12-02-2013, 11:44 PM
Following what Lyraina was saying on the photographs, I think attempting to replicate the photos exactly is hurting you a bit in your renderings. Simplifying your value structures for your compositions, separating your light and dark patterns into blocked shapes and sculpting your forms into simple planes will help you to push your art away from the digital lifelessness that plagues a lot of artists. I still suggest doing those simple value studies, focusing on the major issues with painting - simple values, construction and edges.