Go to Amazon.com and buy a good book on whatever version of Photoshop you have. The book will explain all the mechanics. I hardly ever do postwork, except for touching up pokethrough and my signature, and also sharpening and/or brightening or contrast. I am basically a straight (meaning I only use Poser itself) artist, but some people do a lot of painting with Photoshop and other programs, like Paint Shop Pro and Painter ( owned by Corel now). You can get a lot ot free filters for Photoshop and also free brushes and actions, just run a search and there are some here at RR. You might also want to invest in a Wacom tablet - Graphires are the cheapest - if you like to paint because it is more precise than a mouse and more like real painting/drawing. In PS, if you want to see your different layers make sure "layers" is checked in the Window category, then you just click on the different layers in the viewer to see what you have. A good book on Photoshop is a must. There are also plenty of free tutorials here and elsewhere.