Try to take advantage of the larger gradient colors white and black. Do not use 100% white or black, because it is not realistic. Some highlight information in your handpaint and it will look much better.) For example:
@gsAlpha7 I am glad you picked something small to start off with! This is an excellent way to start learning handpainted stuff. "I feel a lot like a kid painting while trying to paint textures, is this normal for beginners?" Yes this is completely normal! You are learning something new, it takes time to learn new things :)…
Immediately see you're going in the right direction, following tutorials and real examples where you can pull instances from and apply it to future personal work for me also is the best method. Maybe after finishing the tutorial do a new project and compare it to the first thing you did, will definitely give you the…