Double faced/mouthed creature help/crit [WIP]

[DeLaVich]

I'm new to this site, and I've always been a fan of old school video games.
I've been attempting pixel art for more than a year now, but I am having trouble with this one character I would like to finish soon. It is supposed to be printed out on a big sheet of paper to show its pixels more, so I think it would be best to look at it zoomed in. Not much of a big name but I've named him Henry. I want his top eyes to look swirly, but I am having trouble aswel, and also with his bottom half. I've had an Idea that his bottom could be some sort of tree root structure or something. Sorry for all the text, and thankyou to those willing to help me
(Btw: I am a Junior in High School, and at the moment am making my sprites with Paint.net)

[Seiseki]

I've got two words for you.
Banding and Pillow shading.

I see a ton of staircase banding which creates a really blocky look. You need to break it up.
I also think you're overdoing the anti-aliasing which makes it look blurry.
You also need to mix in more colors, like for example blueish shadows and yellow highlights. It will make it look more lively.

Check out this tutorial on the subject: http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299

Keep it simple, with fewer colors.
I love the pattern and design

[DeLaVich]

Thankyou! Someone helps me
Well I'll check out that link after I post this but,
I kinda wanted the guy to look sorta blocky cause it was going to be printed out on a large poster and I wanted to shower the squares better.
But if what your telling me works better, I'll give it a try,
The reason why I kept those colors only is because I wanted to keep the skin under one color.
But I'll take your word for it,
Any chance you can edit mine and show me some recomemdations?

[DeLaVich]

I'm actually now thinking about redoing the whole thing.
Should I? Or can I work with what I already have with ease?

[RedKnight91]

In my opinion it's good enough to finish it

[ceddo]

I think it's a good idea to start from scratch by using your current one as a reference. The mistake you made here was once you had completed the line art, you immediately zoomed in and went into extreme detail, creating the complex patterns. Most of the time I don't even create lineart because it predisposes you to thinking in a 2-dimensional way instead of a 3-dimensional way. Try again by blocking in the shapes with flat colors first and consciously thinking about the basic shapes of your character. Is the torso the general shape of a cube, and the head spherical? How would this look in space? Try to imagine how the shapes would arrange themselves in a real 3D space and how light would fall on them.

Once you've established the general shapes like that and blocked in the colors/lighting, going into more detail should be easier and you're less likely to make mistakes.

[DeLaVich]

Thankyou! Now thats really helpful
Should I completely get rid of it after the newer one is finished?
I do like how it looks when I completely zoom into it.
I still have the line art, should I keep it that size? Or expand it?
Thanks again!