How can I improve?

[PokeGyroid]

NOTE: I know these aren't video game characters so I WON'T submit these to TSR. And please no bad comenting on the characters I picked. Only criticism that can help me improve please.
Hi, I'm new around these forums, but I have been using the site for a while. It'd be really good if I could custom sprite. I made these sprites of some characters but other people said they were terrible. Could you guys help me improve my sprites so I can improve?

[Kelvin]

Not bad for a beginner. I think you need to work on shading, but the shapes seem to fit the characters, except the penguin looks rather blocky. Or is that how he's supposed to look? I don't recognize the yellow dude or the weird bird thing on the end, but I can definitely say you need to work on shading. Pick a light source for each one, and then try to think in 3D to see how the light would cover the sprite. But I do think you're on to something. Work on the shading and clean up the shapes, then post the new pic so we can see the changes and tell if you're going in the right direction.

[Le Sigma]

Not bad for a beginner. I think you need to work on shading, but the shapes seem to fit the characters, except the penguin looks rather blocky. Or is that how he's supposed to look? I don't recognize the yellow dude or the weird bird thing on the end, but I can definitely say you need to work on shading. Pick a light source for each one, and then try to think in 3D to see how the light would cover the sprite. But I do think you're on to something. Work on the shading and clean up the shapes, then post the new pic so we can see the changes and tell if you're going in the right direction.

Pretty much this.
You might also want to work on anti-aliasing - a process in which you put darker colours in shading on the edges of sprites so it blends and creates a smooth effect.

[Kelvin]

Here. http://www.spriters-resource.com/resources/tut.php This page is full of shading tutorials as well as other things that will help.

[PokeGyroid]

Not bad for a beginner. I think you need to work on shading, but the shapes seem to fit the characters, except the penguin looks rather blocky. Or is that how he's supposed to look? I don't recognize the yellow dude or the weird bird thing on the end, but I can definitely say you need to work on shading. Pick a light source for each one, and then try to think in 3D to see how the light would cover the sprite. But I do think you're on to something. Work on the shading and clean up the shapes, then post the new pic so we can see the changes and tell if you're going in the right direction.

OK, clean up the shapes and fix shading. Thanks.
Also to help, the first one's a Club Penguin penguin, the second's Blockhead, the third's Homsar, the fourth's Chowder and the fifth is Sceb. Again, don't do any bad commenting on the characters.

[Cobalt Blue]

don't be so scared. we all know and we're all aware that they are terrible so drop the diaper and just take whatever comes and filter what you consider useful for yourself.

regarding the sprites, try to not abuse so much of the line/shape tool. you'd end with way too blocky characters than you want.

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You might also want to work on anti-aliasing - a process in which you put darker colours in shading on the edges of sprites so it blends and creates a smooth effect.

also don't even worry about antialiasing since it would be way better to understand the basics of proper shading first and then move into something more elaborated such as antialiasing, wich of course has nothing to do with "putting darker colours in shading of the edges to blend them"

[Ran Master 27]

Practice smoother shaping.
They have a decent pallet, but you need work on shading and shaping.
The Line tool can only be used so much before everything looks like fail block/toys.

The purple thing, 3rd in line's probably got the best shaping outta all the other three.
Maybe practice some sort of sprite outlining as well.

Kind of like this:

[PokeGyroid]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while and sorry I'm bumping. I didn't fix the shading and shapes yet but I've made this sprite of Homsar (the blue guy) and it's more realistic in size to this sprite:(not by me)
My Homsar attempt:
Homsar himself:
How can I improve on him? Where do I need to put better shading?

[Cobalt Blue]

you're watching the reference. at first, just try to follow it as closer as you can.

[PokeGyroid]

Soz for bumping, but where can I improve the shading?
UPDATE: I've looked at a spriting tutorial, though most shading parts weren't there, so I looked at the shading of other characters (I want to make him for this fan-game called SSF2 where you can make downloadable characters).

How does it look now?

[Cobalt Blue]

check that shading tutorial again. shading is meant to define shapes and help define the volume of them.

[Lexou Duck]

In your sprite, that Homsar dude's body outline is a straight vertical line. It needs to be more curvy.
Also, chowder is kinda pillow-shaded.