in that top one
dont dither
hell don't dither period unless for some strange reason you're required to limit your colors. dithering only exists to add middle tones when color limitations are in place, and to add texture, and neither of those apply to anything going on in that picture
you seem to be pillowshading in that top one a lot (using a lightsource coming directly from the viewer's eyes) which looks really ugly and should never be used. I might see some banding going on with the grass tiles but i'm not really zoomed in all the way so i'm not entirely sure.
also, you dont have this problem in the second picture, but the first one has very little contrast between shades, this in addition with all the """"""technical"""""" problems with the piece make it look really flat and rushed
hopefully you're not one of those members that posts their stuff here and expects nothing but praise because it looks like you have some potential
also also
that character in the first piece is really /blah/, nothing about him/her/it stands out at all, and it's really unmemorable. i know you said it was just an example, but that shouldn't be an excuse to make something lazy, the opposite should happen really, because it's an example of what you can do, you should make it look as good as, or even better than what you normally do. you want to impress someone with a preview/portfolio of your work
dont dither
hell don't dither period unless for some strange reason you're required to limit your colors. dithering only exists to add middle tones when color limitations are in place, and to add texture, and neither of those apply to anything going on in that picture
you seem to be pillowshading in that top one a lot (using a lightsource coming directly from the viewer's eyes) which looks really ugly and should never be used. I might see some banding going on with the grass tiles but i'm not really zoomed in all the way so i'm not entirely sure.
also, you dont have this problem in the second picture, but the first one has very little contrast between shades, this in addition with all the """"""technical"""""" problems with the piece make it look really flat and rushed
hopefully you're not one of those members that posts their stuff here and expects nothing but praise because it looks like you have some potential
also also
that character in the first piece is really /blah/, nothing about him/her/it stands out at all, and it's really unmemorable. i know you said it was just an example, but that shouldn't be an excuse to make something lazy, the opposite should happen really, because it's an example of what you can do, you should make it look as good as, or even better than what you normally do. you want to impress someone with a preview/portfolio of your work