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Emblem Creation

Emblems are the small pictures that are shown on the front of the karts in Mario Kart DS, and to edit these, you must go to options, then edit then to emblem to reach a paint like drawing screen with a blank canvas. There are some pathetic already done icons, but you can get much better ones online or if you make your own, and this page will say how!

List of default templates:

Now, as you can see in the below picture, these look a bit boring. There are also defaults for each character, but I think these two are also dull. So, here's a template by Nintendan to help for emblem creation:

Emblem Template

Oh, and if you want a fancier Legend of Zelda based template, here is one by Caprontos:

Link Template

Tips for making an emblem by hand

First, remember that the neatest emblems actually come from using the control pad and A button to draw the emblems, not the stylus. So put away your stylus for the moment and start reading.

First, think of a cool idea for an emblem. Lightning bolts and stars are boring, but characters are good, so try drawing one of them. Certain bosses like Big bully seem easiest though.

Look for sprites. These kinds of images, when you use the extremely basic ones from games such as Super Mario Bros look rather good, and if you have a NES game, look in the manual for sprites to draw, that's how I drew a Bullet Bill, mushroom and Podoboo for my emblem!

That's about it. The next options are to either get someone to make an emblem, or convert an existing picture to an emblem.

Ask for help from an emblem creating expert

If you go to Gamefaqs, you should have heard of Turpinator. He makes really nice emblems, so look for a topic with this title on the message board:
'Who Wants A Handmade Emblem #[number] [number] (READ RULES BEFORE POSTING)'
Now these emblems are often good, and as seen by his examples in his portfolio gallery, are often extremely detailed. However, for etiquette, it's best you abide by his rules. I have nothing else to say.


Turpinator's Emblem Gallery

Get a Converter to change an image to an emblem

Now about Decal Makers. These devices covert images on your PC to emblems by a PHP script on the server of the site hosting them, and are often seen as quite good for beginners. However, many of them do require tweaking, and are not good with some image kinds. But here are the Decal Makers anyway:

There are more, but I don't have the links now, so if anyone can provide me with them, I'll credit them.