[C+C]Platformer Main Character

[kizurai]

Hello!
I've been working on the art for my platformer game for quite some time now. I have the coding done but I can't seem to grasp how pixel art works exactly 586 pixel art tutorials later and I'm better but not at the level I would like and I can't seem to understand what I'm doing wrong.

I finally have an idle concept done (without animation)


Please tell me how I may improve; I'm trying not to incorporate lighting? Because lighting isn't static in a game. Or should I..? Nevermind
Am I putting too many colours? Not enough? Please help, thank you in advance!

[CFKaligula]

Edit:

remember, animating something takes work, so for every detail/colour you add, thats gonna be more work. i'd recommend making him as simple and small as possible, my edit is an example of that.

Seeing, how you are not as experienced with art in general, animation will probably be difficult, as with all beginning artists. So maybe even just a flat-shaded character would be better.

[Unnamed1334]

To me, it looks like there is too many levels of shadows causing the details to be hard to pick out. I tried to take the shadows so I could examine the image better.



I noticed the back leg was strange looking and the foot was pointing backwards. The foot pointing backwards works for a standing pose but I think it might be weird when you have to shift the foot forward when shifting into a walking animation. I also make the leg a bit thicker and shifted it forward a bit to try and make it less bent.



From there, I added some shadows back in. I noticed that your version had a lot of 1 pixel shadows around the vest. To me, the shadows made it look like the vest was floating around the person instead of being worn. You could definitely use more shadows then what I used. Just make sure the character is still readable.

[kizurai]

Edit:

remember, animating something takes work, so for every detail/colour you add, thats gonna be more work. i'd recommend making him as simple and small as possible, my edit is an example of that.

Seeing, how you are not as experienced with art in general, animation will probably be difficult, as with all beginning artists. So maybe even just a flat-shaded character would be better.

I'm actually okay with animation, I'm just bad with colour, being red-green colourblind and all. Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm trying not to outline and flat-shade because the game is a bit darker themed which was also why he's not tiny. I've looked into a lot of other pixel art games and the chibi-sized characters didn't have the right feel.
But again, thank you for the suggestion, maybe I'll try a tinier project that's lighter in feel and practice making art for that one instead.

[kizurai]

To me, it looks like there is too many levels of shadows causing the details to be hard to pick out. I tried to take the shadows so I could examine the image better.



I noticed the back leg was strange looking and the foot was pointing backwards. The foot pointing backwards works for a standing pose but I think it might be weird when you have to shift the foot forward when shifting into a walking animation. I also make the leg a bit thicker and shifted it forward a bit to try and make it less bent.



From there, I added some shadows back in. I noticed that your version had a lot of 1 pixel shadows around the vest. To me, the shadows made it look like the vest was floating around the person instead of being worn. You could definitely use more shadows then what I used. Just make sure the character is still readable.

Thank you.
I do agree the right leg was awkward but every time I changed it, it just got wonkier and wonkier.

So okay, no 1 pixel shadowing, got it. Also less colours? I guess I used too many. I'll probably move the head back a bit, he looks like he's hunching now that I've realized it, and maybe change the positioning of his arms. And then, rework the shadowing...
I guess I still have a lot of work on