The first thing is you really have to be dedicated to the arts, because it all really does take some considerable effort to learn new software and drawing, and color techniques.

I would suggest playing with Photoshop editors [very basic], then move on with Vector tracing, try using vector in some open source software [free]. Then move on to things like Flash and Adobe Illustrator.

The reason why people start fooling around first with editors, is because they begin to realize what they can do with a photo or an image..and you get some computer time in there.