Hello there! In a way, learning realism is necessary because it allows us to understand how things work in the real life. You can then apply that knowledge to something more stylized while still making sure things look believable, even if they're more stylized. That's why when you look at the work of artists like Antonio, Arne, Hue Teo, or other artists who don't do realism, their work still looks believable. It's because they apply that realistic knowledge. (Too much text just to repeat the same point, lol.) So, it will depend a lot on what your goal is. For example, with this study, what was your goal? Proportions? Rendering? Lighting? Gesture? Whenever you do a study, keep in mind what you want to learn so you can avoid simply copying. Normally, figure drawing studies help you learn about body movement (gesture), proportions, and how muscles look during certain movements, among other things. One common exercise is to take a reference (this reference, for example) and draw it in another artist's style, or with different lighting, a different color palette, etc. So, to sum it up, whenever you do a study, keep one or two goals in mind and focus on those. :) Hope this helps!