I did this a few years ago, and while i have improved a lot, I still consider myself an amateur by far.
the problem is is that i still use this process or something similar, and i don't know to to move forward.
can anyone suggest a way to improve?
read the sticky-icky.
>>2608068
Every face is shaded in much the same way,with the same brightness.
I think you were trying to make the faces look flat, as though they had been cut with a saw, in which case each face should be clearly different to the adjacent face and of fairly uniform colour.
This effect can be improved by removing the black outlines.