Some sketches of the armor
And the pixel version
Doing a 3d model was for sure not worth the time but it was fun atleast.
You have a great job here!
About the armor, our friend
@Okke said about AA. I need to agree with you that AA isn't a good idea there, if bad applied it would do the sprite looks more blurred.
Analyzing the pixels, what do I believe that you have reduced some armor model you did... I think this is nice and greatly facilitates the work with a ready model.
But when you do that often the colors are messed up, make noise and some blurr. So you need to fix it.
(Well, if you want to achieve higher quality, usually the player doesn't care.)
In this case I suggest working with individual pixels to improve contrast specifically, this would improve the overall sharpness.
Also I recommend putting the outline unless you don't work with Open Tibia.
It's used to have no problem with changing the background.
I must say the 'pixel art' looks like downscaled 3d models. Try doing this with only 4-8colors. And be consequent how you put them. Its not easy but this would never get approved as pixel art even if you did it pixel by pixel
"Pixel art is a form of digital art, created through the use of raster graphics software, where images are edited on the pixel level. " Wikipédia
I believe when you're working with pixels, you're doing pixel art.
Some people restricts the amount of color... so I don't know if i do Pixel Art, and I dont care about what is Pixel art now... I just call myself a Spriter hahaha!
I just need to agree with you.. Maybe he isn't doing "pixel art" (I mean, working with the pixels), I believe his armors are resizes of his models.
But that's cool anyway, he can make great sprites with this method.
Waiting for new sprites, gogo!