So, you love creating graphics but you're only in the beginning of the road? Fear not, for we have compiled a nifty little guide containing a few basic tips you might find helpful
for the future.
The Picture The Program The Hosting The Coding
Well, first thing any designer needs is undoubtly pictures, unless you're up on creating a computer designed sketch of the actor slash object in question,
but that might take a while and we don't have a guide for that so pictures will have to do. There are many places you can get nice pictures from, anywhere between
Google to actual Charmed Sites such as The Charmed Ones
and even our lovely site has a few to offer ;) Just pick the picture (or set of pictures) that inspire you most and let us move on to the next step...
There are a lot of programs out there that can help you create amazing graphics starting with cool features and continuing with awesome effects,
but if you feel a bit unsure at the beginning you can always start out with the basic MS Paint. If you believe you're ready for the next step,
2 of the most popular programs you can use are Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.
Both sites have a link from which you can download a trial for the program and learn from its features, however the trial versions have their restrictions. In the Photoshop trial,
you wont be able to save your creations in the normal way (however print screen and Paint may be of assistance there ;)) and yet on PSP, the trial is supplied for approx 30 days -
after which you won't be able to use the program any more. So take your pick, and start on expirementing with things :)
Once you have your first piece of graphics, you need to find yourself a good solid website that doesnt go down every other weekend to host your creations on it, for others to see.
Some relatively good (free) sites you can use are FreeWebs.com, GeoCities.com,
RipWay.com or our Guilds own MSN group (though the urls may be a bit longer there).
Once you have the URL of your picture ready (including http, it must be the full one), you're ready for your next and final step!
Now that you have everything set and behind you, all you have left is the coding of your graphics and a place to put your graphic on. You can use the hosting service you signed up for on the previous step,
or alternatively, put it on one of your NeoPets Pet's Pages. On the coding part, it depends if your piece is a banner, a background or
anything else. For a basic HTML codes guide, you can click here ;)