[C+C] Character Sprite & Idle Animation - Native American Inspired Character

[tsej]

EDIT : added "Inspired" to the title.

The Character.
 
WIP Idle Animation.
 
Thanks a bunch to Kas, Ambi, Conz and Atnas for the help so far. 

Hey! This is my first character and I'd love some C+C. 
It's inspired by the Native Americans since majority of the combat will be based on the Bow. 

What I'm looking for: 
-How does the character look and feel? I'd love to see your interpretations/edits. 
-Does the idle animation feel okay?
-Any suggestions for the actual character. No matter how drastic!   
Thanks.

[Advent]

-How does the character look and feel? I'd love to see your interpretations/edits. 
-Does the idle animation feel okay?
-Any suggestions for the actual character. No matter how drastic!   

Hello ! I am not an expert so I will just give you simple what-I-see and what-I-would-want-to-see kind of talk.

So character's hair looks unnatural, you should make it shorter I guess. Left arm and legs are mixing up with clothes too.
Not sure if it should or shouldn't have bigger/any feet. Left hand looks strange. Also darker colors could resemble more of ekhm, darker color but not the same, I guess for red it would be purple etc. Character looks as character though and resembles red haired big boobed hunter so it's not that bad !

As for animation, right hand is stretching unnatraly, left is bouncing strangely and you can see pixels then it comes to legs. You have a long way but keep practicing and what is the most important have fun doing it !

I tried not to be harsh, please don't lynch me ! Also you can ignore my opinion as I am not a professional, just beginner like you 

[tsej]

So character's hair looks unnatural, you should make it shorter I guess. Left arm and legs are mixing up with clothes too.
Not sure if it should or shouldn't have bigger/any feet. Left hand looks strange. Also darker colors could resemble more of ekhm, darker color but not the same, I guess for red it would be purple etc.

It's not all hair, there's a headpiece on top. Noted what you find strange.

Character looks as character though and resembles red haired big boobed hunter so it's not that bad !

 
It's a dude. 

As for animation, right hand is stretching unnaturally, left is bouncing strangely and you can see pixels then it comes to legs. You have a long way but keep practicing and what is the most important have fun doing it !

I'll try fixing the animation later. I need more input!

I tried not to be harsh, please don't lynch me ! Also you can ignore my opinion as I am not a professional, just beginner like you

Harsh is better. Sugercoating a critique helps no one Thanks!

[Advent]

Oh, well. Sorry ! No matter how I look at sprite it looks like big boobed red hair huntress and I can't see headpiece.

[Seiseki]

There are a few things that make this read as a female.
The skirt. The head piece which kinda looks like 80's hair.
The chest which bulges out. Hourglass body shape.

Your palette uses very similar colors which makes it harder to make parts stand out from each other.
For the headpiece, I'd recommend having a more contrasting color for the hair, or the headpiece, one of them has to stand out.
And maybe adding in some feathers if you want it to look more Native American and less like hair.

[tsej]

Thank you Seiseki. It seems my biggest problem right now is contrasting and lighting. I'll try to study it and redo the character.

[transilience]

So I had the opposite problem, where I was turning a male character into a female and getting it to read female was a problem so here are my best points for you in regards of trying to "man" him up.

- The chest reads like breasts because of 2 reasons - the dark part between the pecs and under looks more like under boob shadow than a man's rib structure, break this up. second reason is that the bit of shoulder from his left arm actually works to add to the chest - boob structure, try a strong contrasting color and maybe move the arm into a position that shows it's one continuos body part to avoid pieces of the arm extending the torso.

- The hair reads feminine but there are only a few things you can do about that since long hair at such scales will almost always read feminine. You can try to make it messy, a messy hair cut is more of man's style than a females, maybe get some spikes to fall over the front of his head.

- skinny calfs and feet are a female trait, sad to say. when it comes to these pixel scales you have to go with stereotypes, making the calfs and feet so small makes it looks like a woman's legs and feet.

Try to play with these areas so you can keep your long hair and loin cloth for that native feel.

[PixelPiledriver]

Some thoughts:

[tsej]

- The chest reads like breasts because of 2 reasons - the dark part between the pecs and under looks more like under boob shadow than a man's rib structure, break this up. second reason is that the bit of shoulder from his left arm actually works to add to the chest - boob structure, try a strong contrasting color and maybe move the arm into a position that shows it's one continuos body part to avoid pieces of the arm extending the torso.

Noted. I will redesign it.

- The hair reads feminine but there are only a few things you can do about that since long hair at such scales will almost always read feminine. You can try to make it messy, a messy hair cut is more of man's style than a females, maybe get some spikes to fall over the front of his head.

That's great insight, and I think I see it now. I'll try to work on it.

- skinny calfs and feet are a female trait, sad to say. when it comes to these pixel scales you have to go with stereotypes, making the calfs and feet so small makes it looks like a woman's legs and feet

.
That's unfortunate but it seems I will have to do it.

Thank you for your help! Once I get free this evening, I'll work on it.
 

[tsej]

Some thoughts:

That a great edit! But unfortunately it's a bit too stereotypical and I don't want to offend anyone! Thank you though.