Being sort of an old-timer I started with pencil, pastel and oil and continue with it up to the present. I do figures in landscapes or just landscapes. I started using Painter & Poser and then Vue also to set up the scene and pose the figures. I find these programs really helpful with the mental preparation for a picture though I would never go all digital as there's too much to learn; I'd rather spend the time painting. Also, I love the textural qualities of paint and pastel and as good as Painter is, it's a far cry from 'real' media unless you do photo realism which I don't. My work looks nothing at all like digital but I'm very happy to be able to use digital in its development.