What programs do you use to make Avatars?

[Duke Psychology]

one of the reasons that i quit having avatars is because i can't make good ones. i hate to say it, but i'm jealous because EVERYONE here seems to know how to make nice, clean avatars that are under 10KB, but me. whenever i make an avatar under 10KB and save it as a JPEG it gets all blurry and ugly. if i save it as a PNG, it looks nice and clean, but ends up being 11KB or 12KB. too big for Toonzone! and i can't save GIF files. so i'm here to ask, what programs are you guys using? is there a place where i can download them? i'm looking for an image program that can save JPG, GIF, and PNG files and allows me to have nice, looking avatars. can you help me?

[Sketch]

Photoshop Elements is where it's at.

[Red]

I use Paint..or Paintshop.

Mine doesnt look sexy cause its JPG, cause the filesize was too big without it.

[Kury Wagner]

Photoshop indeed. . . although I don't use it, but I'm lame, so. . . :shrug: Hehe, the paint program I use is like eight years old! It still works great though! (A sample of my work is seen next to my username)


Oh, side tip: If planning to have it animated, keep file size well in mind when editing (or making) each picture. :sweat: I can't fully express the fun time I had making the avatar I'm using right now. (btw, I use UnFREEz to animate my gifs)

[Artemis]

I use Photoshop, but PicPerk is a nice downloadable if that's what you're looking for.

[auto]

I draw my avatars in Macromedia Flash MX 2004 and then I publish it as a gif or jpeg depending on the avatar.

[Lord Dalek]

Corel Photopaint.

[Sandoz]

Photoshop Elements for me.

[Zebi]

Like Lord Dalek, I use Corel Photo-Paint. When I find a picture that I like, the first thing I do is save the image as a .bmp and then crop it down in Windows Paint. When I'm finished with that, I resize it in Photo-Paint. When you resize an image in Photo-Paint, the program "smooths" it so that the image does not become blurry.

[Lord Dalek]

Like Lord Dalek, I use Corel Photo-Paint. When I find a picture that I like, the first thing I do is save the image as a .bmp and then crop it down in Windows Paint. When I'm finished with that, I resize it in Photo-Paint. When you resize an image in Photo-Paint, the program "smooths" it so that the image does not become blurry.Guess we're the pundits eh, doc?

[The Falcon]

just microsoft paint is all. nothing special

GK

[Jave]

Photoshop, definitely.

[Sampo]

I used IrfanView to make avatars, but that was a long time ago. It's freeware, Pretty Easy to use, and only 851KBs large. You get get a copy from Cnet Downloads (http://www.download.com/IrfanView/3000-2192_4-10311994.html?tag=lst-0-1)

The below pic took me 4 steps to create. If you need assistance with the program, I will be glad to help out.

http://home.hawaii.rr.com/wizardgrey/images/Temp/PDVD_002.jpg

Now I use Jasc's Paint Shop Pro. Not a bad program and was within my budget so I use that. You can get a free trial here. (http://www.jasc.com/products/paintshoppro/psptrialreg.asp?)

Later.

[Duke Psychology]

ok, most of you are saying Photoshop so i guess Photoshop it is. where do i download it or is it a program you have to buy?

[Kurtman]

I use Macromedia Fireworks MX.

[Kury Wagner]

ok, most of you are saying Photoshop so i guess Photoshop it is. where do i download it or is it a program you have to buy?
You can get a 30 day free trial here (http://www.adobe.com/products/tryadobe/main.jsp), buy otherwise, yes you've got to buy it.

[Czar Gato]

I just use MS Paint.

[Zach]

I used IrfanView to make avatars, but that was a long time ago. It's freeware, Pretty Easy to use, and only 851KBs large. You get get a copy from Cnet Downloads (http://www.download.com/IrfanView/3000-2192_4-10311994.html?tag=lst-0-1)

The below pic took me 4 steps to create. If you need assistance with the program, I will be glad to help out.

http://home.hawaii.rr.com/wizardgrey/images/Temp/PDVD_002.jpg

Now I use Jasc's Paint Shop Pro. Not a bad program and was within my budget so I use that. You can get a free trial here. (http://www.jasc.com/products/paintshoppro/psptrialreg.asp?)

Later.
How the heck did you make that pic?

[True Noir]

How the heck did you make that pic?
I use Irfanview as well. It's magic. :p

[Cactus Gunman]

I basically resize a picture with Corel Photo House which came with my scanner.

[Zach]

I use Irfanview as well. It's magic. :p
I've had Irfanview for months and I didn't know I could do that!

[Sampo]

How the heck did you make that pic?
I use Irfanview as well. It's magic.

Yup! It's magic!!! :D

I just cropped and resized the below image. Image taken from Ghost in the Shell. Stand Alone Complex The image was bigger but I resized it due to... I'm running out of webspace :sweat:

http://home.hawaii.rr.com/wizardgrey/images/Temp/gitssac.jpg

*Shameless plug* And Remember to watch it on Adult Swim Saturdays...*End Shameless plug*

[Zach]

Yup! It's magic!!! :D

I just cropped and resized the below image. Image taken from Ghost in the Shell. Stand Alone Complex The image was bigger but I resized it due to... I'm running out of webspace :sweat:

http://home.hawaii.rr.com/wizardgrey/images/Temp/gitssac.jpg

*Shameless plug* And Remember to watch it on Adult Swim Saturdays...*End Shameless plug*
Since adult swim saturday has Full Meatl Alchemist, i will watch...I need to find out how the crap I can make this stuff with Irfanview...

[Sampo]

Since adult swim saturday has Full Meatl Alchemist, i will watch...I need to find out how the... I can make this stuff with Irfanview...

Ok 4 (meh. 4.5...) easy steps to make an avatar. We will use the above picture as an example.

Right click the image above and select "save image as" and save it to your desktop. Now fire up the Irfanview program.

1) Click and drag the file into the open Irfanview program and drop it in there.
2) Left click and drag the cursor over the image in Irfanview. This will create a box. The purpose here is to keep the stuff you want and discard the rest. Make the box around her face and try to keep it squarish.
2a) Go to the menu bar and under "edit" option, select "crop selection".
3) Go to the menu bar again, and under "image" select "resize/resample". Under either "width" or "height" punch in 75. Either size must be at or under 75 for Toon Zone to accept it as a valid avatar.
4) Go to the menu bar and select "File". Look for "save as" and click on that.
Under "save as type" use the drop down box and look for "JPG-JPEG Files".
To the right there are some options. For now let's look at the slider bar. Set it at 95. This allows your pic to use a small amount of compression so your image will look good. If the final image turns out too large (greater than 10.0 KBs), go back and redo the steps. Then move the slider down a little and try saving again.

That's about it.

[PaQ]

I use Photoshop 7.0 . <3 save for web feature, makes all my avatars nice and small in storage size. :D

[Stu]

Bird Boy :D

I've been trying with PicPerk, but everything keeps going blurry, and I can't seem to sharpen it.

[Elven Moon]

I use Photoshop. Good for avatars and all kinds of stuff :D