This is an easy one to answer. Is it art? YES. Hey, I've seen plenty of people create models from scratch (I sometimes do myself as well), but just because you have the skills to model an object doesn't mean you can texture it and set up a scene effectively enough to create a great image or animation. Things like lighting, textures, camera angles and position, perspectives, and postwork all constitute skills that in the real world would all be considered an "art".