As I see it, becoming an artist needs three things.

First, of course, you need the physical tools and materials to do what your brain is thinking about doing. In computer graphics, that means a machine and the graphics software to run on it. If you're a beginner, it'll probably be a home computer system, either Mac or PC. Once, years ago, there was the common opinion that Mac's were more "artistically oriented", but that distinction is meaningless today. The software you choose is now what must be artistically oriented, and the hardware or operating system must simply be sufficient to run that software. So, in my mind, the Mac vs PC issue is absolutely meaningless and irrelevant. Either format will do the job. 

Your choice of software is more important, because that's what you are really using artistically. Bryce is obviously one of my favorite applications, and from my experience it was easy to learn and splendidly artist-friendly. Many of the other applications I tried were poorly designed and artistically hostile. So from my experience, the only one I can recommend without hesitation or doubt is Bryce (in any version). I'm sure there are other fine applications out there. I just haven't tried them all and so I can only endorse Bryce from my limited experience.

Second, you need a vision. Actually, you need lots of them. You see, being an artist is about looking at a blank page or screen and filling it with a vision. You must see something in your head, something that exists in your mind only, and then you must use the tools to put that vision on the screen. To be an artist, you must have a fertile imagination. Some people are born with one, and some people must develop one. If you've got one, let it run wild. If you haven't got one, you can develop one by first copying whatever you see. As you try to copy something, chances are you will begin to wonder how this thing you're copying might look if you changed something. That's your imagination awakening. Go for it. Change things. Dare to look at something that exists and imagine changing it. Listen to that inner voice that sees something different than what exists. 

Like exercising muscles to make the body strong, you must exercise the mind and imagination to make it strong also. It takes time and constant practice. Don't think you're an artist when you've created one vision, or even ten. An artist creates hundreds, even thousands of visions. Not all get to the finished state. But you must have enough visions, enough ideas, that whenever you sit down to face a blank page or screen, you have something you see in your head and want to fill that page or blank screen with.

So if you must, begin by copying things (other artists or real scenes, landscapes or subjects), and whenever you feel like changing something, go for it and try changing it to be "your way", the way your imagination sees it. Soon, you'll find you can look at a blank page and see a finished image in it, a product of your newly developed imagination, and hopefully you will have mastered the tools that you need to put your image on the blank page or screen.

Third, you must learn to "feel" about an image. This is probably the hardest part. You see, in any art, there are many choices of how you use the tool or arrange the elements of your composition. Some arrangements simply "feel" better than others, and you must learn to "feel" the difference. For example, you have a simple outdoor scene with a mountain, a lake, and a tree. You try the tree here (in one place, doesn't matter where), and then you try the tree there (someplace other than "here"), and some whispering inner voice starts to tell you that the tree "there" is better than the tree "here". 

This inner voice, the one that "feels" one arrangement is more pleasing or exciting than another, is ultimately what makes you an artist. The problem with most people is that they think you must "think" one composition is more pleasing than another, but it's not about "thinking" (rationally evaluating the alternatives by a logical systematic process), it's about "feeling" (allowing your artistic soul to simply say "yes" or "no" and never explain why). 

Why we look at two different variations of the same concept and feel excited or pleased by one and bored by the other is one of the mysteries of the human mind. We can't explain why we do, just that we know we are doing it. Now different people will always feel different about artistic things, and you should not concern yourself with feeling different about a piece of art than others do. It isn't about your feelings being right or wrong as compared to another artist's feeling. It's about the difference between your feeling something and your feeling nothing. If you want to be an artist, above all else, you must learn to look at anything and "feel" about it (good or bad, like it or not), but you must feel something. Because if you can't "feel" the tree should be "there" instead of "here", you'll never figure out where to put the tree.

If you are still having trouble with this concept, look at variations of any image, scene, or real world subject. Try to "feel" that one view, one variation, excites you more than another does. Don't rationalize it, dissect it, or let anyone belittle your feeling. Just keep comparing things and when something "feels" better, prettier, more exciting, just enjoy it and accept it. Trust the feeling, without trying to explain it. 

So, in conclusion, you need tools and materials (like computers and graphics software), you need a fertile imagination that can look at blank screens and see images, before your tools actually create anything, and most important, you need to "feel" why one composition is more exciting than another.

Make sense? Still want to be an artist? Go for it!

On a similar note, a student writing to me finished her message with the remark that she hoped to one day be half as good as me. My reply was, "Why settle for half?"

These are my opinions. I welcome your replies, and I'll be posting other opinions soon.