You might want to consider Photoshop Elements. It's around $150 (I think) and does most of what Photoshop 6 does. The only thing that seems to be missing is cmyk seperations and alpha channels. If you're not fooling with that anyway, it's liveable. Elements is somewhat similar to PSP (in that it's less technical). I've played with zbrush too. It's neat and strange at the same time. There's a bit of a learning curve to fool with it, but it's worth checking out.

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