The first Freedom Reborn skin off thread

[Renegade]

  So many Renegade meshes.

For some reason that is kind of freaking me out.

[TAP43]

Sorry to freak you out a little more but here is my last minute entry. Also on a Renegade mesh ( hope to see more)
I give you Black Hand, I had hoped to find more time. But between work and R/F I missed finishing up as much detail as I wanted. I missed finishing the feet, but I I was going for the part of his career just before he lost his hand. Hope you(the Judges ) like it.
                           
                           
                           

[Sayg]

Sorry I'm late. Here is my assignment. Thanks for letting me join. It was a fun experience.

Spoiler

I used C6's excellent base skins here.

[House Quake]

So many Renegade meshes.

For some reason that is kind of freaking me out.

For the first round it was a Ren party.  All of the meshes had roughly the same level complexity and were consistent as far as things like mapping and such go. 

From the time this post is dated... the hard deadline will be 4 hrs.  I think it'll be Friday pretty much everywhere concerned by then. 

[jtharris86]

Fantastic job everyone 

[The Hitman]

Just want to say again, Great Job to everyone. They all look awesome!

[Blkcasanova247]

So many Renegade meshes.

For some reason that is kind of freaking me out.

Just a testament to how awesome your work is. Great work guys.

[AfghanAnt]

Really stellar work from everyone.

[Cyber Burn]

I am soooo out of my league here. Really solid entries everyone.

[Tomato]

I am soooo out of my league here. Really solid entries everyone.

Don't sell yourself short. You completed work within the time frame, and that's no small feat... I think this is the first contest/challenge I've ever completed to a deadline.

[House Quake]

A few peeps will go to the next round by default.  But there are a couple of real hard choices here.  We're going to deliberate over the next couple of days and will announce the results for round two after that.

[House Quake]

A few crtiques.  Do not call me Simon. Or Paula (though I would luv to get me sum... never mind)

Cyberburn (Captain Marvel)
I'm only some what familiar with Paint.net, it is one of the freebies I've rated as being capable of making decent skins... which is what you've done.  But in direct comparison to competent works done with Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro... it's like coming to a knife fight with a switch blade vs a katanna and a machete.   You have to really be on point.  That said...

My biggest problem is with the line work.  The black lines on the cuffs are a major distraction.  The cuffs themselves are a major distraction.  With the cuffs and the boots as well.. . there is a lack of detail and it seams you over relied on the reflect layer to give some depth.

Overall.. a decent skin.  I think you could have and can do much better much better in the next round.  (which you will make by default)


Daglob (Green Arrow)
You have a lot of subtle things going on here.  But you may have gone too subtle.  When I look close... I can tell where you added some wrinkles and folds to the costume in areas... but you muted them out so much that they aren't noticable unless you concentrate to find them.  Subtle should be easily picked up by the eye on a second glance... and realized it was there all along.   Right now... I still have to go looking for those folds.. even though I know they're there.

The mask didn't work too well for you either.  I think a different approach would have netted better results.


Hitman (Wolverine)
Going foor the animated style was a good idea and for the most part you pulled it off.  but I do have two problems.  The first thing that stood out to me was the black stripping of the costume on his torso.  Its not very crisp... and looks like you beveled it.  Not the best approach.  There are other methods of getting seperation which would have worked better in this instance.

The other problem is that while you did a good job on making every part of his body appear to be more 'animated' version inspired... his exposed face kinda sticks out to me.  He has whiskers.  I think IMO, with the hairless look of his arms and such.... for consistencies sake... the face should have been hairless as well, similiar to his animated incarnations.


I'm going to critique the remainders a bit later as they are the head to head skins which will determine the next round.
We should also have the next round choices I hope by the weekend (real life things notwithstanding)

[The Hitman]

Totally agree. The stripes were actually done with the line tool, but I think I blurred the shading a bit too much. And the whiskers area was a holdover from a previous version I did earlier in the week.

Awesome, can't wait for the next round!

[House Quake]

Glad I didn't have to ju... umm... dang!  Yes I did!!

The judges all admit that this was pretty difficult to judge.  The judging was based on a 10 point scale and the total score between the three judges determined who advanced.  All I can say is that there were no 10's nor any 1's.  I believe critical critique is essential to improvement and all of this works towards that excellence.  Hopefully each judge will drop a bit of wisdom on the skins in thier own words.... but I'll still give a few highlights about what was said on each skin.

Powerman

Carravaggio - Expected a lot more.  Uninspired.  Yellow and silvers lacked detail...... 5.3
Murs47 - Really wished you had finished.  Nice detail in hair and skin color.  Hopes you finish down the road...... 3.7


Black Hand

Ultimate Evil - Likes the mask and gloves but the rest looks a little average. Too much highlight.... 7
Tap43 - The cloth work is a nice touch. Darker colour works well. Would have liked to see a bit more highlights... 8


US Agent

Tomato - The front is way off center. Average work. Like the shield. The face and the black areas are nice. red looks too over saturated... 6
Sayg - Basic. More work on the gloves and bootcuffs would have got him a higher rating. Too many belt loops... 6.3



2nd Round Will Be

Carravaggio
Tap43
Sayg
Cyberburn
Daglob
Hitman

Next round assignments will be given out in a day or two.  Expect a feminine twist.


A couple of notes.
Tomato... you missed on a critical aspect of detail.  The front of the skin was a distraction and took away from some otherwise pretty good work.
Tap43... your approach was a bit risky, but over all it paid off
Carravaggio... It wasn't down on purpose, but I know personally that Powerman's shirt hit you in your weak area.  Gotta work on the flowing textures more.  If
Sayg... Your skin was pretty much a bit 'too' by the numbers.   Would have liked to see a bit more personality (yours)

[Courtnall6]

Notes:

Tomato: The face doesn't work for me. I know what you were going for...but he looks like he suddenly came across a really bad odour.
Carravaggio: I agree with HQ...work on those flowing textures.
TUE: With the size of the pic...I couldn't really tell what kind of texture you were going with. Maybe a additional zoomed in shot so we have a clearer idea.

[AfghanAnt]

Quick bits:

Carr, I loved your facial work (as always) and Murs, the color and sheen of Luke's skin was great.

Tap, your attention to details really won me over.

Sayg, it was really hard to judge your work for me personally because I was unsure of your skill level. I really liked how you handled the black but overall it came off a tab generic. I really would like to see more of you in your work so you don't get lost in the horde.

[Previsionary]

Well, now that round 1 is over, can I throw out something that may not have been considered in this contest? Looking at some of the output really speaks wonders of how being assigned a character one may not particularly like can affect his/her skills on a skin. So, for future reference, maybe be a bit more mindful of personal preferences and try not to stick so closely to mainstream A/B characters?

[Sayg]

I would like to say thanks to the judges for giving their expert critiques. I do agree with all of them. As i mentioned before, i'm not very good at this. That's probably why I still depend a lot on bases and the faces that go with them. Despite all that, there were a couple of reasons why i still decided to join the skin off. One reason was because i wanted to get more practice making skins again. Since I'm very lazy when it comes to skinning, i thought this would be a good way to give me that extra push. The 2 weeks deadline was another part i liked. I've always wondered if i can come up with a decent skin within a short period of time. Lastly, the idea of being assigned a random character appealed to me since i sometimes have a hard time deciding which character to skin.

Ok. I really don't know how i ended up going on to round 2 but it seems like it did. Somehow. So to the judges, all i can say is that i can't promise an improvement overnight but i will certainly try, not to suck too much once again. I am considering trying a different approach but i'm not that confident i can pull it off. Round 2 will be an interesting challenge for me in a way since i haven't really attempted skinning a female character before.

[House Quake]

We'll have the second round match ups and such in a couple of days.  I know AA has been very busy helping to champion a cause as of late and, while I've likewise been busy trying to get the power on in this joint.    And well... Court is just... doing the Court thang. He'll probably preview a half dozen skins by the weekend

[AfghanAnt]

I would like to say thanks to the judges for giving their expert critiques. I do agree with all of them. As i mentioned before, i'm not very good at this. That's probably why I still depend a lot on bases and the faces that go with them. Despite all that, there were a couple of reasons why i still decided to join the skin off. One reason was because i wanted to get more practice making skins again. Since I'm very lazy when it comes to skinning, i thought this would be a good way to give me that extra push. The 2 weeks deadline was another part i liked. I've always wondered if i can come up with a decent skin within a short period of time. Lastly, the idea of being assigned a random character appealed to me since i sometimes have a hard time deciding which character to skin.

Ok. I really don't know how i ended up going on to round 2 but it seems like it did. Somehow. So to the judges, all i can say is that i can't promise an improvement overnight but i will certainly try, not to suck too much once again. I am considering trying a different approach but i'm not that confident i can pull it off. Round 2 will be an interesting challenge for me in a way since i haven't really attempted skinning a female character before.

I don't think any of us is expecting you to change over night but of me personally I'd like to see some manipulation of the base. Try to make if you own by changing the eyes or adding depth to it.

[Sayg]

I don't think any of us is expecting you to change over night but of me personally I'd like to see some manipulation of the base. Try to make if you own by changing the eyes or adding depth to it.

Thanks AA, your suggestion is very much appreciated.

[House Quake]

Just thought it important to make a quick notice concerning the skin off we started.  I'm pretty sure I can speak for the judges when I say we haven't forgotten or jst dumped the idea...... we simply postponed it for a while.   Our collective focus, along side another dozen or so skinners, meshers, skopers etc our sites up and running.  New Power INC is up... but far from being completed, while looooong anticipated Champions of Freedom inches ever closer to its debut.  and trust me... you won't be disappointed with all the goodies the guys are putting together.

The Skin Off will be back... 

[Podmark]

Honest - I totally forgot about it. I do look forward to it's return.

[murs47]

7 month bump!

[area34]

If there is going to another Skin-Off I'd been interested in taking part. I like the idea of doing a random skin that I have no attachment to the character. I think it would be good practice.