IMO the OP's question can be reduced to a simpler one -

How do you take a digital model like V4 and give it the appearance of a dynamic, believable, life-like figure?

It doesn't matter whether the goal is realism or illustration, or even what the media is, the problem/goal is exactly the same. When I look at an image with V4 I and start thinking things like 'wow, nice morph' or 'that temple looks chilly, she'll catch cold dressed like that' then it may be a technically good image but it's missing something, and that's where I'd place everything I've done with Poser. So the question that I should really ask would be -

How do you take [polygons on a screen/lines on a page/paint on a palette - delete as appropriate] and arrange them in such a way as to evoke an emotional response in a viewer?

For me the image here that gets closest is wimvdb's. My initial reaction was along the lines of 'what's she thinking' followed quickly by something like 'holy cr*p that can't be V4' .... 

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