Lemme look closer at it...

Otto, your work always manages to make me smile, your characters are so lovable and your illustrations are full of such life!

This piece is no exception, and if anything it shows you've been working hard on improving those colouring techniques because the colours are working beautifully together and the glowing wings and smoky stuff in the background give the piece a truly magical touch. - Take care that the girl's wing doesn't get too close in values to the dwarf's apron... I feel like you loose her wing in the background there and it ends up feeling like it doesn't quite connect somehow.

The composition of the drawing itself is great, however I can't help thinking the amount of empty space at the bottom of the image is a little excessive. It feels almost like that's how it was scanned and it was never trimmed.. perhaps if this was room for a story text or something it might make sense, but as it is I think we'd feel "closer" to the characters without all that wasted space down there.

The only things I can fault on the characters themselves is watch the girl's balance - from the looks of the chair it probably is a tall stool with no back, though she looks like she's leaning quite far to the right and back, I'd hate to see her loose her balance and fall taking the dwarf guy with her!! <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/w/w…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Wink)" /> <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Big Grin)" /> Also her nose is quite big and long, but that's probably as much to do with your style of drawing faces as anything. Dwarf guy also looks like he's right at the edge of the desk there and could fall off at any moment.

As much as I love the glowing clouds of golden smoke behind the desk, I think the steam coming out of the chimney at the top on the right there is less effective. For me it's too dark and solid, perhaps if it's steam it should be a lighter, or if it's smoke making it slightly transparent would help to prevent it looking too solid... some odd spots about it might give it more of a blasting motion too, at the moment the shape is reminiscent of a tree growing from the funnell!! <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/g/g…" width="17" height="15" alt="" title="Giggle" />

The detail on the wings is beautiful, and I love the touches which add character to the scene, such as the broken wing part to be repaired and the cute little robot, both on the desk. Perhaps adding a floor shadow to this scene might help to ground the objects and characters, although seeing the setting they're in would be fantastic.. I imagine a work shop with books and bottles and tools... - I think adding that level of detail to their world would really help these guys to stand out and feel like they have a story - however I understand that this was probably never the intention for this illustration. <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Smile)" />

All in all this is a fantastic drawing, with great character and charm! - there are a few things that I would do differently, but I still love it just the way it is! It's great to see your art improving all the time Otto. <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Smile)" />