My inbox: "How do you do realism so it looks comfortable? My portraits always look awkward & it gets worse the more realistic I try to be."

So this is called uncanny valley. It's why stuff looks creepy the more you try to make it look human. A thread...

Basically this: when a character looks too realistic (but not quite realistic enough) it triggers a false expectation in our brain. We start to think of them as actually human, which means we start measuring them as human, which means our sensitivity skyrockets.

Realism artists avoid uncanny valley by using context to remind viewers they're looking at a painting—visible brush strokes, exaggerated colors, sketchy lines, etc.

But if you remove context, which is what photorealism does, you also remove the reminder.

This raises viewers' expectations: if we know it's supposed to be perfect, we're more likely to notice when it's not—and be bothered by it. Like a crooked picture frame.

An example of context being removed: the CG characters of Princess Leia and Moff Tarkin in Rogue One. They look unsettling because there's no context to remind us they're animated.

An example of context left in: Roger Rabbit.

There's another way artists can avoid uncanny valley: CONSISTENCY.

Example: if a picture frame is crooked, you notice it as an error. But if all the picture frames are crooked on purpose, then you notice it as consistent. No longer an error, now a pattern.

I've never drawn an accurate face. But I always draw a consistent face. And to an audience, consistency looks intentional, trustworthy, and comfortable.

Consistency and context, by the way, are what make up your style. They're how you remind your audience that they're looking at something you made and that you did it on purpose

So my advice to artists who are striving for accuracy is to stop. Accuracy is a novelty that has not very much to do with art. Even photorealistic artists for whom accuracy is critical are more concerned with intent than skill.

Instead, try it make it look like yours.