Criticize these pixels

[jazz_buddha]

Hey people! I'm learning python with the goal of developing some sort of game, and these are some sprites I've been working on in gimp. I'm kind of new to forums in general, also, so if I'm making painfully obvious mistakes in my posting please let me know. Anyway, I thought this was the place for people to critique my artwork, so yeah.

[Parkerbaby]

It is much easier to edit images posted unmagnified. The forum has a built-in zoom function.

I made an edit, but the proportions got a bit skewed when I tried resizing it. I fixed it up a bit manually, but it is not exactly the same.



I changed it from 15 colors to 8. I didn't change the silhouette (on purpose, anyway), but that could also benefit from some attention.
Basically your big issue is banding (those strips of colors lined up next to each other in the shading.) And you're shading as if these are 2d pieces of paper rather than actual forms with heads and noses and protrusions. Just think about what would block the light from hitting what.

[jazz_buddha]

Whoa, it's like a whole different picture.
I'll keep that in mind. This is a sort of first attempt, and I didn't read many tutorials or anything, so any criticism is good.
Thanks for the feedback, here's the original sized ones.

[Decroded]

check this out
http://androidarts.com/pixtut/pixelart.htm