[Brutal CarNage]

Well you actually do all that stuff. It really depends on what you want to make. I have Eyecandy and Xenofex as plugins but I dont use them as much as some. I normally use the standard plugins for most of my effects I use in sigs.

The best thing to do sometimes is get a pic and apply the plugin to that pic, look and see what changes it made (if any) and hit CTRL + Z and do another. I've done this with all of the plugins just to see what they can do and get familiar with them. Most of the plugins have adjustable settings, so you can get hundreds of different effects from just one plugin.

Making you own strokes and fills is something you should learn as well.