Well, the stencil lines should show you whether you are aligned or not and should be correct. However, if want to be completely sure, really the only option would be to compile the tileset. You can delete the .J2T file after you check to make sure that it is aligned if you want.

The question "how can I draw?" is hard to answer. The line tool should help you with the straight line problem, but making the lines into something that looks good is up to your skill in computer drawing. Your real-life drawing talent doesn't have much to do with your computer drawing talent. I know many people who are horrid artists in real life but can do amazing things with a program as basic as MSPAINT, while some are great artists in real life but can't draw worth anything on the computer. You just have to find your style.

Some people just don't have the special gift of building tilesets (like me) so we have to build levels or play instead. If you work hard enough, you can build a mediocre tileset (or better) at any skill level. Having a program other than MSPAINT also helps (i.e. Photoshop, or a program with filters and textures for things like ground, bricks, etc. that look like a cartoon gone wrong when drawn) but you can make a decent tileset in PAINT. If you really think you want to get into this tileset thing, get Photoshop Elements ($99 retail, though www.pricewatch.com can find it for less) and see what you think. I can't recommend Photoshop (which sells for over $500 in many places) for a beginner because if you decide you don't like doing tilesets and can't find any other use, you're down $500. If you want to be even more cautious (if losing $99 would be a really bad thing or you don't have that much to spend) I recommend a free program which *I think* is called WinGIMP. There is a Did You Know? on J2O about it. It's free, and it's better than paint. In fact, most anything is.

One last warning before making a tileset: you'll have to find a substitute for the color black. There are many colors that look very black, but aren't quite and are recognized as Jazz 2 as a different color (Jazz 2 has an 8-bit color scheme, so they have to be recognized as different at 8-bit.) Black comes out to be see-though, just like the blue color that you see as blank tiles in JCS (which can also be used to be see-through in paint, along with black). Also, make a mask (a seperate BMP telling which parts of tiles should be considered hard and which ones go-through) if you can, but automask for your tests if you feel uncomfortable making a mask. Make sure to choose "remap tileset pallete" - the default pallete PAINT uses is strange-looking in Jazz 2, so it should be remapped, unless you want your tileset to look weird.

I'm in no way an expert at this, and I likely got a few things wrong, but I think the above was mostly accurate.

Good luck with your tilesets, and I hope the color gods smile upon you.