A commercial artist I knew told me that the secret to improving was to copy artists you admire, working out what you like about the result, and incorporating it before moving on to the next artist. Rinse and repeat.

It's necessary to step out of what you're doing for a while: you have to do more than just draw for everyone else.

That is some good advice! I guess in a way im already doing that, tho it seems like im still finding myself being more intimidated by their style, but maybe changing the perspective of that view point would help a lot. I know there are many artist- friends mostly- whom I am just...enamored with xD

Thank you for your suggestion and feedback!

Amazing people put their underwear on every morning, just like everyone else, and most of them think they're ordinary. :)

Haha oh man thats a very good point! I guess when I get complimented by people im often like "im sorry but you must be mistaken????" but all the same, thank you for this added perspective

let me put it like this as one of your previous customers (wish i could afford to commission more but due to tight money constraints can't) the way you draw werewolves is absolutely amazing, the amount of detail you put into the shapes of your k9s is what drew me to your art and i really wish i could commission more. your art style is what i like.

the way you drew my werewolf's face in the ych here https://www.furaffinity.net/view/24928546/ is what will have me coming back to you when i can afford more commissions.

Oh geez I had almost forgot about that drawing, that was forever ago wasnt it! I admit that looking back at it, im still quite impressed with myself to have had the patience to sit there and shade all of that fur the way that I did!

And by all means please dont feel bad about not being able to commission me, its been a while since ive been opened to the public and for the most part I feel like I have slowed down significantly in terms of commissions, tho I cant.. pin point why. Hm.

All the same I appreciate the feedback :3

Being among my top favorite artists, I'll admit that it's a little difficult for me to pin down everything I like or don't like about your style (there's just so much I like, and I'm probably prone to overlooking things I don't like so much because they bother me so little when present), but I'll try to pin down at least a few highlights. I apologize in advance if none of this is terribly helpful, but I'm gonna do my best to be thorough so that hopefully there are at least a few things you can pick out.

• Anatomy - Your take on anatomy and proportions just makes the way you draw characters in general extremely appealing to me. Nothing is too overblown or exaggerated to the point of being distracting (even when things are exaggerated for whatever reason), and transition points in hybrid forms feel natural and plausible. And I know this is probably a weird thing to focus on, but I really like the way you draw teeth/fangs, and muzzles in general I suppose. Paws, too. There's just something that's really quite aesthetically pleasing about the way you draw both.
• Composition - I'm not sure how many people tend to focus on this. Even for me, it's not one I tend to consciously go "oh man, the composition of this piece is great", but it's more the fact that often times it's something I don't notice in your pieces than it is something that I do. I'm rarely, if ever, left feeling like a piece feels weirdly unbalanced or like my eyes are being drawn to odd places. This might be one of those ones that seems like a 'no duh' thing, but I run into a fair bit of art I like many other things about which just doesn't quite hit this nearly as well as you do on a consistent basis.
• Shading - So this might be an oddly specific thing to focus on, but I feel like I tend to like your cel shading better than your soft shading. Maybe it's just the way the solid separation of values tends to draw out the different shapes more, or maybe it just feels like it works better with the overall style. It could just be a personal preference thing for me. I'm honestly not quite sure.
• Lines - I want to address this one since you called it out specifically, but this is honestly something I struggle with quantifying. That said, your lines are not generally something I've picked out as being especially distracting. I really wish I could offer more helpful feedback here, but honestly the best I've got is "I like them". They're already pretty crisp and clean as far as I can tell, so whatever direction you're aiming for with that, I don't think I can really offer anything that will get you closer to that, unfortunately.
• Backgrounds - Again, I'm trying to address this because you mentioned it specifically. I'm going to start this one off by saying the pieces I've seen of yours that have backgrounds, I've absolutely adored the backgrounds. You have a fantastic intuition for including the background in the storytelling of a piece, and I think that's an excellent foundation for any artist wanting to have backgrounds that can really be spoken to. In regards to improvement, however, honestly I think the biggest thing you can do for that is just letting yourself take more time on them. I know, I know, backgrounds in general take forever, and it can feel wrong to spend so much time on something which isn't even really the focus of the piece. But every artist I know who does those simply gorgeous backgrounds manages it by not being afraid to just let the background take up the time it needs to be able to really it fill out with all the detail that comes with that. That is not to say that your backgrounds lack adequate detail, either; however, one of the consistent things I've noticed about artists who often have "noteworthy" backgrounds is that they tend to put enough emphasis on it to even sometimes draw it in full before even starting on the focus of the piece despite knowing that much of it will wind up covered by the time all's said and done. This is, however, a slower approach, so it may not be the best for you if that is something you wish to avoid.

These are, however, just my opinions. Frame them in the context of what you think your personal goals are, or what you'd like them to be. I can offer my opinions all day, but any criticism I have to offer would be much more helpful if it can be put towards specific goals that you have in mind. To that end, I think Warick's suggestion above is definitely one to pursue. I know that feeling like you've hit a plateau can be frustrating, and it really is usually just best to try to extend outside your comfort zone at that point. This can come in the form of emulating other styles, covering subject matters or forms you typically don't branch into, or even moving into a medium you've never tried before. The things you learn from that can and often will translate back to your preferred areas and methods, even if only by forcing you to think about the same old things in brand new ways.

I apologize for this post being so absurdly lengthy, but I do genuinely hope that at least some of it is helpful to you. Best of luck!

Oh goodness this...surprised me xD First off I would really like to say thank you so much for writing all of that up, and going through and making some really good points! I dont think that I can respond to all of it, but this has helped me a lot!

Mostly on your point when it comes to backgrounds as I know thats a big struggle for me. I want to enjoy them I just.. cant sometimes, but I am trying to. I agree that I should be letting myself take more time on them, as think thats where my biggest weakness is since usually by that point im so ready to be done. All the same I will take this into consideration and hopefully take this time to study up on them more and hopefully create something im both happy with and something that wont take a million years.

I also wanted to thank you on your compliment about the cel shading as I was honestly thinking that I was lacking a lot there, or overdoing something that should be more simple, but its good to know that between my styles, this is the one you like!

So yes, once again, thank you so much for reading over this and taking the time to write up your thoughts, even if was a lot, it was also helpful and insightful :3

I'm very glad I was able to offer you something useful! 💚 Keep on being awesome!

From a person to person point. You're amazing at communication, quick and precise. Even if you don't fully understand or you don't have a lot to work with you somehow pull through with some of the best creativity from any artist I've ever worked with.

(Even though I haven't gotten a commission from you in awhile, you've been at the top of my list to come back to I just never seem to match up with you schedule v_v) but from what draws me in, is somehow you make your pieces very vibrant and appealing overall to the eyes. Your line work collabs very well with the background, your expressions are amazing, you nail most anything I've seen. From angry to sad to a cute cuddle, you make the characters feel as if they're apart of the environment. You've still hold some of my favorite pieces of all time, and to be honest you are pretty much the only artist that 'breathes life' into my character.

That's not me dunking on other artists though they have great work by all means but it seems like when you're requested/commissioned you take a look at the character and treat them as if they're a real life being and are able to express that through your work, that's something after commissioning a lot of artists that very few can accomplish and that you do almost effortlessly (As conveyed from your art pieces)

Had you asked me 4 years ago these same questions and asked me to truly be blunt, I would have pointed out that your backgrounds needed some work, that your NSFW pieces needed a little more experience but since then you have grown a LOT and I am very proud as someone who has followed you to see how far you have come. You have stayed in my favorite artists tab since day 1 when you helped me with my fursona. I'm sorry if I've ever come off in any other light but I think you're doing great! Of course art can always get better without a doubt!

If anything my only suggestions that I could do is maybe work on scenery/backgrounds more often? Maybe set out to make a 3-5 pages original comic that utilizes different compositions and such and it might force you to think things through a bit more and how things can improve in a scene? Outside of that I think you're doing a solid job refining your work, looking at some of your recent pieces makes me absolutely jealous that I haven't gotten one in so long x.x

I love how defined your shapes are, even in small short sketches I can tell what you are creating. It doesn't take a whole full color picture to show your skill.