I say work on realism first. If you can simulate realism well, then stylized comes second nature. The idea is how can you exaggerate something you can't recreate. From my experience anyways.
Yeah I really struggle with that. I like accuracy and realism so it's hard to find a happy medium between real and what looks best on screen. ...speaking of, how's this for boring realism: A simple black parkerized material.
that could be reduced to 1024x1024 and not loose detail, the pose is awkward, the muscles also , and it seems you tried to go to realism but didnt use reference so it became a mix of cartoony + realism according to my head. FIX FIX FIX !