I know you stated you weren’t going for realism but in all rendering it comes down to lights and darks. There needs to be enough contrast between your lightest lights and your darkest darks. Also, the shadows that are being cast from objects also have a value that is darkest, closer to the object and that fades out as it gets further away. Study what you see in reference and then just try to use only black to white and see if you can mimic what you see in terms of the value not color. A good way to do this is look for black and white photo references of food. My paint over really just shows that if you have patience, and willingness to slow down and take your time, you can start to broaden the value scale of your renderings. Start with a middle gray tone and lay down your shapes, then ONLY use the lightness/darkness slider to lighten or darken your color. You can also use the opacity slider to lessen the impact of the value when painting. Try to darken the darks in areas you see and do the ame for the lights….It can be confusing but with practice, you can really make huge gains if you just focus on values and not colors. Hope this helps | Artwod Feedback