Anypony a sprite expert? Suggestions?

[Ocean]

I need help for a hack.

Here's my RD sprite.

Scary, right? Trouble is, it needs to be that exact size to replace the previous sprite. Any suggestions on how to make it look less.... Tacky?

Mane hasn't been added, tail is seperate from the body in a different sprite, which is why it isn't present here.

Final note: Including two more colors, that's the max the pallete will allow

[Dessa]

Are you stuck with those particular colors? 14 should be enough colors to pull this off.

[Dessa]

Are you stuck with those particular colors?

There's a bit of redundancy with the blues. 4 blues, but only the body and outline are really apparent. When you're working with tiny sprites, you need more contrast. THe placement of the darker blue on the body seems a bit random. Is it supposed to be shadow? You could use one of those blues for antialiasing instead to clean up the lines.

The neck is a problem area. There's a block of dark pixels there that doesn't particularly work., and a weird jaggy out the back. Why is the front hoof rounded and the rear one squared? The mane could stand a bit taller. It'd also give you more space for more colors. Depending on how tight your colors end up being, you could save on mane colors by just using the primaries instead of the full 6-color spectrum.

The ear seems a bit big, but it's more in the chibi style, which is next to necessary on a sprite this small.

Focus on the IMPRESSION that the pixels leave, rather than any detail. Look at how Monet or Renoir use color splotches to "suggest" rather than "illustrate." So much of pixel work is tricking the brain by making it "fill in" what's not there.

I'll come at this with edits after I've run my daily errands.