Keops, you did a really nice job on the portrait, good color selection, shading, etc. The fighter sprite has very nice folds on his pants, and also a good color selection... though I noticed a few problems elsewhere:

-his > leg appears thinner than his < leg (the foot is fine I think)
-the head appears rather square (the jaw in the portrait appears more angular)
-his < hand also appears blurry, perhaps removing the brightest tone and/or place a shadow on the backside (< side) of the hand should correct it
-the < glass should be slightly darker since his face is turned a bit
-you *might* consider shading the coat the same way you shaded the pants (an distinct division between light and shadow) unless of course you wanted his torso to have a flat look, which I suppose is fine

*saves pics*, fantastic work Ken, as always. I'm really digging the colors on this piece. Those seedlings are uber cute as well ^^. Like the others already said, the gaia fighter sprite's face  seems a bit masculine, while the portrait is quite feminine.

This thread is getting rather huge O_o. I must say however, it's been really nice seeing many of the artists tweaking and improving their entries.

@Captain Blood: Its great to see you spriting again, that portrait is superb, truly impressive... I miss your site... bring it back *cries*.

@Bo: You've made a nice improvement with your new werewolf. The pose is *much* better.

@Razz: Thats a kickass sprite ya got there, very beautiful colors; the black outline helps focus the sprite as well. Also your portrait came out quite nicely, dynamic as well.

@istvan: Somehow I don't trust that guy with a wrench... very nice fighter still.

@allthoseotherpeopleImtoolazytocommenton: d('.'<) thumbs up from kurbeh!

Question for Scuba: Are you allowing palette swaps or not? I think a few pages back you mentioned it was a royal pain to implement...but I can't remember clearly. >.<