Need help handpainted textures highlights and shadows

lofthea

Hi. I need some help regarding where to place highlights when doing handpainted textures.
I am an amateur so please bear with me. As I know it, highlights are placed at areas where the light is the strongest.
However, many reference that I see, seem to have their highlights placed randomly. Some use highlights to separate parts of an object and some use it to give variation in an object.
I try to place my highlights without much thought on this rock and it looks pretty bad while also defying any art tips and tricks I learnt so far.
How exactly do I make this look better and how do I apply and render highlights properly across all materials?

tomenjerry

@loftheaHey man. good start. I would start by making the shape of the rocks more interesting. Right now you just havea light line running accros a rounded ball. Make it so that the shape is more angular is some places, and then make the hihglights run across the ridges, then they will make more sense.