Hi. This'll be my first post here. I only recently started spriting (other than awful test graphics for Gamemaker), and I've been lurking here a while now.
I do know I'm probably outside the bounds of traditional color counts. I like my colors :p There was a tool I had bookmarked for analyzing color usage in a sprite, I can't find it now, if someone could link me to it I'd really appreciate it. Anyway here are a couple of my worksheets, feel free to critique anything:


Done without a grid. Here is a generic hero, some 3pic bl4dez, and an adorable marshmallow dragon resting on a pedestal.
Generic hero probably has some major anatomical problems, I can't really identify them.
Ignore the shadows if you can, I drew those to help myself understand the shape.


Here I used the hero as reference to make something more aesthetically simple, to use in this game concept of mine.
His pose really aggravated me on that first attempt, and I think the second version is at least getting there, as its lankier and more hunched. I also brought down the color count.
He's also strange in that I tried to make him out of a material that's wispy and smoke-like at the bottom but solidifies into muscle on top. I don't know how well that comes across or if it's even a good idea.