Life + Game Making = Sometimes more complexe than usual
I found pixel-art to be easier than HD arts because you can easily cut-out details and you will still have a beautiful graphic component. It requires a lot less colors too. When 4 pixels can make an eye and you can use the black dot in 4 different directions, your character is easy to animate with very few modifications. Same thing for walking animations. My favorite easy work is Super Mario where his arms are constantly bent, ready to run and moving back and forth while walking. Simple, easy, not complicated and very recognizable. Pixel-art to me is a fun and easy way to make things beautiful without spending hours on details.
Another example of, to my opinion, stupid success, is Minecraft. Seriously? Blocks in Low Definition that are now sold as toyes for Legos and stuffes animals??? Out of a simple concept, a game can be good without too much effort on graphics. All you need is the right idea and the good representation of it, fun for the player.
Don't put yourself in too much pressure, more-over, if you are alone, take the time. A lot of games take years to develop even with a team, so imagine alone. Don't be too eager, stay constant and focussed and achieve simple goals. It's good to have a check list, but it's good to have small goals.
This fishing rod you drew, is great. Very recognizable, simple. And I can assure you that the further you will draw in your game and check on other examples, you will acquire new skills.
I did an icon pack available on deviantart. I was trying to do my own Hard drive and add colors to it:
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I did a Google image search on hard drive icons. I love icons. Icons are the exact representation of what pixel-art should be. A small image that says a lot to the user. So finding an icon for whatever you want to draw gives ideas. Then, you simplify your image. I found out that hard drives have very recognizable screws but also a recognizable shape on top. This weird music-note-styled cover. It had some vents and usually a light to show people that activity is happenning on this thing. I came up with these concepts ehich I love for their simplicity. Of course, not everybody's taste, but still, very acceptible.
I also love to use Paint.Net as my main drawing program. One couls also consider Greefish Icon Editor as it can save in PNG formats and animated GIFS. I learned to draw in layers doing my base image shapes then adding layers to finaly merge them. Here is a brief over view of my next Lost Explorer player head that I started to draw with all layers:
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As you can see, seperately, it's ugly, but when merged, the effect is good. AND, you will notice that you CAN be ugly when drawing. Like my "Hat Shadow" it covers the entire head but one the Hat is on top, it never showed that I drew a black head for a shadow. You will also learn to use filters that will change how colors reacte to your images. Like the wood planks I drew as an example previously, the walls have a light shade on them. In reality, it's simple white lines I drew using the "Overlay" option for that layer in Paint.Net. In the end, the overlay does not appear white but it appears as a lighter shade of the underlying layers of your picture.
You will also see in my picture that I ommitted the eyes, nose and mouth. The hat acts as a eye cover and the beard and mustach act like the mouth and nose. The "Hat Shadow" limits the light on the face permitting me to ignore certain details which in HD, I would need to take care of. That's the beauty of pixel art. You don't need to be good to make it look good. All you need is to choose the right thing to omit and let the player use it's imagination for the rest.
Continue your hard work and don't rush, be patient and work on your project continuously. That way, you will be happy with your results everyday!
Keep it up!!! Happy drawing and coding