixel outline was too big for it. I've scrapped that idea in the latest mockup though.
Dusty -- I didn't know there was already an Avatar game out there -- thanks for the heads up. I was worried they would've completely outdone me, but to be honest, I'm not very impressed by their Aang sprites:
Anyway, I tried to clean up the original sprite as much as I could. I'm still unsure about how to go about shading the mantle:
Also tried a side-pose. I'm having trouble getting the head to sit right on the body, and the angle of his chest looks a little off still.
And I worked more on the mockup.
I maybe should've taken Adarias' advice about dithering more to heart -- especially since my floor and wall aren't matching up now. If anyone has any ideas on how to shade the sand, or a better look for the floor, I'd love some help.