Acrylic on watercolor paper

[Halleck]

How can i give this more depth? Make the scene a little more dramatic? it seems so cartoony.

[Singular]

It is a nice painting. But if you are going for a more realistic look, then you definitely need to work on each individual item more. Work on adding detail to each of the wine bottles and glasses, the rail, cabinet, etc. The figures need a wider rage of color, not just light and dark. What I mean is that the man's face is sort of flat. That adds to the "cartoonish" feel you mentioned. His face has three shades that I can see: base, light and dark. You need to add another three to four more shades minimum in order to create a more depth and realism. Same goes for the man's hand in the foreground. It is like comparing a gif that is 128 colors as opposed to a jpg in true color. The more color variations you can transition with, the closer to reality you will get.

all the best,
Joe

[gillerheadstudio]

Hi Halleck
You ask three things in your question. 1. More Depth 2. More Drama 3. Less cartoony.
I'll start with question 3. as this will
ing me to question 1.
The image as a whole has this cartoon feel as the background is on the same level of colour, hue and contrast as the foreground. There are a couple of ways of changing this, which are . . . (this is the adding drama bit) As you are working in acrylic on paper you may find the paint is drying out far to quickly to work with, you could add a retardant to slow it down, allowing more work time, or (this is what I would do) make up a very thin wash in a harmonious colour for the background and apply over the whole painting (yes the whole painting) allow to dry and if you think it needs to be toned down further add another wash, and so on until you are happy. Then rework the foreground image (Singular is write about using detail on hands etc.) working over the top of what you have should allow you to pick out the highlights. Then where the light is hitting the bottles at the back of the painting, just add some clean white.
Of course these are just my ideas, but keep going this could be something special. I like your other work shown on this site too.
GILLERHEAD

[ehoeveler]

Singular and Gillerhead have just about covered it.
Congrats for exploring the world of acrylics! Ehoeveler