From the pages of...

[chuckles]

I based this design on the title character from Previsionary's story "Blue Lightning: Aimless".

On the vxTyroc (by Vertex) mesh with the hair, ankle cuffs, chains, and collar removed

[Shazam]

Hey there Chuck!

Nice to see you're still skinning. I like your latest offering, though his costume looks very familiar. Looks a bit like some dude volti something  :P

[Podmark]

Pretty cool. I like the face, has a fair bit of character there. The lightning looks a little choppy, but I've done lightning like that before and it's not the easiest thing.

[AfghanAnt]

For the lightning bolt I recommend upping the tga to 1024x1024 and then shrinking it back down.

[ow_tiobe_sb]

Nice interpretation of the character, Chuck.  In addition to what AA has recommended about the bolts, I would also suggest that you restore the top edges of the boots where the lightning crosses them.  It appears that you may have placed a lightning bolt layer over the boots layer without indicating that the boots are separate from the pants/tights (if my memory of the tale serves me):
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Keep up the good work! :)

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Fop o' th' Morning

[UnkoMan]

I honestly don't think you need to up the size. I mean, you can if you want, but I've skinned stuff like that at 512 before and had it look fine. But, hey, try it. You're just making a selection with your point and click lasso, right?

I think, and I'm going to say it less softly because of that dang feedback topic, that the lightning bolt is ruining what could be a nice skin. But don't fret, because you can fix this. You can! I'll take you through how I would do it, trying not to be too wordy.

First thing, you redo your selection. Once you get it looking how you want, it's time for shading. I'd say just use a light blue. Your highlights look nice, so I assume you can do this. Just throw a light blue down where you think there'd be more shadow, and a slightly dark blue under really shaded areas (IE armpits). Do this on a seperate layer. Then blur them so they flow smoother. After that, select the lightning bolt, inverse the selection, merge the two layers, and cut away the extra stuff. That's usually what I do when putting shading on an object. It keeps everything right to the edges. Okay, so that's good, now what? Gotta throw on some edges. Use the line tool to put white edges wherever the light would fall, and use your darkest blue or a bit darker to place edges on everywhere there would be shadow. After that, add an overall shadow underneath the lightning, onto the costume. I usually do this by selecting the layer, then making a new layer filled with the costume's darkest colour. I often play with this, though, sometimes using a greyer version of the darkest colour and multiplying the layer, or expanding the selection by one before I fill it. Make sure to blur this layer, to taste. If you select that layer, make a new layer, and fill it with the grey of the boots, then you can cut off everything that doesn't go where the boots are, and there's your boot shadow. Also, like tiobe said, put the seam and shadow back on for the boot area.

Then you are done! Should look miles better!

Oh man, I hope that wasn't terrible to read or too confusing for you. If you have any questions as to what the heck I am saying on anything just ask. I will try to explain. Anyhow, the rest of the skin looks pretty decent. Your highlights at the top of the boots don't match the rest, though. Easy fix. Armbands look good. I can't tell if the belt could use some shading on the bottom or not, due to refl. If you are satisfied with it though, then so am I.

Keep it up, man!

[chuckles]

Thanks for the response guys, and I'm gonna take this weekend to put these tips to good use.

I really appreciate it.  :thumbup: