Oh, yeah, I am still here. Working on making my skills better. I don't really have anything worth sharing yet and it is probably better that I wait until it is good enough to present anyway. I learned quite a lot these last couple of day, so hopefully I'll be able to finish something nice enough for a submission in a few days.
I said I would work a lot on making art this vacation and I certainly do. It's just not super easy to make it all work. It will make a lot of sense later. The dedication is worthwile for what I envision and are able to make down the road.
It is absolutely feasible to create some absolutely spectacular pieces of art with the combination that I opted for. I am also starting to see Blender as a viable option for this, but I'd rather not re-learn everything that I know. Not now atleast.

I may also need to look in to Substance painter or Mari when the standard polypaint is not cutting it anymore. I am not sure if I would ever need to learn it, but history has shown; it probably is a good idea.
Funny thing is, you could absolutely make due with polypainting for 99% of the paint work. It's only when you want to add the functionality of Photoshop for certain details that polypaint is not really a good enough system. I guess it also allows for unwrapping the correct way and not just slapping a texture on top and call it a day.

Here is another fascinating thing you may not know. You can create a highly detailed organic looking 3d landscape by taking a close up photo of your knuckle and convert it to a brush (there is a little more to it, but pretty much). Preferbly it would need to be 4k+ or more. Everyone's got a camera on their phone, so it is not a hard trick to pull off. Why buy super expensive brushes and 3d scans and stuff when you can DIY? 
Another trick? Close up picutres of sandpaper can make a very detailed hair brush.

In other news:
I am thinking of asking my old friend over here. I think she may actually be rather fun to have around. She was one of those I used to talk to alot before deviantart came crashing down. She said that the old deviantart days are long gone and there will never be anything like that again. Well, side 7 kinda is like that. It is still not completely up to speed, but I feel like we're getting there. She is no longer an artist (but have some sporadic bursts of creativity). Hmm. I'll talk to her.