Art Wallpaper

A good program to use is something like Adobe Photoshop 7.0 or JASC Paintshop Pro 8. However, Adobe's top of the line, and it shows in its 400+ dollar price tag. JASC's is around 100 dollars, and is honestly top class as well.

As far as freeware...I'm not too good on that. I've got Photoshop, and I'm sticking with it.

Generally, as far as making one, I try to stick to a central theme. If I make a Hardsuit/Bubblegum Crisis wallpaper, it's going to be somewhat technological: hard lines, and deep but a bit of bland coloring. If it's something like FLCL, I try to make sure there's a lot going on in the background, because it matches the series. Generally, stick to what makes it look good. Use effects, but DO NOT overdo it. Teddz seems to be very fond of static minimalism, which is very nice, because there's nothing to be detracted from anything, and it looks GOOD. I personally prefer a bit of splash and even going as far as to add some HTML/java elements into my wallpapers (as a whole computer theme).