Advice/critique on my art

Nightmare Fuel
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends
Artist -

doesn't like much
Lately I’ve been feeling slightly down about how slow I improve, compared to other people these days. It’s not that I have not been improving, but I am reaching my point on how much I am as well. So many people my age or younger improve at a crazy-fast rate, and their art overall looks better than what I usually do (for the record, I’m close to 21). I definitely don’t dislike my art, but lots of teens these days are so good at what they do, with the stuff they’ve been taught at art schools and stuff.  
That’s besides the point though. I want to see what you guys have to say about how I’m doing atm. Any advice is great, but more specifically… I’m interested in how I’m doing with digital painting. I’ve been using a program called Paintstorm Studio to do all that painty colouring/lighting/shading stuff, and I’m always looking for general tips or tutorials on that sort of thing. I have examples of all sorts of art in the spoiler below, but the painty stuff is the top three images  
Smoochum and Elekid  
Autumn Blaze  
Limestome Pie  
Tsareena + Ludicolo fusion  
Maud  
Animal Crossing villager and Mayor  
Madotsuki from Yume Nikki  
Cubone and Carracosta  
I’m interested in constructive criticism for my art. Can be nice, can be harsh, can be small tips or a long analysis. I don’t really mind.
Clear Vision
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Hard Work - Merited Perfect Pony Plot Provider badge with only their own art
Perfect Pony Plot Provider - Uploader of 10+ images with 350 upvotes or more (Questionable/Explicit)
The Power of Love - Given to a publicly verified artist with an image under their artist’s tag that has reached 1000 upvotes
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Charitable Contributor - Contributed to a series of art packs that helped raise over $10,000 for charity
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Artist -

Petrolhead Artist
Oh hey Nightmare Fuel, I remember giving you some advice about commission pricing about a year ago I think.
 
Lately I’ve been feeling slightly down about how slow I improve, compared to other people these days. It’s not that I have not been improving, but I am reaching my point on how much I am as well. So many people my age or younger improve at a crazy-fast rate, and their art overall looks better than what I usually do (for the record, I’m close to 21). I definitely don’t dislike my art, but lots of teens these days are so good at what they do, with the stuff they’ve been taught at art schools and stuff.
 
You don’t have to have any sort of formal education in art to do well with it, so don’t let that discourage you. I think that you will do better if you have a clear vision (excuse the pun) of your goals with your art style and what you want to achieve with it. You don’t need to have every single detail thought out, but just the major parts, like whether you want to have a more realistic style, or something more cartoony and stylised, or a mix of both.
 
That’s besides the point though. I want to see what you guys have to say about how I’m doing atm. Any advice is great, but more specifically… I’m interested in how I’m doing with digital painting.
 
If you give me a better idea of what you’d like to achieve with your art then I might be able to give some input. Your art isn’t in a bad place at all though.
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