Well unfortunately (for my pocket book) it seems that Photoshop may actually be the way to go. I've been using Photoshop 5 forever in classes so I know my way around it.... I've tried Paintshop Pro and have had nothing but bad luck with it thus far but it wasn't clear if it was me or the program I was fighting with.... I'm a big user of Adobe Streamline in my artwork, though most of my artwork is cartoon based rather than realism based so that was a big question there. Hmmmm think Photoshop is looking to be the way to go. It's a system I already know, and while it is expensive in the startup, it looks like it's going to be the more versitile and less of a pain to learn....... Hugs, thanks all and any other nuggets of wisdom you might pass along would be welcome! Lilfox