I did a 3 day course as I need someone to show me how to do things! I can't read and do! There are also good you-tube tutorials. That pen tool........oooo er! Also, do a Google search for say "Photoshop extraction" and you will be amazed by how much comes up - for FREE!! But Cassie's tuts are absolutely brilliant and specifically designed for our hobby. For the sake of a few dollars it's worth getting them! Wish she did a whole package of them all!!!
I have a tablet too. You can do far more than extractions with them. You can do your own handwriting on a page (I use the brush tool for this (in PS just press the B letter and it will select brushtool for you) and certain tools are a breeze with a pen - erasing (press E), brushing (press B), lasso (press L), magic wand (press W), blur (press R), history brush (press Y), pen tool (press P), etc. It's like colouring in with a pen basically. It takes a bit of getting used to but trust me stick with it and you will never want to use a mouse again! Also, I have been using a tablet for about 8 years. I had the original Wacom tablet which only died last year. It was a basic 4x6 screen size. I now have the Wacom Intuous 3 6x8 - absolutely perfect in size (as we need detail in what we do) and it has touch scroll up/down - like the wheel on your mouse but you do it with your finger on the touch pad. It also has pre-programmable functions which I can tap with the pen - like go back, close, etc. whatever you want. It is also incredibly acurate unlike a mouse which can be soooooo frustrating! I found my tablet on eBay by putting it under favourites so every time someone added one I got an email. I can honestly recopmmend this one. I believe there is an Intuos 4 now. But the 3 is good and even the 2 or 1 would be fine. The new Bamboo is great if you do not do detailed work - and it is specifically designed for scrappers! But it's not accurate enough for me! Fuss pot I am!! The other small thing is the pen nibs. They do "erode" like pencils, but on a far lesser scale. I have no visable erosion on mine and have had it for a year (constant use).
Also, any medical professional will tell you that using a pen is far better than a mouse.
Anyway good luck. Apparently not even Adobe knows exactly Photoshop's abilities. They all write programmes seperately that are compatable with eachother but the computer still does stuff that they don't know about!
take care
Suzie
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