Oh, I didn't even notice but I see it now, yeah! It looks pretty good, adds a lot to the leg definition.

On to other criticisms: The gun-arm doesn't really read as such right now, it looks more like a torn shirt sleeve. Perhaps some kind of gun barrel, attachment, or light of some sort to make it more clear?

Yes, the buster was actually the next thing I was going to get to!
Of course the projectile FX is going to give it more of a weapon look, but the base arm cannon design needs some work. I'll get to it after the holidays. One idea was to make it "fatter" but I had trouble making it look round instead of a box because of the limited pixels. The original inspiration was Mega Man's buster, but it could be something different.

I do know I don't want him holding a gun in his fist. It needs to be an attached gun arm. He starts of as a skeleton who attaches robot parts to his body (weapon, armor, slide/dash boots etc. left over from his robot enemies [this ties into the story of him becoming "whole" and meeting his maker, your basic quest for identity story...]) I'll need to think about this...

Edit: Just an idea.. How about making all the upgrades "bone related". Here's the Carpal Buster!
(just a rough idea)
I wasn't thinking of adding an Ocarina style "Navi" character, but this Carpal skull dude could work well as a Morte (Planescape Torment) kind of dude making some quips along the way

Ooh, I like the shoe change! Looks like footie pajamas now! Outlines are also good, nice work!

What do you think of the highlights frame to frame? It feels like they could be done better to show the movement of the character and how the light touches different parts? Do i need to add/subtract the highlight in some parts of the frames to better give off the illusion of movement?

Ooh, I like the shoe change! Looks like footie pajamas now! Outlines are also good, nice work!

Thanks! With the footsie pajamas I'm thinking in terms of the story of my game he basically wakes up from bed during a surprise attack on his town so that's what he's going out on! And it looks cute and cartoony.

Should I move on to a run cycle with this basic setup or anything I should look into first?

Thanks for all the help and support @MysteryMeat!

-tangent-
...
I'm just starting in pixel and any sort of art really (at 31 for the first time!) so I need all the help/criticism and encouragement I can get. I honestly haven't put pen to paper to draw anything since high school (and I sucked at it back then), but I just got the art bug now later in life. I was one of those people who honestly can't draw a stick figure. But I figured if I can put the effort into getting my Master's degree on stuff I'm not nearly as passionate about as video games, I should be able to pull this off in 5-10 years too, right!?

I always loved video games but now I wanna make em! (starting simple of course, my goal is to get a small platformer with some metroidvania elements demo done in next 12 months from start to finish. Character with some abilities, 5 enemies and a boss fight or two. The code for collectibles, cutscenes, basic enemy AI, FX, HUD, Menus, Minimap, Player engine, projectiles, Room system, saving/loading and the subscreen are mostly done...)

Tried my hand at an animation. This is really difficult! : o

Idle:



I was going for a feeling where he is excited and just raring to go at it. I tried doing something with the boots too, but everything looked stupid.

Advice and edits are very welcome as this isn't looking very good : p
Should I maybe add a third, lighter, blue to act as a highlight?