I use Paintshop 8.0, Animationshop 3.04, Microsoft PhotoDraw v.2 and MicroGraFX Windows Draw for generating fonts. Check out my website, it's all done with this stuff.
To answer your question, Lanc: up there's two effects - 1) "Detailed Crayon Sketch" mode and "Page Curl" effect.
Well, I'm not a beginner but also it could be much much better. There are still many functions and steps I'm not familiar with or dunno how to use them.