I think that was a little over the top Allstories, with how big the Balloon is and taking into consideration its his first scratch its good shading.
The fact that it was his first scratch doesn't give an excuse to slack off with the shading <.< Anyone who has been working on sprites (whether it's fusions, recolours or anything) should be able to come up with a light source and shade according to that source.
Anyways, I think you did a quite nice job with the outline for that balloon, however, the shading and outline colouring are lacking. Not only did you leave the head completely shadingless and only shaded the ears, but you also used a gradient shading style, which looks horrible.
Other than that: the eyes could use some shine and try adding some different shades on the outline. And please shade the head, it doesn't matter which style you use (though I strongly suggest you refrain from using the gradient style), but you need to shade it.
Sorry Siggi,
Its just hes from another message board that i go to and they just LOVE to torture me there ¬_¬'
Besides,
I like gradient shading. It's my favourite kind :p.
And at everyone else thanks for your comments XD
It makes it feel worth while so I guess I am going to attempt the Pikachu head balloon now.
With any luck you will see it later tonight.
It's called constructive criticism, not torture ¬_¬ It's meant to help you improve <.<
*edit* Oops, I misread what you said. I mixed up ''here'' and ''there'', and I can't say what the people on a board I have never visited do, so...