Thanks fella! I've been using a tablet for some time now...I started off with a cheap one many moons ago, then saved up for a Wacom. I know people who use a mouse for painting and 3D work, but in the end, they switch just due to the need of pressure sensitivity on brush strokes giving the digital paint and more controlled and natural feel. If your looking at pushing your 3D, sculptris is a good sculpting package to to start with and is free! After that, they just released zbrushcore which is a slimmed down version of the regular zbrush, and a lot cheaper. I've been messing about with zbrush for about a year on and off, with the hopes of dedicating more time to it...it's got a crazy learning curve, but once you get used to it, it's a great program to use.