DS in progress

[DVD-1-one]

Here's one of the pieces I'm working on for the Darkstalkers contest.

I'd like to know what you guys think, pointers, advice, critique, anything would be appreciated. I'm not all that good with photoshop yet, so anything regarding coloring would help the most. Also, any ideas on a background color?

[Surzsha]

You might want to darken the shades on the women's clothing just a tad bit, to get more of that 3D feel. As for the vampire and the girl he has in his arms, you might want to add more shading to the girl and the underside of the cape, since he's covering most of that from the light source that hits his back.

Also, with the gold-colored guy at the lower-right corner, the back part from his left shoulder and down his back sticks out a little too much. Maybe pushing that in should slim him down and give more focus on his muscle tone.

Nice use of colors, and you're doing fine with the shading so far. As for the background color, maybe adding some purple hue to it would help, since the central character is mainly purple. Of course, why use just a plain color when an effect could help spice things up?