LESS = MORE art tips vol.2
I can't stress enough with this. If it's not realism, then why do people feel the need to make their jobs so detailed that it hurts to look at?
Anyways let's get onto breaking down the examples.
So, avoid blending. Please. It doesn't make the colours pop in the slightest and makes everything look like a porridge, just a bad way to present a stylised artwork. Just don't blend and add normal shadows. That's the only way out of it. Also make sure to use as much colour you can to make the work look more complicated than it is. Also line art can be messy. It's even better because it gives work some personality and makes it more lively, while a single line makes it do the opposite and lose everything.
restrain yourself from using a thin brush
Logos. It's easy but at the same time not. I just recommend listing down things that make the logo stand out, like I did with Castore. It's just a pair of wings, so quite simple, just drew the wings with no text and detail in them. I did the same with Adidas as seen on examples C and E, as well as the fern logo on the both examples. As long as you know what it is, and are confident that you've portrayed it nicely, no one is going to ask questions. Plus people don't even look at it in detail!
the less detail the better
absolutely no text allowed
if it's a letter, don't even thing about recreating the same font - just draw a lazy A or B and call it a day.
Again, like in example A, blending is avoided at all costs, and like in B, the logos are simplified to a level where it's recognisable if you know what you're doing. Shadows are done in a nice tone, and there's not much difference between example A and C other than the colours used and the part of the body portrayed in them. It's also visible that I've simplified the face, Rieko Ioane in this case - it might not seem like it, but if I go around saying that it's Rieko, then it is going to be Rieko and nobody can do anything about it. Just know what you're drawing, and take every short-cut you see.
messier line art - more personality
Trust me, unless it's realism, nobody's going to chop your head off if Marcus doesn't have each of his hair strands drawn individually (actually yes they are because there's a simpler way than drawing each strand) so just don't do it, and do it like seen in example A - no blending, just a good line art that provides everyone with everything they need to know. Moral of the story - DO NOT draw hair strands, use lines, it's simpler and you won't actually die from stress.
just use your pen/pencil brush alright
If you're not a muppet you've noticed that it's literally picture C but altered. That's to show how to do SIMPLE highlights. Yes, an airbrush tool or marker tool is allowed here - but only here, and to make it more convincing, I recommend adding streaks of the same colour but with the pen slash pencil tool (depends on what programme you're using!) Like I've written down there, it's completely alright to not use the highlights - they're loads of work but if needed, no shame in doing that either.
highlights are the only case where other brushes are tolerated.
add shine or glow mode to the layer
one colour and do it lightly to not steal anything from the work
Moral of the story - just don't do anything stupid, don't go deep into detail, don't blend unless really needed, and the pen/pencil tool is the only legal one unless a certain exception. As long as it's not realism (or attempted realism)