Photoshop is a challenging program-unless you take advantage of Photoshop training, you'll never be able to reach your full potential as a Photoshop user.

Unless you're a visual effects artist on a Hollywood film shoot, Photoshop is the only CGI tool you'll ever need. And if you want to be a visual effects artist for film and television, mastering Photoshop is the best way to get your first job in the industry.

Learning how to use Photoshop can be a frustrating ordeal if you try to do it alone. Most novices have similar experiences the first time they use Photoshop. We have all seen at least one person create startling graphic images and effects by clicking on this and that, without going to any apparent effort. Then we try our hand with an airbrush for the first time and all we want to do is cry when we start running into problems.

If we insist on doing it ourselves, we will be in for a hard time of it. By the time you open up the manual, you already feel like giving up. This sums up my first solo experience with Photoshop. And I wasn't trying to create Jurassic Park-like visual effects-all I had to do was select an object and paint it. I gave up, too frustrated to try again for a long time. I wish online Photoshop training had been available then.

It's much easier to follow and grasp an instructor who is talking to us in a normal conversational tone than it is to follow instruction manuals that are often boring and hard to follow. Even Photoshop training based on message boards and question and answer threads is a huge improvement over traditional text books and manuals.

I quickly discovered that Publisher let me get simple jobs done in a hurry-it's a fine program as far as it goes. But when I compared what I was producing to what my friends were producing with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, I felt very dissatisfied. I wanted to learn to do what they were doing, even though I was never going to be a professional designer. I have never regretted the time, effort, and money I invested in learning Photoshop ten years ago.

The most powerful thing about online training is that it's interactive-you practice everything you learn on your own computer. Online training is fun. And when learning is fun, you stay motivated to go on learning. Get started with your Photoshop training today. You'll be glad you did.