Longtime no post

So this was an old sketch I had lying around that I wanted to expand upon, or rather, this is when I've expanded too. Drasticly better than my sketch :p.
Now before I take this further, I want to see if you all can help me by pointing out any glaring issues you might noticed



Thank you and good day.

In an attempt to get back into spriting for the umpteenth I started a little doodle that ended up being a terrible attempt at understanding colors.
Honestly I have no idea what I'm doing here, so any critique would be appreciated
*Edit*
Re-upped because imageshack hates me.

Many thanks Tourist, your edit and review provided me heaps of help, and thanks in general Seiseki. 
I certainly think I'm heading in he right direction with this.


Of course I'm going to try and keep the original charm it had before.

Though I'd give you my two cents.
Bare with the unfinshed edit. (and the lack of a jacket)

I noticed your work relied heavily on the outline to give Canti shape, and while this isn't the worst thing you could do, you could better use the single pixel outline to define the basic shapes of his body.
The shading itself is really just pillow shading which is considered a huge no-no. Try to define a proper light source before you even head onto the shapes themselves, and don't be afraid of having light pixels border the dark one because that's a mistake I used to make when I started.
Final thing I'll say is Canti is slouching; not necessarily a bad thing, but it really takes away from his imposing self.

I guess from here I'll just link you to link you to Helm's Magic thread which provided me with some glorious knowledge.

Also, good luck. 

I would suggest having it's head move a bit more.

To and fro from the viewer or something.