…i love MyPaint
Your painting is fine except that you have little anatomy knowledge. But from the subject matter and your approach I gather you are still pretty young. So here is a heads-up (mold them while their sucking thumb)… learn to DRAW. Get some figure drawing books and get as much anatomy books you can get your hands on. Forget pretty pictures for a while and just learn to understand what you are drawing. Get the proportions between the arms and body correct, the head in relation to the thorax (upper body, the chest area) and hands (people tend to draw hands too big or too small or just ignore them).
Believe me. Before you know it you will sweep those pencil strokes with so much confidence you will just forget about drawing pretty pictures and your mind will race into a million places full of ideas… because you suddenly realize “I can draw!”
So get at it. You won’t regret it.
The strength of this piece lies in the way the contrast and forms work together- at the first split second my brain said photorealism. To keep up this illusion work on both anatomy like above, as well as rendering different materials. Fleshtones vary in color, as does steel- http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=23783 is an ok quick tut for armor
I agree, the painting work is beautifully done… very realistic. Sometimes my critical analysis of work gets the better of me and I forget to just enjoy whats presented. 
I’m sorry it took so long to respond.
Thank you Gustav and (jay), for your kind feedback. I really appreciate it.
…more Mypaint sketsches:
Hell of a lot better than I can do. Will we ever see a finished piece?
A Good idea!This is what I am looking for recent times.