Hello! I'm new here. (But have been drooling over everyone's art for a while hehhh) I am trying to teach myself pixel art for a game I'm working on. Between me and my friends I have writing, coding, music, etc. covered, but no artists. So I'm... gonna try my best!!

(I'm nervous posting this because you all make such fantastic art - please be kind!)

I used a tutorial to make a pixel portrait from a photograph, and I am REALLY surprised at how well it turned out!! Like, I can't even doodle well. I thought this would be impossible for me. 

Here is the photo I based this off of:

And my first draft of her skin: 

If anyone has (gentle) feedback, these are two points that I think I need work on:

- My first attempt at her skintone used more colors and followed the photograph pretty exactly, but her face looked weird and marbelized, so I toned it down, but I think I lost some of her cheek definition by just replacing it with all one color? Any ideas/suggestions?

- First attempt followed the photo exactly, and since her necklace tilts up in the photo, it looked like it was cutting into her neck or something. So I tried to adjust it myself... and it ... looks weird. Haha. 

Thank you in advance!! You're all so talented!!!