Howdy!

[Garamonde]

http://www.spriters-resource.com/communi...?tid=13868

It's a useful technique when used in right places. Its equivalent in traditional art would be the end of the brush's stoke. It's good to represent textures in rough surfaces, but exaggerating on it will make your pixelart dirty.
note: most of the time(if not always) dithering is misunderstood as being part of the shading process(this is, people thinks you have to dither in order to shade). this is completely WRONG. in fact you should never dither at all unless given really specific conditions, such as a limited palette or trying to emulate a texture. dithering can be used as a stylistic choice, but very few really knows how to use it properly, so if this is your first aproach to this concept or to this glossary, do not dither)