Welcome to GG&J Irish
Good advice from Beaver about steering clear of free hosts if you want to do free site submissions. Almost no respectable link sites will list free hosting anymore...way too many problems in the past.
As to your question regarding design work...if you've got some skills, absolutely yes. Cruise through some of the link lists and look at how sites are laid out...get some ideas. Please note, and I have to say this due to previous experience...never directly copy someone's work...it's the quickest way to ensure a short stay in the adult biz. No offense intended Irish, but it's happened many times in the past so has to be pointed out to someone new
So yea...if you've got good skills and can adapt to the adult angle...you could make some bucks just doing galleries and/or free site templates.