One must live the arts to be an Artist.  Be passionate when you create and let the creative juice flow unrestrained onto the floor, it's just another surface!  Don't constrain yourself.  You must feel totally free to create so always think "out-of-the-box."

Visualize!  Expose yourself visually to things taking place on this planet.  Visual stimuli contribute to creative ideas.  Notice how light strikes a given object, how colors combine and compliment and listen to sounds as they help add rhythm to the mood of the moment.  The result is a human feeling, one that can be transposed into visual expression.

True Artists travel a creative journey with successes and failures along the way.  If you fail, keep your failures and learn from them, for they are the stepping stones to future work.  Share both with your constituencies because it will help you grow as an Artist.

With that said, the computer and its software are nothing more than tools.  Many may have exposure to powerful image editing software, but without the fiber of a true Artist, the results are clearly evident, especially to those who had the burning desire to create long before the software came along.