Custom mario

[Omegakyogre]

as OmegaKyogre said, your sprite is severely pillowed. The colors are boring and lacks contrast. You should hueshift when shading, too. Also, get rid of that colored outline, or use a black one (Make sure not to outline inside the sprite, though). The Bros' hands are too blocky, and Mario's body looks really weird.

And where's the brim on their caps?

Aside from that, you made a good attempt. Keep improving on it

I agree on everything here, but perhaps the colored outline is part of the style? Not that it doesn't need improving, of course, either way.

Also: Yes, your edited one is much better and removes most of the pillow shading on his head. It still looks like you only used two colors for the skin part of his face, so it looks pretty flat. Also, his overalls aren't shaded at all. Add some more colors to shade with (and don't forget the hue shifts, as gorsal mentioned). Definitely round out their hands.

Their noses are still problems.