Anyone else notice more people are doing more realistic pictures, maybe its just me. Anyways whats your take on trying to draw more realisticly, and the pros and cons in the long and short run.

bragging rights, I suppose. Making a good realism drawing is hard to do. Which is why I don't like to draw realism that often.

We all need a good cartoon now and then. That's why there are Sunday funnies.

There are three kinds of realism, copying a photograph, drawing from real life, or drawing from imagination.

I find the first one, which is most common, from what I can tell, by far the least impressive. It takes a long time perhaps, but so much is lost when you aren't controlling the colors, contrast, composition, and so on.

Drawing from real life has its own drawbacks, mainly because it's a lot harder to get a nice scene, and if you're working online, most probably you won't be working outside.

As for drawing from imagination, there's quite a wide range of options here, and I can't really say one thing or another about that.

I think realism (even copying a photograph) is important to understand stuff, and it definitely helps improve your skills as an artist, but one shouldn't limit themselves to one style.

On a side note, people who are copying photographs or existing images really need to give a link to their reference or at least mention they used one.

I have noticed (especially with computer art) there are very few artists doing realism. I believe the main reason is because it is the most difficult to produce, and it also doesnt allow them that much "creative license" - in order to achieve realism things have to be portrayed as they actually appear. I strongly agree with Marcello in that it is extremely important for any artist to study in realism, as in generating it one learns things that cant be learned with other styles. The most important lesson in realism is to SEE things first, as they truly appear.
Anyway, it would be refreshing to see more of it as I'm not into the bug-eyed pokemon looking cartoon characters for everything. Nice choice as a subject for discussion, btw. And cool site. Love this place.

People, here? I mean, what the hell kind of question is that? Realism is being drawn all the time by all sorts of artists, and it hasn't changed. Now, if you're talking about here, then, that's different.

obviously here, where else is there!? ;)