i think i do prefer semi-realism, and a somewhat petite style, yet still very detailed.

two good examples would be tknk and lanwu. my absolutely two favorite artists of all time.

tknk's is very beautiful and things will lure your eyes. such as in the "curly hair" i completely didn't notice the shirt was just scribbles, i kept staring at the eyes / hair. as for lanwu, her style is just beautiful altogether. it has a "gothic" feel to it which makes it seem very professional and very much like a painting itself, but with so many more details.

in terms of cute, my favorite artists are akira kirai, kaze-hime and babu523. still very amazing artists, even with their defined "cute" style.

some special mentions are pyromaniac and aiko-frikki.

though a very VERY special mention is mariyumi. absolutely perfect, everything she does shines, basically. and she's only 16, blah so jealous. ;_;

so i guess my preference would be semi-realism anime, and soft CGing skill. the artists i've mentioned are basically already extremely good at whatever they do - cute, etc. though in terms of a new-starting artist who wants to improve, i wouldn't stick with the cute things for a long time, or else you'll plateau. yeah, you would get a lot more attention then you deserved, but morally it's not the numbers that count.

visual appeal is nice, but in terms of making things look professional, you can't make it cute all the time.

if talking in the increments of money, cute things would probably sell faster - since they're going to take less time and be smaller. also, more people go for them. bigger, more detailed things, especially more professional things are going to take a bit longer, and be much more higher-priced. they'd probably pay better since some of them will be for commercial use, businesses, etc.

I like a nice detailed style. I'm a sucker for digital, as most trad. art, when scanned, are poor quality. But there are exceptions. I have this one piece from that's trad. but amazing quality. I don't have any preferences between chibi, realism or semi-realism. To me, it's all about the quality. Although, one style I don't like as much is anime. There's not much scope there, they all look the same.=/

And whoa, Plip made that? It's so different from her usual style.@ I think someone who has a very distinctive style is . You can immediately recognize any of her humans.

i'm really starting to loathe all aspects of manga/anime style and the wholes cutesy chibi thing. ): it gets me down to see so many people taking that route (and a lot not even doing it well :P), when they can be adapting a really cool, original style.

i've picked out three styles i really, really adore! they're all unique but all bloody brilliant! the first is from a subeta player, actually. xP i love this style so so much C: xx

next is from a friend i lost contact with for a while. she's really grown as an artist and i love this peice by her; xx

and lastly, just a style i found and immediately fell in love with. xx

so.. i guess i'm more into my quirky and original styles than popular culture. ^^;

^tard: that's some cool shit! though it isn't traditional anime, is is still totally and obviously anime-inspired. they are all kindof original styles, but they are all derived from the basic anime rules. (also who's on subtea that did the first one? it's great!)

i came back to this thread to just say, THANK GOD DUCKY IS BACK she is my favorite artist on subeta by far, and one of the best young artists i have ever come across. i think this is a real example of beautiful talent and seriously original and innovative style. i hope (and know) this girl will be famous someday.

[IMG]http://i389.photobucket.com/albums/oo339/ivyatoms/wipforivycopy.png[/IMG]

it's not just an original take on an existing style. it is a fully developed style of her own, the drawing, coloring, everything is signature.

My favorite style is... variety >.>' Lol I just can't stand the same thing over and over, and I like too many different things. But one year ago I would state proudly that my love goes for stylized, or plain WRONG anatomy, perspective and all (Kouta Hiranooo, from Hellsing manga <3) :3 I HATED most realism, it seemed so boring. I still don't care about perfect anatomy, but now what I tend to like the most is realism and erm, photography hahah! ^^' Pinup art has a special place in my heart also, which is why I stalk the Fetish Photography section on DA, but specially oldies-style :P J Michael Linsner ( http://www.linsner.com ) is one of my faves, and it's all done in markers. Also can't help loving Jamie Hewlett http://a2.vox.com/6a00bf76d0a9b7438300c10e0f77f2d3b4-500pi There's http://magic-8-ball.deviantart.com/'s style that I enjoy so much but can't seem to categorize. And my buddy Renata whom I managed to bring to Subeta: http://renata-young.deviantart.com/art/Marolo-Cangaceiro-99821363, I love her style, so much fun... I also like this gallery http://www.unowen.net/tegaki/uentries.php?u=38665

I kinda got really tired of most anime style :P Cause it's everywhere x.x I'm trying to move away from it myself, but it's hard, even though my style is not generic anime (ugghhh, really dislike those). I guess cause I'm not sure what I want and how to adapt the characters I created in anime style to a less anime style (does that make sense?) Even the awesome kawaii-noir like of Junko Mizuno seems more common now, though I've never seen anything that compares to her, and I'm glad cause she's kinda unique <3

About the Photoshop stuff that was brought up... no matter how hard or easy it is to do, if the end result doesn't please my eyes I don't care XD Just wanted to add my opinion, no offense ^^' I think Photoshop is hard... I prefer Open Canvas or Painter.

Some artists you guys linked to, I don't like at all XD I mean... not that I don't think they're good, they are, but not for my personal taste ^^' And for example, my DA favorites section is so small compared to almost everyone who's been there for as much time as I have. That's because I'm really picky and only favorite certain things. They may be Picasso or fff I don't know, the most amazing artist on earth, but I may just favorite a simple, badly drawn sketch with poor technique by a beginner over that, if there's a little something that seems special to me in a personal way.

From Subeta, right now I can think of hellodingo (forgot her username lol) and Nouveau's art that I enjoy a lot, but I'm sure there's many more...

[edit] omg what a huge post O______O dies I'm sorry!! D:

I've always had a soft spot for punk-ish, cartoon-ish stuff, like Sam M's art. There's just something I really like about his style and themes, it's so bold and really fun to look at. Same goes to Thetoastsaidno and Kippery. I'm also a sucker for detailed pieces, especially when it comes to traditional art. Theumbrella and Monauvx are both brilliant traditional [and digital] artists.

To be honest, I don't even know why people call it style. x; But whatever. Its not like I don't use the word~

I grew up (and still growing!) obsessing over all kinds of /styles/; Disney Classics always gets me, No artwork done by Cartoon Network has never ceased to amaze me, and I guess I'd be lying if I said I never liked Sailor Moon. And I never really like realism until only lately.

But those are not the only things that inspire me. I also look up to some of these amazing artists I call my gods;

Stanley Lau is my number one god. Seriously. Click the link and you'll know why. I adore his artwork, and there's no day that I don't visit his gallery. I love it, I love it, I love it!

There's also Fabio Barboni who is an AMAZING anime artist. His coloring is just plain gorgeous, and I don't think I need to explain everything else. His gallery says it all.

And there's Rann, who is one of my all time favorite artists. Her art is so detailed and amazing, and her stories.. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love her comics. You have to read it. You have to read it.

Bobby Chiu and Kei Acedera blows my mind away when it comes to made up creatures. Both artists are really creative! Half Minute Horrors is one of my favorites. Go look at their gallery. NOW.

You'd have to be an idiot or blind to not like Evana's art work. She is one talented chick. Her art is so good, it can even calm the angriest human alive and might even squeal. Her coloring is marvelous asdklsfdsdf ^

And let's not forget Crookedsixpence. Her art is so unique, and it always makes me shiver. Her films are REALLY good. You have to watch it!

There's WAY more, but I believe that's enough for now.

As for the cute vs. other stuff, I really don't mind.. As long as that's not the only thing the person is drawing. Because.. Seriously, that artist will not improve, and I really get bored looking at too much cute stuff.

Anyways, I really don't like any specific /style/. I always find myself trying to mix all those /styles/ together and turn it to something unique.

But I guess I'm failing. Haha.

To me, as long as the artist can really pull off their style, There's really no way I wouldn't like it. (: