Thanks, Gil!
Round 2:
I've really tried going for a much more realistic planet here. Placed next to the first one I made for that stark comparison.
This time I went with multiple kinds of surface features just to see what looks good and what's believable. I also changed the size of the planet (made it larger), so my features are smaller. Basically applied a bunch of rules from the realism list.
I used
a lot of colours here to try get a nice gradient, but I'm sure you could reduce them later.
Started with the same as the previous planet, but this time I did not leave my outline.
Selected a bunch of extra colours to make my gradient smooth.
Then I added a different colour (the slightly darker, redder, heart shaped spot) as a tribute to our one, true, celestial-cutey, Pluto, and because I really had no idea what to add.
Next were the dimples on the top right there, which I didn't think you'd find at many intervals. Could be slightly modified into craters as well.
Attempted my hand at a mountain range in the bottom left. Pls dun luk its horid.
Finally some cracks on the top left inspired by the soon to be breaking planet.
All said, I feel like this attempt is actually too realistic for your purposes though.
For the next attempt I'm thinking a mid-point between the two styles. I'll also add clouds and some atmosphere. No idea when I'll eventually get to actually breaking the planet, but this is very fun!
Sadly though it is late and I must sleep, so more edits will be postponed until another night.