Just some artwork I created [Art]

[E-Man]

We aren't bashing, we're trying to tell you what needs fixing and whatnot but... I guess I'll take it upon myself to be specific (again, I'm not the best person to be commenting on this but I'll try to narrow down some of the most crucial points). So to start, do you notice how you're shading in gradients? This does not show depth or volume in the art (as others have suggested, try looking up artwork from different people to get an idea of how they shade). To fix this I would suggest trying to shade without using tons of different shades of a color, or the use of blur/smudging tools as this is what makes it appear blurry. Just the paintbrush, or something. Also make sure there is enough difference in your shading (contrast), so that it is noticable. Basically make sure it's dark or light enough to see well. Also utilize hueshift! Here's a small explanation of it:

HUESHIFT- Hue shift, as the name implies, is shifting the hue.
[Image: color-wheel-300.gif]
look at this wheel. rather than increasing or decreasing a color's saturation, or its Contrast, you switch to the color to the right or the left on this wheel. Notice also that colors on the exact oposite of the wheel also work as a darker/lighter version of your color. A more dinamic and natural palette of colors is the result of a proper hueshift.
Note: HUESHIFTING can be combined(an to an extent, has to) with CONTRAST and SATURATION in order to produce a wider vaiery of results.
(for an indepth reading on how colors work, read this wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_theory )

You seem to be following your lightsources at least, sort of, but we cannot see your art as a 3D object cause the gradients make it look flat. After you you do a bit of studying and take another attempt at fixing this, we'll tell you what else can be improved on.

This is all I need to know for now. So, it's a taboo to use feather shading in art, huh? I feel very sad to let it go because I like the feather shading and it gives me a reason not to use outlines, but it's for the best...

Don't worry! I like the help you guys are giving me! I'll look into this hue shifting since that's the best way to achieve the kind of shading you're looking for and I'll show you a sample of the fruits of my labors!