New Link:

I realize that size may be an issue when it comes to expansions, so I'll just sprite him for the hell of it.

Definitely better. The upper body is quite well done. The shoes still need some work.
They're quite oddly shaped and his left one's shading needs reworked. Although they might look better with movement.
On his right leg, I'd move a pixel or two (or three) from the top of the straight vertical grey outline to the right.
On his left shoe, I'm guessing that you want it to come into the forground, but from the way it's shaded currently it looks a bit like a cylinder.
Take away some of the lighter pixels so that they aren't on the foot part.
The lowest skin pixel near his collar should be moved to the right.
Also, you might want to consider angling the sword downwards a bit. The way his arm is positioned looks rather uncomfortable.

Yeah, the shoes were the hardest part for me. I didn't want to angle the sword because the way diagonal pixels work when in Paint/GIMP/blahblahblah.

I don't understand. Do you mean that red pixels are always more to the right?

Diagonal pixels? Lolwut?
Pixels are pixels. A sword shouldnt be held straight like that. It doesn't make sense.

Update. C + C please.

That's quite good, the right shoe needs to have a the shading fixed and the shield needs less detail. Other than that I like the style your promoting, strictly if it was used in a similar atmosphere.

I disagree. It's fine as it is, it just needs shading.
I would consider making the shield face up and down though. It looks a tad odd as is.
Sword and collar are much better, shoes still need work.

Knees usually bend slightly. Certainly for Link's idle stance.

I like the pallet, but the face and the hand that holds the sword (mainly the position) need work. Link shield needs a complete redo in my opinion, it doesn't look like the Hylian Shield. Mainly the shape throws it off.

Knees usually bend slightly. Certainly for Link's idle stance.

I like the pallet, but the face and the hand that holds the sword (mainly the position) need work. Link shield needs a complete redo in my opinion, it doesn't look like the Hylian Shield. Mainly the shape throws it off.[/quote]
That's basically what I was trying to say but you seemed to find the words more suitable for it. I also suggest make the blade of the sword look like the mastersword.

I've never been great with faces. :p That one might take a while.
The knees thing can be taken care of once I get time to get around to it.
The hand is even harder than spriting the face for me actually.
If I get a better reference pic for the shield, I can get it finished up.
Thanks for the help, guys!

Pretty much what everybody else has already mentioned. I can't wait to see how the face turns out. If you nail it this could be a really great sprite.

Do not fear, faces and hands are the most difficult parts of spriting, so it's only natural if you'd have trouble with them for your first couple of sprites. It's something you pick up when your pogrress, I guess. For now I can suggest using lots of references.

As for the shield:

yes that so true.


take his word and if you ever make sprite for someone don't make it look like it giving the middle finger.

the heck?