Hi,
a little disclaimer: I just started reading about pixel art and trying out things about a month or two ago, so by any means, I am no expert.
LinkI like his size and the proportions. It's a different look from most of the Link sprites from Zelda games I've seen, and to me it's a welcome change. In my opinion, the shading is too soft and I can hardly see which pixels have a different color. Depending on the style you want, I'd probably either make the shading a lot more distinct, or remove it altogether. Personally, I'd rather go for the former. Make the green pixels that are a tad darker quite a bit darker. Make those that are lighter quite a bit lighter so you see the difference right away. In general, you could probably experiment some more with shading and get some impressions from other sprites.
Is he supposed to be holding a shield in his left arm (right-hand side of the picture)? If so, it's not quite clear to me. Perhaps some more texture to the wood could help, or a slightly different shape that makes it look more shield-like.
I like that he has a clear outline and I can easily identify him as Link by looking at him.
SwordIt's a bit harder for me to give constructive advice on the sword, as I wouldn't know how to make it better myself. Even if it might not be meant to be used anywhere — what was your intention when pixeling it? My first association was the sword icon in Minecraft (see below). So if you imagined it to be used as an icon in the inventory, for example, it probably does that job well enough. Its nice symmetry and shading on the blade aside however, I can't make up much that makes it unique (and I, myself, would be curious on how to achieve that).
Minecraft sword icon (source: gamepedia):
Also, please use the [img] tag to integrate your images. You can upload them at imgur, for example. They're already at 100% and can be easily zoomed in and out with the forum's integrated zoom feature.
