They have a very Tsugumo-esque quality to them in feel and palette choices (that looks like his trademark blue/grey values at a glance). Did you read up on his tutorials (the first around in english that anyone i know can cite) - "so you want to be a pixel artist" before making these?
I have read his tutorials, but that was quite some time ago. I didn't reference anything in particular either.
Can't comment on the resemblance, since I haven't seen any of his art other than what was included with the tutorial.
Some of the areas of detail, most notably for me in the face seems rather good, but in other areas your form and line detail seem a bit scant, making them look flat in those areas. Dont be afraid of contrast in your values. Because they are smaller sprites than GGX you might lose some of the information in the details with such subtle shade differences.
I'm not sure which values you are referring to - can you elaborate?
Regarding the lack of detail - I'm afraid of making the sprites too detailed, since I intend to animate them later and it takes long enough as it is.
I agree about the palette and will probably modify it eventually, but I want to concentrate on making the poses/animation look good at the moment. Most of the backgrounds are dark anyway, so that's not much of a problem.
I made some things darker/more contrasted, but other than that there aren't many changes here. Not sure if it looks better or worse.
Started working on some animations and different stances for the guy in the middle. Redrew his legs several times since they looked somewhat odd and saved over the original. Now they look hideously deformed as well and I'm not sure how to fix it.
Idle/breathing animation. Still very choppy, but hopefully I'm doing at least something right.