Quick question: what program are you using for GIF animations? GraphicsGale doesn't like interlaced GIFs and pretty much ****s them up when you open one in GG. And sadly, every animated BW sprite I've found is an interlaced GIF for whatever reason...probably so that it loads faster on a page.

I'm personally not a big fan of using NPA (non-pixel art) tools on pixel art, but I do like how the animated Axew's gradient remains constant and doesn't actually move with it.

As for the Shaymin recolors: the first one is honestly fine, but you've got some really weird stuff going on with the second one.



Hue-shifting is also a good technique to try out, because as of now the red Shaymin looks kinda flat. Very true that the Pokeball icon is actually more of an orange; its use of hue-shifting makes it seem more red, though. Check this out:



It looks more natural if you use more hues to portray one color. If you use the same exact hue, saturation, and everything it makes it look flat. This is especially apparent with warmer colors. In that example, the saturation goes down as well.