[>> Leafstorm515]

Before I start going into detail, I want to give my overall opinion. You have a really unique style, I love how you blend colors and make them seem soft and pretty! I'm not the best at that so I admire it. ^.^

as always, just remember these are based of my technique/personal preferences so they may not work for you and
that's totally okay! It's all about being happy with what you create. <3

1.) Colors: Everyone is still working on colors, from the best artist to the beginner. I've only recently felt like I've made a breakthrough with my own use of color, so I'll do my best to explain my technique for making appealing color palettes. First off, expose yourself to more color. http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes is a great site that you can make an account on that lets you make, favorite, and browse color palettes! You can also get colors from images on here as well. When I have a down minute or two, I sometimes just browse and favorite things that appeal to me. It is very useful when you feel in a color rut to take and use some of these palettes to do some designs. Also look at what appeals to you, in characters and such. Look at your favorites on DA and ask yourself why those color combos work well and appeal to you. I've also found that you can easily play with colors on the oekaki color selector by picking a color, using it, then sliding the color bar a little either up or down. (so like for the above design, the pale purple I used first, then I dragged the color bar up a bit to get the off blue color, making it a bit darker to stand out.) I love to do this for eyes especially, because you can really play with contrasting eye/pupil colors that can make or break a design. I've had designs I hate become some I like purely because of a good eye combo, so don't underestimate it!
2.) Base Coat: While some level of mixing is a good thing, too much can make the character hard to replicate. I had no idea what color was your original color in this design, because I could color pick in one place, move a bit to the left, and pick a whole new color. This can be problematic if you're getting art of the character or if you're selling to someone who eventually wants art. So I picked one base color, then used the airbrush with a lighter color to do the undersides of the design. #1 thing I can recommend is using a reference! I googled 'snow leopards' and used a variety of refs to get this look. Try not to think of making it look exactly like the ref, but kind of an abstract or 'gesture' of the reference. I also did the color switch I mentioned above for the darker blue air brushed onto the back, to give the design some depth and color.
3.) Markings/Design: References save lives, man. We all know in our heads what a snow leopard looks like, but we sometimes can loose the detail if we don't use a solid reference. I chose a slightly darker blue color to be my 'black' of the snow leopard design, and a pale purple to be the inner spot. I started with the face, and used my ref to work out from there. I think one of the reasons you feel like the design you made isn't flowy might be because you didn't use enough spots. The spots sort of stop at one place, and I can't tell if it was deliberate or just how you did it. If you only want to use a few spots, make the ones you do very deliberate so there's no question. In my design, I used a lot more spots. Some of the leopard spots are just regular dots, and some have the inner color. For those, first put down your lighter color. Then, using the darker color, put opacity on and make a few dots/lines around the outside, stopping completely and start in a different area at least once. Then I just kept using the ref to make the tail! C:
Finishing touches: I'm glad that you colored the lines, but to make the design pop, try to pick a color that contrasts/stands out from the design. I chose a deep blue to pick up on the tints of blue in my design, but also to accent the purple. For the eyes, try to find a color that really stands out. I chose and ice blue, then added a pinky purple pupil. Notice how this just makes the design seem finished? I followed this method for the nose as well, you want the nose and eyes to stand out from the design as much as you can. I didn't add any sparkles to my design because I wanted you to be able to see the design very clearly, but those are always a good idea! <3

Overall, great work! I love your line edits and hope that this helped!

[Silver Pandorica]

Thank you so much for the tips/advice! Everything is super helpful <3 I’m glad I got an opportunity to do this ^•^

[>> Leafstorm515]

Thank you so much for the tips/advice! Everything is super helpful <3 I’m glad I got an opportunity to do this ^•^

No problem, I'm glad it helped! You are added as well, forgot to do that before. Enjoy!