I know it's bit late to answer but it can be helpful to others.
In OpenCart 2.3.0.2 creating a custom theme is little complex , finally i found this doc here which helped me a lot http://undefined.gr/site/2016/10/09/custom-opencart-2-3-0-2-theme/
To start with copy the default folder found in upload/catalog/view/theme/default to a new folder in the same directory. Name it “mytheme“.
Then copy the theme_default.php file in upload/admin/controller/extension/theme and place it in same directory. Name it “mytheme.php“.
- Rename the class to (line 2):
ControllerExtensionThemeMyTheme + Replace all “theme_default” text to “mytheme“. Yes there are a lot (197).
Copy the theme_default.tpl in upload/admin/view/template/extension/theme and place it in the same directory. Name it “mytheme.tpl“.
- Replace all “theme_default” text to “mytheme“. (48)
Copy theme_default.php in upload/admin/language/en-gb/extension/theme and place it in the same directory. Name it “mytheme.php“.
- Set the new theme’s title in heading_title (line 3) to “My Theme”.
Finally for the thumnail image to show correctly in store settings rename default.png to mytheme.png in upload/catalog/view/theme/mytheme/image Now go into your Administration > Extensions > Extensions and select Themes in “Choose the extension type”. You should be seeing your new theme. Install it with the green (+) button and edit it to enable it. Also ensure you set the correct theme directory whilst editing the theme!
Then in System > Settings edit your store to use your new theme.
That should do it. You can now go ahead and start chopping and changing the default theme