yea, i told him about it, but i'm still awaiting a response from him.
Gimp is completely free. check out my vid-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zNHVZ5EaXs
and AWESOME! Etora if you need a name.
The sprites pretty good. You added shading to the dark spots, which some people don't do. if you want i can see if i can animate it for you. I can recolor the sprites.