Me, myself, I aka My First Skin

[Trelau]

So this last three days, i decided to make myself an FR avatar; and as my cleverly titled thread states, it was my first attempt at skinning so i'd like some comments/feedback.
I'm guessing my giganormous black seams will be commented so yes, i am aware they are giganormous and black and that they could be more discret but i actually like them that way.
The mesh is Vertex's excellent "vxUltra_Boy-classic" and i'm using the no less excellent C6's Male_Basic base skin.

So here we go, the evolution of the past three days, both front and back one day after the other (warning: large picture ahead)

http://img403.imageshack.us/f/trelauevolution.jpg/

So we have the first concept, with bad colour choice, incoherent lights on the seams. Then the recoloured version, with lighting of the seams redone to be all on the same side. The finally my first attempt at doing highlights (still approximative but better than none i suppose).

In a smaller version, and with his alternate colour costume

http://img191.imageshack.us/f/trelaufinalealternate.jpg/

Now, have at it!

[daglob]

Looks better than my first skin.

I like the blue version next to the "alternate" version

[martialstorm]

I'll second the vote for the blue skine. Well done T!

[blobula]

Very good.

[Tomato]

Mk, so... I'm going to warn you now, this post is going to be relatively long and harsh. This is in no way meant to be personal or to criticize your skin work (on the contrary, I like how it came out overall) but I figured I'd give you as many pointers as I can for now.

Firstly, I wanted to say that I'm impressed that you even attempted highlights your first time through... highlighting properly adds a lot to a skin, and it's a crucial skill when skinning extras. That said, you're overdoing it more than a little bit. To me, it looks like you're using a brush to go over the entire muscle, then blurring it. I used to do it that way too, but it leaves the skin looking too contrasted, and often doesn't give you the control you need... my advice is, instead of adding highlight to the whole area, you instead put a smaller stroke down in the area you want the strongest highlight to be at... usually the top middle, but some muscles are better either at the middle or bottom. Then using a smudge brush or something, you smudge the highlight out until it blends properly with the muscles already in place.

As far as the seams... like you said, I feel like they're a smidge overdone, but honestly if you like it that way I say go for it. My suggestion though, is to try adding some depth to it... if you have the seams on a different layer, it should be a simple matter of pulling out a lighten/darken brush and adding some depth... you don't want to go TOO detailed, but adding details like a bit of shadow under the belt or a highlight at the height of the chest would make it seem more like a part of the design and less like thick lines.

Now, the weakest spot on the skin right now is, unfortunately, the detail of most prominence... the Logo. Logos are the first thing people see on most skins, and consequently it's an area you want to give greater attention to. With your av though, it looks like he got pain thrown on his shirt or something. My guess is you did the area with your paintbrush, then beveled it... that technique doesn't work all too often, ESPECIALLY on logos as big as your av has. I have my own technique for it, but for now my advice is to do it manually... C6 did a tutorial on doing it with lines that you might want to give a read. Now, that tutorial gives some pointers for highlighting and shading the logo... but for a logo like that, I'd typically just go ahead and use my base skin.

Other then that though, the only other stuff is pretty standard... the lack of man-parts, the C6-it-really-goes-with-anything face, that sort of thing.

Now, before you freak out and start changing things... stop. My best advice to you, ESPECIALLY with an avatar skin like this... move on. That skin is done, take what I've suggested and use it when doing any further skins. A half a dozen more skins down the line, when you've gotten better at it, then you can revisit this skin and whatever other skins you feel need it. I more or less use my avatar as a gauge... I look at what I can do now, then compare it to what I did last time. If I can't do a helluva better job the next time... I need to look at what I'm doing wrong.

[murs47]

That's very impressive for a first skin. Keep it up!

[Trelau]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone, and special thanks to tomato for taking time to do an almost point by point analysis
I'm definitely going to read some tutos now, especially the logo one since i agree it's the weakest part of the skin (i wasn't too happy with it, but wasn't sure how to do it any other way).  I think i know what you mean with adding depth to the seams, i'll keep that in mind next time i want to use some, but that won't be the case right now: i started working on something different, a poison vilain wearing armor, so that i can try doing metal parts, playing with refl and glow maps and maybe try doing my own face work for him (to avoid the generic-face look)
Then i'll probably try using texture (rock/stone for another villain) an then we'll see what else i want to do. Any other "major" thing i have'nt though of trying to do? (apart from doing my own base, not sure i'll ever get there)
So thanks again for all the advice, but for now, i'll go back to being sick during the holidays  

[Tomato]

Don't give up on trying to do a base... You aren't there just yet, but I've allways contended that once you've got a handle on extras and things it's well worth the attempt, even/especially if you fail. A base skin is nothing more than a huge extra... compared to skinning the entire MB, stupid stuff like shields abd shoulderpads don't seem as tough.

[Sioux City Dynamo]

Hi Trelau,

Nice job on your first skin.  Keep up the good work!  My vote is for the blue one and I can not wait to see what else you will skin.

Respectfully,

[UnkoMan]

That ain't C6's tutorial! That's mine. Anyhow, Tomato, you covered a whole bunch of stuff. That's good. This is a pretty darn impressive first skin, despite those things.

And Trelau, your plans for trying out new things are great. Metal! Oh gosh, I always fudge up non-silver, non-brushed metal. I can't make that stuff look quite right. For silver/brushed though, there are tons of photoshop tutorials that talk you through it. My advise is use the refl file to your advantage. You'll want it subtler than you've done on this first skin. And make sure to use lots of contrast in that refl. Oh, it is very fun once you start playing with it. I'm pretty sure I've seen an Iron Man skinned almost entirely through the refl before, but I could be making that up.

Texture is a good thing to get down too. And cloth. Make sure you can do believable cloth folds. Your hair already looks pretty decent. Faces, definately. After that you're golden.

[Cyber Burn]

Great first skin. I don't think that I could say anything that hasn't already been said better. I look forward to seeing more.

[martialstorm]

Great feedback by Tomato (I learnt some things from that post as well). Keep up the good work T and hope you're feeling better for the rest of your holidays.

[BentonGrey]

I'm sorry I can't supply the kind of quality, in-depth feedback that the guys with actual skills and talent have, but I do want to say that this is a fantastic first effort Trelau.  I'm looking forward to seeing more from you!