for programs i would say GIMP. if you don't own photoshop and dont want to shell out a tonne of your money to buy it GIMP is a close-ish comparison. its 100% free, offers most of the tools photoshop does and can be used with or without a tablet (probably best to new texture makers. not many people just have a tablet laying around)
i prefer tablet based art programs though, such as paint tool sai. paint tool sai has a 30 free trial giving you full access to the program for a month. this is only advised if you use a tablet though.
as for your art work, i would only say add more features, shading and smoother lines,
the lines on the red mask(haven't previewed it yet so i cant tell) are pretty rough, and im also trying to guess what the beige area is, i would think its skin but its impossible to tell at the moment. adding more features could make it easier to tell but your best bet at refining this is shading. everything looks better with shading. adding some basic highlights and shadows will give the head more structure and make it look more interesting, the beige area is just flat color at the moment with that little bit of detail towards the top. this could do with fixing.