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Yeah, I agree - it's looking great. 

It certainly looks very professional to me - solid cartoon style that would be great to see in a game (but in color, right?) 

It would be easier to give critique if you posted the scaled sprite, but as concept I think this looks cool.

CoolÃ,  Ã, 8)

I edited my original post above with a new update of the deity, trying to fit it more in the style of the other sprites.

In a way I think maybe the dithering is making it less divine-looking... (?)

I wasn't certain either, so I checked it, and it turns out that

Interestingly, both male and female goats have horns.

From goat description at this site

This site explains that there are also hornless goats, but they are usually infertile.

However, the curved horns of the first sprite has more resemblance of sheep horns than goat horns (the curved shape), and only male sheep have horns. But maybe it can be mountain goat horns like these

It's not exactly beautiful, and to tell you the truth - I'm kinda scared of it too... At the same time, I find it quite hilarious, but in a spooky way where I'm not sure if I'm allowed to laugh - that beak looks pretty deadly, and it is a deity, after all... Still, it looks like a parody of itself.

I guess that combination of traits somehow triggers me. And if it sqeaks and behaves violently and irrationally in the game, I hope the character-design is complete. But I will try to pixel it more to the likeness of the other characters.

Oh yeah, it shows up right in Mozilla Firefox thanks for the hint.

Thanks for critique Cluey - I tried naturalizing the pose of the tall one

Ã,  x2

... but I'm not sure it worked as intended - because now she seems less terrifying and imperative. Any ideas?

These are fine, seems like a character that could hold some surprises. Yes, I like the middle one too, the left one is ok, but the one to the right has the eyes looking weird.

One thing is the ears - aren't cats' ears a little pointier than that - those are more like teddy bear ears imho, not that I'm a genuine teddy bear ear expert. But I guess you're settling for a certain style - also regarding the pupils - they're reminiscent of the crazy cat beast from Alice in Wonderland (I forget it's name) - real cat's pupils are more like vertical almond-shaped slits, like here

But I'm sure you know, so keep up the good work.

So what are you making - a Flash thing or an AGS game?

[The Worm and the Hare]

Here's my fable in broken english, it's kinda short too, so I'm posting it here. :-)

The Worm and the Hare
Once there was a hungry worm, travelling West towards lusher and greener pastures. On its way, it had to traverse a puddle of vile mud, and as the sun rose high and dried the mud around it, the worm was miserable stuck, fixated in a cement-like cast. A hare jumped over the dried mud, I mean, it's a hare - it can easily do that, what with it's oh so long and slender legs.Ã,  "Help me!", shouted the worm, and behold, the benevolent hare stopped and loosened the worm from the mud and carried it on it's back to it's lair where they feasted on ripe green grass. The hare was soon nourished, but the worm with it's insatiable appetite had not had enough. "This is so cool," said the worm, "Will you now carry me to the pasture where I were headed so I can continue my eating? You're my best friend ever!" The hare responded: "Well, I'm full now, and will go to sleep. If you're still hungry, you must travel along on your own." And with a smile it added, "Besides, friendships between worms and hares are never long-lived." "Well, if that's the way you want it", the worm gruntled and travelled on in its laborious way. The hare never missed the worm or regretted what it had said. Although, from then on, occasionally, during the summer, it would stop and send faint smiles at the butterflies.

Morale: "Friendships between worms and hares are never long-lived." or "There's more to butter than flies."

Hm, I'm not sure I'm actually going to make a game with these, but once I thought up the concept I had to try and draw them. The story, if any, is vague - something about a girl (the player controlled character) having to deal with monastery full of these suspicious nuns:

Ã,  x2

...yes, they're nuns.

They are led by this character:

Ã,  x2

...and all must answer to "the god", a beaked and bearded semi-transparent floating head with watery eyes that I still have to draw. I imagine he communicates by birdlike squeaks, interpreted for the congregation by the tall goat mistress, and always to a bitter end for the main character.

... Well, now that I painted them - any crits on the sprites?

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EDIT: Here's the deity/floating apparition thing:

x2

It's supposed to have transparent background - don't know why it shows up like this - but the apparition itself will also be semi-transparent in the game.
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NEXT EDIT: Here's a new version of the deity where I've tried to fit it more in the style of the other sprites, mainly by lowering color-count and cleaning up the outline. I also made the ear less obtrusive, although it's still in an arguably weird position.Ã, 

x2

Next: I'm crazy, not stupid!

Well, I wasn't thinking about anybody specifically, guess that thread where you were leaving brighton and everybody had their say about chavs and British carpeting made me think Brighton was somewhere you'd all been - rereading it I can see it's about Britain in general. Nevermind, I'm busy drawing a boobytrap that I just decided must be in myÃ,  game.Ã, Ã, 

Seems some of the core AGS'ers are from Brighton, so I'm wondering if anyone's planning to attend the Develop Conference in Brighton this July?

I don't think I'll be able to go myself (thesis/projects), but if somebody else is, I'd love to hear a little of what went on. There are so many interesting things on the program - like this:

Indie Developers Group Gathering
Thomas Arundel, Introversion Software
Group Gathering, 60 minutes · Thursday, 13 July · 13:30-14:30
What makes a game developer independent? Do you have what it takes to make a great game and do it all?Ã,  If so, come 'meet and greet' other independent game developers. This is a time to network, share ideas, talk games, and learn more about the 'Indie' scene. How can we make it easier for Indie developers to create compelling games and profit from their ideas? Helping each other at forums like this, independents can not only survive but also thrive in the gaming industry. Come share your opinions, experiences, and stories. Come meet someone who is doing what you want to be doing or mentor others with fresh ideas but a lack of experience.

How can Indies get their games out to the players and into the stores? How do we move beyond 'downloadable games' and 'shareware' to compete in a global marketplace?Ã,  How can we juggle work/life balance issues that come with 'doing it all'? We welcome constructive debate, and look forward to seeing you at this group gathering!

and this...

Design by democracy: How to keep your vision - while taking on board everyone else's

Peter Molyneux, Lionhead Studios
Track: Design · Theme: Winning with Creativity · Lecture, 60 minutes
Thursday, 13 July · 13:30-14:30

After years of fighting omnipotent programmers and recalcitrant artists, games designers have finally carved out a solid role for their profession at the heart of the development team. But equally, games design has come of age at a time of unparalleled pressures. Not only must designers balance marketing's views on trends on the high street with their CEOs desperate desire for original IP, there's also a million hardcore voices on the Internet scouring every press release, and commenting on your every design decision. How does a games designer cherry pick the best input from these disparate sources and reject the rest - whilst keeping the team and the community on board?

Btw. is this conference a new thing, or is it there every year?

That guy Sean sure has a lot of styles to play with - I like the warm colors in the first ones, and the crazy vehicles are among my favorites too. I wonder who his father is... he says he's an even better artist?

2Macco: Found this thread with more pringleart there: Game Environments for graduation project
He points to some imageshack links for process, but they're dead :[

No problemÃ, 

Yes, nice colors and texture - the image is a bit blurry maybe, especially if it's supposed to be full-screen for the game, and too dark - judging from the orange shape, there's some kind of gate other side of the bridge, but if it's opening to one side, how come the rocks on both sides are equally illuminated? I think the ambience should be a bit brighter overall, and the gate reworked to make more immediate sense. But it's conveying a very nice atmosphere.

Darth - is your reply for someone else?

Maybe this should've gone in General Discussion (anticipating move-action now), but I thought the art people in here would be a better target for the inspirationÃ, (?)Ã,  Anyway, how would we ever improve at anything without inspiration?

Bartimaeus: me too, sort of...Ã, Ã, 

Last week, my girlfriend went to a party at her old design school, and she met this guy she knew from when they were studying there - at the time he was learning pixelart, copying from printed photos for photorealistic resultsÃ,  - I guess the hard work payed off, now he's got a job as some kind of lead artist for a Canadian game developer. Looking at his website I can see why. Awesome stuff, hope it can be of inspiration.

www.pringleart.com

You can change shadow parameters on the modifier roll-outs for the light-sources you place in the scene. Also, different renderers handle lights differently.

Hey minimi - good render! And cool to hear you're making some bucks. Also, will you put a link to your TurboSquid items? Might want to have a go at it sometime.

For crits (even if you don't want any), the texture does seem stretched on the shot glass and a bit too glossy and undefined on the honey jar. I agree with MrColossal's advice on chamfering and texturing, although it sounds like you have an idea what sells - the items fit very much in the style of online casinos and such, at least from what I've seen.

Last updates were better with perspective - but to be honest, I'm still not thinking padded cell when I see them. Walls could be stone or any other material. The shading needs to define shape and material in more detail, and unless you're on a very tight color-budget you could add more tones. Also, I like what Alliance did with the floor and ceiling.

As Akumayo said, it's your choice - in game you could tell the player that it's a padded cell in some other way.