Pixel Art - Fire Hydrant

When this assignment was set I was unfortunately unable to attend the lesson, however I made a few guesses as to what techniques I should use. I tried using my normal cell-shading in pixels, but that turned out a little challenging than usual for reasons I can't quite explain. I tried my best to match the sample image we were given  so in this case I think it's quite a similar match.

Character

For this drawing we were told that we had to create the top half of a character using techniques featured in a tutorial we were watching. Originally I had the idea of revisiting my first Photoshop assignment and creating a character using rocks, almost like a golem. I tried to make most of the character out of rock in the final result but I wanted to try to experiment with armor like plating, which I haven't attempted before. I think the result is OK, but It could vastly be improved upon if I invest more time into it.