yeah....it is a delcatty tribute item....I am new to this, and having a heck of a time with the shading. advice would be loved, as well as pointers as to whether I am on the right track.

I think you're doing great. Just keep in mind that Subeta requires three layers of shading at least. The head of your Pokémon only has two as it's now, the amount of layers on the body is also not clear enough. For the shadow itself, try to work with the overall shape of the Pokémon a bit more. You quickly get the impression of 'pillow shading', if the different shading layers are simply next to each other instead of defining the forms.

thanks so much!

As for shading, should my colors be closer? Or am I on the right track? On my newer one I put a color in between the really dark and lighter one....

You are on the right track, but you need to work with the shapes more. For example, if the light source is coming from the top left, the lower part of your Pokémon would be darker than the upper part in general. Also, the head of it would lead to a shadow on the back, too. (It's blocking the light source). As it is now, you shaded each limb and body part on its own, disregarding the whole body alltogether. I would try to create an other shading layer to define this body form a bit more.

On a side note, I really like the smooth lineart. xD

First of all, I like the changes you made, the designs on the neck and tail are neat. I also like the pose, very Delcatty-like :D

In addition to what Choco has already said, the shading on the tail and collar looks really faint, especially after you resize it. Also, the inside of the ear might be too dark. Try using a dark gray instead of black, so that you can see the lineart, as well as add some shading to the inner ear as well.

so I should make it follow the body shape a lil more, and work on darkening areas like the legs? Looking at it now, my shading doesn't make much sense....

Also yess! Lineart is my weakest point! I really appreciate that!

Im having a very tough time with my third color making the shading look too soft! :c

yes, the tail was not quite done when that was taken c: and thanks! I had fun with that design. I will play with the ears a bit. The neck is killing me. It is all very close, and I bump in to the lines whenever I try to detail it.

Yeah, at least a bit! The shading on the head and the front legs for example are good, but then around the hip section it turns out weird, because the belly is highlighted although it should be covered at least a bit by the neck thing. I agree with Maplerose on the tail, it really needs more shading in general, too.

Too soft shading? Meaning as in it's not dark enough whem resized?

it just seems too...blendy with the base color if that makes sense?

Are you adding the shading layer by making the overall shaded area bigger? If so, I'd try to put the shading layer to the parts where absolutely no light would reach.