So as the title suggests i am a programmer and i struggle a lot when it comes to art. I have little to no experience making games and i am still studying and i have responsabilities so i don't have much time for game making. My issue is that i get frustrated because my art is really bad and that discourages me from making games because if i am a noob at game programming my background allows me to learn fast but i'm a bit clueless when it comes to art so i thought i would seek advice here.

This is a screenshot of my only game. At first it looks fine ( and i feel fairly proud because i had no experience at pixel art ) but if you look closely there are a lot of bad things. The perspective on the trees is bad. The shadow is too round and does not correspond to the tree perspective, the borders are supposed to look like tall bushy trees but they look like badly drawn bushes and last but not least... the player.

if it looks familiar it is because it is just a watered down version of titan soul's main character. I tried making my own but this was as far as i could get because what frustrates me the most by far is animating. I can't seem to get the hang of it.

What i am trying to acomplish with this post (if anyone reads it) is for someone to offer some guidelines on how i could gradually improve with pixel art and/or how could i outline my projects so that the lack of expertise at art does not restrain me or discourage me.

Thanks to anyone who reads (if someone does) and sorry if i made any mistake at spelling, not my native language.

First and foremost: Art is important, but quality gameplay is crucial to the success of a game. Players will overlook bad art if the game is fun, but they will not overlook bad game play if the art is good(for the most part, I'm speaking broadly here); If players only cared about the art, they'd go to an art gallery.

My biggest advice to artistically challenged developers is use already created art packs as the groundwork for your game. You can find plenty of free art to choose from on itch.io and similar websites. From there, you can edit preexisting sprites, or create new sprites to match, to add to your game. You don't need to start from ground zero.

That said, if the screenshot you included in your original post is your art, I highly encourage you to continue developing your art skills. You are very talented! Do not discount your abilities just because there are people who may be better than you. If possible, join a pixel art discord group. Chat groups are great because they allow quicker responses in an informal setting.