I definitely don't consider that a problem. Thanks for sticking with me!

Here's what I've got:


Aside from the ponytail, the changes are pretty subtle. I suspect I might be at the limit of my ability for the moment so, aside from a final pass to tidy it up and improve the ponytail, this is pretty close to being done.

I agree with you about shading in pixel art. I don't have to stick to twelve colours but thirteen seems like a weird number. Something in me just doesn't like it and, with the new blues, I think I've got all the shades I need.

I prefer the first version since, as you say, it's less noisy. For the same reason, I'd remove all the little bits of dark cloud and focus on larger forms. Chonky Pixel has a really good post about drawing clouds here: https://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=48706.msg230771#msg230771
Wherever I've deviated from his advice is just due to my own inexperience and the image dimensions.

I've done a quick edit with what I hope is the correct palette (I'm not familiar with Sega systems but I got it from a Sega fansite).


There are plenty of images on Google but I particularly referenced these two:


There's a lot of detail in these images but, at the scale of your image, I think it's better to strip most of it out and apply the most general elements. It's also helpful for the background to be less cluttered so it doesn't make the foreground harder to read, and this is very important in a game since players need to know which elements they can interact with. At the full Mega Drive resolution, you could probably emulate the exact cloud forms much more closely without them becoming too busy.

You can see in the references that the top of the clouds aren't super dark (appearing more that way because of the contrast with the brightly lit parts). I made the top purple (based more on the first reference and other images I found), which also lets this particular cloud stand out against the dark blue of the rest of the cloud cover.

I struggled with the holes in the cloud. I don't think they're very easy to suggest at this size, but my intention was to have them appear in horizontal strips, with the tops being flatter (as they're also the bases of other clouds) and the top being filled in with the bubble shapes of the top of the clouds that are further away. On a larger scale, I think that would suggest dense cloud cover against the blue of the sky.

I don't have time to do an edit, but there a couple of points I hope might help.

The neck is very long and thin. I know we're dealing with a manga/anime style, so the anatomy isn't going to be completely realistic, but I think you could actually reduce the length by half and it'd look a lot more natural.

I'd also be inclined to reduce the amount of head above the eyes a little bit. If this were in a realistic style, I'd say that the eyes should go on the halfway point on the head. Googling different anime styles shows that there's a bit of variation, so you don't need to go for the exact halfway point necessarily, but the top of her head looks unnaturally large to me.

One final thing is the shape of the forearms. I'd bulk them out just below the elbow. I'd say that's particularly important given the position of the far arm (her right, our left) since, without the shape of the muscle (I want to say it's the brachioradialis that particularly gives it the distinctive shape, but I'm not an anatomy expert), it's a little difficult to understand which way round she's holding her arm.

I'm looking forward to seeing the next iteration of this. I really like the outfit, and your shading on the top is looking great so far 

Thanks so much! That was all very helpful. Here's my latest version. I've been busier with work and haven't been able to work on it much, but I've tried to correct everything you said about the face. Ignore everything else because I haven't done any more to the body and the ponytail looks very rough. I really liked the idea to bring it forward (I also think it accentuates her femininity) but I've not hit on the right way to make it look like hair yet. I've studied several portraits on PixelJoint and looked at Boraka's thread, and I'm sure I'll crack it at some point. It's been so long that I'm eager for more crits on the face though!



I'm hoping that the extra mid blue is reducing the painted effect, but I think I'll need to play with the values of all the blues to get it to work properly.

For some reason, I've only seen your second edit now as I'm posting this, so I'll have a proper look at it later.

Thanks again. I really appreciate all your help! Eventually this will get bashed into shape...

Edit: have looked at that second edit more and it's definitely not generic mcgeneric face! I really like the mouth. I'd intended to stick to a fairly neutral expression but you've got such a great likeness going on there.