OKAY ONE I LOVE CLOUD TWO U DID PRETTY GOOD FOR LIKE TRYING THIS OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME

Thanks @Pumpkinleech !
Its not technically my first attempt, but all the other ones are so old(bad) that it's best we don't talk about them...
Though, since they were so bad, they probably couldn't even be counted as realism, so I guess it could be counted as my first attempt...

Yes, you can do as many entrys as you want.
And awesome painting!

Yeah, you are allowed more than one entry!

My gosh dude :0 this is amazing!

@Wind_Waker & @razrdraws
Thank you both for letting me know! It is very much appreciated!

@Hailsss
Thank you! I dare say that you are far better at realism than I am though!

Ahhh well, those were all done with reference photos. Drawing a realistic portrait from your mind is much harder! This is a great start! :]

I think this is a really good effort at going from manga to realism. The graphite-like soft shading with lines looks good, emulating a pencil piece. You hae a good lightsource identified, and understand how it shows the form. The hair is very well done.
You could use a bit more dark values to give fuller contast. You have a good light and mid-tone, but the shadows would help. Generally the mid-tone is where the form is starting to turn away from the light, but it is still partly in light, and the shadow is where it is turned away from the light.
You have carried some manga proportions over into this.
The chin in particular is going to be wider on a realistic piece, and that effects the jaw line.
The eyes on this piece are larger and further apart than would be usual in realism, and the bulb part of the nose and nostrils are smaller. So the eyes would have to shrink a bit and be slightly close to one another (usually one eye width apart, but since the eyes would be slightly smaller that would make them come in a bit).

You can still capture some of the distinctive look of the figure, but going towards more realistic proportions.
Ears can vary some, but usually don't extend much above the eyes. This looks like slightly high placement, though that is emphasized by the smaller nose and the sharper jaw line. The mouth would need to be wider. Usually if you drop a line vertically straight down from the middle of each eye it will hit the far edges of the mouth.

Since this is an attempt to go part-way towards realism, the next piece could start to pull these more towards realistic proportions. I would find a photo of someone who looks close to what you want out of your oc to work from a more realistic reference.
Good job!

@Hailsss
I used a reference for his facial structure. So it wasn't all out of my head!

@tall73
Thank you very much!

@AmeNoStudios
This might also help?

how-. . .
sure dis helps ;v;

@AmeNoStudios
Heavily using references... and tears. (i v i)

art is both part of enjoyment n sufferance unu
my lil bro asked me y do i draw and all i said was. . . thats a gud question y DO i draw

@AmeNoStudios
It can be a productive way of venting negative emotions and thoughts.

Also, it gives a sense of accomplishment. Which is always a nice feeling.

(ovo)d

@AmeNoStudios
.
...
.... Meaning....?

smily face and a thumbs up
(ovo).....................d <-- it looks like a thumbs up, stare at it for a while

@AmeNoStudios
Okay.

I get it.

I honestly thought the 'b' was a the 'perfect' hand gesture.
I guess I was close.

This is so amazing! Using Cloud as a reference was a super smart move! I love it so much! Frost is my fav that you've made!! <3

@Berry18
Thank you!
I couldn't think of a better reference honestly... (´∀`
I'm glad you like him!

@-Vero- Yea np! Its really cool!