Hey Evan, Ron is right that some believability can come from lighting and whatnot, but that ax exercise is specifically about the texture and is not intended to be lit. Sometimes lighting can help hide flaws, but that won’t help in the long run.
If your goal is to texture Overwatch style characters, you’ll definitely need to get comfortable with digital painting. I would recommend taking a break from the ax exercise for now and watching through these Concept courses:
https://cgcookie.com/flow/introduction-to-digital-art
After that, complete these exercises:
https://cgcookie.com/exercise/exercise-29-back-to-basics
https://cgcookie.com/exercise/exercise-painting-on-the-light
https://cgcookie.com/exercise/exercise-11-shading-black-and-white-objects
https://cgcookie.com/exercise/exercise-41-color-shifting
https://cgcookie.com/exercise/exercise-21-golden
https://cgcookie.com/exercise/exercise-26-shading-gems
https://cgcookie.com/exercise/exercise-08-material-studies
https://cgcookie.com/exercise/exercise-18-painterly-style
Once you’ve gone through all of those, try the ax again, and I guarantee that it’ll be miles ahead of where you’re at now. It’ll take time, but the detour will be well worth it!
Good luck, I know you can do it!
