I was considering designing a map, but I don't have any graphics software like photoshop on my computer, can someone recommend something that I can get for free off the internet
There's the whole array of goodies you can use, along with links to several programs you can download to use to make maps. But like 44 has already suggested, I also highly recommend GIMP. Get Photoshop if you're willing to pay for it.
although, you'll need to install lots of plugins to it to make it really useful. but you'll find the plugins on the same site you find the program itself.
Sure you can, if you have the right plugins. It's all about plugins with paint.net. It's like a very basic drawing software, that you can customize and tune up to suit your personal needs. That's why I like it. It's also a hell of a lot faster than GIMP on my computer.
Thanks everyone for the feedback. Hopefully I can figure it out how to use them because I have two or three real cool maps to try to bring into the mix here.