college student, graphics, advice.

I'm looking for freeware, shareware, or a cheap-er mac app store program that I can do designs similar to the playfulness of the 'life is good' stuff. Note: I don't want to copy their stuff, but get a program that would allow me to do stuff like that. I'm what you could call a novice at graphics. I don't know all the ins and outs of it, but I'm a fairly intelligent guy so the program doesn't have to be intuitive.

Also, how can I take an image of mine and outline it? For instance, I have a picture of my Jeep and I want remove all the color and just have a white outline of the body and wheels? My brother took a photo of his dog to a shop and had them make a sticker of the outline. I have Aperture on my mac and all the usual iLife stuff.

Thanks in advance.

You could try Photoshop Elements or another good one is Pixelmator.

Both of Murlyn's suggestions are inexpensive but not free. Both are available for a trial, so check em out.