it's not easy to use, or even meant for 2-d designs, but I use blender for all of my vector work because I'm so used to the interface, and don't feel like learning illustrator. www.blender3d.org ... it has good 3d capability but some decent vector tools (curves)... the downside is you have to render out rasterized and then proceed in some 2d package. You might consider gimp as a free alt to PS.

(just to let you know, if you dont already, 'college kids' can get cheaper versions of illustrator through adobe, 99$. look for educational versions.)

chances are, for vectors, that's what you'll need to know anyway. blah blah.. industry standard..blah blah blah.

I started out using corel draw ages ago, and had to switch. you might as well start w/ that then have to get good at it, and then swich and learn a whole new interface.

(though to coral draw's credit, they had transparencies before illustrator did, and you could use a gradient (or something of the sort) on a transparency, which was neat! but anyway...)

Fantastic. thanks for the pointers. you guys are lots of help to me.

And don't be afraid of bezier curves (pen tool). They can be a pain to get the hang of, but once you do you'll love 'em!

i just noticed that you used the word "grood" in one of your comments and had to commend you for your teen girl squad reference.

Give me your address and I'll send you some stickers that I made.
Marc