Whew, I think if I were playing a game with that background, I'd get dizzy and have to stop.

Really, those are some bright looking patterns. What's the kind of look you're going for? It seems like you want something you'd see out of a Yoshi or Mario game. (I say that based on those hills). If you insist on those zig-zag stripes, then at least make them thicker/further apart/not so close. You should also add some depth to them, and change the lines to show that they're wrapping around something round. (Again, I'm just assuming you want something round, based on the hills).

This basket ball is a good example on the lines:


Notice how they bend? (Now, it's possible that they're meant to curve or something, but this should still show my point). The object is round and curvy, so the lines are too.

And like bengoshia said, you need to define a light source. You're at least showing depth by making the "hills" further back dark, (which isn't what you want to do, but works to show depth). When things are going into the sky, they start blending with with it's color. So, instead of making those hills darker, you should make them lighter and bluer. (Depending on how far back they are of course.)

Also, grass isn't flat.



Your grass shouldn't be super tall or anything, but you should show some stands or clumps of it. Doing that will make it look a lot more like grass.

I think you should also try to keep your sprites and background look, "correct" together. That lizard looks out of place because it's got earthy tones, and isn't too vibrant. (But I think you should tone down the vibrancy in the characters and background anyhow). In any case, no matter what graphical direction you go in, it should look like they're suppose to be there.

And I don't know what those balls at the top are suppose to be, but they'd look better sprited. And you should keep your text consistent... Size could change I suppose, but I wouldn't change the color and outlines like you've done. Try to make it look similar so it doesn't look so slapped together. And you could make a new icon for the lives instead of just taking the character's head like that.

And what sprite sheet did you color exactly?

I think you could probably fix it up if you just toned down the contrast in the trees... make them blend into the background more.

It's also possible a third layer of trees could help too. (One more that's far back) Then I think it'll make it look a lot more like a small forest back there. Like Jad said, they're pretty tile-y, and possibly because of that, I can see the sky behind them. Which doesn't really make sense.

I really think less overall contrast in the trees, and another layer to represent further trees would make this look cooler.

It looks pretty good to me already, however:

-I think you could do some sel-outing to the outline.
-Her right hand seems a big manish and big compared to the other hand.
-There are some parts that could use some AA, like the forehead, knee to foot, and the back arm.

And I think if you're going to dither it, you might want either another middle tone so it blends more with the shadow tones... Or, you could see how it looks without dithering. Right now, it has a kind of rough in texture because of the contrast the dark shade you're using for most of the shadow. (IE, the peach and gray tones). I think you can pull off a nice smooth look with the dithering, but you'll need to adjust your contrast and maybe hues to do so.

Need some advice:
1)About hand
2)About how face can be in this image
3)Shading...

Well, I would start with getting some better contrast in the colors... maybe make some of them more saturated too, like the hair for example.

But I also think you need a solid light source. Right now, it SEEMS like the light should be coming to the right and somewhat behind him. (Based on how the arm is shaded. But then, the head doesn't fallow the same light sourced as the arm. I suppose it could be coming from the left behind him a bit, but then his chest needs to be darker too. So, you should pick where the light is coming from.

It also seems to me that his head isn't in proportion with his ears... those ears are somewhat small and up too high.

I just googled for this real quick, and the image quality is terrible, and it's a woman, but it should still help:



I'm sure someone will come along and do a neat sketch to better show these points, if this doesn't do it. But you can at least use this to get a good feel to where to put the features.

Now looking at the hand, I'd say you intend that he should hold the pen, as if he were to write with it, right? So, holding it up like Sam-uk suggested probably isn't what you hand in mind. Personally, I've always found that pose for the hand is a pain in the ass to draw or pixel, but here's a decent reference for you:



Given the angle, you might want to move his arm down... but you could flip around that ref and see if it helps some. And I think before you go in and add nails, which can also make it look odd if you don't do it right, you should get the hand down. I'd avoid using pink for for the nails though, since it seems to girly. You'll probably want to use the skin tones to show them very subtly.

Good Luck!