Designing a Banner

Designing a Banner using PSP and/or PhotoShop.

What I'm looking for are some easy to understand instruction on using one or the other programs to design a professional looking banner for my site.
I am having problems getting transparent images to stay transparent when adding them to an existing picture in PS.

I'm not looking for someone to do it for me, I would rather do it on my own, However I do need some help.

I would like to use Flash, but that slows page loading and isn't for everyone. But you sure can do alot with it. I had a fish tank banner on one site I designed for a client, the members loved it.

Any suggustions/opinions?

ive no idea about doing things like this - i cant even get a stickman in proportion. this might be a daft question to you but have you tried http://www.good-tutorials.com

ive no idea about doing things like this - i cant even get a stickman in proportion. this might be a daft question to you but have you tried http://www.good-tutorials.com

No But I'm there now checking it out... Thanks.

Saying "teach me how to make a banner" is along the lines of saying to someone, "teach me car."

If you give me a specific outline of what you'd like to see or something (maybe draw one out and scan it in) I'd be more than happy to give you tips on how to make a nice banner with it.

It's mostly about colors, emphasis and placement.

Anyway, I can give you some one-on-one here, via AIM or PM. Let me know.