it's a bit daunting isn't it? 

ok first to the mouse. do you mean the mousepad on the mac? if so, to right click hold CTRL when you click, this will give you the right click facility, as you've found out you can also make the wacom pen buttons a right click one too. i've never used the wacom mouse so i can't help you with that, i just use the pen as a mouse. 

right onto photoshop, it's not like painter, painter is a 'real media' program, the layers when you get used to them are such a help, it's like painting on layers of acetate, so the layer below isn't affected by the layer above, you need to get used to using the flow & opacity in the top bar,  flow is the amount of 'paint' flowing to the brush, opacity does exactly what it says, if you have say 50% opacity, your first stroke will lay down 50% density of colour, then each stroke gets 'thicker' paint until it reaches 100%. it sounds like you may be using an airbrush, do you just hold it to the wacom pad & it lays down paint? You should try other brushes. 

try with the standard hard round, and adjust the flow and opacity to see what you like, you also have the smudge tool, which while it is frowned upon as it can become a crutch, it is useful in smudging the paint around a bit.

your question is massively open ended so ask your specific ones when they come up & we'll try to help. Its a steep learning curve but you will get used to it. hope this helps a bit though.  

hey wow,

 thanks very much.  The right click thing is great.  I've lost the wacom mouse somewhere so that's fine. haha.  I keep switching between mouse and pen so its good to know.  I will try out your pen sudgestions and get back to you with more specific tales of wo as they arise.

cheers very much 

boo hoo, sob.  A couple of weeks in and I'm still drawing like a 6 year old.  I just can't understand why people like photoshop - at all.  I mean you want something natural that's like painting no?  After using Corel's stuff I just don't get why people even care about photoshop.  I've spent so much time and money on photoshop and all I want to do is put my pc back on.  The two programs just don't compare.  

So please, someone show me the light and explain to me, why would anyone try to paint with photoshop?  Is there something I'm not getting?  I tried that speed painting color blur thing and er, it didn't work for me.  It just screwed the picture up actually.  I know I got something wrong but if I have to use this software for years before I can start doing something that should feel natural, why would I bother when other software already does it?

There are a couple of things that are completely different between the two programs. I myself do most of my illustrating in Corel Painter and then take it into Photoshop to do post work on the image. I used to paint in photoshop but that was back when I only had a mouse to work with. To get colours to blend you really have to use the opacity levels and buildup the colours and as far as I know there's no way to create the 'smearing' effect that Painter does when it not only blends two colours but it smears them at the same time.

In Painter, even if you put parts on different layers, the layer above will still smear the colours below if you allow it to. Photoshop doesn't let you do this. As soon as you put something on a different layer in Photoshop it won't affect the other layers.  

Not sure why you've not got a two button mouse. The Mighty Mouse that comes standard with macs now (and has for a couple years) has the ability to right click. It looks like one big button but it does have sensors on either side to be able to click as a left or a right.

hope this helps a little bit.  

Hey Kaz, I must have missed what mac was purchased as I still don't see it. you are correct though, the laptops don't come with mice. so if that's the case then I'd recommend investing in a good might mouse.

Hey Pen, which issue was that "Painting by Feel" article in? I should go back and reread that one.

Firstly (because it grates on my fragile nerves), Corel is a company, not a software package. PSD is a document format, not a software package. So the question you are asking is about Painter vs. Photoshop, not Corel vs. PSD. Moving on from my rant...

Both programs are quite capable of being used for painting, you just need to adapt your methods to the software. If you pick up a Biro in the real world and draw on paper, you don't expect it to work the same way as when you use a brush and some watercolour paints. It's a case of adapting to the media/tool instead of expecting them to do things the same way. If you can paint/draw and create lines, then you should be able to use any package with equal results.

Try to think of Photoshop's brushes as closer to Marker Pens or a similar quick drying flat medium and change your working methods accordingly.