MTG study critique!

[LMD]

Hi, 

Any critiques or suggestions would be very welcome. I am looking to improve my digital painting by doing studies from my favourite MTG art! let me know what you think! Thanks :)

Edit:
I have attached a more recent one below, I moved the eyebrows over to make them more symetrical.

[chubbycat]

Heya LMD.

Eyes are the gateway to the soul and therefore, are a primary focus in portraiture. The way you've done them makes them blend in with the rest of the face. They need more focus, less blur to them. Convert the reference into greyscale. See how the hood of her eye (and crack of lips) are the darkest values on the face? This helps draw attention to them and makes them stand out from everything around it.

Also while in greyscale, compare your values to the ref. While they aren't far off, they are very patchy! There's a variety of hard and soft transitions in the ref, and the soft transitions are what yours is lacking. I feel like you're just copying a lot of brushstrokes that you see, and not thinking about the form and lighting itself.

Hope that helps! Best of luck with the progress xx