Valerya in Lake

I was going through the group I admin, approving pieces, when I can across this. At first I though, oh that's cute, and then I saw your old drawing and I have to say, I'm impressed!You've improved sooo much from your old drawing, especially with the hair. The shading done on the hair is absolutely fantastic! Her anatomy is nice and solid and your line-work has nice variation. Now for some stuff you can improve in the future, since we're all always improving. While the background is better compared to the original, it is still lacking, especially with Valerya looking so good. I would suggest doing a water study (I just did one myself so I know it's painful) so you can get the hang of ripply water. With her hair in it, that water will have ripples and while I can see you tried making some, it just looks like light reflecting, no movement. The trees, while nicely shaped and interwoven, have no texture and it makes them boring. Same thing with the grass/undergrowth. The cool thing about nature is that it is inherently abstract, so when you do all your texture and effects on it, there's no wrong way! So I wouldn't hold back when playing around with those things. Overall, great job on improving and I hope you can further improve in the coming year. Have you considered making this into a "Draw it Again" meme so people can side by side compare?