To those of you who respond to this post I thank you

Anyways, alright so heres my situation, I havent done much GIMPing in months but since schools out (thankgod) I wanna get back into it. I currently am studying as a percussion/sound recording major however I am starting to throw in Imaging and modeling style classes and trying to get into a digital media masters program for later on in school. I am already much further along that most people in regards to using the technology but I need to get around to more artistic uses of the tech. The idea is that I could record a band, set up a website graphics and all, and do their cover art which means more money woot.

That being said I need to know what brush packs the are out now, filters, blah blah so I am up to date tech wise (royalty free please). And as far as tutorials are concerned, I really wanna get into the more abstract stuff like some of the images here (youll know which ones im talking about)

http://www.123rf.com/search.php?word=techno&match=and&exclude=&cko=&cka=&colorrange=&colorhex=&orderby=&exppl=&imgtype=&nonudity=&photogonly=&itemsperpage=100

additionally for my own pleasure, I wanna do more fantasy style drawings.

Thank you again for your time

~Pure bordem