i will probably double the size or increase it some more (i haven't decided on a good resolution yet) but idk were to start when making a good human sprite that looks realistic but is still simple enough to stand out of the background without losing too much variation and detail
@Mysterymeat the male and female armors will be similar in design

the armor sets i made while experimenting with what i can do with such a limited resolution but i might make the resolution higher because i want there to be a lot of unique looking armor sets so when you encounter another player there clothing tells a story about what kind of player/adventurer they are and just because it looks cool

You should post your previous attempts and explain what you didn't like about them.
It would also help if you posted some context. Are there any environment tiles done? Any enemy sprites? If not, it may help you to do some of that, as they will give you a sense of direction for the player sprite. The player sprite should stand out from their surroundings, so having some environment work done (even if it's just rough, unpolished mockups) will help you with the colours and detail level. It'll also help you with the perspective on the characters.

16x24 is pretty small, so for the sake readability, it may not be the best idea to do very realistic proportions, as you'll end up with a very skinny sprite that leaves very little room for colour/value identity and defining features. Be prepared to stylise things to make the sprite easy to see and identify, especially in combat.

the game's environment wont be made out of tiles i hope to make a system that generates a organic shape as a photo and use one big sprite to texture specific materials  and for the art style i dont have any tiles or mock ups made yet but i have to make the environment have a similar style to this
https://scutanddestroy.wordpress.com/tag/pixel-art/page/11/
and the characters/objects will have a simpler style so they stand out more i hope i was able to give enough information i only came up with the idea a couple weeks ago

i decided to completely redo the sprite this is what i have so far



i think it is a improvement from the other ones but i feel that it still needs a lot of work and any feedback would be nice 

(sorry for double posting)