If you're on a Mac and don't need the power (or price tag) of Adobe Photoshop you can take a look at Pixelmator and Sea Monkey.

I've been using Pixelmator for a while now and it seems to handle my basic needs quite well.

I recently used it to create a sales page for an upcoming WSO and I was especially pleased to discover the magic eraser tool which allows you to remove the background of stock images so they blend seamlessly into any website - can you tell I'm a graphic newbie?

For Windows users I've been hearing a lot of good things about Paint.net and Joy Boyer just released a whole training package called "Paint Made Easy" showing you in depth how to get the most out of it