[wordchute]

If you are really on a shoestring (i.e. you cannot afford a graphic designer), then I would really recommend Inkscape - which is to Illustrator as Gimp is to Photoshop. It's a bit foreign if you've never done vector graphics before, but if you're working on logos it really is the way to go. For colors & palletes, go over to colourlovers.com - that's a good place to start anyway. If you are only after the odd pic or two, any of the stock photo sites is good and relatively inexpensive. Also, there are a ton of sites such as deviantart.com where you can find free graphics and fonts, etc. or at the very least you can find some really talented artists that might be able to get it done for you.

[jaypreneur]

I second Inkscape. I love it. It's so useful and you can really create a lot with it. It helps to be a bit artistic; however, I think with some practice you could still do it sufficiently well to put a decent logo together. For instance, you could find fonts and designs you like and tweak them to fit what you want using Inkscape.

Also, as long as you aren't spending too much time, I think learning a new skill is always helpful. It never hurts to learn.