The Rendering Triangle

There are an infinite number of ways to finish a Design in an appealing and professional way.  It doesn't necessarily take a dozen hours to perfectly render out a design to make it seem finished.  In-fact, depending on the design, to much rendering can ruin your design.  different styles show off different designs to their strengths.  This is why some of the best professional character designers are versatile in several ways to finish off a design -

Designs by Jin Kim

Simplify them into 3 main categories.  Design with an emphasis on LINE,  SHAPE,  or FORM.  Everything just about fits in either these 3 categories, or somewhere in-between them.

Think about some of your favorite artists.  Where do they fit?

A good way to push yourself or help yourself experiment outside of your comfort zone is to not necessarily Emulate another' artist's style, but to try a part of the triangle that is different than where you normally design.

Here is  a Demo By Jake Parker Demonstrating this to one character design. Play with different mediums, Line weights, ways to shade etc.  see how you can change the overall tone or feeling of your character design.