PaintShop allows for a variety of things, including several really nice filters and special effects such as drop shadow and buttonize. I'm sure that all Free Graphics artists started off with this program...if not, hey for you spoiled kiddos out there who've never tried it, try it now : ). Though all these nice features are available, PaintShop Pro does have its limitations, so be aware that when your images don't look as super good as others', it's because of this. Such limitations on this program include really weak antialiasing and no transparency features...at least that I know about. But once you get a better program, you can always transfer those images and work on that.