Hey Jester! Nice character! You mentioned wanting to push toward a hyper-realistic / 3D render look. To get there, you’ll want to start moving away from visible linework. Line is great during the drawing phase, but in hyper-realistic rendering, it’s usually painted over so forms are defined by value and edges instead. For example, once you paint over the line, especially in areas like the face, you immediately start getting a more natural, realistic feel. From there, the key is really understanding light and shadow. Things like core shadow, highlights, midtones, ambient occlusion, rim light, etc. These are what actually create the illusion of volume and realism. So a good approach would be to study these fundamentals first, and practice painting simple forms (like spheres, cylinders, boxes) and then move into more organic forms, making sure you can give each one a convincing 3D feel. Also, you might want to check out Stanley Lau. His work blends a comic/anime aesthetic with a very polished, realistic rendering style, which sounds close to what you're aiming for. Hope this helps!
