revised----> Im really not sure how to process this artistically. So can any one help, maybe even a red line or a better explanation how to work this. I did work on it after, I made an edit but im not sure if its better from the original. so ill post that as well as a working size version. I dont know why they are saying soft or gradient shading when i use hard brush. Is it because its small and when resized, somehow makes it softer? im not sure.

So very confused and need help.

Thank you so much!

made the thread. gonna ping a few groups, if you think of more feel free to ping them here. thank you

Right now the revised version looks as if the light source is unknown. In fact it looks to be coming from the right since the left (our left) looks darker for some reason. I know your intentions were for the light to be on the right but that is just not the case. The shading in general looks better than your original however I don't know if there is enough shading. The shades seem to blending into each other when it is resized. Maybe adding another layer of brighter shading in a few places could fix this, but I am not sure.

im directional challenged. i might try that- thank you

hi! I -think- what they mean is simply that it needs a few harder edges + a bit more light onto the top left! It's always super hard with dark colors because it can very easily turn into 'all black'

I made a super super quick edit, sorry just woke up qq

ooooo okay i get it ..thank you for explaining that for me. i think i can improve it better now. thank you so much for taking the time to show it me. hope you have a good morning :)

-----changes after input---- ----slightly darker

better?