First, thanks for all the responses!

I tried to make a new edit according to your ideas. However, I did not change the hunched over problem as i kind of like that part of the animation.

I changed the head according to astraldata's ideas. I think he/she became much more wolf like in the process. Also I hope the NBA jam feeling is gone.

R1k thanks so much for your version. I tried to correct the right arm to make it swing more. Yours is nice and I really like the legs (I would hade change into that if i had the time) However, as i said before i kind of like the hunched feeling of a wolf who really does not know how to walk (or something).

Anyways, here is the new version I hope it is better than the last.



As for the attack. I agree that it is stiff. it is still a WIP. However, it is one out of 3 attacks that he does in quick order so I cannot change it too much.

The reason why it looks blurry is because you use way too many colors. I was going to do an edit but I think your first step should just be to pick out perhaps around 10-15 colors and remove the rest.

However, I must say that I think the water looks really good. The problem is the texture of the rest of the piece.

(Sorry that I could not be more specific I am also a beginner)

I did a quick edit as I need practice with armor.

Work mostly on the helmet to see if could make it look more like a helmet.



I think you your biggest issue is the colors. The blue colors are too similar so they do not stand out. Also, You have lot of different greys and some of them are very similar so it is hard to understand what they signify in a picture as small as this.

I kinda like that he has the sword close to his body. If he has it further from his body it looks less heavy (if that makes sense)   

Thanks both for your comments!

Some comments

Johasu:
First, the blue is the reflection of the sky. This where my inspiration from Arne mostly came from (another contributor to this site and 100X better pixel artist then me).
 I agree with all your comments I focused mostly on the metallic feeling of the armor and helmet so the rest is even more WIP.   
“If the light is coming from up and to the left straight ahead” this is the million dollar question. When I look at metal and shines light on it is very hard for to replicate in pixel art. As metal can reflect several light sources at the same time it is very confusing.
For the arm I can only agree with you, it needs more work.

Ryan:
Very good comments on how to get the 3d feel on the arms and legs. I will work on that and get back. 
I will also work on the posture. When I was working on the metal it just became bigger and bigger in order for me to get the metallic feel. And, yeah, now it looks like he is going to fall over.
(He is an outside fighter so that is why the reflections is blue)

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Thanks again both, if I understand your comments correctly: the metal is actually okay and I need to work more on the other stuff?

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Here is a new version. the posture is still not perfect but better i think.

It looks like he is doing some kind of a uppercut with the sword and using his wrist to flip it upwards in the end. You do not need to show the whole length of the sword during the whole swing. When the sword is pointed towards the viewer you should not be able to see the whole length just the point of the sword.

Like this:



I working on something similar myself. It is not done but perhaps it can give you some ideas.




(and sorry I thought you guy was doing a running swing  )