Hello! I've always enjoyed being creative and have experimented a little with several different art forms including photography, graphic design, clay sculpture, ceramic plates, jewelry design, drawing, soft toys, paper crafts, & wire sculpture.
I feel like I have tried a little bit of a lot of things, and have some good art skills for an average person, but I'd like to develop my talents and work on "mastering my craft". It's been hard to decide where to focus learning.
I have a chronic illness called Lupus (as well as a couple other auto-immune illnesses and complications), and my health has declined to the point where I had to quit my job in 2015. Since I'm unable to work at all right now, and am limited on what I can do, I decided to work on drawing and illustration. I might not ever have the physical capacity to be a professional illustrator, but I would still like to progress toward that level of quality in my artwork for my own enjoyment and to share with my family and others.
@tessaw I didn't see the labels for the emotions at first, so when I looked at the first image, I tried to think of what the emotion might be & I would have picked "anticipation", so you really nailed it! (I clued in by the time I saw the second image, so no uninformed guesses for those.) The others are really good, too.
@nyrrylcadiz I think I read that you can get a program to connect your iPad to your computer & use it to draw in Photoshop. So that might be an option for you. Sorry I don't know much about it--I don't have an iPad, but I'm thinking about buying one!
I'm trying to look for something that hasn't been mentioned, and the only thing I'm noticing is the window frame has a little section where there's one more layer to it than around the rest of the window--just above the big cat's shoulder. Oh, another minor thing is--I think the layers of gradients at the bottom are a little distracting. The higher contrast of the brown layers is drawing my eye down to the bottom edge.
Your characters are really cute, and this picture makes a sweet little story. You've created a great atmosphere with the background. It's very warm and inviting. I really like this image and your style!
@chrisaakins Ha, ha! 
That's why I mentioned Jake--he made the rules!
But yeah, do it the way that makes you happy!
@miss-beans This is adorable! I think I need to try the Inktense pencils!
@chrisaakins Even Jake says it's ok to start early if you want!
@missmushy I should have done this, too! Maybe I'll get a head start next time.
@BichonBistro
It's good to ask questions--we are here to learn! Reading the threads that others post--including yours--is helping me understand things better, too.
You did a good job coming up with different scenarios to look at throughout the drawing, like the styles you mentioned.
If you are looking for more to add, maybe you could try more variation in the body shapes & faces. You could try different sizes / shapes in the trees as well.
Other actions & things to add: playing frisbee, snow angel--I thought there was one at first, but it looks like it's actually a wipeout--so maybe it would be too repetitive with that guy already there, but you could have the angel-maker with their arms against their sides & just show the pattern in the snow. Do bunny-people have pets? Maybe a pet mouse (like bringing your dog to play in the snow). You could also add some little wild birds and/or animals on the side or in the trees.
I think the mesh fence needs to be thicker, since at first I was just noticing the posts. Or you could just take the fencing back out. Also, the footprints in the snow--next to the bunny in red, at the bottom right--are darker than the other footprints & run right into the bunny's arm.
I like how you changed the bottom of the slope & added the background. It adds a lot to have the hills layered behind the scene.
@tessaw & @Chip-Valecek
Thanks Tessa!
I just did a Google search for "free online photo contest platform" and there are some free ones.
I'm looking at http://hostphotocontest.com/.
Pros:
Cons: