Hello there! Good work so far! You mainly just need stronger value contrast to create a clearer separation between light and shadow. Right now, most of the painting sits within a darker value range, which makes the piece lose contrast overall. You can keep the shadows at those darker values, but try increasing the brightness of the lit areas instead. You could experiment with using a “Hard Light” layer and start painting in the light shapes first. After that, it becomes a matter of gradually refining the forms, especially around the important areas or focal points like the face and hair. You don’t need to render the entire character with the same level of detail. A cooler light source would work really well here, since it would allow the shadows to remain slightly warmer in tone. You could also add a rim light to help the character’s silhouette stand out and prevent certain parts of the character from blending into the dark background values. Hope this helps!
