I made this a while back as a piece of both .hack//SIGN fan art (it's based on BT's staff) and Illutia fan art (it's the size of the staves used in the game, and is based loosely on the plain, simple staff graphic). All that I can think of at the moment that you might need to know to give advice is that the light source I intended for this is going straight at the staff, as if from the person viewing it (I don't know if there's a specific phrase for that).

I haven't been into pixel art for very long, so I still have a lot to learn and skills to hone (well, I'd need to develop skills first  ). I'd really appreciate any comments, criticism, and advice; I'm here to learn. I've noticed that the way I've drawn it isn't like a lot of pixel art I see on a daily basis, but I'm not really trying to adhere to a specific style. From what I can tell, the outline on the top part of the staff isn't as hard as the outline for the rest of it; other than that, I can't see any problems myself (and I don't doubt there are problems). If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks.

The following image is the progress from start to finish, and the one furthest to the right is the latest version.



Oh, this is just a heads up. I'm not familiar with some art terminology since I haven't been into any kind of art for long, so I may not understand certain terms that you might use. I'll do research on my own if I'm confused about anything, of course, but if I'm still confused after that I might ask for an explanation.