Wolf, thanks for explaining and clarifying about that "pen" tool! yup, i thought you were talking about using a pen to draw around the object freehand on a tablet. unfortunately, i don't have Photoshop. I think i understand about vector and raster. kemal explained it to me awhile back, but i get confused sometimes. Raster would be like text within an image? maybe i reversed them. i hate manuals too. i really do. i learn best if someone shows me something. then i write down instructions. then i watch again. then i do it myself. Anyway, thanks so much again for explaining and showing how to do all this stuff. too bad i don't have photoshop. :( Misha, you make great suggestions! I like what you're challenging me to do, and i will definitely give it a whirl. I don't know Mitch. I've seen him around but that's it. He came across to me as laid back and friendly. he's wasn't shy a bit. I'll see what i can do, Misha!!! thanks for challenging me!