As creators we are ALL inspired by what is around us, consciously or subconsciously. If I tell you to create an original fantastic creature from scratch that doesn't exist anywhere, I think you simply can't, your brain will pick body parts, colors and basic shapes it has already seen somewhere. Cthulhu is just an octopus and centaurs some man-horse, pegasus = birdhorse etc...
You were certainly influenced by Mark's videos, above all if you like the guy and his content, like I was influenced by the mario 64 eel , In fact my game will probably never exist if mario 64 wasn't.
I literally hate Photoshop, I think it's way too overkill for making pixel art and indie stuff, my digital art professor in school also traumatized us with what is supposed to be a good workflow on this piece of alien tech. The reality is you don't need Adobe for making gorgeous art : MS paint can be enough.
I prefer using the built in editor of my engine, for the more sophisticated stuff I use Paint.net and GIMP in the last resort. The side by side montage literally took me, I think, less than 1 or 2 min to make with Paint.net.
Import magnet level > import charms level on a new layer > scale the smallest layer to match the edges of the biggest one > erase the top layer at ~50% to give that smooth transition effect. > FINISH