Learn how to modify CSS classes from 
w3schools.com

also look at mottie's help site
mottie.guildportal.com 

for example code and scripts for all sorts of guild portal related design elements.

a lot of graphics can be created and saved as png in photoshop and uploaded to your guildsite
from the control panel there are lots of style editing options available to create a unique site I would start with that before getting into custom CSS
take a look at my guildportal for example, I did some things with photoshop and just manipulated how the browser would display them. like the background, it auto-resizes to any desktop resolution and my widgets auto stretch with the page so it doesn't scroll off the edge of the screen.

just keep in mind good design ideas and try to work with that. a full template isn't always the answer.

Hi Kaylee99!

Welcome to GuildPortal! As Jackel159 said you may not necessarily need to start with a full template.

I'd recommend going through the available themes and find one you like. Then use the built-in control panel to look at the colors and content box images that were used. Especially the image dimensions. It's really how I started learned - lots of digging. I wrote something up in the past about how to get started, but it's a bit dated so a lot of it may not apply to how GuildPoral works now... I really should go back and bring it up to date.

Anyway, please don't hesitate to ask questions