Advice from anyone plz

I have always loved graphics of any kind as I get a real buzz out of them. Well to summarise things I am 43 years old and been working in IT nearly all my life, did really well in fact well enough to kind of semi-retire or at least retire for the next lets say 7 years at which point I either have to sell the house and move down or get some kind of part-time job - who knows.

Anyhow as life has been sweet I decided to pursue what I really enjoy doing and that is graphics. Minor hiccupp though, my hand drawings are not the best ever but on the plus side my progamming is very good.

I have taught myself flash and already I would consider myself to be a good standard with the coding, currently teaching myself PS7 and doing pretty well and will follow that up with 3ds Max.

Now I can fanny around learning apps for ages and I do enjoy it but I have not got a clue what the next step could be, especially considering that I am 43?

Any advice or ideas would be great

(I live in the UK)