I've been 'playing' with Bryce for about 6 months now - and I've come to the conclusion that no course, set of instructions, or manual can tell you how to use it 'artistically' - that has to come from within - you have to have a vision of what you're trying to produce, and then fiddle with the various elements of Bryce until you come close to what you intended. I think there's a natural progression in learning how to use the software - first, you just position objects, then you discover Booleans, then you start playing with skies and lighting, then materials - and of course you find all those wonderful downloadable objects to add to your scenes... However, nothing you can find online or in a book will give you the capacity to create Bryce pics that have a 'soul' - that's where the talent bit comes in. If you look through the galleries here, you'll find many, many pics that are technically competent, but which leave you cold. Then again, you'll find pics that have technical flaws, but which speak to your heart - and those are the ones to emulate! I find the Bryce Hot 20 the best tutor there is - trying to analyse why a pic works, what the creator has done, how they manage to overcome the limits of the software to create something unique - something that doesn't scream 'I made this in Bryce' at you - that's the secret. Ahem. That was a bit of a ramble. Sorry about that ;)) Hope it helped a bit, though.