How can I make these sprites 'acceptable'

[Solid_Spy]

The simple truth is that these need a lot of work. The outlines are uneven in places, the shading is minimal at best and severely lacking in spots. The mask shading makes no sense and the shades are too high contrast.

Ok, i've decided to just refactor the area around the shyguys head and body cuz it's just not working out. I'm still not sure what you want me to do about the shading, are there any specific sprites that need the most work with shading? I'm feeling like i'm being tugged back and forth here with the contrast. I'm not sure what level of contrast that is supposed to be correct. I'm also not sure what you want me to do about the mask. The mask is round-ish flat, so I have a round shadow on the bottom. Do you want me to make it thinner, or thicker?

Here I'm using different levels of contrast, in comparison to the oldest sprite to the right:



which one has the best contrast? The left one is the one you said had too much contrast.