I learned perspective drawing in school, but constructing a house with a ruler doesn't even come close in complexity to trying to depict the human shape with 100% accurate foreshortening. This "it's the artist, not the tools" stuff is a lot of balooney. Realism has a lot more to do with craft than artistery and every craftsman will tell you that you should get the best tools you can afford, as this will make your job a whole lot easier. Creating a realistic portrayal of the real world is first and foremost a technical problem, not an artistic. So the more technical help I can get the more I can free my mind for the artistic side. Pencil drawings can be highly realistic, no doubt. But you need a huge, huge technical skillset to pull them off as otherwise you'd very easily end up with that looks like child scriblings. If the average Poser user can't even find the shadow button, what unspeakeable things do you think he'll be going to do with just a pencil without several years of art school education beforehand ? Of course basic rules of composition still apply to every artwork, so learning them (so you can consciously ignore them later) isn't a bad idea. But there's no need anymore to start from the very bottom and slowly work yourself upwards, like there's no need for mental math anymore or memorizing things from an encyclopedia. Doesn't mean there are less skillsets necessary these days. It's just that the old ones are getting obsolete. Learning to tune a carburettor won't help you if all your customers drive computer controlled injection fueled cars. Oldschool is all nice and well, and if you actually have the talent, by all means go for it. But the only thing helping you become a better POSER artist are better Poser tools and better Poser skills. My "art" was crap until I discovered Poser. Might still be crap, but at least it's accurate crap now. ;-)