STEP 1: Setting up

In order to draw a sigworm, you must have the basic worm shapes and also worms with their weapons.
 

Also if you want to have more images of worms you must use a program to capture sceenshots in-game. Once you take the pictures you must crop the whole image to have small pictures having images like those above.

In order to get good shots of worms, I suggest that you build a girder and teleport a worm there. Then you can take sceenshots on flat land. Once you have all the needed images of worms you must have other things which you may use to make your sigworm. Having a big 'library' of these images will make your work a lot easier...here is an example.

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This really was easy to do as all I had to do was drag one image on an another but it would have been harder without having the bandana. Therefore it is best to think beforehand how you want your worm to be! Of course you don't have to get these images from other worms such as above, you can draw them yourself or get them from a clipart gallery!!! SonofJon and I made thes images for you to use!

STEP 2: Using the Programs

PSP 5 (Paint Shop Pro 5)
Once you have all the images needed, you have to put them together. This is done using a picture editor such as Paint Shop Pro.

Here are the most important parts of this program:

Colour palette
This is very important because it's used to choose the colour you want to use. To choose a colour you must either run the dropper over the colour palette (shown left), or else you must click on the two boxes below the pallet, in which case another window will appear. From there you can choose your colour. If you left click, the box above will change to the colour that you currently have the mouse over. (this box is for the foreground colour), If you right click, the bottom box will change to the new colour (background colour). The arrow between them will flip colours. (i.e. switch the current foreground colour with the current background colour, and vise versa.)
Tool palette
This contains the most important tools that you will be using. Some, such as the 6th one are very important, while others such as the 3rd one are hardly ever used! For you interest, here are the definitions.
Toolbar
Here you put all the other shortcuts instead of getting them from toolbars...yours probably has a lot less buttons but if you want to make life easier, add them from the File menu... Preferences... Customise toolbar. My suggestion is that you save this image and view it at full size and then customise the toolbar while the image is open.
Controls
This is that part of a program that is always in your way! But it is very important because some controls may only be available to choose from there...luckily if you press the TAB key this box will disappear and another press of the Tab key will make it re-appear!

Well, that is just a summery of how to use this program...of course you must learn to use it yourself to draw your sigworm.

STEP 3: Drawing your Sigworm!

Once you got all needed images ready, and figured out how to use the program, the only thing left to do is to draw your siggie! Here you will have to have a lot of requirement number 3! Imagination! As different sigworms are made in different ways, here you will be showed how to make the following 3 sigworms:
 

1
2
3
EASY
MEDIUM
HARD

The starting image for this little guy is less obvious than you expected. If you get rid of his ice cream, both in his hand and also on his face you end up with:

Now you may see that the starting image was in fact the surrender worm, without a flag!! All there was to be done was to add the hand with the ice cream…but how was the ice cream created? 

First on the colour palette, the colour which looked like a cone, was selected. Then using the line tool,  a triangular shape was made. 
Hint: If the line is too thick then open the Controls palette, and on the Tool Controls, the width was lowered to 1.

Once the outline of the triangular shape was done, using the flood fill,  and clicking on the white area inside the shape the cone was coloured. Then after selecting a pinkish colour, using the brush  the ice was drawn. Note that the brush tip size from the controls must be set to 1. Then using different shades of the same colour the ice was given more colour, such as those red things on top of it. Here as the steps taken.

Then to make it look more funny the same colours were applied to the worm's mouth to make it look as if all the ice was smeared on his face. The only thing left was to put the worm's hand on the ice cream.

To do this a cool trick is used. First using the dropper,  and right clicking on the picture of the worm's hand, that colour was selected as the lower box in the colour palette. Then the whole image of the hand, including the background was copied and then pasted as a transparent selection (Edit } Paste } As transparent selection or ) Then the hand was dragged over the cone and using this trick, the background was eliminated. This may be difficult to explain but this image will show you.

And then all that was left was to put the ice near the worm!!

Notice the green background. Always make the background a colour that you are sure you won't use in the image so that the transparency will not be messed up (see STEP 4).

Although his one has no objects in his hand or on his head, it is quite difficult to draw this one. But when it's done you will learn another very cool trick!! The starting image was the normal worm.

In order to get that green colour well, you can't just go and fill the pinkish colour with the green one because you will end with this:

Instead, select a darker colour and draw the outline of the worm with it…then using the flood fill,  colour in the rest of the body with another green colour leaving only the eyes and the brows. You will end up with this:

Then fill in the other details such as the mouth and the spikes on his back.

But hey! This one isn't like the one above!!! The one above has its skin look like scaly and it makes it look different! That's right…that's where the trick comes in.

First using the magic wand  and holding the control (CRTL) button select all the light green area. Then once this is done select the brushes  and from the control palette, on the brush tip tab, make the brush size, larger then the whole image. On the tool controls tab, select anyone of those paper textures, which you think fits best. Finally select a colour lighter or darker than the one selected and click on the image! You will notice that only the selected is filled and textured and not the whole thing! That makes it a whole lot easier and makes you image a lot better!! Try different textures and see!!!

Notice the pink background. Always make the background a colour that you are sure you won't use in the image so that the transparency will not be messed up (see STEP 4).

Now this guy gave me a lot of trouble!!! As you perhaps already know this is Wormbo's sigworm. But now that it's done, I'm kinda proud of it!! At least, on doing this you will learn a lotta stuff. The starting image was the normal worm. But it was modified a bit:

You may notice a small difference in the mouth…the part in the end has been lowered. That gives the worm a more evil look:

As for the rest of the weapons, these were very difficult to make. It is always best to start from behind because when you paste, the image goes on top. As you may see, at the very back there is a bazooka, a shotgun and a minigun. And then there is a camouflage bandana on his head and a grenade in his hand. In order to make him the following pictures were needed:
 

From the first 3 images the weapons were taken and each was modified to fit in the image. The bazooka was rotated about 70º to the right (Image } Rotate). The shotgun was rotated 90º and it ended pointing straight up. The mingun, on the other hand was first mirrored(Image } Mirror) and then Rotated. As only the tops were needed it was not very important whether they came out too well! 

Finally the grenade was too big to fit in his hands, and so it was Resized to about 60% of the original size (Image } Resize). The bandana was very easy to modify. The only task was to camouflage it.

Notice the blue background. Always make the background a colour that you are sure you won't use in the image so that the transparency will not be messed up (see STEP 4).

Hints 'n Tips
 

When drawing your sigworm always check whether it falls under a category, if it does then you can always modify it to make it look cooler.
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Never make your worm too clothed or else it will not look like a worm at all!
Always reduce the size background of your sigworm to the smallest possible.
Look at worms during the game…do they remind you of anything?? If they do then draw them!
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STEP 4: Transparency Facts

The thing that I am asked most is how to get the background of your worm like the background of the page. This is called transparency and it's easier to do than many may think.

When you are done with your worm, make sure that the background is of one colour, just to be sure use the flood fill,  and click around the image. Then using the dropper,  right click on the background to make that colour the background colour. Then go to the Colours menu and choose Set Colour Transparency (or ). Then choose the second option, and finally choose proof.

Look at your image. If you all this right your image should look something like this:

Click on OK and save your file as a CompuServe Graphics Interchange (*.gif) image.

STEP 5: Lights, Camera, Animation!

Many wormers would like their sigworm animated, or more simply, a sigworm that "moves"! This is hard work because you have to draw every frame! Of course this can also be fairly simple if you just wanna make your sig blink, and yet the blink makes the worm look really cute. But of course not just every blink! The first worm is blinking and so is the second, but which is the best??
 

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As you can see it's not the animation that counts but how it's done and it's properties. To start with there is an animator with Paint Shop Pro 5. Before starting make sure the animations are of the same width and height. Memorise the size and then go to the Animator and choose new. Type in those dimensions and paste your image. You can also start the animation wizard and add your saved images.

Make sure that your animation is smooth and that the worm is always in the same position. In order to make your animation transparent select the flood fill and check the box…To Canvas Color. The fills will be checked and that means that is transparent. 

The only thing left would the frame properties. Right click on each frame or else select multiple frames using the control (CRTL) key. Then choose properties. Change the number of display time as needed. Test around and check which is the best. When its done save it as CompuServe Graphics Interchange (*.gif).