Hey guys and gals - Perhaps not the best first post..asking for stuff, but here goes

I just checked out Spiral Knights, and instantly fell in love with the textures. Really inspired me to get back to hand painted textures.
I'm happy they didn't pack everything down as every texture is in a .png, I've studied them and done a quick paint over, but I cant seem to get it right. Theirs are so clean and sharp and seems so simple to handpaint, but theire not

Is there any tutorials on these kind of 'clean' hand painted textures anywhere ?
Im mostly just using the chalk brushes, perhaps try something else, tips ?
Perhaps Ill be lucky enough with a reply from any of the Artist from that game.
Props to the handpainting OOO , and great game!
Heres my effort haha

bigger image
here
- J