RPG sprite

[_AG_]

hi
I'm making an rpg
and here is a w.i.p. of my first sprite

(it has to be perfect before i'll animate it =>c&c welcome!!!)

tyvm
_AG_

[Joseph]

your first sprite now that you're a living human being, or your first sprite for this rpg you're making?

if it's your first sprite ever, I would suggest trying an easier game than an rpg.  rpg's can get stressful with so many sprites that go into it, and if you're new at pixeling, you'll either have a terrible time or it'll take you forever.  starting with a smaller game would be better, that way you could get an idea of what making a game really takes and you'll get plenty of practice in, learning new things all time.
when your game is done, then, if you're still up for it, go ahead and try for the rpg.  (just my personal opinion-seems logical)

the sprite isn't bad, but the perspective is off.  you're going for the traditional rpg view I'm assuming?
if you hold a camera up in the air with your arm extended at an angle, you won't see your entire body at a direct angle, it's going to be up a bit so you'll see the tops of your shoulders, shoes, head, etc.
he doesn't have shoulders, knees, heels, defined elbows, or a nose.  and his feet a blocks, slope the fronts down a bit.  just take a look at your shoe.

also, check into contrast.  you're only using 3 colors, so if you stick with 3 for the skin, I'd outline everything in the darkest and then use the mid for shading and aa'ing.

[Lackey]

I will begin with some technical things and then get on to a more conceptual critique, if you can bear it.

Colourwise you have a very dark brown and white which you use only in the eyes.  Why not use these colours in the rest of the sprite?  The white can be used for extra highlights, like a bright specular shine, and the eyebrow brown (eyebrown) can by used as your darkest colour to make those outlines pop out a bit more.

Secondly: you have a good idea using some dark lines in with the light ones to make things stand out (like the hands from the sides of the body in the frontwards frame) but you could go much further with this.  Use your colours to indicate volume!  Unless you want to have it look like a cookie at this scale, this is the way to go.  The other thing is that your outlines are so light, and so uniformly coloured, that they come across more as a kind of glow, a slight falloff towards the edges, than as an edge.  They won't add much to make the sprite distinct.  If you are going to go that route you may as well drop the outlines entirely and just do flat colours or areas of light and shadow.

Thirdly: you have rendered his butt in exactly the same way as his crotch and this makes me uncomfortable.

Now is where I get conceptual, and I urge you not to take this as me singling you out.  We get a lot of muscle baby characters like this here: squat little naked RPG men, in the style of Final Fantasy or RPG maker or basically any archetypal Japanese RPG.  It's to the point where if you see an "rpg character" thread you pretty much know to expect exactly this or the clothed, probably blue/green haired equivalent.

Now people may have been making game art for a few decades but I don't think that means that we've hit on the best solutions for everything and emulating other videogames is not at all the ideal solution to making game art.  I'm not accusing you of copying, or saying that cliche should be avoided above all else, but this doesn't strike me as the kind of solution you'd come up with on your own to "I want to represent a person in a 16x32 pixel box."  I encourage you to learn from other art, but to use it in making your own solutions and just really thinking about what you're trying to show and how you can best represent it.

I just made some quick drawings of bodies at the same scale, using your colours to hopefully show you what I mean:

I'm not saying that these are the best solutions, or even better than yours, but there's a lot of possibility even within this narrow idea that can be explored.  One other thing is that I draw pretty volumetrically which is something I just prefer.  I'm considering here the effect of an above the head light source.

Also note that Joseph's critique of using upward tilted perspective applies to me as well 

[_AG_]

thaznks for comments

joseph
i'm new at sprites not at pixelart but i know how long it takes but that's no problem.
i'll work at perspective
and i used only 3 colors because the character wil wear armour in the game so you won't see the sprite coloured like this in the game.
it's just to help me while drawing armours.

and lackey
i'll spend more time at shading at the amours
but as i said to joseph you won't see the sprite like this in the game that's why i spent no time at shading

and i just love these kind of sprites :
http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/24650.htm#
http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/13520.htm
so i'd like to keep the style like this
i know it's cliche but i just love this style
but thanks for trying to help

[zeid]

but as i said to joseph you won't see the sprite like this in the game that's why i spent no time at shading

Well if you wont see the sprite like this in game what was the point of posting it at all.
 
You can take a lot from those peoples:
Just because you are doing anime style doesn't mean it shouldn't have a proper light source and shading.
You should AA the sprites edges, they look yuk right now.
The anatomy of your guy is wrong, look at more examples.
...
You say you want Anime style... look at the last guy of those Lackeyposted, that is anime looking to me.

and i used only 3 colors because the character wil wear armour in the game so you won't see the sprite coloured like this in the game.
it's just to help me while drawing armours.

Justifying a lack of quality by saying you wont see most of it seems silly. If you want to AA this and make it look 'anime' and good you need better colour choice, and quite possibly more colours. (I don't like insisting on more colours but this can't be helped.)

[_AG_]

i meant you won't see this sprite without clothes in the game
and because i'll make different armours i draw the sprite first without any clothes to pixel the armours on the sprite without clothes.
i thought it would be easier when i'm drawing the armours?