Going out of my comfort zone... going out of my comfort zone...

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

I know my little edit here is a mess to lookt at, at first. But if you zoom in at at least 6x in paint, maybe even 8 you'll be able to understand it better. I did a quick little gesture drawing over your sprite, to anatomically map it out a little better. As for style well it's pretty good as far as I can see. Just fix up the anatomy a tad, and remember the human body is a balancing act. To get a better idea of it, maybe read Bridgman's book, it's incredibly helpful. Anyway best of luck man and I hope my edit helps a little.

Sorry this is slightly off-topic, but: Dark Kamek, the whole point of an edit is for it to be clear, and simple (and ultimately helps) the user. You should've put forth your edit by setting oB2Ko Mario's sprite transparent or simply doing it from scratch.

These are some good crits

thanks guys :>

So maybe if I make the torso smaller, will that make the anatomy better? Or is the torso fine as it is and I just need to fix up those darn legs?

Also: the shading was really the thing I was looking for in this topic. I'm fairly sure I got two different light sources going, but no one seems to be largely commenting on that. Does that mean I'm fine with how I'm shading it, or should I just fix up the anatomy first before I fix up the shading?

I suggest you fix anatomy first, that way you can pin down how the light'll land on Phoenix.
Here's an edit, hope it helps:

Arrows indicate the direction a part of the body faces, black is facing us. That orange line... Ignore it. I think I pinned the anatomy, not quite sure though. Oops, pelvis area should be to the right (green).