Hey, thanks for taking the time to write all that out and for the clear side by side examples. I appreciate it 🙂
I understand exactly what you’re seeing with the median-filter softness, the broken/stippled lines, the missing detail on Anna’s face (lips, nose, eyes, hair edges), and the way some of the body contours (especially the breast/arm separation) feel incomplete. Those are fair observations if you’re looking at it from a clean, solid-line stylised or pixel art perspective
The thing is, I’m deliberately not going for that clean aesthetic. I am intentionally introducing blurs, light blooms, and softened details to push the images closer to real-life photography rather than crisp illustration
With the studio pieces in particular, the setting is supposed to feel like a converted basement with neon lighting and a hastily put together backdrop. In that kind of environment you’d naturally get strong light bloom, soft focus, slight haze, and finer details getting partially lost or obscured by the lighting and atmosphere. I lean into those effects on purpose so they feel present and part of the scene instead of cleaning everything up to look polished and sharp
That same approach is why some of the line work ends up softer or broken, and why the overall image can feel a bit lower resolution or upscaled the softness and bloom are baked into the look I’m after
That said, your notes about readability are still useful. Even with the photographic softness I want the major forms (especially the face and the separation between breasts and body/arms) to stay clear enough that the shapes don’t start to merge. I will keep a closer eye on those areas going forward so the softness doesn’t undermine the structure
Thanks again for the constructive feedback