Your style is very cute! I'm sorry for butchering it in my ugly paintover. The easiest way to make something really bright is to darken everything else. The light should cast darker shadows and you can even add rim light.

@fosco

Paintover

Hey! Nice illustration! Really like it so far! :D Regarding the wings. You already have in mind that the wings are divided into layers, that's the most important thing to have in mind! Always keep in mind the basic painting structure: Start by blocking out the general shapes, then paint the light and shadows, and from there, it's just a matter of start sculping the painting. And I think one of the important thing about wings is the ambient occlusion between each layer of feathers, or just between the individual feathers. However, you don't need to paint all the wings! You just need to paint some detailed, and the rest is just simple graphic shapes and let the brain figure out the rest. There are several pictures you can find on Pinterest, though. Where they help you with the "step-by-step" of painting wings. https://mx.pinterest.com/pin/10203536646162219/ When you struggle with something, get back and study how things work first in real life (paint wings from birds, ofc) and then apply to knowledge. Regarding the ball. Everything is too bright, and the ball is not too big to brighten the whole character. So, reduce the values of the character (the top of thehead, the bottom and the sides of the dress), by doing this, the ball will stand out more! You can add a glow using an overlay layer to increase the brightness. Hope this helps!