Semi-realistic or unrealistic but leaning toward the latter. I have mixed feelings about realistic character designs. I guess it kind of goes back to the "limitaton" factor. There are only so many colors of each animal in nature. Sure there is a little variety here and there but when you're trying to create something unique for yourself, I only partly understand the desire people have to "stick to the book." [In terms of design, not the actual roleplay the character is used in, that I understand.]
Yes, nature is pretty, realism can be gorgeous but unfortunately I dont think Feral Heart is set up to imitate that kind of beauty. Don't get me wrong, some people do a fine job of making presets for them or depict their design very well in their own artwork but at the end of the day a default gray and tan marking-less texture on a 3-D character with crayon-yellow eyes is pretty....boring? I dont know what word to use here without sounding impolite, but I would much rather stand out a bit. I mean, Ill be honest I don't necesarily /like/ the neon green and bright pink ones because they hurt my eyes but there are some days I would rather see /that/ done twenty different ways than I would twenty of the exact same carbon-copy gray and tan wolf. [Or for the felines, beige colored lions/lionesses.]
I personally like to expirement and put real markings in "fake" colors or place they don't belong. Stripes and rosettes are normally found on big cats, so I put them on canines. And I like it. Spots from a dalmatian or ticking on a border collie's face? Lets throw it on a wolf hybrid or an African Wild Dog or turn that African Wild Dog an entirely different set of color so that it is /almost/ merle. Or put merle on a wolf. I feel like they are things, that although DNA does not dictate them that way "could" have happened. [Well, other than the odd colors, thats beside the point].
These are some of my characters, I figured they'd give a better view of what Im trying to explain here.