A character portrait has to survive the same test as a musician's face: everyone in the room already knows what it should look like.
The trick is choosing the frame. A famous character usually has one expression that is unmistakably them, and it is rarely the promotional still.
A high quality still with clear light on the face. Motion blur from a paused stream is the single most common reason a character portrait ends up soft.
Yes. The Ryuk piece is realism above and a flat manga panel below, which is a way of keeping both the drawn language and the depth.
Yes, if the scene stays as background. The moment the background competes with the face for contrast, the face stops reading.
He will say no to an idea that cannot be done well at the size and placement you want, rather than take the money and hand you a blur.
Requests go straight to Federico, not to an agency inbox. He answers from his own address.