Funny, it was precisely the photography analogy that occurred to me.

When it comes to think of e.g. skin looking like skin etc, I don't think the issue is artistry (in the traditional sense) so much as technical capability and the know-how to use it. The artistry side has to do with the power to observe and interpret. You can have a perfect render in terms of materials, and it still won't look real. Why? Well, let's say we're talking about a portrait. Something isn't quite authentic in the precise way the hands are held, or the fingers are bent, or the forehead is raised... etc etc. It takes a lot more of an artist to read things on that level.

Indeed, that's why some cartoonists can have characters that in significant ways look more "real" than CG work that is technically more "accurate."

______________

Hardware: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X/MSI MAG570 Tomahawk X570/Zotac Geforce GTX 1650 Super 4GB/32GB OLOy RAM

Software: Windows 10 Professional/Poser Pro 11/Photoshop/Postworkshop 3