Summit Stage SSBB

[Terminal Devastation]

For the sake of clarity I'm going to reorder some of your sentences. If any context was lost in doing so, I apologise and please let me know. I might have missed something between the lines

is SHADEDBZ really prepared to take on something of this scale?
I don't think so.
I think learning to be moderate helps build up your potential and your ambitions. We're trying to give foundations to his ambitions.
Even if he doesn't finish this sprite, he's learnt a couple of lessons from this experience.

Is it really a project that motivates him to the bottom of his heart, or is it some teenage whim which he'll probably discard in a few months' time?

These are at the heart of my point. Why guide him away from something he has motivation for to something he may not have motivation to complete now? Sure if he wishes to discard it later, so be it. But until he does lose motivation, why not let him learn with something he wants to do. And just recommend that his next project be something smaller. Yes, I don't think he's ready yet, but let him realize that on his own

I don't think it's a question of "avoiding the hard stuff for now", because we're trying to make him conscious of the consideration that needs to be given to the pixels in his work. Working on small sprites and upwards is recommended for a reason: it's about mastering the area you're working on, it's about learning the importance of the pixel. So in no case is he avoiding the "hard stuff", he's being made more aware of it.
He still has a lot to learn, and not just technique in pixel art, but art in general too.

My apologies with my phrasing. It was partially in hyperbole and partially for effect. Although it hadn't occured to me that he might not know how ambitious this project really is, I do think some kudos should be given for the attempt, just to encourage over-reaching for newbies over the stubborn stagnation most usually have (aka "I can't scratch yet even though I can heavy edit really really well").

The fact that SHADEDBZ is trying to recreate something with a rather complicated and softened volume isn't a good idea at his level, and add to that rendering the ice textures. It isn't the kind of thing you'd ask a beginner to do, even to progress.

I'm just going to agree with this.

This is why I think he should give this project a break until he feels up to shading such a large area. He could even try doing several smaller versions of this.

Working in fragments could more than potentially destroy his workflow, making his piece patchy. It could also lead to quite a lot of touching up if he keeps trying new techniques on it, which could be quite laborious, and easily avoided if it were done entirely in one set in time.

I briefly acknowledged the lengthy touch up phase that would be needed to prevent patchiness in this method. I happen to use a similiar method quite frequently so I thought I'd suggest it. It may suit his skill or mind set. I don't see the need of avoiding this mistake however. There's a lot that could be learned from touching up a sprite, including nifty pixel combonations that you can apply elsewhere even if they are not needed for the current piece.

Of course, he is free to disregard my advice on this matter.

He could've optimised his worktime if he took a more general approach.

I'm of the opinion a beginner should worry more about learning the basics and random experimentation that optimising worktime. Time saving techniques are something that come as one learns and vary from person to person as ones own style develops.

Having an overall outlook on your work in progress is crucial in order to finish.

This one I don't quite get. Taking the sentence alone, I have no choice but to say its true. In context however, the added meaning I have to disagree with, simply due my own spriting method.

One thing that I think evades you is the effort required to shade such a big sprite:

Side note: I've attempted larger backgrounds before, but not the point.