It's looking pretty good.  As for getting advice, it's best to be patient.  You'll eventually get someone to help you :)

As I said, I really think it's looking good, honestly.  I'm not sure if I like the colors you chose to shade the skin with.  It makes it look really bright and saturated.  For instance, the skin colors are literally orange, which isn't natural unless you use cheap sunless tanning cream :D  Or you're an oompa loompa.  I fiddled really quickly with the skin palette and came up with this:



Although I realized too late that you were using part of the skin colors in the hair as well >_>  Although I'm sure that's something that can be worked around!

Also, I feel like the skin should have way more highlighting.  It's nicely shaded, but it still feels flat.  And on both characters, their ears are very flat and without detail.  Ears are very intricate and beautiful in their own right, and deserve a little attention.  It's hard to get all the details when you're working with pixels, but even a little would make the piece as a whole more interesting.

I feel like I could help out more if you sketched out what the rest of the piece will look like, the way the guys legs and cape will be positioned, any details on the mer's tail, etc. 

Edited by Tipleloop - 19 July 2009 at 1:15am