http://i.imgur.com/hULSOTT.pngYo! First of all, I know how you feel about the creativity being bred out of you. But I just want to say that I think our inner creativity never ever truly dies. You just gotta bring back out again. Don't be afraid to be weird or strange or to do exactly what you want to do. In this realm anything is possible.
The sprite is pretty good. Is this your first sprite?!
1- colors are pretty cool, but too expected. Experiment more with color combinations. You are choosing very plain hues. Plain green, plain orange, plain purple. Brown grey shoes. The effect is blandness. You don't have to be crazy with colors, but you can be more expressive, especially since in pixel art you want a small palette. A key way to give harmony to a piece is to try to balance or interweave the colors throughout the image in a way that makes sense and is expressive. I gave her some green makeup and a little blush. I shifted the green in the pants to a yellowish green that is just yellow enough to work as a hair highlight as well, thus eliminating the need for extra colors, as well as tying the image together by using the same color in multiple places.
2- The pose looks really square, which isn't bad. But I felt the squareness was not emphasized enough. The pose could have been even more square, and she probably would have looked more stylish. at first I wanted to say the eyes helped bring the pose out, and it kinda does, but not enough to me. I can't decide if the eyes and pose are evoking seriousness or humor. In the end I decided to make scarlet more organic in her pose and eyes.
Following that Idea, she needed to be brought to life with other details. I gave her breasts, tried to imply more dainty arms, made the hair less boxy.
Again, I like your style, and there's not a lot I would say is wrong with your sprite
