WIP Custom Pokey Tower Sprites- A Newb's Thread

[LeleleleMAXIMUM]

1. References. I googled the character and made a lineart loosely based on it. I say "loosely" because if I copied it flat out, then I wouldn't be adding my own style to it.
2. Lineart. Started with two circles, making sure that it was round and had no jaggy parts. The petals I used colored areas as a template for the shape. I also didn't use lines inside of the petals to keep their "thin" look.
3. Shading. I made sure to shade the circles like spheres, similar to Smash's advice above. This is to add depth to the sprite.
4. Selective Otlining and Anti-aliasing. Smash explained them above. A good rule of thumb for AA is the color you used to AA should be midway between the two colors you want to blend. And a personal rule of thumb in Sel-out is I use a color two shades away from the color being outlined. For instance, the lightest shade of orange was outlined with the third darkest shade of orange, etc. There are exemptions, like if it wouldn't fit the shading, etc.

Hope that helped.