Uffish Thought

So, to give myself a break from all the fic I've been writing, I decided for Day 2 to teach myself how to make GIFs...with middling success. I understand most people use Photoshop, but I don't have it and don't want to pirate it, so on the recommendation of Gizmo Freeware Reviews, I tried GifApp. It's a nice simple program, but not ideal for fannish purposes.

( the result, from POI 1x12 )

*sigh* Anyway, I'll have to try again with a different program. Maybe this method, though it sounds needlessly complicated.

Any of ya'll have recommendations regarding freeware or tutorials for this? There's about a million out there, and I'd love to hear from someone with actual experience.

ETA: now inmyriadbits tells me she has Photoshop Elements. Thanks, Linds. :P