The "something out there" is a Graphics tablet ..Wacom 's (
www.wacom.com) are the most popular
>>Do you purchase fonts then and use those? Like recoloring and twicking them. Perhaps giving them an effect, ect.....?<< Pretty much exactly. Some font creators do not allow their fonts to be used in alphas even with purchase but there are some free an dcommercial fonst out there you can use..its just a matter of finding them
Check the Scraping as a Business Forum threads for discussions on Fonts and alphas
HTH
HTH