Coming at this as someone who can't draw a straight line without a ruler and a second try, I found Poser to be a revelation. I only use it on a hobby level, but I do so love my hobby. :) It's wonderful for me to be able to begin taking images out of my head and seeing them in front of my eyes. That said, it does indeed take practice and patience, and some money. :) If you start out with simple pictures, you can find yourself going "Hey, COOL!" in about half an hour. But as you get further into it, you find there are details of lighting, perspective, texture, composition... until by now I'm quite embarassed about the first pics I thought were so cool. :) As to money, you can get by reasonably well with just a copy of Poser and what you can find for free - there's a /lot/ for free. But the temptation will be very strong when you see that to-die-for model... and $20 isn't really that much... and you might as well get a couple textures for it... and... ;)