Yeah, the question "Is it Art?" can always be countered by the question "But what is Art?" - it's a very boring circle.

Now, the idea that Poser Based Art is looked down upon is correct - it's apparently creeping into the publishing world too (someone has suggested that it's a response to the "dead eye" look).

I can only suggest that the best way to make your poser art better is to first try and tell a story with your image (if you're going for illustration as your thing) and/or secondly to try and create an emotional or intellectual response in your audience - pretty much anything else is a "test render" (a practice piece more than a finished work).

For publishing in print purposes - put in more post work in a paint programme. I've noticed that a lot of the time something that looks fine and rich on a screen can look dead/lifeless in print. The RGB/CMYK crossover can be a real killer for a start but I know for a fact that images that have been worked over with a digital brush look far more "alive" than something with un-worked 3D render shading (face, hands etc). The RGB of a 3D render will look amazing on screen essentially because it's backlit and mixing up into luminous shades - but when it's transfered to CMYK for printing a lot of those rich colours are dropped into a mix of black to create tone - bleugh! It can actually look "dirty".  You'll see high end print shops/services will offer extra colours and metallic inks so your poster will look more "alive" and suffer less from the CMYK curse.

Re: "Porn IS ART"

"Erotica" is the correct term for artistic filth and naughtiness, heheh. "Porn" is unartistic filth and naughtiness." "Pron" is the stuff stored in your husband/boyfriend's "stuff" folder on the harddrive. "Pjorn" is any image depicting the act of love between two overly blonde people in a pinewood sauna...in the 70's...on a fur rug.

Cheers