Sooo I finished my previous hunter animations up...now I'm working on the back! I got the walk animation from looking at some reference pics (Secret of Mana, mostly) but it still doesn't look quite right.   I was trying to make him look like he's running, as he is in the other two, but He looks like he's marching. I've tried editing the arms a little bit to change it. It looks pretty good, I think at this point. Constructive C&C are welcomed with open arms...Thanks again for bearing with this project  

updated:

UPDATE: I tried to cut out the moving up and down and fix the hair, but I still need to work on that shading.
Grimsane: You're right, I was trying to use more lighting detail, but I it's not working out :/ perhaps staying consistent is better for the piece. I don't know why the palette is so huge. It honestly only shows the 24 colors I'm using and then a bunch of black on my computer (I'm using GraphicsGale) so I don't know how to shrink it down. I'm trying to make him look as if he's running the entire time...which brings me to my problem with my current ride view. He is walking. When I speed him up he *kind of* looks like he's running, but not really. And also I can't seem to get the view right. It looks kind of like I'm looking right at him and I'm aiming for a 3/4 view...so I'm not sure how that's going to go down.
Also about the belt...Definitely need work on that. That helps immensely. Thank you!
<-- New Side View
<--updated Front view

Here's what I think I'm going for with the Side view:

Constructice C&C welcome!
I'm mostly happy with the whole thing, although the belt to me looks kind of funky and I can't figure out why...any suggestions?

Thanks all for the help! I haven't changed up the front animation yet...except the belt. I changed the belt. But for the side view:
Thank you Jad! That was super helpful! However I'm still having some trouble...he looks really choppy but I tried adding extra animations and it didn't seem to help out.
New Side View:
It looks less like he's swapping feet and more like he's running, I think. And the new front view:

I also tried to edit the size to try and keep them about the same..hopefully it worked out.

So, we decided to try going a little different direction for the hunter guy. We're making him (and the game, probably) a little bit bigger, and we're trying more of a different style. So I edited this sprite to look a little more...different? It's hard to describe. I made him taller and changed the shading, and made him have boots instead. He actually looks almost completely different IMO.
Updated guy:
So that thing in the middle of the torso going down to the legs is like a sash thing (like the guy from torchlight has) and there's stitching. But I think the stitching looks weird and I can't figure out how to do it right   Also, I think his arms look too much like he's wearing a snow suit, and I'm not quite sure how to fix them.
Anywayyyys   As always I'm asking for critiques and comments and any advice anyone can give on this. Thanks!

EDIT:
Here's another change I did, just to update the pose a little bit. I shortened his legs more to make it look more...balanced? It looks more like what I'm going for, I think.
Updated: