Taken from a sprite tutorial...best one I've seen.
1. Do not claim to be a great spriter. - You will only seems arrogant. People WILL actively try to find many things wrong with your sprite and you will not earn many friends. If you are great, you will not need to say so. Do not say you are great ESPECIALLY if you use remakes or partially-remade sprites. It will not be true. You seem like a dick if you do this.

2. No one can teach you to sprite. - Asking "how do I make great sprites" is a question no one can answer. It involves practice and a trained eye for proportions, color coordination, and the ability to rotate your sprite in your mind. People can give you pointers, but you must ultimately learn how to be great through endless amounts of practice

3. Never, EVER use someone else's sprite as a base. - This is VERY rude. If you want to seem like a jerk, take a sprite someone has made, remake it and say it is yours. Only use Capcom sprites or sprites from other games to make remakes. Using a fan base (even one that was very obviously modeled after Zero or X) will send rabid spriters after you with knives and pitchforks.

4. Accept criticisms with stride. - When you show someone a sprite and they criticize it, take it with stride, please. People criticize to help others to identify problems with their sprite so they can be fixed or avoided entirely in the future. Do not take these as insults. If we insult you, you'll know it. Do not get defensive, we are pointing out things we think are wrong to HELP you, it would be a hindrance to say only nice things

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