Alright buckle up now this is big. So about your paintings looking extra good in that one pic, in art school this effect was called the "secret of scale" which is just the fact that for a couple reasons artworks usually tend to look better when shrunk down from their original size a lil bit (or sometimes a lot)! Try drawing large format then shrinking a photo of it! Once you see it you can't unsee it. This was such a comeup for me when I learned about it so hope this is powerful for you too!