Eh, me and my bad descriptions again. I was thinking that I could use curves in a similar way as the 'create poly tool,' where you draw your shapes point-by-point then once you close it, it creates a surface. Then, you can just extrude the face. I can create the billboard that (poly tool) way....I just need to figure out how to make rounded edges. I keep thinking of curves based on my Illustrator use where the shape will fill when you close the path (in the default anyways). It would still be interesting to learn if the same thing could be achieved using curves in Maya.