Preview of my first minkoff battle styled character

So yes, as the title implies, this is my first character. First thing i've made ever, actually. lol
Just posting a preview of it, in hopes of getting some feedback or something to make it better.
And yes, i know that only one line of poses are done. Well, even that is still only SORTA done  
So yeah, don't hold back, i can take critizism and such  

Oh, also, i found this template on google, and if the owner of it wants credit for me using it, just let me know, ill be sure to do that for ya  







EDIT: After posting, i realized that the pants we're really, well.. bad. I'm reworking them now.

EDIT(again): You may all think im a loser for this, but i've pretty much abandoned this project till i've gained more experience. First time making a sprite of any kind, i've gotten in too deep lol I'm gonna try to make some icons or something first, then eventually continue this project once im ready. But, it does look alot better than the example above, i must add.

The hair is kinda strange, butthe battle char set is well made. You should finish it.

Looks like you caught that the pants look weird. I didn't even know he was wearing pants separately from his whole outfit. Everything is just the same damn color - you need a lot of shading and better contrast between objects. Also, as a tip - don't copy/paste the hair from one sprite to the next, change it a little bit each time to give it movement.

if this is your first try its ok,

a few friendly tips though

1) Hair do not repeat the samething or as grafik said copy/paste em. try to give it more movement, moving a few pixels will not hurt trust me, try to give it more darklines not only in the outerlining but inside as well so you could give it a good shape

2)If your gonna go with details with the Shirt give it more darker shade and if possible try to focus on where you light is. Kinda like the one, when you shade your sword, that way it wont look pillow shaded.

Sweet, thanks for the help you guys, i'll make sure to keep your helpful tips in mind as I continue on it

EDIT: I doubt anyone is curious as to the production of it, but I'm getting there.. don't have much time for it these days, but i'm well.. getting there. lol

The updated version, that is going to be set aside for some time.