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Haven't really tried giving advice before, but I guess I should start somewhere.
I don't understand the hair shading. I mean, the lightsource is obviously overhead, but the shape of the lightest shade implies he has some kind of weird mohawk thing. The eyes look kinda dead/possessed to me, but that might just be because there isn't like a pixel of white to show it's actually reflecting light and such. Also the side of his head looks kinda weird, like he has no sideburns or ear. If you're going for his ears being behind his hair, like in the first sprite, it might be good to have the hair go down a bit further on the side.
The chest seems very square, which will probably be fixed with shading, but it's kind of exacerbated by that brown under the yellow. His posture makes him look slightly hunched over, but the bottom of his armor is still perfectly flat? The sash might be an issue if you can't keep the dark gray shading of the sprite and the light gray of the armor separated, but that isn't that big a deal. I don't really get that one pixel of yellow next to the sash thing though. it seems to imply there that the yellow continues from the last area to that point, which doesn't make any sense in the context of armor. Unless that's stomach armor, in which case his stomach would be twisted. Or the armor's asymmetrical in a weird place. I dunno, it'd be nice to see the armor design without the sash thing so I can tell what's going on under there.
The shoulder pads look kinda boring, but that's probably because they haven't been shaded yet. It's a nice shape though. Since the biceps aren't really a focus in this style, I would change them to the darker shade of gray so they aren't as big a focus to the eye. I don't understand why the forearms are green, but I guess that could be nice in differentiating them from the body when they're in front of it. Also, the forearm holding the axe looks noticeably smaller than the free one. The hands need a bit of work. The one that's holding the axe looks like it's bent at a really weird angle, and the one has some awkwardly defined fingers. I think both hands could greatly benefit from having a transition color.
Speaking of the axe, the way the handle sort of shifts over a pixel once it leaves his hand looks kind unprofessional. The thing on the back end of it might be a bit too big or too curved as well, it looks less like it's a cool ornamental thing and more like he would stab his hand on it if he was holding that axe more normally. The palette of the axe could potentially blend it in with the forearms, since they use similar shades of green, and the gold (?) on the axe blade blends in with the darkest skin tone.
As for the legs, they look kinda small in comparison to the rest of his frame. I mean, I know he's doing kind of a He-Man squat thing, but his hands still get really close to his knees, even though his arms are bent like 90 degrees. The yellow knees look alright, but the one on his bent leg might need to be adjusted a bit, since it looks more like it's right above his knee, rather than on it. His shins look in scale with the forearm holding the axe, but smaller than they should be compared to the free one, due to the aforementioned size difference. Also I don't know what's with that white line on his crotch. Is that supposed to be a zipper or something?
His pose is a lot more dynamic than the old one though, even if it needs to be touched up a bit, so that's definitely an improvement. I think it has potential, and should look a lot better once you finish shading it.
Take everything I say with like, a billion grains of salt though. I'm probably just talking out my ass.
The chest seems very square, which will probably be fixed with shading, but it's kind of exacerbated by that brown under the yellow. His posture makes him look slightly hunched over, but the bottom of his armor is still perfectly flat? The sash might be an issue if you can't keep the dark gray shading of the sprite and the light gray of the armor separated, but that isn't that big a deal. I don't really get that one pixel of yellow next to the sash thing though. it seems to imply there that the yellow continues from the last area to that point, which doesn't make any sense in the context of armor. Unless that's stomach armor, in which case his stomach would be twisted. Or the armor's asymmetrical in a weird place. I dunno, it'd be nice to see the armor design without the sash thing so I can tell what's going on under there.
The shoulder pads look kinda boring, but that's probably because they haven't been shaded yet. It's a nice shape though. Since the biceps aren't really a focus in this style, I would change them to the darker shade of gray so they aren't as big a focus to the eye. I don't understand why the forearms are green, but I guess that could be nice in differentiating them from the body when they're in front of it. Also, the forearm holding the axe looks noticeably smaller than the free one. The hands need a bit of work. The one that's holding the axe looks like it's bent at a really weird angle, and the one has some awkwardly defined fingers. I think both hands could greatly benefit from having a transition color.
Speaking of the axe, the way the handle sort of shifts over a pixel once it leaves his hand looks kind unprofessional. The thing on the back end of it might be a bit too big or too curved as well, it looks less like it's a cool ornamental thing and more like he would stab his hand on it if he was holding that axe more normally. The palette of the axe could potentially blend it in with the forearms, since they use similar shades of green, and the gold (?) on the axe blade blends in with the darkest skin tone.
As for the legs, they look kinda small in comparison to the rest of his frame. I mean, I know he's doing kind of a He-Man squat thing, but his hands still get really close to his knees, even though his arms are bent like 90 degrees. The yellow knees look alright, but the one on his bent leg might need to be adjusted a bit, since it looks more like it's right above his knee, rather than on it. His shins look in scale with the forearm holding the axe, but smaller than they should be compared to the free one, due to the aforementioned size difference. Also I don't know what's with that white line on his crotch. Is that supposed to be a zipper or something?
His pose is a lot more dynamic than the old one though, even if it needs to be touched up a bit, so that's definitely an improvement. I think it has potential, and should look a lot better once you finish shading it.
Take everything I say with like, a billion grains of salt though. I'm probably just talking out my ass.