Well, I've got a few years on you, little bro.
"Everyone has 10,000 awful drawings in them, the trick is to get them out as quickly as possible." --Some guy who I have shamefully forgotten
It's really tricky, making sprites that mesh with the style DW's using for the more important characters, with my expendable minion guys.
He doesn't use any shading at all, and those luxurious robes, and their saturated colors simply demand shading.
I try to keep it to one or two even layers, but sometimes I just can't help myself.