Hello, it's me again
For the first sprite, I think the head is much too small compared to his torso. His head also seems to be somewhat inclined, but the way it's connected to the neck doesn't seem to support that.
His arms seem too thin compared to his legs and his torso.
The head of the shovel doesn't seem to be quite at the right angle.
Not sure how I feel about the lighting, But it's kind of strange how the light hits one of his pectorals but not the other.
Finally, his right foot seems to be facing to the side a little too much, makes the feet look very two-dimensional.
As for your TFR sprite, here's an edit of sorts.
It took me a some time to figure out how he was positioned exactly, and it seems a little impractical for swinging... And also a little uncomfortable. Regardless, the head seems too small-- the game has a cartoony vibe all in all, so you can go a little beyond realism.
The face's contour also has low contrast, blending with his hood and his torso.
The pauldron over his left arm doesn't seem to convey the right shape, and it seems you got rid of the metal collar, So I tried adding it.
Even if you kept this pose, the hands don't seem to have the right shape, and I'm almost sure the right arm isn't foreshortened correctly. The right end of the hatchet seems to be going at a different angle, too.
The upper legs seem to be disconnected from the boots, especially on the bottom sprite where you added more detail to the boots, but the pants remained just as flat.
I changed the white to a yellowish color since it felt more reminiscent of your reference, but that's totally subjective heh.
You should work a little more on the pose though. You can even try taking a picture of yourself doing the pose before you sprite it, if you have no other references, to have something to work off. I found
this picture, by the way, maybe it could be a useful alternative.