I guess if you want to improve at something, you have to start somewhere. So you'll see a lot of amateurish doodles for the first little while. Deal with it. I'm not doing this for you after all.
I should really figure out some of the more advanced features of the GIMP. I'm sure it would help. In the mean time, I'm doing a lot of things freehand that I might be able make look more professional.