scutheotaku wrote: EDIT: I've just tried Pickle ( http://www.pickleeditor.com/ ), and I REALLY like it! Very simple and easy to use, yet not devoid of features. So far, I recommend it!

This program is awesome, thanks for sharing, this could definately save me some time
Works on Linux under wine like a charm.

I would suggest Candy as a theme for this competition. That would be awesome.

Most of the time I use Photoshop and Illustrator, I worked with them for three years in school, so I really connected with those

Yes, truly, the best thing you can do is practice your skills by coding stuff. Additionally you could read and modify code of some pro coders (ask for permission of course, but I don't think you get problems if you don't publish the modified code. It's just for the purpose of learning, right? ;) ). ...