Pumeco, you're free to believe what you want. But you're the one swallowing the big cultural myth. 

You know why the UK is in such a state? Because a whole lot of people believe the Tory line that every one can succeed with enough hard work, that opportunity awaits just around the corner, that the odds are not seriously and ominously stacked against you. The truth is that, while discipline, effort, talent, and networking will get you a long way, luck is equally as important. However, every day you spend telling everyone on these forums how wrong we are about whatever it is you feel like preaching that day -- every day you waste like that, the chance that you'll get an unforeseen opportunity just becomes lower and lower.

I've known a lot -- A LOT -- of people who were always talking about the future. "As soon as I leave this job..."; "The moment I get my car loan paid..."; "Once the kids are old enough to go to school..."; "As soon as I get out of this country..." And you know what? They're still saying "As soon as [whatever]". 

If you have a big plan and you're not actively working on it right now, you'll never work on it. You'll just spend a few decades TALKING about it. That's the truth that people don't like to tell the young folk because it's so demoralizing. Of course, you don't have to be in that position. You could stop preaching and start working on whatever it is. I've lived in 5 countries in my life, and I guarantee that there's no magical place in any other part of the world that will make the difference. You're in a modern, industrialized nation. It doesn't get any better. And if you leave the country, your excuses will come right along with you. So I advise that you stop waiting "until" and start doing now. And put away the Open Source Bible. We didn't come here for a sermon. :) <----- Note the smiley. :)

Edit: As for GIMP, you still haven't explained to me how to export in PSD format. If a client insists on that format, they won't accept something else. Perhaps you're already famous enough in the art world to turn down clients, but most of the rest of us aren't. So we're going to chug along using whatever software is compatible with whatever the other people we work with are using because compromise makes you a lot more friends than always insisting on having things your way. :)

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PoserPro 2014, PS CS5.5 Ext, Nikon D300. Win 8, i7-4770 @ 3.4 GHz, AMD Radeon 8570, 12 GB RAM.