2D Zelda Higher Resolution Community Project

[Koh]

I can see what you were trying to accomplish (did you use the Oracles artwork for reference?), though, I think you might see my point now...since this is an 8-bit sprite, you have to avoid shoving in a lot of pixels in small spaces like that for readibility.

Link's face looks super busy, to the point I couldn't tell what i was looking at at first. The reason the Four Swords Adventures Link was able to do the details they did was because they had more colors to work with, usable for softness and subtlety within a larger block of color. But since there are only 3 colors to work with here, everything stands out harshly, and putting that much together on a small space results in less readibility. While detail is indeed nice to have on a sprite, it's not only complimented with additional space, but also additional color.

Let's take a look at the evolution of the Warrior sprite from Final Fantasy 1.

NES Warrior Sprites Here: http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/fin...eet/10555/

This is the original. Since they're only working with 3 colors, they need more larger blobs of color for readibility.

PS1 (Also for WonderSwan Color and GBA) Warrior Sprites Here: http://www.spriters-resource.com/playsta...heet/8242/

The sprite is about within the same dimensions as the original, but has way more colors to work with (16 colors), which allows them to add more detail. It's detailed enough so you can still tell what you're looking at even from a distance, while also still simplifying some things so it doesn't look busy.

PSP Warrior Sprites Here: http://www.spriters-resource.com/psp/fin...eet/38274/

Double the resolution, and all the detailed goodness. Feels like completely new sprites, like they didn't even stem from the PS1 sprites. But they also have even more colors (I believe, 32 colors?), so they have additional means to add softer details on the sprite without making it look busy (like the additional lines within the hair to denote more strands, or the armor breastplate details, or the hint of angry eyebrows).