Hi! It feels bland because - you just use darker value if the same color for shading - use pure white color - have cluttered background which steals all the attention from relatively simple design of the character Shading doesn't match indeed as clothes are shaded in soft style while face in cell shading style. What to do: - for white hair: don't use white and grey. Use light shades of pink, blue, violet, beige - depending on the warmth of the environment. - for shading generally don't just change value of the color but also hue when painting shadows and highlights. - color your lineart (you can experiment with blending modes of the lineart layer or lock it and color it manually). I simplified background so character becomes the focus and fixed shoulders a bit. Clothing is a whole section of art theory that I can cover in a small box here so I would suggest looking up tutorials on it (there is a roadmap on Artwod dedicated to it). Main things to consider are tension points (like shoulders/armpits) and gravity - both pull on the fabric and determine it's flow. Lastly, I think investing time into learning forms and contour lines (see art fundamentals) would help you to improve your drawings by a lot and save some struggles. Cheers!