A few random questions about RPG maker xp

[Elrim]

I had a few questions regarding rpg maker xp coming from someone with a limited amout of experience on the program.

A)  I would like to start making some of my own sprites (or at least attempting), but the only 'art program' I have on my machine currently is MS paint... is there a better program people use and if so could someone direct me to where i can find something like that?

B)  I've been using Inquisitor's world map editor and I'm having trouble with autotile trees having a grey background.  I tried using MS paint to change it to white but then it has a white background...  Is there a way to make the background clear?

[Blizzard]

A) I use Photoshop because it has layers which can come in handy. But many people work in Paint. It's up to you.
B) Don't directly add resources into the folders, use the resource database on top. There you can define colors which should be treated as transparent and semi-transparent.

BTW, if you're new to RMXP, you might wanna check out this topic.
http://forum.chaos-project.com/index.php?topic=349.0

[Elrim]

omg that helped so much

<3 thank you

[Chaze007]

nice topic

[Nortos]

I use PS too but there is a program called paint.net that is bassically a free version of PS  here's the site http://www.getpaint.net/

[legacyblade]

If you can't afford PS, and don't want to crack it, there is always graphics gale. It's a hybred between paint and PS. Here's a link to a download and description.

http://eminweb.com/index.php?topic=21.0

[Blizzard]

The GIMP is an open source alternative ot Photoshop as well. Just google for it.