The Bitch: Another Attempt

I know what I'm doing wrong...I am rendering and designing the character simultaneously.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I don't think I have the skills to be doing that quite yet.  It's almost like running before learning how to walk.  I need to get the design down, hardline it, then render.  So I keep telling myself.

[Update: My rendering always falls on the way too soft side.  So I decided to bumped up the contrast only to find a messy rendering technique completely exposed.  Now I guess I know why I choose the desaturated approach when rendering.]