Sakura Redrawn

Remember my "Lucids" concept?  I've been thinking about it, and I want to nail the look of those characters down.  So, lately, I have been trying to draw them a little more frequently.  Perhaps some day soon I can utilize them in comic form or animated form or something.  But before that can happen, I want to be sure that these guys will look the way I want them to look.

To that end, allow me to reintroduce Sakura Miyazaki, the female lead of this "series", in a drawing I made a few months ago.  How did this one turn out?

When I initially drew this picture, I was trying to set it apart from this image of Sakura I uploaded before in two main areas.  1.) I wanted to set Sakura in a more dynamic pose, one that may actually try to clue the viewer in on what her powers are.  While the first drawing is still kind of cute, Sakura doesn't appear to be doing much in it.  2.) I wanted to simplify Sakura's color scheme.  As much as I like color, using too many colors on one character may result in something that looks obnoxious or unfocused.  The yellow in the first drawing especially seemed to scream for attention, and I wanted to focus Sakura more on red, her signature color.  The unification in a few colors would also make Sakura (or any character) easier to design and define as a video game sprite.

For the pose, I really like how the hair flows, and the arms held out like that do help emphasize her main power: the ability to create shields (or "moons") that repel or attract enemy attacks.  I am not so confident in her legs, however.  While they look steady to let her hold her ground from the blackfire attack, I worry that they're too stiff.  On a brighter note, while she seems a bit angry, I think I drew the expression of determination fairly well.

As for color, I think I did accomplish solidifying a color scheme.  The yellow I had on her before was mainly replaced with silvery colors, mainly utilizing red, white, and "black" (or really dark blue) for her overall color scheme.  While I do like the colors I used here for the most part, one in particular annoys me: her skirt.  I was trying to file Sakura's lightish pink skirt more in line with the red, but making the skirt the same kind of red made it seem like one long dress, which didn't make sense now that the belt was hidden under flaps.  Therefore, I tried to make a magenta skirt.  You guys might like how it looks, but I can't say I like this color in this design.

So, next time I draw Sakura, I will try to make her legs do more than they are here while still emphasizing her moon powers.  I will keep most of this color scheme intact, maybe adjusting some of the dark areas slightly.  Most importantly, while the red looks good, I'm probably going to change her skirt back to pink.

Or maybe I can experiment to see how a (dark?) purple skirt works.  Hmm... 

EDITED ON AUGUST 27, 2013
Since I drew and uploaded this picture, I have edited the picture a little.  Here is the version with a lighter pink skirt.  I also added a background similar to the ones Ken and Wendy received.