Rockington from JonTron

[FoxInATopHat]

So I made this:



But something seems off about it.
I'm proud of it, since I am by no means a professional, but I just can't seem to figure out what I'm doing wrong.
I've always had trouble just drawing rocks with a pencil, so making a pixel one is probably not going to end well. As may be apparent.

[Basketcase]

Is it meant to be like a hard rock, or a crystal? Cause right now, I read it as soft, a bit jelly-like. I thought more harsh straight lines would give it a harder appearance, so I fiddled around with it thusly:



I shifted the colours to go bluer when darker, added more highlights, used more angular shapes, did some pixel-level refinements, but there are some irregularities left (like that curved bottom-right). But those 90 degree angles in the shading are deliberate. A bit experimental. Like em?

I think I inadvertently made the face area look kinda flat in comparison to the depth that the upper shading gives...

ETA: I just found that this is a pre-existing character: http://jontronshow.wikia.com/wiki/Rockington

[FoxInATopHat]

Oh gosh, wow.
That's exactly what I was going for, but so much better. Thanks so much!
I think I'm starting to get an understanding of not only rocks but pixelart as well (analyzing the differences).
Also yes, that's the character C;

[Arne]

Maybe you can take something away from these two different approaches.