heya; in my opinion, whichever one you work best with is the best one for you. i started with photoshop, so i know that best and can make it jump through just about any hoop. painter can do all or most of that, plus some special stuff 'shop can't do. but i never got the hang of painter the way i do 'shop, so i can't work it as well, and tend to fall back on my main graphics prog. so, i would say, do all your current stuff in your current prog (painter), and if there are things you find it difficult and impossible to do with that, then look into getting another one. otherwise, don't worry about it. ;)