Sprites and animations for creature raising/battling video game

I am making a video game inspired by the original monster rancher. The player acquires monsters, trains them, battles them and takes care of their needs. Right now, I have some incredibly rudimentary sprites that I have made for some of the monsters, but I'm looking to make them a little better for the demo. For the demo, I'm going to focus on just three creatures to keep things simple and want simple animations. FARM - moving (can be directional, but not necessary) - idle - cheering (happy/thankful for gift) - sad/defeated (punished) BATTLE - idle (battle stance) - melee attack - casting/throwing - defeated (fainted, not dead) I'm not picky on the sprite sizes. Right now, they are 256. But I think going down to 128 or even 64 might be easier to manage. I just put a random number in the budget. If you think this would cost way more, just explain why in the pitch. If it's less than the budget, I won't complain. This is just a demo, and not my magnum opus, so feel free to put your own flair on the creatures however it works best with your style. Thanks!