Check out the first frame of this custom Mario sprite I'm making--it's for a new platform game I just started on that features Mario, Link, Samus, and Pit struggling against a very bizarre antagonist who kidnaps hats.
What do you think of it? It's a bit different from the kind of anime/rpg-style sprites I usually make. I tried experimenting w/ more dynamic lighting as well, trying to give the colors a shiny appearance alongside the normal shading.
The way shields are held it wouldn't be possible for it to be that far away from his body unless the front were facing away from the viewer (which would look fine too) unless you were just grasping it awkwardly with your fingers.
Looks nice though, but yeah, it's a valid criticism. I suggest either moving it four pixels at the original resolution into his torso, changing the angle, or flipping it so we can see the back of the shield and his arm.
Yeah, I had some trouble placing the shield when I made this and did notice it looked kinda awkward...
The problem w/ moving the shield closer to his body though is that if it covers up too much of his face. As for flipping it, I don't really want to do that b/c I was thinking of implementing the shield into gameplay by blocking projectiles (i.e. like in SSBM).
I think I'll try giving the shield a different angle, see if it looks better.