Hi, I''m working on a 2D hockey game, ala the old games of the early 90''s, and I''m a programmer trying to learn how to draw, and do the sprites. I''m using DJGPP/Allegro/Mappy for the programming/map editing. I''m using MS Paint (woot!) right now for the sprites because it''s very easy to use. Here are my first two sprites, please don''t laugh: http://3dhockey.tripod.com/maltureknocolor.bmp which I modeled after this : http://3dhockey.tripod.com/turek.bmp (sorry Roman Turek for blaspheming your image ) an attempt on my own to do the butterfly save sprite http://3dhockey.tripod.com/malturekbutterflynocolor.bmp For learning how to draw I''ve been using a book called "The Fundamentals of Drawing" or something like that. Now I know my sprites are missing little touches, like shadows, light source, shading, etc... but I''d first like to get some base graphics (players/goalie/nets/ice) so the programming side of the project won''t get bogged down.... I''ve got the following questions, please take a stab at any/all heheh 1. How can I "save time" making sprites like this... To do the butterfly save one, I had to start from scratch... I pasted in the head and colors, but had to draw the shapes all over again. I''d like to cheat as much as possible, besides the obvious (horizonal / vertical flip stuff)... 2. Now when I animate in my game, between my standard one, and the butterfly one, I am pretty sure it''ll look kind of bad, should I make *another* frame which is inbetween the two I have? 3. What are some "must have" sprite creation tools, besides trust MS Paint. ? heheh 4. I''m going to scour this particular forum for advice, but are there any other general tips you can give me to save me time and improve my skills.. Thanks a mill Malcolm R