Congrats on taking the big step to DD . Love the colours you have used.

Did you use a mouse to draw? if so always harder than using a drawing tablet/drawing pen.

To develop your skills there are many tutorials for beginners. If you wish to expand your skills save up for a drawing tablet - a must for DD artists in my opinion.

To improve your drawing (my opinion only) explore how owl eyes look and see if you can add some life to the ones you have at this point in time. You have a whole week to play.

GOOD LUCK... PS: feel free to message me with any questions you may have.

I used a pen shaped mouse--the closest I have right now to a tablet
life to the eyes does sound like a good idea, i think it would help a lot.

thanks

changed up the eyes. hope that's better

its really great that u submitted an entry regardless ur experience in ART. keep it up author.i would suggest that rather than jumping upon drawing tutorials, first explore it all yourself..draw as much as you can of whatever you see and you feel and you wish to.. ART is not some boring fundamentals to learn..tutorials are necessary too but far more necessary is getting inspired..find some inspiration here
http://www.deviantart.com/
looking forward to see some great entries from you
good luck author

love the changes author. Think your eyes have brought life to your owl .

I look forward to future entries.

After you make the sketch try making a pen tool shape on top - you can manipulate that easier, and the pen it's a quite user friendly tool for drawing ( make a path & stroke). I use that since I don't have a tablet.

Good on ya for giving this a go. The above advice is excellent and the only thing I can add is that you doodle. Got a few extra minutes? Use a pencil and any kind of paper to draw what you see. This will help train your eye to see shape, proportion, shading and all that. Doesn't matter what you draw... a stick, a lamp, a fork... with practice you'll get better and better.