Making a Trainer Card
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So you want to make a good trainer card, eh? Well, the first step, if you haven't done this already, is to find something better than Paint (the free program computers come with). Paint has no decent filters and is so limited that your cards will simply not turn out very well if that's what you use to make them. If Paint is all you currently have, I recommend downloading a nice free copy of Paint.net. It's a small 1.6 mb download (so even dialup users can get it), and it's open source and completely free (though if you want to drop them a donation, they won't complain). If you have access to nothing else and are short on funds, it works well. I will use it for this tutorial (because using a program that is not free would be unfair to those of you who can't afford to buy a program for this).
Note: I will walk you through using this program, but the trainer cards I make are not as simple as they appear. They take some time and a good familiarity with the graphics program you use. In this tutorial, I will explain everything you need to do the first time you encounter it, but after I've explained how to do something once in this tutorial, I won't go back and explain it all over again. Also, PLEASE do not PM me saying "ur tutorial is 2 hard!!1!". If you want to make a good trainer card, you have to put some effort into it. I won't tell you how many hours I spent writing this, but suffice it to say that I am not going to hold your hand while you do the tutorial. If a direction is unclear, I'd love to know about it (feel free to PM me with the Step # and exactly what is unclear). If you just don't want to read all of this in order to learn how to make a good Trainer Card, just use Paint and make C-grade cards. It makes no difference to me, so don't PM me to whine about it (or to ask me how to use Paint - I don't use Paint because it's a bad graphics program, so why would I want to walk you through using it?). That being said, doing something like this is always hardest the first time. Once you've learned how to do it once, it gets easier each time after that. So don't lose hope, practice makes perfect! ^.^ Note #2 (Shortcuts): There are several time-saving shortcuts you can use in this tutorial. Many menu actions have listed keyboard shortcuts on them. Example: Going to the "Edit" menu and then "Copy" can be replaced by holding the "Ctrl" key on your keyboard, then hitting the "C" key, and then letting go of both. This shortcut is written as "Ctrl+C". A shortcut that is your very best friend in all the world while doing image editing is "Ctrl+Z" (which undoes your last action). If you make a mistake anywhere along the line, "Ctrl+Z" can help, so please, feel free to use it. ^.^ Step 1: Now, let's begin making our card. We'll start by making a new image. See Figure 1 below. The rules of the PokePlushies Forum Trainer Card contest say that Trainer Cards cannot be any larger than 267 x 167. I prefer to use templates that are 250 x 150, and since I'm writing this tutorial that's what I'll use.  Step 2: Now, let's find a good background. We want something that isn't too busy and that fits our theme (in this case, we will be doing a Gym Leader theme Trainer Card). Google Images is a great place for this. (Be sure to keep track of the URL to the image you use, since the rules now require it to be in the references section of your entry post.) *search search search* Ah, this one is very nice:  http://www.uncommondescent.com/images/wildflowers.jpg Step 3: Scroll to the bottom of the large image and use the "Print Screen" key on your keyboard. It is normally just above the "Insert" key, to the right of the "F12" key, and to the left of the "Scroll Lock" key. (The "Print Screen" key may also say "SysRq" on it, but ignore that.) Once you have the part of the image in view that you want, hit the "Print Screen" key. Then go to your Paint.net program, go up to the Edit Menu, and use the "Paste in to New Image" option. (It will not be greyed out if you've hit the "Print Screen" key first.) Now we have a background to work with. (See Figure 2.)  Step 4: As you may have noticed, this background is not only MUCH larger than our trainer card, it's also WAY too bright and flashy for use as a background. Let's handle the size first. Go up to the "Image" menu and click on "Resize" (2nd from the top). Click the circle next to "By Percentage" and enter "50". Then hit OK. The background image just got smaller, but you'll notice that it's still bigger than our trainer card (which is 250 x 150). In the Tools sidebar, click on the "Rectangle Select" (top left). The bar just above your picture will change. About a third of the way from the left side, you will see something that says "Normal". Click on the word "Normal" twice so that it changes to say "Fixed Size". The bar to the right of your mouse has just changed. Enter a width of 250, a height of 150, and change "inches" to "pixels". When you click on the picture, you will see a blue box. Move it until the box is pretty much in the center. Then go up to the "Edit" menu and hit "Copy". Go to the upper right corner of the program and select your trainer card image. Then go back up to the "Edit" menu and select "Paste in to New Layer". (See Figure 3.)  Step 5: Now, if you look in the lower right, you'll see a box called "Layers", and "Layer 2" should be highlighted in blue. (If it isn't, click on it to make it highlighted in blue.) Now go up to the "Layers" menu and then all the way down to "Layer Properties" at the very bottom of that menu. A new box will pop up called "Layer Properties". Toward the bottom of that box, you will see something labeled "Opacity" and a number. Change the number to "100" and hit OK. (See Figure 4.) Notice how your picture got lighter? (Well, technically, you whited it out. Making it lighter is a different process entirely, but I digress...) Now it won't clash so badly with your subjects in this Trainer Card. To make your future work easier to see, go up to the "Edit" menu and click on the "Deselect" option. This will remove the white lines around the edge. Since we've made good progress, let's save it (just to be safe). Go to the "File" menu and select "Save As". Then enter a name and put the file wherever you wish to on your computer. Make sure to leave the "Save as Type" at the Paint.net filetype (to preserve your layers). You should save frequently when making a trainer card, just in case you accidentally close the graphics program, your Dad is playing electrician and trips a breaker that kills the power to the house, your computer decides to reboot itself, or anything else happens that would cause you to lose your work.  Step 6: Now, let's start on our template (since I like the freedom of making my own templates). Go to the "Layers" menu and select "Add a New Layer" (at the very top). Now you have a "Layer 3" in the lower right "Layers" box (which box you may wish to make bigger, as you are going to have oh-so-many-layers in the end). Then select the "Rounded Rectange" Tool, and in the bar above your picture going from left to right, you have your tool menu (leave that on "Rounded Rectange"), the draw type (make sure that is on "Draw Shape Outline"), Brush width (decrease that to "1" using the minus sign to the left of the number), Fill (leave that on "Solid Color"), a squiggle line for your antialiasing (change that to "Antialiasing Disabled"), and a set of red and blue boxes (click the boxes once to change them to "Overwrite"). In the Colors box, click on the primary color and then click the "More" button in the top right of that box. The box will get bigger and show more tools. Under RGB, Make the number after the green slider read "116", then click the "Less" button to make the colors box smaller again. (See Figure 5.) Notice that in the very bottom right of your program, there are two little sets of numbers. The set to the left is your image size, and the set to the right is your pointer position. Keep an eye on that rightmost set of numbers as you move your mouse to the upper left of your image. When the pointer position reads "1, 1" click your mouse and drag it down and to the right until the pointer position reads "248, 148". Release the mouse to draw a nice, dark green box around your background. Now, change your primary color (in the "Colors" box) to white (by clicking on the small, pure white square on the far left 1 row underneath the big rainbowy circle, otherwise known as a color wheel), and get your "Paint Bucket" Tool (5th from the top on the left side of the Tools box). Make sure the end of the bar above your picture reads "Overwrite" (the red box solidly over the blue box), and then click in the upper left of your picture (pointer position "1, 1" is good) and in the upper right (pointer position "247, 1" is good). Now you have a template border and you've whited out the edges to make it look right. This is a good place to save.  Step 7: Next, you need to make a new layer (just like you did in Step 6), and make sure it is selected. Change the primary color to lime green (select the middle lime green on the row of color squares immediately below the color wheel). Select the "Rounded Rectange" Tool and draw a box that is 50 x 40 (you see the size of the box as you are drawing it by looking at the very bottom of the program towards the left. It will say "Bounding rectangle size: 50 x 40, area: 2000 Pixels". (See Figure 6.) Notice that the rounded rectangle drawn is not symetrical. We like things to be symetrical, so let's fix that.  Step 8: First, get your "Rectangle Select" Tool (like you did in Step 4, except you will leave the "Normal" part of the bar over the picture on Normal - do not change it this time). Select the right half of your lime green box and then go to the "Edit" menu and hit "Copy" (otherwise written as Edit - > Copy). Now go to Edit - > Paste in to New Layer. Then Layers - > Flip Horizontal. Then take your "Move Selected Pixels" Tool (top right buttn in the tools menu). Move the half of a lime green box so that it is over the side of the original lime green box opposite the side you highlighted (make sure the new half lines up with the outer borders of the first box). Then grab your Eraser tool (6th from the top on the right side of Tool box), and change the brush size (in the bar just over the picture) to "5". Select "Layer 4" in the Layers box (instead of "Layer 5", which is your half of a box). Use the eraser over the left side of the half of a box, so that the thicker parts of the box disappear. Then select "Layer 5" from the Layers box again, and go to Layers - > Merge Layer Down. Notice that "Layer 5" disapeared? Actually, you merged layers 4 and 5 together. Now they are one. To make the box comlpetely symetrical, repeat this whole step for the bottom half of the same lime green Rounded Rectangle. The only differences are that you will select the bottom half instead of the right side, use "Flip Vertical" instead of "Flip Horizontal", and you will erase the top part of the box on "Layer 4" instead of the left side. You can see the completed box in Figure 7.  Step 9: Now, we can position our boxes for our template. These boxes will eventually have the Pokemon images in them. In this example, I am going to make 5 more copies of this box (for a total of 6). To do so, make sure you are in "Layer 4", use the "Rectangle Select" Tool (leave it set on "Normal"), highlight the whole lime green box, go to Edit - > Copy, and go to Edit - > Paste. Notice that your selected Tool changed to "Move Selected Pixels", and your blue box changed to a white moving outline? This is because you now have another box to position. Click and drag this area surruonded by a white moving outline to the place you wish to put your next box. Then let go. Repeat this process until you have 6 boxes (or however many you want to have). As you move each of the boxes around, if you need to move a box you've already placed, just get your "Rectangle Select" Tool (leaving it on "Normal"), highlight the box you want to move, then getting your "Move Selected Pixels" Tool, and moving the box as needed. When you are happy with the placement of your boxes, go to Edit - > Deselect. Then go to File - > Save. Sidenote: This is where I went in and fixed the extra white space around the right and bottom edges of the picture and repaired the symetry of the card outline in "Layer 3" using the upper left corner as the template for the rest of the edges (using basically the same process used to fixed the symetry of the lime green boxes in Step 8). I did this here in order to be able to evenly space my boxes along the bottom (8 pixels between each box and 10 pixels between boxes and the edges of the card). My card, up to this point, can be see in Figure 8 below. Here are a couple of useful tips. First, you can zoom in and out using the "View" menu. If any of the boxes (like Colors, Layers, or Tools) get in your way, You can use the X in the upper right of any box to make it go away. To get it back, just go to the "Window" menu and click on the one you want back, making it magically reappear! :) Also, you can use the "Rectangle Select" Tool to measure pixels in between objects by selecting the space in between the objects and watching the bottom left of the program window. It will tell you how many pixels wide and high your selection is, thus telling you how far apart your objects are in the image.  Step 10: Go to Edit - > Select All, then Edit - > Copy, then Edit - > Paste in to New Layer. In the Layers box, use the blue down arrow (the second icon from the right along the bottom of that box) to move the new layer ("Layer 5") underneath the first lime green boxes layer ("Layer 4"). Make sure "Layer 5" is selected in blue. Then change your Primary Color in the Color box to white, and get your "Paint Bucket" Tool (just like you did in Step 6). Click the Paint Bucket inside each of the lime green boxes. Then go to Layer - > Layer Properties and change the Opacity of "Layer 5" to "150". Then hit OK. Now you have a nice place to put your Pokemon so they'll stand out. Go to File - > Save.  Step 11: If you have been wondering what on earth this peaceful field of flowers has to do with a Pokemon Gym Leader, then you haven't watched the very first season of the Pokemon anime enough times. =D When Ash arrived in Celadon City for his 4th Gym Battle, the Gym Leader, Erika, would not allow him in the Gym because he said that perfume was a "girly thing", and the Celadon Gym was a major producer of perfume. Erika's gym doubled as a greenhouse that she used to produce scents for her perfumes, and her name comes from the Japanese words for pear and plum blossoms, hence the flowers subtheme of this card. So, the trainer sprite we need for this card is Erika. I prefer to use the Sprites provided on the Pokemon Elite 2000 website's Sprite Resource. Going to the "FireRed/LeafGreen/Emerald: Trainer Sprites" link will lead to a page with this picture on it (which we will use):  Step 12: Use the same "Print Screen" technique you used for the background in Step 3 (Pasting to a New Image as before). Then, crop the image to a smaller size so you only have the Erika sprite to work with by using the "Rectagle Select" tool to select the Erika sprite (make sure no other sprites are showing), and then hitting the "Crop to Selection" button located at the top of the program window, just under the "Layer" menu. Now, we don't want all that extra white around the trainer in our image. We just want the trainer, so get the "Magic Wand" Tool (4th from the top on the left side of the Tools box). Click anywhere on the white (NOT on Erika) to select all of the white around her. Then go to Edit - > Invert Selection. Now you have Erika, and only Erika, selected. Go to Edit - > Copy. Now, in the upper right corner of the program, click on your trainer card. Go to Edit - > Paste in to New Layer. Now, zoom in about 5 times, and move the scrollbars on the bottom and right sides so that you can clearly see Erika's head and neck. See those two tiny white spots just above her right should (left side from our perpective)? Those two dots have to go, so get your "Eraser" Tool (6th from the top on the right side of the Tools box), set the Brush Width to 1, and delete those two little dots. (See Figure 10.) Go to File - > Save. You can now go back to the Erika Image that you used "Print Screen" to get (by clicking on it in the upper right corner of the program) and go to File - > Close to get rid of it. An alert will pop up asking if you want to save changes. There is no need to, so click "Don't Save". You will be back on your Trainer Card image. You can quickly return the card to normal size by going to View - > Actual Size.  Step 13: Since we now know how large our trainer sprite is (and yes, some trainer sprites are bigger or smaller than others), we can make the bubble for the trainer (yes, there are other ways to make the trainer stand out, but putting her in her own bubble is one of the easiest). Go to Layers - > Add New Layer. Then move the new layer ("Layer 7") underneath the Erika sprite. Grab yuor "Ellipse" Tool (the bottom left of the Tools box), make sure "Layer 7" is selected in blue in the Layers box, make a nice medium green (with the Green bar set to "225" instead of 116), use the same settings that you use for the lime green boxes, and make a bubble around the trainer. I drew a circle that is 50 Pixels wide and 78 Pixels high, aligning it 10 Pixels from each side of the card and 8 Pixels above the leftmost Pokemon box. Then I centered Erika in it. Then, while you have the layer with your trainer bubble selected in the Layers box, use Edit - > Select All, Edit - > Copy, Edit - > Paste in to New Layer, and the down arrow in the Layers box to move the new layer "Layer 8" under "Layer 7". Then use the Paint Bucket tool to fill the inside of the bubble white (as you did with the Pokemon boxes). Select "Layer 8", go to Layers - > Layer Properties, set the Opacity to "100", and hit OK. (The reason I use different Opacity percentages on different sections is to avoid having the whole picture run together as an incoherent blob. In other words, this makes it easier to see the different sections.)  Step 14: Since I prefer to finish my layout before I add Pokemon or badges, let's add the name plate next. So, Layer - > Add New Layer. This gives us "Layer 9". Make sure it's at the top of the Layers box. Get a medium green Primary Color in the Colors box, say G = 200. Grab your "Rounded Rectangle" Tool, and use the same settings that you used for the border and lime boxes. Make a box that is 109 x 29 Pixels in the space above the two highest Pokemon boxes. Align it so it is 10 Pixels from the top and right sides of the card, and 8 Pixels above the Pokemon areas. That will make the sides of the new area even with the sides of the two highest Pokemon areas. Repair the symetry using the lower right corner (just as you did for the lime green boxes). Next use Edit - > Select All, Edit - > Copy, Edit - > Paste in to New Layer, and the down arrow in the Layers box to move the new layer "Layer 10" under "Layer 9". Now we are going to do something a bit different. Grab your "Magic Wand" and use it inside the green box for the name plate on "Layer 10", which will select the entire inside of the box. Now grab your "Gradient" Tool (5th from the top on the right side of the Tool box). In the bar above your picture, select "Linear", leave it in "Colors Mode", and make sure it's set to "Overwrite". Set your Primary Color in the Colors box to the grey color just to the right of the white in the palette below the color wheel. Now, start a few pixels above the bottom of the highlighted name plate area and drag *straight* up until you are the same number of pixels from the top. (You can adjust the gradient by draging the circles that remain afterward.) Once you are happy with your fill, go to Layers - > Layer Properties, and set the "Opacity" to "175". Go to Edit - > Deselect, and in the Layers box, select the top layer (which should be "Layer 9").  Step 15: For the text, go to Layer - > Add New Layer ("Layer 11"). Set your Primary Color to the middle dark green in the palette (R:0, G:127, B:14). Grab your "Text" Tool (3rd from the bottom on the left side), and use these settings in the bar above your picture (going from left to right): change the Font to "Verdana", change the size to "8", leave the next on smooth, select the B and U, leave it on "Align Left", leave Fill at "Solid Color", leave the antialiasing disabled, and make sure the last is set to "Overwrite". Type the word "Trainer Card" and manually align it to the top center of the name plate area (using the "Move Selected Pixels" Tool). Now change your Primary Color to a medium green (R:0, G:235, B:0), and use the Text tool again (this time at size "10" and click the "U" again to disable it, but leave the other settings the same). Type in "Erika", and center it manually, just as you did with the words "Trainer Card". Save it.  Step 16: It's time for the badges section. Set a light green Primary Color (R:0, G:225, B:0), get your "Rectangle" Tool (using the settings from the lime green boxes, and basically every other shape we've drawn), draw a square that is 18 x 18 Pixels. Copy it sven times, and align the new ones so that there is a 1 Pixel gap between the old squares and the new one and all the squares are in two columns of 4. Center this block of 8 boxes over the 2nd Pokemon Box from the left (the edges of the bagde boxes will be 6 Pixels in from the edges of the Pokemon box), leaving 8 Pixels between the badge boxes and the Pokemon boxes and 10 Pixels between the badge boxes and the border of the card. Once it's aligned properly, go to Edit - > Select All, Edit - > Copy, Edit - > Paste in to New Layer, and move the new layer down one (by using the arrow in the Layer box). Fill each box with white (using the "Paint Bucket" Tool) and set the Opacity to "125". Now our template is done! *applause* All we have left to do is paste in some badges and some Pokemon. ^.^  Step 17: Since I'd like the badges on this card to be realistic based on the Pokemon team, let's do the Pokemon team next. We have a flowers subtheme, and all Pokemon MUST be Grass types (because Erika runs a Grass-Type Gym). Vileplume is a must, and Skiploom is another good choice (over Jumpluff, due to Skiploom's flower). The third common member of Erika's team (Tangela) we will replace with Meganium (because Megaium has a flower around it's neck and is the same type as Tangela, while Tangela has no flowers on it). To round out Erika's team, we'll add a Roserade, a Cherrim (Day), and for awe-factor, a Shaymin. Again we turn to the Pokemon Elite 2000 website's Sprite Resource, and because they are more detailed, I prefer to use the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Sprites for my Trainer Cards. Basically, this is the same technique you used for the Erika sprite, but I'll walk you through the proess with Erika's signature Pokemon: Vileplume. Step 18: You can get an image of Vileplume here. Use the "Print Screen" technique to get it into a seperate image in your program (just like you did with Erika). Use the "Magic Wand" Tool on the white around Vileplume, and then go to Edit - > Invert Selection. Copy and Paste into a New Layer of your Trainer Card. Erase the one little white dot on the right side of the head. Now make another new layer ("Layer 15"), and put it under Vileplume. (This layer will hold all your Pokemon images.) Now, the easiest way to center your Pokemon cut is to lay it over a Pokemon box, center as well as you can by sight, set the Vileplume layer to an Opacity of "50", and use the "Rectangle Select" tool to measure from the midpoint of the eyes to each side. Be sure it is *perfectly* centered! (Yoshi docks heavily for bad cuts, though he has said that in the case of Pokemon with long necks, like Meganium, you can adjust the cut to fit the Pokemon. On any other Pokemon, if it isn't centered by the midpoint of it's eyes or by it's eye if only one eye is showing, you WILL be docked for the cut.) Once you have it centered, highlight the section that fits in the box, copy and paste it into "Layer 15" (your Pokemon Catch-All Layer). Use the "Eraser" tool to erase the protruding edges (make sure the eraser's antialiasing is disabled) so that the lime green border shows but none of the white. Repeat this process with each Pokemon. Use "Layer 14" (your Vileplume layer) for centering each of the Pokemon and then delete it when you are finished. (See Figure 15.)  Sidenote: Yes, the Shaymin and Skiploom cuts look off (especially Shaymin, which cut I personally dislike), however, they are centered by eye(s), and if you adjust the cut to better fit the Pokemon in the frame, you get docked for bad cuts. I speak from experience (look for the one towards the bottom by Quagthistle). Step 19: Now for the badges. Given this set of Pokemon, I would say that Erika could win badges from Brock, Misty, Lt. Surge, and, of course, herself. Sabrina, Koga (or Janine), Blaine, and Giovani would almost certainly crush her (especially Blaine and Koga, since grass is weak to fire and poison). The badges are below. We want the first four Kanto badges, and we want them centered in four of the boxes. This is the same technique used for all the other sprites.  Figure 16  Step 20: Notice tha the card now *looks* complete, and essentially it is. This is the step for fine-tuning the card, and doing decorative things like recolors and fancy hand-drawn pixel-art. Is it required? No. But it's good practice and pads your score. ^.^ In the Fine-tuning category, I found the borders around the Pokemon to be too violently lime, so I toned them down by selecting "Layer 4" (the outlines layer) and then going to Adjustments - > Brightness / Contrast. Then I made took the brightness down to "-15". I also changed the Opacity of "Layer 5" (the white backdrops under the Pokemon) to "125" and "Layer 10" (the name plate backdrop) to "150". (I also muted the background a bit more by setting it's Opacity to "85".) I also disliked how the badge area turned out, so I used the "Color Picker" Tool (5th from the bottom on the right side), used it to copy the color of the badge box borders (by clicking no one of them while "Layer 12" was selected), then grabbed the "Pencil" Tool (5th from the bottom on the left) and repaired the badge area by hand-painting the Pixels to look the way I wanted them. I tried my hand at recoloring some of the Pokemon, but I couldn't get anything to look quite right, so I rearranged the Pokemon to make their colors flow better. Overall, I am not that pleased with this one, but it's my best effort this time around. Now you know how I do it, so here's to hoping it was helpful to you and good luck with your cards! ~Quag PS: My final card entry: 
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