realism, prob not.
but artistic freedom, yus.
one thing I found when starting art, specifically 3D art, is realistic was easiest. Not because its simple, but because everyone is working on it and there so much content available to use and get started with.
since I'm more for stylized visuals, it wasn't for me, but I still explored. in exploring styles and what not, I find a good practice is to push an idea to its exterem, such as cartoony character proportions or custom skin shaders, to learn what things you do and don't like, and then combining them to see what you prefer over other things. Realism can look rather bland, but one can take the few things they like from the experience. For the most part I picked up the concepts of sub surface scattering and add that to how I shade characters now, as well as experimenting with high brightness and physicall large lights to get something more stylized that looks like it was panted rather than looking like a 3D model in a realistic world.
