Hi! The reason I put tacked an (ish) at the end of that is because it's technically not my first attempt at pixel art as I used to draw pixels as a hobby some few years ago. They weren't very good and they never really involved any shading, or much drawing from scratch, so I don't really want to count them towards my experience haha. Here's an example from a few years ago (the most recent one I could find, really):
Flat features drawn over a generic base.
After a while, I stopped doing pixel art, and eventually, drawing altogether, but after that two-year long art block, I'm trying to get back into it. Here's my first work since the hiatus:
I'd like some critique on it, specifically on the shading and the lineart. I'm really not very good at shading because I never used to do it, not even on my traditional works. (The light source is supposed to be in the upper left.) And, well, I took forever drawing the lineart because getting the pixels to match up with a scaled down sketch is hell. I'd love if you guys pointed out the wonky looking parts and ways you guys do your lineart!
Oh, and one last thing. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to pick which colors to use. I knew I wanted red hair and a green scarf, but when I pick the colors out myself, it just really looks lackluster and plain. The colors here are taken from a few sprites from Pokemon Diamond haha. So, how do you guys choose your palettes?