Halloween Discussion Forums, Costumes, Horror!

I go to forums sometimes and I see awesome looking member created avatars and banners that these guys made on paint shop or photo shop. I myself can illustrate a picture or sketch a picture, scan it, and crop it, but it doesn't have the same Kapow.

So if you are aces at making banners and avatars, please lend your handy advice to the rest of us and help us learn how to do it ourselves.

I myself know a bit about adobe photoshop. If you want to make an avatar, I believe the limited size is 166x166 right?
So if you want to go with the largest avi size, you can crop an image and size it in photoshop to make it fit.
My images require a few layers to give it a good look. I like to scan a drawing, and then use a different layer to outline it and add color, then I have to fill in the lines...there's two ways to do it. To add shading I usually create one or two layers, and then use black...then I change the opacity to give the illusion that it's shaded.
For neat backgrounds, I play with filters, and I also integrate layers with the backgrounds. Since I am not that great at drawing backgrounds, most of my backgrounds are the result of combined filters on photoshop and layers using blends of colors, and lighting effects.
I don't know EVERYTHING about photoshop, but what I do know I'm willing to share and help out if anyone has questions. Y'all can also pm me or send me an e-mail at mauevigtheeternalcat@hotmail.com or instant message me using the same address for MSN, or mautheeternalcat on AIM.

Edit: Here's the size limitations for Avatars which can be found when you add your avi on your control panel. Maximum dimensions; width: 166 pixels, height: 166 pixels, file size
: 34.18 KiB. I can understand why there's these limitations, too big of an avatar can stretch the page, and if it's too big of a file it'll make it slower to load and put a strain on the server.

As for banners, I try not to make them too big either. Is there a size restriction for banners?

If you can't afford a program like Photoshop, there are other options besides MS Paint.

The Gimp is a shareware image editing product-- it's a lot like photoshop. Though, it does take some getting used to. You can download it for free here: http://www.gimp.org/

I'll keep that in mind, I plan on getting a lap top (my dad's idea is that it would save on a lot of space and put my bigger computer into storage until I move out. When I get my own place, then I plan to build my desk top into a gaming machine) and nowadays the newer lap tops come with Vista. My copy of Adobe Photoshop is pretty old, so I don't know if it'll be vista compatable or not. I'm running XP right now.
Is gimp vista compatable? If so, it may serve as a temporary replacement until I could afford a newer version of Photoshop.
Also, I'm telling you guys right now, what's really nice to have is a tablet. A tablet allows you to draw right onto the computer. I don't have one and using the mouse just to outline my drawings and color them is a pain, but I've heard people use the tablets and it's a lot easier.

I don't know if Gimp is compatible with Vista. I don't have that OS on any of my boxes since I HATE it. LOL.

I do have a Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet ($200), though. It was my reward (from my husband) for passing the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. I'm still getting used to it-- though I mostly only use it for cleanup work and colouring since it's WAY better than a mouse. I still draw with pencil and paper and scan things in.

I have no program knowledge, I have to draw and scan. Its all I got.