That's a good answer, Ptoing.

But whether we vocalize it or not, we've all made artworks we thought were masterpieces, right?  Every now and then I make something I think is bloody brilliant.  A few days later, of course, I think it's absolute utter shite, but still... it's that cycle between creative ecstasy and loathing that drives me to keep working at it.  Without either I don't know if I could be bothered to keep at it.

Dali liked to toot his own horn and he was a consummate showman, neither of which makes him particularly pretentious in my eyes.  And he could draw, make sculpture, make films... all of which have had tremendous influence on artists that followed him.  So if Dali enjoyed being Dali, I wouldn't hold it against him.

Regarding the piece, I really like it.  The only criticisms I can offer is that 1. the colors are all so low saturation that nothing really stands out.  It'd be cool if you bumped up the saturation of the red bandana and jacket to bring them out, perhaps.  And 2. it's hard to discern what the face is supposed to look like.  Great job, though!

Thanks!  I'll update later with more progress.

Re: noses... I'll perhaps make them less pink, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy how pink they are right now!

Looking pretty schmick. The main thing that bugs me is the stone tile, because you can see where it's mirrored in parts, and it doesn't tile well vertically - whereas the stone in the original tiles endlessly, even if it doesn't do it very well. I don't imagine it'd be too hard to pull off something similar to that, but, you know, better. Here, I'll see if I can't show you what I mean.

Thanks!  I know exactly what you mean - there are seams in the tiling!  Will be taken care of in later updates.

Hey, Arne!  I think you sent me some rips once... on IRC maybe?  Because I can't find it in my GTalk downloads folder (where I keep the rest of my Arne pics ).

But yeah, re: your critiques... I'm not sure I understand completely how my design deviates (other than the color).  It seems that the basic elements you mentioned are there.  Generally, I tried to look at as many sources as possible and then selected features that I liked.  I think looking only at the original sprite itself, you run into problems, because of the limitations of the hardware.  For one thing, the design deviates within the game, from ingame to the cutscenes.  A lot of the concept art is official, also.  The Nintendo Power version seems to be in line somewhat with the ingame concepts.

Also, my intent isn't to recreate the first game, which is perfect for what it is.  Which isn't an excuse for poor pixelling, but I think I can get away with adding some of my own ideas (for better or for worse).  My idea now is that Jason Frudnick, having been in so many battles with the Plutonium boss, has become irradiated and is himself turning into a mutant (another incarnation of the Plutonium Boss?).  He goes nuts and takes SOPHIA the 3rd with him.  You're playing as someone else, maybe his son or his assistant, and you're piloting a new generation of vehicles.  Maybe the ATHENA (All-Terrain Hyper-responsive Energy-efficient Neutralizing Abdicator)?

But thanks for the advice - I'll spend some more time thinking about what you said and see if I can improve the readability of both sprites.  What everyone is saying has merits and I'll see how capable I am of making the improvements.

And I'd love to see your take on it, as well, if you have the inclination.

Thanks, guys!

Fixed the wheels and tweaked the spoiler.  And did up a mutant for the hell of it.