i'm a sad individual so here are my not good sprites

[miyabi95_]

Changing the tradition for the sake of change is almost always a bad idea. It's better to change it due to having a good idea that can compliment the way it's usually done, not for the purpose of changing the concept but because you think it would be cool and interesting. If you're changing something just to change it, most forget to actually have a good idea to change it with. Not saying your idea doesn't work or isn't interesting, just that you may have had the wrong motive to consider changing the formula.

Now, from what I see in your newest post, the colors are pretty dull looking other than the purple and you went really overboard on the blending, giving it a kinda fake prerendered/glossy look. Not a fan of that.
The heart and devil/angel have unusually thick outlining with really boring colors.
Is the heart meant to be rotating? Looks like it's flattening out.
Beams look like they were made with a gradient tool of sorts so... nothing I can really say about them. Maybe try and make them more interesting.

Well, now that you bring it up, I will confirm that I've done more development on the character and that I am genuinely interested in creating someone who's not your average succubus. I have a soft spot for stories about underdogs and fit the format of "not your average ___," and I think my art style would bode well with a story involving female demons/monsters. Just wanna clarify that I do have my motives straight for this little project .

Funny thing, actually: my intent was to blend a lot so that it would look pre-rendered xP. I've been playing to many CAVE shmups lately, and doing so has really inspired me to make my own shmup . But to be honest, I should probably revert to a simpler NES-esque style just so I don't have many issues with the simplicity of my designs. That and I want to use a style that's more unique to myself, of course.

Generally-speaking, these sprites we're talking about are just mere concepts and are 100% likely to be completely redone. Felt great to show you all some recent work of mine though, thanks for the critique!

BTW: The beams were hand-drawn, then resized. Still looks pretty lazy though, I admit. But I don't use gradients unless I'm trying to find a clever background or something .