My Plea To The Gods Of Improvement

[Aelis Mikilai]

I'm looking for some constructive criticism, hints, tips, etc. I'm getting back into art after not having drawn much for the past half-year or so.

Things I want to improve on:
-Composition/"that finished look"
-Backgrounds
-Conceptualizing
-Dynamic color/lighting
-Everything, basically.

Here are a few of my recent drawings:

#1) Shah Rukh Khan portrait. Done from photo reference. It's an easy image to find on the internet, but I don't know who the Copyright holder is, exactly.

#2) Marilyn Monroe, again from photo reference.

#3) A portrait I did of a friend of mine, done completely from memory.

#4) A turtle from photo reference (got permission to post it here). Pretty self-explanatory. ^^;

[Aelis Mikilai]

A couple recent garbledy-blah sketches...

[mariea]

Looking great so far, really like the Klimt-esque girl. Will you finish her?
When painting, try to use both hard and soft brushes so your subjects don't look so fuzzy.