TheCraziestFox
Terrarian
What is "banding"?
From the pixel art basics thread:
e) Banding
This is something I'm guilty of committing myself on occasion.
Banding is when your stack your colors like bricks no matter what. What you want to do, is to add small patches of secondary color to smoothen the transition between the base color and the highlight:
This makes the edges drown in excess color and loose definition. It also divides the picture into gradient ribbons (Or bands) rather than keeping it unified.
I'm not telling you to never follow the outlines or make lines, it's just that you need to use it wisely.
Do note that both examples are pillow-shaded, Ie. there's no discernable light source.