it absolutely matters if the character is REAL. Are you hearing yourself? "a child is still a child", its a character not a child. Its not a real person. It has no thoughts or feelings. Thinking otherwise is chris chan level dimensional merge thinking
and yes, in order to make art, you must be a "real" person. Why does that even matter? Would it be better if AI made it? Do you think the loser hikikimori lolicon is going to snap one day and kidnap some kids? Because then that would be wrong, because hes abusing children. Real ones, not a drawing. Fact of the matter is that if nobody gets hurt when you do something its probably morally permissible. Finding something disgusting is normal and natural but it dosnt mean the thing your disgusted by is wrong. I find gay men kissing to be disgusting but i know that its not very moral to make gay relationships illegal. So I dont think theres anything wrong with drawing anything at all. Because a drawing is a drawing. I stand by that one french guy that drew the prophet muhamid in an unflattering way the same why i stand by any type of porn artist
I would even argue that the sexualization of lolis is more moral than the porn industry. The porn industry preys on impressionable people who just turned 18 so that they can use their bodys for financial gain. They often promise them a life of luxury but the actual job is quite depressing and has driven many porn actors to suicide. Compare that to a drawing. The only person that gets hurt in that process is you (because drawing is hard)
But if you think its disgusting, thats definitely a valid opinion. But i stand by a persons right to draw anything they wish
EDIT: please dont perceive my post with a negative connotation