Hi, all,

I've got Painter 9, I think, and as far as art skills go, all I can do is pretty much copy a pencil drawing, but pretty good so I'm told. When I did my first acrylic painting it came out so incredibly terrible that I haven't painted since...

So, in order to develop my art skills, and do so inexpensively (without having to keep buying art supplies to mess up on ), would anyone see it as a crutch to just dive right into Painter and other digital tools instead of traditional media?

I plan on ending up using Painter or Photoshop for digital painting, but I just don't know if the typical "paying my dues" with real paint is something that is a must-do.

Is anyone either for or against Painter as a student's main tool/medium to learn on? Any advice or suggestions either way?

Thank you so much,

- A