I also apologize to anyone who gets insulted, but I won't admit to doing something I have not done - and at least I know myself that I didn't plagiarise this Kiwinuptuo. If you who are reading this don't believe that, so be it. I understand and can live with that. I didn't come around here saying "I made the coolest thing ever, check it out!" seeking praise for something as simple as a base--I came here asking about critique on overall design, colors/shading and tips on how to do outlines when there's limited options for AA, to learn more about pixel art, where I could improve. I did instead get pointed to art that were older, wich looked very similar to what I had made and I appreciate that and will rather work on making a new style, not wanting to be called a thief. This Kiwinuptuo seems like a pretty well known pixel artist in your circles from reading some of those dA comments, so if I wanted to rip off someone, why would I rip off of that person?

I also see a few posts below now mentioning that the shade colors used on the eyes are exactly the same, wich doesn't surprise me one bit, it's a very standard shading palette that you can find if you look up some pictures of make-up kits, wich is also where the skin color tones are from. Now, if you're going to mention the shape of them too, then Kiwinuptuo must have created old classic games all the way back to the NES inventing that eye-style on 8-bit graphics, not to mention anime in general. And that I would find insulting.

I got to say that the responses are a good indication of a great community you guys got going here though, protecting other artists. I applaud that. But don't expect me to admit and "come clean" on having done something I haven't. I completely understand where you are coming from, how you are sceptical or blatantly do not believe that I accidentally created a very similar looking pose to someone seemingly well known in these pixel circles. I can totally see myself in your shoes there.

If I am to "defend myself"; Bases are generally very similar looking, it's what goes on top that seperates them in the end. I haven't seen many sprites with semi-detailed shading though, as most are covered in clothing not needing it. I wrote that Megaman was a big inspiration in the pose, and found two images that shared that pose [1][2] - I did however draw out dots based on memory from one of the older Megaman games, yes - each pixel is dotted one by one - and while it might not be impressing, it still took me some time to do. Try imagining Megamans suit on top of that base. The head-shape, posture and "power stance" (raised shoulders) are very typical in my re-collection. Color palettes are very common, it's not strange to find tons of artwork with the same color palettes, even if the artists have never seen eachother works. Yes, they are very similar. And it's insulting people, thus I will re-design and try find a different approach of doing my characters. The problem is finding one that feels like an oldskool RPG and that becomes slightly more unique, at least when it comes to the basics of things as a base.

Holy shit, you are still denying this? How stupid do you think we are? There is no way you could independently come up with something so incredibly close to another person's work. The proportions are exactly the same, the angle is exactly the same, the odd posture is exactly the same, the color ramp you used for the eyes is exactly the same. It is baffling that you would try so hard to defend this when you have so little invested in this forum (three posts and you registered a day ago? Just abandon ship). The creator of the original even said people are free to use his template. You could have just given him credit in your post and asked for critique on your shading or AA or whatever you wanted to learn from doing this.