am used to drawing with the pen dool now, after much practise, but am still a little clueless, with whats the best brush to use for simple clean lines?? how to stop fills, and outlines etcetra.
anyone know of any tuts with these basics?

Depends on what what type of clean line you are talking about. Can you show as an example of wht you are aiming for?

For stopping fills, and outlines, thas easy just make sure the fill or outline is turned off (a red x through the outline or fill swatch on the tools palette).

If you can give me a mores specific example of what you are aiming for I may take a crack at a tut, as I need to create a few more illustrator ones.

how about gradient tool? for skin