/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

>>3321930
I think a lot of you people talk past each other rather than really trying to address what is being said, be it due to poor communication skills or a misunderstanding of the message.
Words like cheating or shortcut aside, what merit to an individual is there to use these methods of working? Is there something wrong about aspiring to reach an understanding and familiarity with fundamentals where by you can create things purely from imagination?
Whenever this topic comes up most if not all of the justifications only really amount to appeal to authority type arguments, "professionals do it, therefore it is ok", if we use time as the main incentive then this will most likely fall apart when you look at the time variance between skilled and unskilled artists who use photobashing, ignoring the fact that industries like animation where time is also incredibly tight still primarily sketch their boards and layouts.