I really think her upper legs are too short. I used to have a similar problem with that and found that I only need to add a tiny bit of length to them and they'd stop bugging me.

Narcissistic? I don't think so. Redheads stand out in a crowd because there are so few, and because red is the most brilliant of all the colors. And I don't mean brilliant as the best, I mean brilliant as just popping out at you. It's why stop signs are red. You just can't help but see that color.

The religious implications of the halo are what bothered me. I agree, you needed something to draw attention to her head, but what bothered me was that the halo's style was too reminiscent of a religious halo because it was so circular and radiated fairly evenly from her head. I knew what it was, I knew why it was there, I just didn't like the reminder and wasn't sure it complimented your subject.

I have been practicing my reviewing skills on fanfiction.net, so I've learned a lot about being specific, suportive, encouraging and also perscriptive in my reviews. I've found a good balance of what I like and don't like, as well as how I'd fix or change it, really helps people out, and it doesn't take much to alter this style for pics. I'm just glad this helped you.
Btw, I put you on alert. I know you're good and I know you'll listen. Two things I like about an artist.

This image made Lady Heromorph's Top Images of the Week ending April 18th, 2009... Congrats.

Oh! WOW!
Well thank you for taking the time to give me such a detailed critique.
I will make changes:

Base Drawing: I see what you mean by the chin. Something had been bothering me about the face, I thought it was the nose. Then preceded to ignore it.
lol As for the lips it's the shading. I do those all the time but I messed up on the shading and was lazy about zooming up and fixing it. But I will.
The cheeks are alright I fiddled with them for some time. It is the jaw line that is throwing you off. Me too apparently.
Thank you with the body. That take practice, that's how that part becomes a quicky. and luck. I was really happy that I didn't have to go over that a billion times. As for the leg, she's got her legs crossed and is shifting her weight like in a walk. But I still see what you mean. The lines under the cloth emphasizes that. I think when those get taken out it will look better.

Coloration: I actually did not like the color of red I chose for her lips but now I do. I think taking the pink out will help for why I didn't like the shade. As for the red hair I have red hair and have done to many self portraits to not be good at it. That's my shade of red too, it's the shade I tend to do, I also just like coloring more red heads cause they stand out, there is just something different about redheads that I like more...not to be narcissistic.
I will take the lines on her hips out, I see what you mean and I don't like it either. I have a tendency to do that with cloth cause I like the bodies so much.
The white just turned out well, I'm happy with it too. The halo is her telekinetic power, since being the phoenix I notice that part get's over looked. I felt it really filled the space well and created a triangle focus point with the fire. It creates an instant draw for the eye to her symbol and face. It turned out a bit religious looking but in a way the phoenix is a religious thing, built into the core of the major religions. So I left it.

So thank you so much for your wonderful review and critiques. I know it's a high expectation but I look for this in anything I post. It helps me realize things I should and should not continue to do. Therefore I grow as an artist. That is why I like to write reviews like this to help others grow. In all truth the Heromorph community has been better about that than the Deviantart community, ironic huh? lol
As for this being a Quickie it is for me.
Most of my paintings take from 2 days to 5. The manipulations take a day to 2 days depending on how far I want to go. Usually since I don't get paid for them I don't spend all my time on them. So this taking 20 minutes to draw, 10 minutes to shade in gray scale and 10 minutes to turn to color is a quickie.
(this is all in Photoshop CS3)
If you want to know I did the line work over top a gray background. Then I shaded and highlighted with an opaque brush. TO get the extreme light and dark I used the burn tool and the dodge tool. For colors I did a base color for each set of colors on a separate layer. (golds all on one layer, oranges on one, whites...etc) Then I duplicated those. I put one set all on one layer and chose one blending mode for that below the gray scale layer which is now opaque. Then I chose an appropriate blending mode for each color base layer. Depending on how it looked I added burning and highlighting on each. Then I did the fire and telekinetic power on one layer in only color burning and highlighting when needed. Flattened it and signed it, and called this a done piece. Sounds like a lot but it's not.
So I hope that helps. As for your complements thanks you very much. As for your critiques I'll fix the things you stated and re-post this. (there is a way to edit a photo and re-post the actual photo with out loosing the comments.)
Once again thank you so much I appreciate this so much.
I'll let you know when I post another one.

~Redd

I had to open a second window to comment on this one. I love the colorations, though I've noticed problems in the drawings are more easily spotted once color is added.
Base drawing: The chin point doesn't seem to come down enough; I realize her head is tilted back, but I still think you didn't make the jawline severe enough. The eyes and eyebrows are perfect in a way I could never do, but the lips seem too...thick. I think thinner lips would be more feminine. Or possibly just the upper lip. Now that I look closely at it, I don't think there's anything wrong with the shading, but it may be problematic on the cheek (can't tell with that jawline).
But anyway, the rest of her body looks like it was copied off a cover because it's so perfect, although the right upper leg seems to taper too quickly, or just isn't long enough for being moderately elevated.

Coloration: You chose an excellent shade of red for her lips. I love how it pops, standing out even from the red of her hair.
Her hair, just from being a more orange shade, seems to clash a little with her lips. Honestly, if I would change anything, I'd take a little pink out of the lip color though. I LOVE the use of blonder highlights and redish-brownish lowlights to convey depth and shadowing on her hair! It was really well done and well blended.
The gold on her uniform is metallic and given good depth, but the outline of her hips under the clothing is a little distracting. In fact, leaving those lines in makes the right side of her sash seem angular and unclothlike, even with the lowlights.
The white of her costume also has excellent definition from the use of darker and lighter colors, but in a way that doesn't seem to detract or distract from the gold in her costume. It supports it beautifully.
The effect around her hands....ingenious. I just love it. I don't know how I feel about the halo, but her hands really pulls things back to the Phoenix character.
A very good work. And, although it may take a bit, I will respond to a response to this review.

Edit: Geez, and I got so carried away in reviewing that I forgot to tell you what I thought of your 'quickie'. Quickie? That's a quickie?! You're kidding me right? Okay, now I feel bad. The only quick part I got was from the pencils part of the pic, not the coloration.
Let me know when you put another 'quickie' up.

Very cool stuff!

I often reply on the actual comments themselves but I never get responses. SO I'm sending a note.
That was THE best comment I've ever had.
I love that you got technical, I love how you really explained what you liked. Now I know that I should really pay attention and do it again. I love the critiques that you gave. The tremendous support!!!
I personally always try to give in depth comments with praise and critiques. I've never really seen anyone who does that as well. BUT YOU!! Every comment I get from you tops the last like no other. It always makes me tear up. So simply put thank you so much, and I can't wait to hear from you again.

~Redd

Lazy?
You should always be so lazy.

I was hoping someone would try to bring color to your sketch, and who better than yourself!

I liked this in B&W, and equally so in color. Even if you say it was a quick job, it still shows great composition and complimentary uses of the colors and shades.
The beauty and complexity of this arises from its apparent simplicity.
It appears as though you used just the warmer colors (red, orange, yellow) to color the whole piece. That the alleged simplicity.
What impresses me most (aside from ALL of it, since I can't color for squat) is HOW you used those basics to create every shade seen in the pic. From the various reds of heat emanating from the bright flames and head aura, to the orange spliced into the hair to offset the luscious locks, to the yellows of the costume...you've implemented ever so slight degree shifts of these basics and managed to carry all of them throughout the whole piece.
I can't glance at a single section without seeing that part of the image as if it's either on fire, or about to ignite.
The subtle red glows on the lighter suit demonstrate this combustibility quite well.
I could go on and on, but I think I tend to bore people with too much prose.

So to sum up, simply put,
Fantastic follow up with this sketch!
Jean Rocks!