My first serious work in Photoshop, also my new avatar

[Aqualung]

I had an idea for a new event in my fanfic , but then I thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if I made some kind of artwork for this?"

I have this for my avatar, but I posted a version larger than its full size here so everyone could critique it:

This is a new form / command style ability that Kairi will get in a future chapter of my fanfic, but it involves Sora somehow (I'm not going to say how, because that would spoil one of the future events in my fanfic). It's the last ability of this type that she's going to get, and she gains it during a fight with one of the villains in the "Final Episode" chapters of my fanfic after something has happened to her and Sora in the chapters before those ones. Again, I'm not going to spoil it, but all my readers will have something to look forward to.

She's supposed to look like a cross between herself and Sora while this form is active, so to get the base for this I found one screenshot each of Sora and Kairi in KH2 cinematics, then went to http://www.morphthing.com and used their face-combining engine with the two screenshots. Everything else (Added hair, eyeshadow, new clothes that are seen on her shoulders, etc.) I did in Photoshop using its various tools.

Only one of her eyes are amber-colored (Like MX, Vanitas, XH, and Ansem the Wise), and that's actually supposed to symbolize the height of her dark powers and how far she's come in controlling them. Instead of both eyes changing color, only one of them does, and it's only while this form is active; something (Again, not going to spoil it here, it will be revealed when the event happens in my fanfic) is preventing her other eye from changing color. In this form, her powers are at her strongest, just like how Final Form was for Sora in Kingdom Hearts 2 (And also how the final command styles for all the protagonists in my fanfic are).

Some things about it were inspired by Sage Mode from Naruto (Which you might almost instantly recognize if you're a fan of that anime). Such examples are her eyeshadow (Which is similar in color to the red painting that appears around Naruto's eyes) and the fact that her normal physical appearance (as in, when she's not in Anti-Form) changes somewhat while using this new power.

 

[Kazuma]

Its really boring and could use A LOT of spicing up. Look up some effect tuts and make your avatars with a larger canvas size, you have more room. It looks like you haven't done much to it..........

 

[Aqualung]

Its really boring and could use A LOT of spicing up. Look up some effect tuts and make your avatars with a larger canvas size, you have more room. It looks like you haven't done much to it..........

I did add the eyeshadow, changed her left eye color to a yellowish-amber, and added hair to the sides of her head (Before, there was only hair on top and it looked short, more like Sora's).

However, I noticed that I could indeed go for a larger canvas (In fact, I think I'll make a background), and the eyeshadow itself could use more work. Thank you for your criticism!

EDIT: Keep in mind that I'm only using this as my avatar, unless I decide to make a signature to replace one of the two below. Since Avatars here aren't meant to be larger than about 100 x 100, there really isn't much detail you can see for things like portraits of a character. With that in mind, I am rather content with my avatar, but will probably make a replacement banner for my fanfic once I've gotten it progressed enough.