I just finished my first pixel sig. : And I removed all black borders. The borders you can still see are just darker colors.

 

C/C?

 

 

 

Here it is. I just need to write my name on it.

 

 

I can still completely change it because I worked in layers. In case it really is way too bad.

Well you pillow shaded the grass, the sword is ugly, you have your lighting all out of wack... its like you have a light everywhere, there are no shadows, and much more.

well i've seen a lot worse first pixels, you're definitely on the right track. I'd say concentrate on the anatomy first. Try and stand in the position your character is in, then try and swing a sword in that position, not too easy :P the left leg is too far forward making it look unbalanced. The way i tackle anatomy is to look at a real life reference, a photo for example, taking a piture of yourself in the pose you want is a good way to get a reference point, then make a wireframe or outline pixel of you pic.

 

 

 

Another thing is the overall composition.. the pool or lake looks like something coming out of the end of his sword, it would look better either moved up and made larger, or moved to the left of the snake. I agree with Pat's comments about the lighting too, a definite lightsouce and hading would help it a lot.

It actually isn't that terrible for a first pixel sig.

 

 

 

The main problems at the moment:

 

 

 

Anatomy of the character, it is really quite off. I can't really help you with this, try reading some tutorials/books on human anatomy.

 

Colours and shading: the sky seems very dark for a day scene, and the gradient from light to dark seems very unrealistic. Try using less colours and dithering too.

 

The grass, some parts are pillow shaded and it could use some texture, looks really flat and... well, not very grass-ish.

 

 

 

There are probably some other things I missed, but these points stand out for me. Listen to kemikalkadet's advice too, it's good.

looks great for your first but its pretty random :P

 

I really like your avvy pixel too btw 8-)

The shading and anatomy are totally out of whack. Other than that, it is a surprisingly good pixel sig. I like your style, all cartoony. It's great. I do prefer your helm though :-#