If you like Photoshop but neither the prospect of price nor illicit download then you should inquire into Paint.NET.??It's a free Photoshop-type program for Windows.??It originated as a Washington State University student project but then went on to be considered for the next Windows Paint.??Now it continues as the said student project with new and old students adding to it year after year.
I use it and like it, but I don't draw or try anything too overly fancy with it.??I mainly use it to make avatars and signatures for myself and friends, and test/dev stuff for the server.??From my experience with Photoshop, I like Paint.NET better on the user-friendly side of things.??
-bb-
*edit - Oh yeah, Paint.NET's (more appropriately, GetPaint.NET's) forums are full of people who make their own plugins for Paint.NET.??I've a ton.??I'm not sure how Photoshop does their plugins, but I thought it was nice to see so many user-created free plug-ins.??^_^
-bb-