Pixel art ninja cherry blossom ( TUTORIAL INCLUDED FOR EVERYONE )

It was a chill cold day so i thought what would it be like if you were to be a ninja taking a break from killing just having a breather to stop and take a view of the mysterious scenery he gazes his eyes upon.

I'm really satisfied with how it turned out! I hope the competition viewers would enjoy this
NOW TUTORIAL TIME - RAISE THE TRUMPET SOUNDS
Ribbons every where boom boom TIME FOR YOU PEOPLE TO LEARN!

Alright so im quite a newbie myself but im excited to share my workflow with you feel free to give me comments on what i should do to gain a more better workflow give me tonnes of critique if you want to <3

What you want to do is try not have a white blank screen, add a shape that will keep you focused and centred we've all experienced the white screen of death where you stare at the screen dead in the eyes and too fearful of holding the pen.

I start with the biggest shapes first being the rock

add more shading getting a good feel of what you want mixing dark and light but not too much!

reinforcing what i said as the last step :D

oh baby would you look at that? its only used 4 colours! be very mindful of where the light is shining and hitting your object!

What wouldnt make a floating island is without some grass lets punch a light base colour in you can worry about shading later!

to do lighting go a few shades lighter for the light not too strong with the white hues or itll be weird. for shadows same thing but opposite haha

Draw the base of your tree, this is what i do for everything i draw, just make a silhouette you're satisfied with only then can you light it with light and shadows to get surface detail i'll show you how it works.

With just a tiny bit of lighter colours only on the edge, do you see how its gained 3d form?

and SHAZAMMM it has a bit of that wood texture we want, a simple brown

Now we add shadows to give that grainy indented feel that trees have, dont go crazy you dont need to draw each and every single grain and line the tree has, just do your detail in blocks it'll come together easier. The power of gesturing detail with little detail is a strong skill.

sprinkle those flowers

Add the ninja or your character in the scene but some seems a bit empty on the side of our piece

we placed a grave to fit the japanese theme!! I sincerely hope you steemians enjoyed this tutorial these skills arent only just for pixel art, in real drawing situations with pen and paper or hyper realism or stylized wherever you go a similar workflow like this is used! Have a nice day ^_^