Don't give up now. You were off to a good start. Put a coat of clear over the whole thing and see how it looks.

Although nice flames are not the easiest thing to paint, they are fun to do. It takes a lot of practice to really achieve nice proportional flames, but they give the painter lots of freedom for expression. There are several different styles of flames; seaweed, crabclaw, celtic, and real fire. Some painters use combinations of the different styles to achieve even greater originality. If you pay someone else to do them they may look nice, but you won't have the satisfaction of having done them yourself. Also, custom paint work is VERY expensive. Learn to do them yourself and you will save a pile of money. You may even get hired to paint some more for your friends and/ or acquaintances and earn some extra cash to spend on your ride...

My first flame job was on my dad's Craftsman riding lawn mower when I was 14. After that I painted skate boards, bicycle fenders, and just about anything that would hold still long enough. By the time I was 16 I had progressed from spray cans to spray guns and an airbrush. Now, at almost 63, I can't count all the flame jobs I have painted over the years; some were just for fun, but some paid very well...