Ricardo´s Art Journey

[ThereIsNoJustice]

any advice for bettering rendering skills and better control shapes or specific brushes you use

Using the pen tool and masking areas is the best way I've found for controlling shapes and getting hard edges. This is mainly necessary at the edges of objects.

For rendering the general problem is balancing out your hard edges and soft edges. That means you need a brush which can get you soft edges, a brush for hard edges, or the skill to get both with one brush. Look closely at the edges in your reference. It's really easy to tell when someone has painted without studying edges.

This image is a bit older, and might be a quick study, but it shows the effect. We mostly see softer edges here, and it looks odd.



Lastly, I get the impression you aren't simplifying things. It's certainly a valid choice to try to replicate what you see as closely as possible, but it also limits you. If you simplify a head drawing into a few values, it becomes much easier for the viewer to understand, quicker for you to draw/paint, and allows you to understand and replicate your own working process.