basically what you need to know is using your tools are important
i learned this from this essay i read on using the computer lol

basically what i believe is that you don't have to be good at anything as long as you pay close attention to and love your tools in whatever way you use them
i took a drowing class in college last quarter and they were so intense about the method and being perfect at drawing that it completely lost me
i could barely do any of the assignments because i hated the method they taught me so much

when it comes to art, theres tools and theres methods and there's probably other things too but what occurs to me a lot is tools and methods
when i first started making art i tried really hard to develop my own method and it worked- i started making comics thats when i consider myself to really have started doing art
about 3 or 4 years ago
i developed a method for drawing then i developed a new one and then i got so caught up in methods that i couldn't do comics with passion anymore
luckily i got into publishing and i joined the sculpture art major and basically just picked up a few new mediums

see this is where tools come in-
basically when i picked up these new mediums i had an opportunity to start my methods all over again since these mediums were drastically different from eachother
i got to play and experience the novelty of making something with these mediums without myself in the back of my head automatically deploying the methods i developand disrupting the exploration process- like what happened with comics- of these new mediums.
i got to be creative and have fun again!!!!!

now i know there will come a time when i have used a certain medium for so long that i get tired of it and my methods will drown out the novelty of the tools. no fear no worry it might come back it might not. but you just cannot think about it too hard
you have got to let yourself find new tools to experience what it is like to create with no methods or guidelines in mind.
that i think is my ultimate art tip that i am learning right now
when your method is overtaking you-- explore new tools.
then not only have you continued your creative process, but you have just added a new skill to your mental personal resume- these words i jsut came up with it but basically think of it as a list of things that you can impress yourself with--

eventually you'll have a lot of skills that you are familiar with and can return to when they feel new to you again-
you can cycle through all these skills slowly building one after another and who knows- after 10 years you might just be blown away with what you have built yourself.

i must warn you though do not only go into the process with your mental personal resume in mind- because that is an egotistical fueled concept and if that is the only concept you are working with, you are going to wear yourself out.
if you are only thinking about things with your mental personal resume,, give yourself a break- you need it.