hello, I am a complete novice to k2 which I just installed

I am a bit confused as to how templates work with k2

I currently have a custom template on my joomla site, do i have to change it for a k2 compatible template?

can I install a k2 template that will operate within my custom template?

eg. my template is essentially the header with the logo and menu, the main area and the footer

when I publish k2 it appears obviously in the main area, can that main area have a template of its own for the k2 item?

Hi. First of all, if your template is produced by a Joomla! template club then it will probably support K2. Otherwise you will get the default K2 appearance in your current template and you will need to fix any CSS conflicts or glitches that may appear. Apart from that K2 can have different template overrides per category. To learn more about K2 templating please visit getk2.org/documentation/tutorials/item/174-templating-with-k2-and-the-concepts-of-sub-templates