>Sharm
I tried to find some pixelart pieces from you, but I found just one single piece (in this board). So please forgive me if I underestimate you.
I think to be a decent pixel artist, you should be a decent general artist. Something similar belongs to animation: "If you can't draw - forget it. You're an actor without arms and legs" (quote from "the animator's survival kit", richard williams).
This probably means, that you have to know the basics. And when you master those (which takes a lifetime), you can start thinking about what you want to do and then you just apply the basics like secound nature.
Sorry for this small excursion, but I think it explains, why I'm thinking, many "pixel"artists could be better, just if they would know the (traditional) basics better. So I ask you, do you think you could draw/paint a decent picture? If not, then you should learn the basics better first. Perspective, Proportions, Values, Colors, in this order (some might disagree). And if you want to be an animator, the same stuff has to be learned as well.
So, if you master the basics (or lets say, you know them how to use), in pixelart you have a set of techniques. I think the main aspects are:
- color conservation (palette unifying, tinting)
- antialiasing
- buffering / blending
- dither
I think most of the "pixel"critics here in this board belongs to these aspects. So these should be learned. I know, if you create animations and tiles, more and maybe other aspects have to be applied, but I have no experience in doing them, so please forgive me. And to learn these techniques mentioned above, you have to practice. Post the pictures here and get critique - study the work posted here (with the above mentioned) and give critique and even better, make edits and learn the theory in practice.
Sorry if I overshoot the mark (uhm, sorry, but the dictionary uses this term ("uebers ziel hinausschiessen" in german)). If I haven't answered what you asked for, I hope you and others find at least a small bit of useful information.
keep pushing