Agreed not bad at all, really well done for a first and like you say, you know what you need to do next time for the fade, not sure which order you layed the paint but putting the orange down and then fading into the red will ease the blend (in my opinion) and will make a redish orange on the tip.
Like said a piece of white paper will help you see how strong your putting the colour on. but looks like it wont take you too long to get upto a good standard, really good start
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