Yeah some of my very first face studies were very smoothly blended. using a textured brush helps to keep some noise in there and stop it from looking plastic smooth. Making a digital piece look traditional is something that I eventually want to be able to do, although I don't know what sort of traditional feel I want haha. using a smudge brush with a texture is also a great way to get a painty feel. you could also apply an art filter over areas of a smooth painting to give it an automatic oil/watercolour etc feel.
hmmmm for the logos:
mostly too complex means the detailsa re too small or don't look natural as a logo
too simple:
-Lotus - This is a yin-yang, so it's naturally quite simple. it might be hard to change this one. maybe add another circle swirly border around it or something. also, it's the only 2 colour icon - a third colour is needed to contrast both black and white. every other icon can use a single colour on any other colour and it's visible. I mean a lotus is a flower, right, why not just use that?
-Inquisitor - very simple design. not sure if the black is a shield?
-Desert scorpions - difficult to see at a distance as it is a very thin design. if it's just three swords, you could style them more after daggers.
good level of detail:
-guardians of the North - not sure what the three white lines are, hair? the face details are a tad hard to see but its not too complex.
-Occultists - There a million styles of this pattern that you could use, and it will always look good. the tiny holes in the center circle are a little annoying though.
-sanctum - the cross is nicely shaped so is not too simple
-Formless - the spikey parts of this design don't feel unnatural as the overall design is quite wavy.
-Destruction children - maybe the black line separating the teeth could be a tad thicker but otherwise great.
too complex:
-Empire - the Omega letter has funny kinks and bumps in the main loop. try and use less nodes, make them smoother, or maybe use an actual font letter instead?
-Beautiful death - I've got nothing against skull and crossbones, but until I just looked forward, I thought those roses were actually rapiers. add a leaf maybe for a rose. but I think t's just too much detail to be seen at a distance. if you use just the rose head, you might be able to make it larger.
-Southern warriors - I love this design, but I think the white gaps are too thin
-Veil - the castle is fine, but the flag is too small a detail I think.
-Dulong kingdom - I think this overlaps with Veil too much, and the castle is just a bit too small overall.
I try and think how faction icons would look on a flag or a shield or something. Really a good design for a faction is recognizable at a distance. see how the worlds country flags are very simple, just stripes of colour often. even a simple pattern flag has plenty of variety from one to the next. It's better they they are all simple if possible, but depending on the design, they still need that extra level of detail. Also, try and avoid putting in small details when the rest of the design doesn't have small details. like the tags (what are they called again) in the letter "I" on Inquisitor, every other shape is a simple smooth lines, so the small sharp spikes seem unnatural. but that's a bit more my personal design style.
I really want to go off and design some logos now haha.