Yeah actually I've been spriting for about a week now. So I'd consider this pretty good for only a few days in. I don't make these characters based off what I want, it's based off a real person who gives me specifics that they would like to see. The less specific that someone is, the less work I do because if you don't care what your character looks like then I don't either haha. I'm using GIMP and yes I am very amateur at all of this. I'm a scripted and a modder and the only other time I've ever worked with Pixels was back in the day on Animal Crossing GC/New Leaf/Wild World. And that was nothing more than badass clothing designs and such. So yes help is much appreciated. You can be as critical as you want it doesn't bother me haha, what really matters is how happy I am with my work and one negative comment cant change that but only drive me to create more appealing characters.
This is not a ROM hack, i'm currently using FEXP to make my project which still has lots and lots of work to do. I'm also a newb at GIMP as I've only been using it as long as I've started spriting which is about a weeek. xD.. But I'm not sure how someone can insult the shading just because it's the original shading of the character and kept at the same brightness. But anywayyyyy, help is much appreciated! Toss me some techniques or things I can try out. I'd like to start making freehand sprites but that intimidates me a bit as of now. Thaaanks. :)
Edit - Oh and the colors are not picked by me but the owner of the character so I'm slightly limited in that department.