If you are viewing this blog post, you are most likely interested in making a texture pack. If you are, you've come to the right place. Good for you! Making a texture pack is hard work and many hours are involved. If you are willing to do this, well you're awesome. That's all I can say.

A texture pack is a conglomeration of different artistic elements blended together into a theme (or completely random, I don't know) to make Minecraft look and feel the way you want.

There are many programs that are on the market right now that can help a noob (no offense to any of you because I am too) make a good, rich, and possibly profitable texture pack.

Many of these programs are free but a few will cost you some $$$. I'm sure you know of those. The best program that are paid for, to make a texture pack is easily Adobe Photoshop CS6 or higher. It can be found here: www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html

There are alternatives to Photoshop if you are not willing to roll out $200 like I was. These free alternatives will work just fine for your needs in making a texture pack. These programs are all non-profit and rely on donations. They are open-source from their creators.
-GIMP: The GNU Image Manipulation Program
www.gimp.org/
-Krita
krita.org/
-Paint.NET
www.getpaint.net/index.html
-ChocoFlop
www.chocoflop.com/home_en.html
-Cinepaint
www.cinepaint.org/
-Pixia
www.ne.jp/asahi/mighty/knight/index.html

I preferred GIMP and Krita for everything I needed to until I got Photoshop. It is recommended that you have an artistic tablet but it isn't necessary. A mouse and a keyboard will do just fine.

Good luck to you!

-JCMK