They're beautiful (:

Det, adding your markings last ain't derpy. I do it all the time. I always do it. I find it easier that way. I put the markings on a separate la
yer and change the opacity and the la
yer settings.

Also you need to work on anatomy. This is how I think anatomy generally works:

It's not just for dogs, it can sort of apply with most mammals mind you.

Hey Det, saw your post on the Party about switching to a more art inclined school. And that isn't all that necessary at the moment. Academics are good. From other peoples experience with schools, you don't learn all that much (depending on the cla.ss and who is teaching it) in K-12.

There's this brilliant girl in my art cla.sses, her parents made her go to a fancy pants art school since she was like four-years-old. She's a pretty good artist. She has great technique and understands loads of mediums. She can render beautiful images (if she has a photograph as reference and can completely copy it) easily.

Ask her to freehand? Yeah. That isn't happening. Perspective and foreshortening go out the window. Her beautifully rendered pieces are ruined on a weak foundation. I'm glad she took the Life Drawing cla.ss we're in. It was kinda sad watching her struggle with it when I was so in awe of her abilities. D: Now it's like she has to build up from the beginning again.

So basically, what I'm saying is: Unless they're teaching you how to draw from life and how to construct things, they'll only teach you how to mix paint or something.  It drives me nuts how many art cla.sses I've been too where they focus on perspective for like... one cla.ss. Perspective is very important and needs lots of practice. D:

Ugh anyway, wall of text over.

You might just need to look for some art places in your area and see if there are any cla.sses they offer. Your Mum might be less against that. 

Also, reference image trouble? Here's a gesture drawing tool for animals and stuff:

http://www.pixelovely.com/tools/animalgesture.html

8]

Also keep up the good work, forgive me and my long ranting.

It's for drawing. It swaps through images for you and you draw them. o-o You said you were having trouble finding reference images.

Step one: Select a time frame. This is how long the images will remain on your screen before changing. I generally do 30 second gesture sketches, which is the default time.

Step two: Select species. Canine, feline, equine. They have a lot in there. You were drawing canines and I would a.ssume you want to be better at them. Select canines.

Step three: Click the "Get Drawing!" button.

Step four: Draw.