Why does my shading/lighting look muddy and lack depth?

[silent dock]

The lighting looks flat and lacks depth and the colours are all muddy. I’m very new to shading/lighting/values so I’m really not sure where I’m going wrong.

I want the shadows to be darker to match the references photo but when I try it becomes more muddy

first picture is when I try to make the shadows darker, second photo is the reference

Oh also my character is supposed to have light brown skin, I don’t know if that comes across. I’ve tried using greys, blues and reds for the shadows but it still doesn’t look great (currently the shadows, ie multiply layer, is a bright saturated blue).

[stray spruce]

i would recommend using references where you have clear shadow shapes if you unsure how to render it
you have to use hard eges and combine them with some soft edges. if you blur everything the painting just looks muddy and unclear 🙂