Could someone explain the appeal of realistic 3d renders like this? Is it a preference? Something to do with the understanding of the skill and effort needed to reporudce it? Personally. I really appreciate super stylized and cartoonish art. Fucking Pixar and Disney really nailed down the soft plastic looking ascetic without going into the uncanny. I'm just curious what other people think, now that I'm a bit further down the road of learning art and am close to publishing some early drafts.
3D models like this are literally sculpting with the help of 3D software. The artist make everything on the model from lips, eyes, body muscles, veins to clothes, armor and weapons. Then this model is bonded to a skeletal structure so it can be posed and moved as human ( or animal ). Then the artist have to make a scene with different poses, lights and effects. Its kind a long, but interesting process.