The art can be changed at any time from the settings menu, so you can switch back and forth as much as you want. Either way, I intend to keep and maintain both art sets.
As far as managing needs, I’m always adjusting balance. There are potions (calming balm and preserved semen) you get very early on that you can use to manage hunger and lust. Tons of traits and later potions also help manage this. For example there’s a trait in the “Unclean” set that reduces hunger and lust buildup when you are dirty, and one from the “Selfish” set that reduces or even freezes hunger buildup if you have stacks of stored pleasure.
On top of all that, the actual penalties for leaving your hunger or lust unaddressed are quite mild. For hunger you pass out and may get robbed for a small amount of G. This is a single screen event. For lust you drop and masturbate wherever, another single screen event plus you gain notoriety. These penalties also take a long time. You have to be at max lust or min hunger for an in-game day or two to see the warning, then another in-game day or two to actually trigger the penalty event.
I really don’t see this basic maintenance gameplay as a huge issue, or as being incredibly intrusive.