Just starting on pixelart (advice would be really helpful)

[Clunch]

This is one of my first pieces I made, tried to make a little bit of depth with only three colors of purple but it still feels a little bit flat to me. While most tutorials say I should dither to get it most people advice me not to use it because it isn't worth it. I tried dithering a little bit in the middle though. I might have used a but too much light purple but i don't know exactly why it is looking so flat.



http://imgur.com/hnhwOug

Hope you all like it and advice is very welcome because I'm trying my hardest to improve.

[Iceaxe]

I think my main suggestion would be to start by trying to draw a more familiar shape. You know, something more recognizable. With this particular image, especially with so few colors, it is hard to tell what is happening. Even simple objects can be tricky when it comes to pixel art. Take this barrel as an example:

Depending on who you are you might choose to stop on the bottom left one and say "That wood there is obviously wood, I don't think i could possibly add more detail with so little pixels so I'll stop here". Which is a perfectly reasonable point of course, but the bottom right barrel shows you that there was so much more you could have done with the wood on that barrel and even a single pixel here and there can make all the difference.

To be honest, I've never even attempted dithering and still shy away from it. I think that it may be due to the fact that most of my work is at a lower resolution and that it is generally a technique used on higher resolution art to give it more of a retro look.

But anyway, I would definitely suggest starting out with something more familiar that you will be able to recognize when it is finished. You will much more easily be able to tell when something is wrong with it because of how you are imagining it to look.

[DHyd]

I think my main suggestion would be to start by trying to draw a more familiar shape. You know, something more recognizable. With this particular image, especially with so few colors, it is hard to tell what is happening. Even simple objects can be tricky when it comes to pixel art. Take this barrel as an example:

Depending on who you are you might choose to stop on the bottom left one and say "That wood there is obviously wood, I don't think i could possibly add more detail with so little pixels so I'll stop here". Which is a perfectly reasonable point of course, but the bottom right barrel shows you that there was so much more you could have done with the wood on that barrel and even a single pixel here and there can make all the difference.

To be honest, I've never even attempted dithering and still shy away from it. I think that it may be due to the fact that most of my work is at a lower resolution and that it is generally a technique used on higher resolution art to give it more of a retro look.

But anyway, I would definitely suggest starting out with something more familiar that you will be able to recognize when it is finished. You will much more easily be able to tell when something is wrong with it because of how you are imagining it to look.

At the same time thou, the example you gave goes from 2 colors, to 3 colors, to 4 colors, to 6 colors. More detail each time yes, but there is also more color, and anti aliasing was added.

[Kazuya Mochu]

My suggestion is also to start with something from the real word, so that we can provide feedback.
if you make something abstract, there's no way to say if its wrong or not. is whatever you wanted it to be.

to me, your image is 4 chromosomes around a square. there's no way I can tell you you did it wrong and where.

try to do a barrel, a rock, or a crate, maybe a sphere, and try shading it

[Iceaxe]

That is true. What I'm getting at is that you can make an object complicated if it is desired to be and it's all up to how far you want to take it.
It can be possible to achieve the same level of detail even with the same "number" of colours. 

[Clunch]

thx for all the great feedback I'll try to do something familiar next, do go with my new program graphicsGale, i used microsoft paint till now.

[Decroded]

This is one of my first pieces I made, tried to make a little bit of depth with only three colors of purple but it still feels a little bit flat to me. While most tutorials say I should dither to get it most people advice me not to use it because it isn't worth it. I tried dithering a little bit in the middle though. I might have used a but too much light purple but i don't know exactly why it is looking so flat.



http://imgur.com/hnhwOug

Hope you all like it and advice is very welcome because I'm trying my hardest to improve.

what is it?