I need help making the armor look better

[drifting salmon]

I don't really know what I'm looking for because I am pretty new to drawing, but I just think there are some things that I might be able to do to make it look better. Still, I don't know what I could change (working on just this leg for now)

[slow cloak]

the armor looks instead like cloth from how tightly it clings to the character's form. also, having those serrated plates all the way up the leg isn't very realistic. but i think it can work. you just need to have each plate look more like they're fitting inside of each other

this isn't a ref of real armor but captures what i mean

you can see how the pltes overlap

this shows off how it can work a bit more realistically for the upper legs. the knee should have a pad instead

[drifting salmon]

How do I make the plates look like they overlap. And what do you mean by the knee having a pad, like a joint similar to that picture?