Hello
I am just like you a modest self-taught.
Why deny yourself, if you're right ?
I totally agree with you for this (extreme) example.
The example you are talking about and a junctionview!
How is she made?
These are two photos, one for the sky and another for the floor.
Who says photo says format (jpg). So like the format (png, bmp .......).
These formats consist of pixels.
To have a close result with the vector format, there will be a week of work. And indeed the weight of the result would be enormous.
So, we agree on this kind of picture !
You talk about cartoons, I remember that (AI) is a drawing software, not a photo processing. Some achievements will be very difficult to make realistic.
By cons, I did not understand your last sentence ? (PPS).
Sorry for my bad English
I am using Google Translat