I'm with Movida on this one I think. If the scene is done in an ultra-photoreal style, I prefer the scenes to be of something you can't readily find in the "real world", such as high fantasy or sci-fi, or extra-dimensional. Sometimes, but rarely, I come upon a scene where the characters are done in cell-shaded style, but the backgrounds are shaded in a much more realistic style (a good example of some stuff like this is high-end anime) which appeals to me greatly. The contrast of the two opposite styles used in the same scene, when done well, can stir the imagination to great heights. I'm not a huge fan of the "painted" look, which is primarily done in post (photoshop or the like). However, when done well, this too can be breathtaking to behold. :)

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Tools :  3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender v2.74

System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB GPU.