@Kristen-Lango Hi Kristen! Okay—So, first of all, I agree with several people that your blue-green people (especially the one reaching up) and your design of the girl looking shocked at the cat with the worms are my favorite things you’ve illustrated. Even though the blue-green characters are much more simple, their gestures and designs are interesting. The girl’s expression and hand gesture is also well drawn—while stylized, it has good spacial awareness, and it’s really fun to look at.
When I looked up the artists you are interested in, I could see some things that inspired you, from stylization of characters to vibrant colors:
Here’s where I personally think you go from here: Do you remember that 3PP episode where Will Terry talks about getting a critique from illustrator David Small earlier in his career? He essentially asked Will “Why do you have to use so much #*!@% color?” He essentially made the point that, if everything is really saturated and colorful, you can’t create good focal points or tell effective stories. That’s where I think a lot of your pieces are right now: You have a lot of fun with the colors, but it’s not well controlled yet. Even David Catrow reigns in his colors and creates focal points of highest contrast and saturation.
I have an idea for a challenge for the month, and I’m wondering if you’d be interested it: Have you ever done a master-copy before, where you pick one of your favorite illustrators and then try to exactly replicate their work? I’m going to do one of those this month. It could even be just a section of a piece you want to study. And then, the next month, you do your own piece but in their style to apply what you’ve learned.
For example, this was several years ago, but I tried drawing a character in David Catrow’s style:
Anyways, happy March! Hope some of this helps.