Hm. I think it would look better if you draw it from up-front instead of from slightly tp the side? I don't know, probably just me, since I always like that perspective. Shows more, and stuffs. Other than that, it looks nice. Admittedly looks a bit strange since Nemo's not wearing her cloak, but that's more my personal image than anything else.
Ok, I'll try to expand my criticism to be more useful. Before I start, do you have any advice on how to do it? On the one hand, I'm aware that artists need criticism to get better, but on the other hand, I'm not entirely sure how to make helpful criticism. You also said you don't want to be told how to do art, and I'm pretty sure I'm misinterpreting it, but it sounds like you don't want criticism.
Yeah, it's criticism, but it's not a good criticism. I would argue that yours was bad. You did not give any reason behind it other than 'it looks pretty lame and weedy' but then you did not give an actual solution. Rather, what you did was worse. Perhaps you did not intend it, but when you say this... 'I recommend taking some inspiration from
this one. It's not perfect but it's got a lot more character and style to it than yours.'
I would be genuinely not-fine with that. You're not just comparing (and that's bad enough), you're telling someone to draw more like another artist.
Frankly, this is lazy. You know what'd be better? Instead of doing that, you could've picked out what you like from jet's drawing, and tell that to Life instead of shoving it to their face. More to the point, you should be careful with your tone. Criticism is fine and dandy, and all -
but tone is important. You don't want to pick up a fight -
unless that is your intention. Execution is important in all things. You may argue about being honest, but that's no reason why we can't be civil.
Tl;dr : state your opinion. Follow by why you think that is. Then give how do you think that could be solved. Handle your tone.
Yes, I just did criticize your criticism.