To answer your quetion orion, I find that Paint.NET is quite good and much easier to use than Gimp. (not sure about photoshop) It can turn a picture into a sketch, painting, or ink (looks like a comic style) drawing. It can use couds to make negative effects with its difference cloud, or a neat effect (not sure how to describe it) with its Xor cloud. It has a number of colours, and the alpha can be applied with the eraser.