Trying to create a sprite for the main character of a platformer.

Going for an anime style at about the 16-bit level.

Feel free to be open and critical; tear my work apart, draw red lines all over it.  Help me understand what I need to fix.

I reckon you could make the expression look less "surprised". The arms could also be made to look like she's brandishing the staff instead of looking like she's lifting weights.

left: original; right: edited

Looking forward to see the animated sprite.

What you did with the left arm helps a LOT.

I would add highlights to the face. You have them on your clothing but the face itself is very flat. Besides that, great job!  

7 minutes ago, Rutin said:

I would add highlights to the face. You have them on your clothing but the face itself is very flat. Besides that, great job!  

Ditto on this.

I didn't add any in the edit because I was working strictly with the palette that's been set for it.

I tried re-drawing the sprite completely, using some earlier sketches as a reference.
I still don't feel like I've captured the character properly.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see any highlights. It looks like you added shading on the face though.

To be honest, I preferred the previous iteration. The hips look too narrow now and the face is kinda boyish. It also looks like the shoulders have become more broad, making it look less female in proportions. I reckon you can make the hips look wider by simply flaring out the skirts more, it will also make the shoulders look less broad without actually changing it though it wouldn't hurt to shift it inward a pixel or two.

The purple shoes and gold hemline on the older version real a lot better than the newer brown shoes and purple hem - the lower body on the new version is more indistinct and harder to interpret.. This will become especially important when she's animated.

Updated version:  tried to blend the best parts between the two.



...I think you're right about the shoes looking better as purple.
My next step is basically a massive overhaul of the color, so I'll get to it next.