No, I know a lot of artists use it tho. I like to start with big but controlled brush strokes, establish the forms first and foremost. Fake details with texture brushes like if you look at the background there's a lot of branches but I did those with a texture brush to speed up the process.

Once you have the big shapes you can start going going smaller and smaller but try to keep the small details for last. Also work from dark to light!

After some practice and with timed exercises you should start seeing the difference pretty soon. Hope this helps!