You can't put a timeframe around becoming an artist. Nor can anyone make you wait for a degree until you can call yourself one.
Indeed! I AM a photographer, but no one educated me, I just do research and practice, practice, practice. Being something is about having a gift or quality about you. Education can only help you find a path to hone your gifts, but if those traits aren't there, it's not going to happen. Look at Les, Mikey and Josh as custom painters. I'm sure they've had art classes in their background, but I'm sure never anything focused on figure head painting, but they have a skill, and through repetition and research, they've honed their skills and become fine-tuned machines at what they do.