Be gentle - it's my first time. :)
(http://i.imgur.com/QZellg3.png)
becomes:
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/n0JyF4Z.png[/imgzoom]
Not bad at all ... but it could do with a bit of shading, imho. Unless flat colors are the look you're going for, of course.
I agree - shading and more detail (pockets, etc.) would be a winner! Any idea where I could read up on sprite shading?
You don't need to go that far.
There are a lot of interesting links to tuts and forum-threads listed right over here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=30939.0)
(http://www.smileyvault.com/albums/userpics/12962/teacher.gif)
included are for example:
http://kafkaskoffee.tripod.com/tutorials/phototochartut.htm
-How to pixel a character using a photo as reference.
http://kafkaskoffee.tripod.com/tutorials/chartut.htm
-How to pixel a low-res character.