I submitted this a couple weeks back but I really felt like it could be better so I went back to work on it. I used the pen tool to get a smoother look and I added a little bit of background design to hopefully make it stand out a little bit more. The last image is of what it looked like before I made the changes when I submitted it. I'm thinking about resubmitting it. Let me know if you have any opinions or advice. Thanks!
The design on the bottom isn't vector. It was a hand drawing that i scanned into photoshop. Is that the one you mean? If so, which parts look jagged or uneven? The new one (the one up top) was done in Illustrator so I think it's vector. I'm very new to the program so I'm not sure but I don't really see any jaggedness. I scanned my drawing, traced it in Illustrator, then colored it in photoshop. Once it was back in photoshop, the layer was automatically named "vector smart object". So I think it remained vector. I'm definitely open to any advice you or anyone else has for me though and I appreciate your comment. I might try that pipe idea of yours too. Sounds pretty awesome. Thanks!
Did this quickly, just a few tiny tweaks you can possibly do. 1st off things circled in red could be adjusted a tiny bit to make the image look smoother. Like the sleeve stroke part can be blended into the arm stroke. The eyes are a tiny bit jagged. I agree with RiteGuyShirt about the yellow lines. You don't want to over crowd the image by having the lines and the pipe there. Pipe is enough to stand on its own. I did rotate mario a tiny bit to make him look straighter. And Lastly the sword's handle was a bit crooked to the blade. You could either straighten the handle (blue) or angle the blade more (green)
Anyways these are only suggestions, good luck its a nice idea and good design.