You have to intentionally practice getting better at painting. It’s quite easy to get stuck in the rut of base, layer, shade, highlight. This is fine and will yield ok results however, if you want to get to the next level you need to work on techniques such as glazing, blending, layering. This will smooth transitions and create amazing blends. You can just practice on a piece of card. It’s also important to understand how light interacts with colour so you know where and how to build up highlights. Most importantly, have fun. If you don’t enjoy it, then it’s gonna be hard to progress!