No they are not harsh critics, calling it sloppy is going easy. Before you skin anymore ask yourself, what is the point of skinning something into the exact same thing? Try transforming into something completely different.
Refine your shading, you can see your brush strokes. Also don't shade using black, if there is a not completely lightless shadow it will be a darker less saturated version of the base color, but not black. Start shading using colors very close to the base color then use colors farther and farther away from it, bringing in depth and definition.