How do I create my own skin for Handcent NextSMS?

[ohsnapitssuz]

I am a graphics designer. I am just looking for information about where to modify the skin files.

My guess would be, I need to locate the APK file for the skin I want to "modify" and use as the base skin. This would be the "Default Blue" skin.

1) Can I access the "Default Blue" skin APK without root permission?
2) Is this the correct file to locate and modify the skin images?
3) Do I need a specific program to extract images from the APK file?
4) Do I need a specific program to re-compress my modified images to an APK file?

Any help you can provide would be absolutely wonderful. I appreciate it.

- Suzanne