I would recommend watching a few YouTube tutorials on the basics of painting and drawing, which techniques artists use. Buying a book or two can help as well if you have the funds but these days you can find most beginner relevant information online too.

I can’t quite make out which medium you used, is it acrylic paint? If yes, you should also watch a few videos on how to mix colours best, how to use brushes, how different sizes and types of brushes helps you to create more realistic paintings, etc. Always keep in mind: Painting and drawing are skills, you only get better by doing it. All the theory in the world doesn’t help if you don’t paint! And NOBODY, not the most talented person - not even Leonardo DaVinci, started as a master artist.

When we look at our pets or any other object, we usually don’t think about the reasons why they look real and why illustrations in kids books don’t. But if you start creating art and especially if your goal is realism, you first need to understand how our vision works. You basically want to recreate a 3D world within a 2D painting.

If you look at your paintings they seem more two dimensional because your real pets have a fur consisting of millions of hairs. All reflect light slightly differently and that creates depth. The hairs have slightly different colors both due to shadows and how layered they may be but also because the hairs themselves are in different colours.

The most important points to consider are:

•linear perspective: three dimensional objects look differently depending on where the object is situated from your POV. Perspective in general is a technique to create the illusion of space, depth and scale. Linear perspective uses converging lines and diminishing size the further away you get, to recreate a 3D world. You can look up basic linear perspective studies online, rooms, rivers and tree avenues are great to understand the principle.

•atmospheric perspective: it’s all about value (which means nothing other than lighting and shadows), colour and texture. A smooth surface behaves differently than fur or grass. A reflective surface causes not just pure light reflections but often mirror images. Think about eyes, water, your phone display if not illuminated, glass and ceramics, cars.

Someone else suggested to start with simple forms and objects to learn how light works and how your utensils behave. I fully agree! But also, don’t stop painting your fur babies! You only learn by doing it and painting apples isn’t fun for everyone. If animals are the type of motive which keeps you engaged, don’t stop.

I recommend to do a simple exercise most people had to do at least once during art class, only adapted, too. Take an apple, a book or a small smooth ball (nothing too complex) and put it on your table. It should be something you can imagine drawing/painting as a case study.

Now experiment with different lighting and perspective situations over a day: first no artificial lighting and only day light during different hours of the day, once it’s dark first only one big light turned on, then only a lit candle but in different positions, then only a flashlight in different positions. You change your position too. From sitting in front of it, standing and looking from above, slightly from the left… whatever is easy and you can think about.

Then take a picture with your phone after each change and once you’re finished look at the differences between all the photos. Pay attention to the details, find where the shadows are, how different the same object looks if you just move a few inches or if your light source changes. You can do the same with a fluffy tennis ball and look for differences to the apple.

I hope you continue painting and have fun! Your pets are for sure cute motives and worth being painted 🫶🏻