heya; there's a photoshop script thingy (whatever they're called) called dr storm that you can get. it creates random lightning-looking things by using difference clouds... (now if i can remember where i got it...) actions, that's what they're called! and the url is http://digitaldesign.home.ml.org (or so it says.) if you want to paint lightning in a more controlled manner... i use paths. draw the path of the lightning bolt, then choose a large airbrush, low opacity, pale blue (or whatever colour you want the bolt to be) colour. stroke the path a couple of times, then change the airbrush nozzle to a smaller size, and make the colour closer to white. keep doing that 'til you get down to a white core.