Newbie's first skin: Hyperion

[martialstorm]

Hi everyone, I've really enjoyed all the great work. Feel free to check out the attached pictures of Marvel's version of the Kingdom Come Superman.

Mesh source: Omni-Man_REN by Renegade plus vxHyperion mesh by Vertex

Skin source: Supreme Ross/Moore by Courtnall 6 & Hyperion Skin by James "Lightning Man" Taylor.


Look forward to your feedback.

[laughing paradox]

Welcome to the site and welcome to skinning! I started not so long ago and there are a lot of great sources of information found on this site.

However, I'm not certain what you mean by "Skin Source".. is this a kitbash?

It's pretty good, much better than my first attempt at skinning. I would recommend using brighter highlights (you can find a great tutorial on frwiki.com). While you're there, read the tutorial on seams. It makes a huge difference on skins, believe me! I would also recommend having a keener eye for details. I'm guilty of this because I get lazy near the end of a skin, but you can see the top of his chest symbol is out of sync with the rest of the skin.

You have a good grasp of the reflection layer, so that's great.

[Carravaggio]

I mostly echo what Laughing Paradox has already said, seams and highlights give a skin unparalleled depth, and are therefore worth considering.
Could you clarify the origins on the skin? Is it a recoloured skin originally made by lightning man? That looks like his musculature on the legs and chest. Did you borrow the symbol from a C6 skin?
A larger pic would be nice so we can get a closer look at the details.
I think the biggest issue is the extreme reflect layer. It seems too bright and reflective. I'm not sure what lightmap you are using, but i would suggest one thats not as 'busy'. Look at some of the more simple lightmnaps used by skinners today, very few still use the original Irrational one as its too complex and the reflections it creates look unrealistic.
To reduce the brightness of the reflections, when you are making you male_basic_file, you should look at having the reflections be no more that 40-50% brightness, in fact I would suggest playing with those values and maybe even using a lesser value. Sometimes reflect layers I use are as light as 10-20%.

[djfredski]

Nice job :thumbup:

[The Enigma]

Equally important is accuracy in a skin. If the picture on the left is your source, I'm sure you noticed that the "nuclear" symbol is different on your skin to the actual comic's costume.

[martialstorm]

Firstly, thanks for the feedback, everything you've all mentioned has been really constructive.

Secondly being green as I am I didn't realise exactly what kitbashing was :doh:

However I'll have another go at putting together something a lot more original to share.

Thanks again to the posters for their advise and also to the people who's work I used to put this together. (Ren, C6, Lightning Man & Vertex)

[UnkoMan]

I've mentioned this before, but I think kitbashing is a useful tool when you're just starting out learning to skin. Even I did it (and had no idea is was so frowned upon) when I first began skinning.
Plus, you did give due credit, which is the biggest issue. Obviously a skin like this couldn't be released, as you would need the original skinner's permission.

As to tips... I don't really think I could say anything not already said. Keep practicing though. Don't be afraid to post here if you ever need help!

[daglob]

I had started a kitbashing thread (and am still not through with it); it is a way to see what something looks like quickly, and decide if it is worth pursuing. I did a Green Lantern of Mars KB, that was so good that I finally did one of my own. I did Yoda as a GL/Guardian too, and it looked VERY cool. Still need to post the pics of The Emerald Speedster, Ash (Army of Darkness) as a GL, and the GL's of The Great Refuge and The Hidden Land...

The last Kitbash I did was overlaying Jack Kirby's face over a C6 Thing skin. It looked so good that my complete version is at CO2, along with Mr. Stantastic, Invisible Flo, and Brodsky Torch...