The colors aren't very strong, yes. Edit will follow but jesus christ, 47 colors for this? This should be 16 max!
edit:
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Okay, there's lots to talk about, and it's mostly about colors and coloring.
1. I don't know what program you're using to pixel, but you create a lot of one-pixel-index-slots. I cleaned from 47 colors to 15, and I ask you, is my version less colorful than yours? Or more? Whatever you're using, stop. Drop. Buy promotion. Learn it. Make your pixels happy.
2. Your sprite is mostly monochromatic with a bright yellow splodge of face in the middle. A good sprite I'd say - though this isn't any sort of rule really, it just seems to work most of the time - has a bit of a complementary palette going. Look how the purples and blues in the cloth on my edit complements the cool cyan and greens on the armor. The eye instantly recognises shapes and depths. The shadows of the purple cloth are also green-tinted, and generally a slightly sickly but nocturnal aesthetic is attempted in my edit.
3. Face edit. I gave my version a demented 'I will do you harm' look, because that's the sort of face I wouldn't want to see in the dark. Also, seeing how this sprite will go against dark backgrounds I guess (ninjas at day?) I colored the face in nocturnal colors. Even if he goes out in daylight, this is the sort of skin color a ninja would have in my brain, not bright green-yellow.
4. Generally, think more when you're selecting colors, don't just make ramps. Think what use they will have and what emotional charges they carry. Warmer colors are full of life, colder are distant and morose. Red is anger and excitement, yellow is hate and annoyance, so on so forth (there are no rules, but if you consistently use a hue to mean something, the player will subconsciously pick it up. If every enemy in a platformer has green clothing, in that game's 'aesthetic universe', green is evil and danger).
5. Baggy pants on a ninja. Personal preference, I'd say, lose them. Baggy pants aren't hip or intersting and they obscure shapes that are very useful for the spring-like motion of a ninja. Also would a ninja wear clothes that can get caught on fences and corners? There's a reason ninjas wear this sort of badass gear:
It's because they're trained for EVIL. And AWESOME. (padlock on crotch optional, though).
Generally a word about the design, does it have to be so japanese-anime-manga-influenced? With the Naruto headpiece thing? Look at the screenshot above, the ninja is obviously not a western invention, but it's okay to show where we are from in our art. The dudes above drew him like a Ninja Barbarian and that's awesome! Don't give the viewers what they expect!
6. Why did I cut the sleeves short in the arms? Because the black gloves create a depth problem. Black is also used for shading, so if you go from the deep purple sleeves to the uriah heep black gloves then the viewer might think 'wait, are the hands just covered in darkness?' In fact, look at the left arm in your version (our left) and let your mind focus on it. Tell me does it look like the arm is in FRONT of the sleeve, or behind it (as if the ninja had his back on us). That's what priority does. By giving him shorter sleeves and introducing a bit of flesh to segment cloth from shadow, I am amending this problem just somewhat, though not fully. The best option would be for the gloves to not be black, really.
7. The cloth on the hood especially is pillowshaded. Where's the lightsource? Are your outlines lightsource dependent? If not, should they be? Have you thought about the practical applications of such a method? Look at some Kenneth art to see what good they do.
That's it so far! Please update and let us know how it goes and if you found the critique useful!
