Bah! Art isn't a worthless talent! And you're great at it too! The more art you put up, and maybe even get a paypal account or something, you could even make money from it, so art isn't worthless, it's for fun too, like people who watch T.V or go swimming. Your dad can stuff it and you better not quit... That'd make me pretty pissed if I didn't get to constantly see your art. C:

And for computer crashes? I'm not really sure, sorry. ^^;

Thank you, Shore. <3 Yeah, it's hard to explain to him that it's like a drug, impossible to just "quit". I'd be going insane if I couldn't draw. And, yeah, that's probably the only way I can get the right computer for art, too, is if I open up commissions, which I may or may not be able to do. =/

And, it could be viruses, or the fact that the piece of junk was put together from several other parts of other laptops, because mine was originally in the trash can. fumes angrily

That's an incredibly cold and ignorant thing for a parent to say about art, or anything their offspring has chosen to do, whether as a hobby, career, or whatever.. >:/ He should be happy you're making art and not into something dangerous, y'know?
I'm sorry you lost your hard work. :c I hate when that happens. Unfortunately, it is an important habit to get into Saving frequently. I do it every time I finish a step in something.
I don't think there's a way to recover stuff lost during a crash, to my knowledge. :C There is the possibility of a system restore, but that rolls the whole computer's memory back to the last recovery point manually set. So it might be more inconvenient than useful.
Definitely do a virus scan and clean up anything that might be causing problems, that should help speed things up a bit. I recommend (if you use windows) Microsoft Security Essentials, which should be easy to find through microsoft if it's not already on your machine, and also superantispyware is a good one that my computer-tech fiance recommends and uses: http://www.superantispyware.com/
Aside from that, if you're using a laptop: even though the name implies you should be able to rest them on your lap or whatever, they can overheat very easily, which could lead to crashes. Make sure the vents are unobstructed when the machine's running so that it can "breathe". XD Basically just avoid leaving it on soft things like blankets/beds/cushions or non-flat/hard surfaces for prolonged periods.. cuz those can block the air vents on it.
This turned into a giant comment, woops.. :O I hope it's of some help, though. Best of luck!

It was very helpful. Thank you. I can be thankful of one thing, for sure, though--I saved my sketch as a psd. So now I just have to... reline, recolor, reshade... D: faints Oh well. Anyways, thank you for your tips, I will be using them. :)