reaper i made my first flash kit theme for akaio 1.3 in about 24 hours using paint.net (opensource and free) and ak edit by dan taylor (also free). you should load an already made skin into the editor and see what parts are what. then view the parts using an image app. after that you will know what you have to make. just make images that match, as in the same size, aspect, etc. each time load the new theme your making into ak edit and it will format the bmps to the correct 16bit depth.
for me it was like 30% skill, 50% borrowing and remaking, and 20% pure luck as i'm not good with art or graphic design at all! haha.
-another world