Phantast, people who have not developed an artistic eye are said to be blind artistically and couldn't follow a curve much less extrapolate an edge from the real world unto paper or canvas. Artists must first learn to "see" the world around them with a creative eye. I believe strongly in what tjohn has said. I for one had won an artistic scholarship to attend Pratt Institute of Design while in High School. I was very good with pencil and paper sketching family and friend's portraits to their likeness. But I never envisioned art as a career and always imagined the concept of the struggling starving artist, not a very tempting prospect for myself. Although I continued some art studies in college, I began to focus on other career avenues and slowly withdrew from developing my artistic skills any further until the advent of computers capable of high-resolution graphics. As like with any skill thats not practiced, you tend to get rusty at it. You dont forget the skill, but you dont get any better either, you stagnate. Ive also studied photography for many years and there too it becomes apparent that the artist behind the camera must develop a seeing artistic eye to be able to compose a picture and snap just when the artist thinks the light is right to impart the emotional elements that had caught the artists eye to begin with. Yes, no question about it, it most definitely is the skill and the talent of the artist and not the tools that make the art.