Low quality? Are you being deliberately patronizing?
First and foremost.
http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=3467.0Keep in mind that pixeling isn't just a matter of limitation, for a lot of folks it's a preferred medium, just as a person might prefer acryllic oer water color, pen over pencil. Fundamentals play a big factor too, anatomy, lighting, color choice are just as important in pixel art as they are in any other medium.
Let's start with the second picture. There are more colors than I can count by hand - Graphics gtale counts 1677 unique colors, which suggest that the gradients were automatically generated. This is not pixel art. It's not that one needs to place every single bit by hand, but not only could you probably get away with using less than a tenth of that, but having the compuer automatically light something for you goes against the basic definition. Take for example, my avatar uses 31, and that's still a bit much for my liking. The .gif format only supports a palette of 255 unique colors, just to give a bit more comparison.
Same goes for the background of the first picture, but you've got the right -idea- with the figures there. apply that same principle to your backgrounds. Now, as for the figures themselves, scan the above link for some anatomy tutorials. The information contained therein can provide *much* more information than I could ever hope to.
Lighting seems to be an issue - try to keep in mind where your light is coming from and the volumes of the objects it would be hitting.
