OOM, well it’s fun even using pre-made textures too ^_^. But yes, I suppose if you’re a real purist, you would do everything from scratch. But then again, using a tablet in itself is kind of “cheating”, since you can undo and redo and stuff. My favorite effects in Painter are the fire, hurricane, and shattered glass. But Painter is especially cool because you can download custom paint brush types online and use them in the program.
I definitely think it’d be good to learn animation. There are a variety of animation programs, so start with the simple ones. I recommend Anime Studio. It’s a very easy to use 2D animation program, and costs maybe 30 dollars. And yep, it’s a cyclops smiley.
What are your favorite Photoshop tools? I find myself constantly using Clone, Magic wand, and Dodge/Burn. I’m also always playing around with contrast/saturation.
repharim, great advice and information, thanks.