[MelUran]

This is a small chunk of a pic I'm working on for a book right now, but it's the chunk I'm having problems with.

Primarily I am a linework and greyscale artist. I've been slowly learning more practical digital painting styles, and I'm starting to incorporate what I've learned into my work. This is the first piece for publication that I'm using some of that info for, but I'm sorta stuck in this midpoint transition between just greyscale shading and actually painting tones with different brushes. It's different enough from how I usually work with photoshop that I'm getting lost on what to do.

The figure in the pic has 2 light sources on her- one directly overhead, and one in front from candles.

Any particular thing that I'm not seeing that I'm getting hung up on? I know it's something simple, but I'm just not seeing what it is. Is it that the shadows aren't hard enough? Too hard? Too defined of a highlight? I'd be grateful for pointers.

[subversive-imaginati]

This seems rather flat if only because all your parts have the same type of shadows and highlights for the most part. Not everything reflects/bounces light in the same manner, the highlights on flesh are softer than the highlights on vinyl, the shadowing on crushed velvet is different to the shadowing on satin.

If I was doing this? I'd take the highlights off the corset, soften the lighting on the face, and put stronger highlights on the cuffs given the way the fabric lies on them.

I'd also suggest you try using larger softer brushes, some of your paint work particularly in the highlights looks rather scratchy. Also on things like the sleeve where the smoke bisects it? Link both parts up and paint them together so they match in shading, you can erase the bit between them to do the smoke.

Don't forget light bounces so if something is directly hit by light it will also scatter small reflections of it's own onto things near by. Indirect or ambient light is always worth remembering.