A question I have is... How do you find pixel artists and artists which match the style your looking for? I have just spent two hours scouring DeviantArt, this and other websites looking for artists to bookmark for potential future games...
There is a lot of good artists, yet not very many have examples of cute/happy art. With my current game that currently under development... I just lucked out with a pretty darn good pixel artist (In my opinion) who did sprite work in Ragnarok. I pay him way too little to critique his work and have him do cleanup yet...
http://designermichael.com/share/myPixelArtistsWork.pngHe has done approx 300 sprites/images so far, and when he's done it will be around 500. What do you think would be an "actual" fair payment for this type of work? He did all this work for a mere 1.5k... LoL! Indonesians who work for too little... If my game gets off the ground I will be sure to give him a bonus. Game formulas are pretty tricky...
As a social game developer... I'm going to be looking for people who I'm sure can do what I would call "mass appeal" pixel art. Eg: Secret of the Solstice, MapleStory, Ragnarok, and etc... Well, also... I am also kind of targeting the female demographic. I wish more people would at least have some examples of simple cute stuff, besides their advanced shaded pixel art and experimentals.