Something the Epilogue showed me...

[bluestarultor]

Part of it is because the emoting is turned down. Sprites, small sprites like the 8- and 16-bit era, need to emote and emote hard. Otherwise, it won't be visible. That's why the poses are so big and dynamic. Like stage makeup, they're super-flashy to be seen.

More realistic art just looks silly doing that. Real people don't emote that way, and you're at a higher level of realism.

It's the transition that highlights the differences. If hand-drawn, 8-Bit Theater could have been just as good, but it would have had a different feel.