It also depends on the point of the assets. If you need a proof of concept, it doesn't need to be good at all, just enough to prove that the image/sound/whatever is showing up when it's supposed to. You should be good enough at photoshop/paint.net/whatever to push out some WIP assets.

If you want production quality assets, then you'll likely have to pay more. I think what the author is saying is build shit you can build. If you can't build shiny spaceships, then choose a different direction.