New to pixel art. First Character critique and help wanted.

[uploading]

Hello, I am very new to pixel art and making my own art in general. I'm mainly a programmer but wanting to make my own games and not have to rely on someone for the art portions. This is my first little character a goblin. I did a little simple bouncy idle animation. Like I said I'm very new and would really appreciate any help.

[fskn]

Sorry about the late reply.


23 colors -> 12 colors (alt)

I think you had too many colors and too little contrast between them. You should (IMO) choose colors that aren't as close to one another in terms of value.
They were also too dark (except for white, obviously) and thus made your character very hard to see and understand his features.

Also, pillow shading doesn't help much in defining form.  Make it like there's a light above the character and shade him accordingly.