Something sucks about this - but what ?

[shy rapids]

If you have any idea or feedback on this piece I'd appreciate it : )

[strong valve]

I think something that you think 'sucks' are colors, I used to do that too xD. You might be making one of 2 mistakes in my opinion, bcs the colors look muddy (not changing the hue or shading with black/white). Next time when you paint, when shading just change the position of the cursor on the outer colour wheel a bit. Then you painting will improve a lot and will be way more vibrant

[shy rapids]

its frustrating because I shaded with purple and red and pink : (
I almost never use black or grey for this purpose. They highlights are a very pale shade of yellowish/greenish

this is the picture without colors, only shading and light.

but maybe I need to pump up the saturation of the shadows more

[strong valve]

The things is that some of those colors are on the opposing side of the color wheel (example: purple-green) when they mix together it creates brown

[shy rapids]

of course! youre right... so i shouldnt crank it all up to purple / blue hues but just shift it a bit in the cooler direction ?

[strong valve]

usually when I've seen images with contrast they use a lot of for example purple and a tiny bit of green so you could try that too

[strong valve]

yeah, I think blue-ish would be better

https://tenor.com/view/bubu-think-bubu-dudu-bubu-gif-17040336104432067689

[shy rapids]

thanks a bunch for the helpful hints : )

[split tartan]

I would also try to "plant" the characters more into the background, because it looks a little bit like they are just a sticker on top of an image. It is also about the colors, maybe some greenish secondary highlights on the characters. U can find some good tips on this topic on the internet!

I would also add some shadows emitted by the characters

[strong valve]

yeah, some shadows underneath the man or reflection light of the background would be cool