Hi! I got the tag from
Bummer and thought I might pop in for a bit. Your art is pretty great already (a
lot better than my early stuff) so I don't have too much to say.
My main point of advice is that there should be a balance between lineart and painting styles. Both can work great on their own, but when mixed they tend to muddle each other. This is because lines suggest a sharp, cartoonish style while painting suggests a more subtle, realistic one. Generally, if you have thick lines you should stick to sharper cel-shading, and as your lines get thinner you can start painting more. Your Feraligatr piece, for example, has really sharp shading and looks great because of it—the shading works with the thick lines. The Serperior, on the other hand, has really thick lineart but blurred, painted shadows without a lot of contrast, making it look flat and murky. The dark lines contribute to the flatness of the piece because they are so defined compared to the subtle shading. I see the same problem on your Electabuzz piece. The Scolipede piece strikes a happy medium between the two styles because it has enough contrast to define the forms and the thin lines don't overpower the shading (and vice versa), so I would definitely encourage you to emulate that for future pieces.
Next, you seem to have this down for the most part, but you could work on your proportions a bit. Your Electabuzz, especially, looks a bit strange—the eyes should be lower and as Bummer said the anatomy with the arms could be improved. Don't be afraid to use references from the Internet, as well as (if you have the 3DS games) the 3D models in the Pokedex. Also, if you are going to use colored lineart I would suggest coloring the lines with respect to the shading, making the lines darker in dark spots and lighter in light spots. You could also work on lighting in general; most of your pieces have inconsistent light sources, although I do admire how you've experimented with different ones.
Overall, as Bummer said, practice. Don't be afraid to experiment but try to make the pieces more cohesive, instead of mixing different styles together that end up clashing. Try eliminating lines together and simply painting. I'm not really an authority on any of this since I'm still learning too, but don't be afraid to ask around and check out other artists' work. I hope you stick around!
