Well, I'm not an artist, so I won't answer. So nya. :-)

Nah, the trick is either...

...blowing cash to get HYPER SPECIALIZED MAGIC AMAZING art tools like you mentioned, or...

...drawing REALLY REALLY BIG (Seriously huge), scanning it big, then shrinking the image in you painting program after scanning it... that'll allow you to draw lines that look somewhat thick on paper, but come out thinner and smoother when shrunk... turn on anti-aliasing, remember...

Should work.