pen tool Options

[Smarmosaur]

i have a little tiny plan for an animation of some sort (maybe flash?). the catch is that i don't want to do it until later this year, around thanksgiving time.
i don't want to give too much away, but to keep on track, in order to do this, i need to get better with the horrid pen tool (photoshop). i was curious if anybody knows any ways to become better with the pen tool and the likes? i'm also looking for a decent website with step-by-step photoshop tutorials that also provide the pictures and such to go along with it, basically once again just to improve skill.
thanks in advance. :]