I downloaded the trial version of Photoshop just the other day and I've been playing with it a lot and I love it! I'm making icons like crazy and I really think I'm improving. GIMP is very good too but Photoshop is just in its own league and I think the new icons I've made are a lot better than the old ones. Of course it's not just about the program - more likely I'm just learning. But still, I think this is improvement.

Some of my old creations:

      

That's godawful fugliness. I don't even know what I was thinking, lol.

And some of the new:

   

Ok, these are not perfect either but I must admit I like them a lot and I think there's some improvement happening, or at least I hope so.

Now that the exam week is finally over, I'll have plenty of time to play with this wonderful program again :)