Most of the truly gifted artists never talk or act like they are superior to everyone else..   in fact, they often talk and act as if they are worthless hacks who rarely have anything of value to contribute to artistic endevour, however are producing some undeniably beautiful work...  why?  because they know what has been done already by masters and also know they will never produce anything equal to that...  but does that make them throw in the towel and take up coin collecting??   nope...

I've always had more than a small amount of suspicion for anyone who goes around talking as if they are a 'great artist' and only give negative feedback to most everything else they see..  

I don't know about anyone else..  but personally I don't give a shit what tools you are using, if I feel inspired by an image then to me it works and qualifies as 'art', even if it was created using crayons...

When people say this doesn't qualify as art or that doesn't because of blah blah blah..   you have to wonder what motivates them to make a statement like that and what they hope to gain from it... 

I use poser, photoshop, 3d max, etc., because I just really enjoy using the tools available on PCs, I think the possibilities are endless and any tool that is that powerful has value, regardless of what anyone else may say about it...    am I an 'artist'?   I don't know and don't care...   it's the enjoyment I feel from having the tools at my fingertips and seeing if I can create something that makes me smile..  or laugh..  or cry...  or cringe with fear and that makes me want to keep clicking that render button...   if I ever produce something 'great' so be it, but I won't quit on it unless I decide I'm tired of it and am ready to move on...  :o)

M