Do you know how to talk about and think about art? Learning how to break down a piece into its elements and think about them individually, and how they interacting, is really the starting point for critiquing your own work.

I mean I could talk about formal analysis for days upon days upon days lol. Its just a matter of applying those concepts to my work and also realizing what a potential fan base would enjoy seeing is where I feel like I struggle. I realize that I need to play around with some more dynamic compositions, and I would REALLY love to play around more with color. And my anatomy is still not anywhere where I want it to be. Its just difficult to take all of these "art school" concepts and apply them to a very stylized cartoon format. I am interested in doing naturalistic studies, but I don't want my body of work to really be seen as "realistic", I definitely enjoy a more cartoony format. I would just like to adapt that format and make it more appealing, and unique to me (somehow). I want to actually go somewhere professional in my creative pursuits, preferably in the next 3 years, and with my current work I know that it isn't possible. I need to improve, but I feel like I'm still missing....something.

"Its just difficult to take all of these "art school" concepts and apply them to a very stylized cartoon format."

That sounds really strange to me. Art concepts, like composition, apply regardless of the style.

Hrm, maybe I just didn't word that correctly (I should really have more sleep or caffeine in my system when having more serious art conversations XD). I realize how ignorant that sounds now looking back to it. I guess more of what I was trying to get at is that taking concepts learned from classical academic painting (or even concepts behind more contemporary work) don't necessarily DIRECTLY translate in a cartoon (particularly ones made for profit) as easily as they might if you were, say a landscape painter. Maybe it's that there are other elements in play here. Or maybe I just need to do some more research and get more sleep before I get into art debates XD.

Things such as composition, color, and line are pretty universal. Maybe it's that I'm approaching it in a more commercial way than an academic way conceptually.

I know almost nothing about commercial art, but I'm guessing that there are two critical aspects: speed and flexibility. You gotta be able to produce art crazy fast, and also be able to mimic whatever style someone wants you to use.

Yes, that is a really big part of it. Even working on small commissions here on furaffinity it is difficult to balance speed with craftsmanship. I've come to the dilemma of "should I put more detail in my work or raise my prices?". To make a full body illustration for $20 and make at least $5 an hour roughly I feel like I've had to compromise a lot of things. I've taken one painting class, and what I learned from it was that quality work and detailed rendering takes a ton of time, particularly as a beginner but sometimes even as a professorial. My teacher would always ask us to put at least 10 extra hours into each piece after critique. To do that and make any sort of profit is difficult (not impossible by any means, but it doesn't lend itself well to younger audiences/ internet audiences, which I guess is the audience I am playing towards). At least on a commission basis anyways.
Commercial vs fine art is a debate that could go on forever. I feel like I see graphic design majors and painting majors having intellectual catfights all too often. And that's where a lot of my problem falls is that I guess I don't know where I would like to fall exactly on that spectrum. I have no interest in being a graphic designer, but I don't want to be a traditional painter either. I fall somewhere in that weird murky middle ground.

Perhaps it would be enlightening to watch some youtube videos of people who are super fast at drawing? Then you'll see what's possible, and then you can start to work up to those speeds. You'll have to work uncomfortably fast, but as long as you don't go so fast that you emotionally disengage with your work, I think it can be a lot of fun. Honestly, I have more fun when I'm working fast on something, because simply doing something fast is very energizing, which makes me feel more alive, and helps me grab onto interesting things. Like, if you're trying to feel constantly stimulated, constantly energetic, then when you're doing a piece, once you start to get bored, you'll have to react to that feeling immediately. You'll have to search for something that snags your attention, and when it's frantic, it's a lot of fun. Basically, instead of worrying about quality, you're focusing on how much fun you're having in a piece and how it makes you feel, and whenever you aren't feeling really great, really alive, you address that immediately and try to get back to that state as quickly as possible.

Wow thanks, that's a really good idea! I will definitely have to try that! And thanks for picking my brain earlier, it is really important to be self critical, and I want to make sure that I am always questioning my methods.

Well I would definitely suggest going back to the basics of Elements and Principles of design and look over which areas are your weakest. Once you've found the areas that you have trouble in... work on THOSE the most! :o

It's usually the most frustrating and tedious part of developing as an artist, but the process of pushing yourself to try new styles and increase the challenge, will ultimately help you grow and flourish!

From what I see of your work, you have excellent character expressions and very clean, smooth coloring, but I would highly suggest going after more Texture, and studying real-life references. Doesn't mean you have to always draw realistic, but it'll give you experience at technical stuff.

I hope that helps a little bit. :)

Yes definitely, thank you so much! I have definitely fallen behind in referencing, I feel like I've gotten into this sort of comfort zone that has taken me a couple of steps back. I feel like some gestures drawings would help me out a lot! And the looking back to basic elements and texture advice is really really helpful! I might work on some more textured pieces soon to try and really work on that!
Thanks again, this seriously helps a ton!

But of course! I love helping fellow artists expand and grow, especially if it involves getting out of your comfort zone. I've experienced the annoying process so many times, and I've learned that: the more you do it, the more you push yourself into trying something new and difficult, it always pays off in the long run and you'll end up using your New Techniques on even the silly-est and laziest doodles :)