well, think of it as artistic courtesy, it's fine if character is similar, but umm... please understand how it would feel for that artist to see this.. well it's not cool. There were ways to improve it and make it yours, but you skipped that part, and worst of all you put the screenshot of pretty memorable character on the front page. For a game that is essentially the same genre as the "inspired" character is from. Well, i'm not angry or anything, like i said, it's just not cool, and my point was and still is that you seem to be fully capable on doing it better on your own. You're clearly not a beginner when it comes to art, take your time with the art, especially if you're making a game of your own, don't cut corners on a art when it's the primary "bait" of the game.
I wish that you learn, improve and make a banger game. God knows indie games are the only hope that game have left.