First I just want to say that I really enjoy this resource! It's very interesting.
I would love a longer timer, and I would also enjoy a couple more categories to draw from. Perhaps drapery/folds, and maybe a plants category with sub categories for trees, flowers, garden plants, etc? Like not just landscapes but an actual potted plant, close up of a tree, etc. For the rest I basically want more variety, I'm getting to the point where I'm seeing the same faces/bodies over and over. Also the still life objects are kind of limiited so I could use more of those. Perhaps a sub category could be glass? That can be pretty tough to render.
Not really complaining though. By the way I love being able to sort for facial expression so please keep that!
I agree that it is entirely your choice whether you use realistic rendering or not, when it is a personal project. There is a huge variety of art out there, everything from extremely abstract non representational work all the way to hyper photo-real. Personally I prefer some level of realism, it's a nice challenge, however it's up to you. It is true that certain art materials lend themselves a bit more to realism because of greater control. An example of this is wet on wet watercolors, it can be difficult to create sharp details with those. But some people do realistic work incorporating those.
The best piece of advice I can give you is this: whatever your goal is, realistic or not, it's best if you choose what level of detail/realism you want instead of being limited to that because of lack of practice. If that doesn't make sense, here are two examples. When I was new to art I had a very loose, rough way of drawing. I used to say that was my style but really it was because I hadn't practiced my line work enough. It wasn't a choice even though I pretended it was. The other example is Pablo Picasso. His later work was very abstract and was not very realistic, but that was a choice. When he was young he proved that he was very good at drawing realistically.
I hope this helps and makes sense!
