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.
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:
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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.) |
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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. |
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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. |
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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! |
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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:

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
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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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Compare
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Never make your worm too clothed
or else it will not look like a worm at all! |
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Always reduce the size background
of your sigworm to the smallest possible. |
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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). |