I was in this exact position and found that if you hang in the chat room from time to time, there's usually plenty of people there willing to answer questions and give you their opinions on whatever progies they use or have used. In fact, the chat room here was the first place I found, and it helped me to realise that there's a lot more than meets the eye in the galleries. Just go there and start asking questions - you'll be inundated with helpful info. Alternatively, you could send an instant message to those people who's art you particularly like, and they may give you specific pointers on their methods and styles. Good luck :) Oh, and by the way, in doing this, I realised I needed a lot of time to do this kinda art, and have not created anything yet, myself. However, when the time comes that I will, I've got a foundation to start from :)