@trough You're right about the eyes. I think I was just trying to change stuff for the sake of changing it. Shading is a little whack too now that you mention it.

@Reo Holy cow, man! That hair is like years better than mine. Mine does look dreadlocky. I will try to plagiarize apply your style of hair.
And the skin shading... How do you do that with no reference? Most of the photos I draw from don't really have noticeable shading on the skin. Do you have like a big pack of skin shading references or do you draw all that from memory? I really am rubbish at drawing from memory. Even with pencil and paper I was never any good at it.

So how the flaming platypus do you draw skin like that? I mean sure, now that I see your image I could copy it and get pretty good results, but without that for a reference... How you do this??

Nooooo! Not the scrap it!! I would really prefer to fix the drawing errors if at all possible instead of trashing it.
But then I admit I may be suffering from Artist's bias and not seeing the obvious mistakes. ...Kinda like if I was asking how to fix this awful drawing from that singer guy:

(Mistakes are super obvious to everyone but the artist. Obviously needs to be scrapped.)

Stronger? You mean the character looks stronger? If the character looks physically weak I am not really concerned since these are mostly just random NPC's. They are not all tough heroes. As to the framing, I didn't really think about it that much to be honest but I was aiming for some variety. Probably a mistake.
 
Also, I think you are right about the contrast needing a change, but in your mock-up they kinda look like vampires, especially the last one. Maybe it's how you gave her pale skin but here eyes and lips are very dark... I will try to find a happy medium.

I really appreciate you taking the time to write all of that out and I will try to give the bottom two an update and maybe the top two a miracle and post back some time tomorrow. Would still appreciate any suggestions to save the top two if possible.

I would suggest making the cliffs have bigger rocks with bigger outlines to match the style. Also you may want to try making the bottom of the cliff darker than the top. (Or something) It's not super easy to read it as a slope.

Thanks for the advice guys. As suggested, I'll Stick with the original colors BUT with a slight contrast increase.

Could I get some tips for the player dude? Like how to make him looks LESS like a golem? It's supposed to be a person. Here he is up close.

Programmer/Pixel artist soloist here. Here is some art from my current game:







I'm not really super-pleased with the colors anymore and I'm hoping for pointers or one of those awesome miracle edits. A completely new palette or a few tweaks are welcome ideas. I kinda want more color variation (As in grass is yellow, green, and blue instead of just green) but I also kinda want less colors (as in total colors). Maybe I've just looked at it too long but I need some trained eyes.

Also any other feedback is appreciated. Thanks