gendark01, you should just practice anatomy a bit more. You show good potential.

Dr. Geekstar, you need to work away your symbolism. Draw things from life, the way you see them. Not the way you think you see them. As I suggested in IM last night, you could always get the Betty Edwards' book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

Penguin, no, no, don't overpaint. It doesn't teach you anything. Using references is perfectly fine, but DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES OVERPAINT. Using Artrage's built-in colour picker is even worse. Open the picture up separately, and try to paint it. If the composition sucks, remove things from it. It's your picture, mess with it however you like. Make it a learning experience.

Keep practicing guys!

"Stephen Wolfram is the creator of Mathematica and is widely regarded as the most important innovator in scientific and technical computing today." - Stephen Wolfram