Here is the lovely page where you can learn how to create your very own blinkie!

  • First you need Paint Shop Pro 7.4 and Animation Shop 3.0 (which come together) or some other graphic program with an animation program of some sort. For this tutorial, I will give directions for the use of Jasc Paint Shop Pro. Please note that this tutorial will work for basically any graphics program and animation program. This includes Paint Shop Pro 8, a 30-day-free trial of which is available for download at jasc.com
  • You also need the font called "Redensek" You can download it free at this site. After you download it, you may need Winzip to unzip the file. Download it for free by going to winzip.com and clicking on "Download Evaluation Version." After you have winzip, you can learn how to place it on your computer, so you can actually use the font, by going to http://www.fontalicious.com/super/info.html and clicking "Installing Fonts" under the "Technical" menu in that page.
  • To proceeed, open (I will, from now on, refer to Paint Shop Pro as PSP) PSP and press "File" then "New" (first on the menu). The document you create should be big enough for your blinkie. The dimensions I use are 155 x 45. Make sure that under image characteristics, the background color is set to transparent.
  • Once you have the new image open, zoom the image in until the image bar says "Image1 [8:1] (layer 1)" (For confirmation, visit the area below this text for the archive of pictures for this tutorial. This is diagram 1).
  • Second, select the Brush tool () then select the color you would like to use. The size of the brush should be set at one (1) for proper accordance to the following directions.
  • Draw a line about 4 whole squares long (see below diagram 2).
  • Next draw over 3 and 1/2 squares right as shown in diagram 3.
  • From there you draw up 4 squares as shown in diagram 4, and across the top as shown in diagram 5.
  • You can then fill in the square you should have.
  • After you have done that, go back to the color palette and select a shade of the same color, but considerably lighter than yours for the highlight. See diagram 6.
  • Fill in three squares in the upper top of the image (see diagram 7).
  • Then return to the color palette and select a color darker than that you originally selected (the main background color) and place three squares of that color in the bottom left of your blinkie box as shown in diagram 8.
  • After that, select an even darker color to place on the bottom and right borders. See diagram 9.
  • Next you want to right click on the image and click "Copy" then "Paste As New Layer" as many blinkie boxes as you like for your image. You paste as many characters there are in your message. For instance, I will be using my name, Jade, so the amount of characters is 4 and I will need to paste 3 more blinkie boxes in addition to the one I originally made for a total of 4 boxes, all in a row! See diagram 10.
  • After you do that, select the crop tool () and crop so that your image's border is now right around your blinkie boxes. See diagram 11.
  • At this point you probably want to save your image. Make sure you save it as a .gif file, as that is the only file type a blinkie can be. After you have saved it, select the text tool () and click in the first box. Next select the "Redensek" font from the menu in the top left of the window that pops up and make the font size 9. See diagram 12.
  • Then type in the first letter, for example, my first lettter is "J". Then click "ok" and arrange the letter on the first block however you would like. Continue with all letters/blinkie boxes. Save.
  • Next click "File", "Jasc Software Products", then "Launch Animation Shop."
  • Once that program is open, open up your blinkie's file. Right click on the Frame 1 and click on "Duplicate Selected" until you have as many frames as you want (I suggest the same amount as how many characters you have; I have 4 in my example).
  • You may want to zoom in on here, too.
  • Select the brush tool (). Click on the color palette and select a light color or whatever color you want to highlight the letter as it blinks.
  • In the first frame, trace the letter with your brush. Continue with all of your frames. See completed frames in Diagram 13.
  • When you are finished highlighting, click on "Animation" at the top and then click on "Animation Properties." After that, click on "Looping" in the box that pops up and select "Repeat the animation indefinetly." This makes sure that your blinkie always blinks and doesn't just blink for about 5 seconds and freeze. Click ok.
  • Next save your blinkie. Ignore the thing that pops up by clicking "Next>" and finally "Finish." Your blinkie is now saved.
  • You've done it! You should have a pretty little blinkie. If you want to see it before you upload it or anything, click "View" at teh top of the page and then click "Animation" and you should be able to see it!
  • Don't forget to upload it before you try placing your blinkie on your own website or somewhere else. If you have any further problems, please contact me jadey213@yahoo.com, but only after you have reviewed all steps. Thanks.


Diagrams from the Tutorial

Diagram 1
Diagram 2

Diagram 3
Diagram 4

Diagram 5
Diagram 6

Diagram 7
Diagram 8

Diagram 9
Diagram 10

Diagram 11
Diagram 12

Diagram 13



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