Quote - With CGI and the right tools, it only takes a few minutes. and no artistic talent at all.

This is only true if you're using pre-built content.

Quote -My art doesn't have purpose because I don't have any art.  The reason I don't have any art is because CG attracted me away from real media a long time ago.  One thing I do know is that if CG didn't exist, I would still be drawing and I'd be a heck of a lot better now than I was then.

When I went to school for cg, my drawing skills actually improved many times over. Part of school was a requirement to keep a sketchbook. One assignment was to fill an entire book in a 2-month period. That's 200 pages. And little doodles on half of them didn't count. had to be complete pages. 

There are many CG artists that can't draw very well traditionally but will blow your mind with what they can do in digital format. Just like there are amazing traditional artists that would have no clue how to operate any of the software a CG artist uses. 

And art supplies can get just as expensive as software, the cost is just more spread out over time. One of the reasons I don't draw as much as I would like to is always running out of supplies. I also love working in clay, but at $16 a pound it gets expensive quick. 

~Shane