As all you hardcore skinners know, I'm just a newcomer hack that pastes downloaded images and uses pattern fills. I got lucky that Helltank came out so good. True artists use original graphics and patterns, and deserve the utmost respect and recognition for their hard work and skill. Someday I aspire to take the time and make a legit skin.

Last edited: Sunday, February 05, 2006 at 10:52:23 AM

Keep in mind that copying and pasting doesn't mean that you have a bad skin, it jus means you didn't work as hard on it. I like to stay away from C&P, but my new night knight came out great. The best skins are normally a combo of both patterns and special editing.

I have to disagree with fishtank to a point. Sometimes I'll use a texture on a skin, say rust or metal. By his definition, I need to create a rust effect from scratch in order to be considered a "true artist", but what if I took a original photo of some rust I found outside and applied the texture to my skin? Kinda the same thing as finding a rust texture on the web and using it in the same way. I don't think there's anything wrong with using textures since their application still requires a level of skill to use effectively. I think the same can be said for graphics and patterns. Someone once made a "John Deere" skin and used the appropriate logos they found on the Internet. The skin was great and very artistic, but didn't include a lot of original artwork.

But I can appreciate his point as well, Dr. Sawbones creates some really wonderful skins from scratch and they are awesome. I'd definitely put her in the "true artist" category.

Are there any rules against using commercial logos? (ex. John Deere) I'm too lazy to look for a thread about this subject.

Fixing logos... I have tons of banner/logos for UT(Texas)

Personally, I like to create everything myself. Granted, quite often the first thing I do is go find a good tutorial on the web to follow, but I learn a lot of neat things by doing it myself. But in turn it takes me MUCH longer to create skins than it does many others.

Is it still "Art" if I'm following someone else's instructions?

IMO, Art is in the assembly, not necessarily in the mechanics. But, also IMO, a good artist who creates it all from scratch can create a more beautiful skin than a C&P, merely because his/her effects are specifically tailored to the desired result.

Well if its for a certain thing then C&P is needed and makes it great. What you do with the C&P matters. Like my tx skin isn't just there longhorn but it has bevel and emboss (wonderful wonderful thing)

@Rabban,
Hey Heavy, thanks for the nod. You know I respect your work as well. I can tell when someone has put some intense thought and planning into a design. And you're one of them!

Concerning the topic here...I'm lucky to be older in a digital world. I learned what conte, charcol, acrylic, oil, gold leaf, sandblasting, etching, pattern making, and so on...first hand - by hand - plastic paints aren't any fun, they'll kill you. So, I can appreciate the chemically free environment that the computer lends.

When time is money, you'd better be able to come up with the graphics to back yourself, and fast. There's nothing wrong with begging or barrowing color schemes or textures during your development phase [there is something wrong with stealing a thought or idea, but it's done all the time]. Alot of times, I don't have the time I'd like to dedicate to complete a tank. I'll have to sigh and place a symbol or a thought in place of what I'd really like to do or see in places....but back to topic, there's one thing that's missing from alot of the skins and noob skinners I see here...

..it's not lack of tools, textures, patterns, filters, knowledge of apps...but rather, if I may, a lack of "glue". I'm talking concept here. You can have the shakiest hands in the world, but if you have a concept you got glue, if you don't - you got, well, mush.... Keep that concept on your forehead so you don't forget your direction, come back to it when you're lost or frustrated, hold true to your concept and it will someday blossem - might not be one session, or two, sometimes you have to close it and just leave it and then come back to it. If you just keep plastering on filters on top of tiles on top of textures...well, it's like playing in a sandbox...and most times you end up in the liter box.

Done preaching...lol, There's getting to be some fun stuff out there...keep up the good work, you know who you are!
DrSawbones™(UF)

After reading this post 5 times, I think I finally was able to understand most of it. I know there's tons of wisdom here, but my blue-collar brain has difficulty processing complex thoughts. One thing I did get was this: Close and come back. I don't think I ever did that. Once started, I couldn't stop. Corners were cut, shortcuts taken, resulting in something that didn't meet it's full potential. Ya gotta close and come back.
When I made this post, I was still pretty ignorant when it came to "artistic" skins (still am). I now realize that C&P is a very important part of making great skins. I like what wOOt said about just doing what looks cool.
Should I be sad that "fishskins" hasn't been graced with a comment by the Queen of Skins and her Princess? (I mean no disrespect, I just thought that was kinda funny) Am I not worthy? I'm probably just over-sensitive.

Well let me say this !
Up until about a 2 months ago,
I myself had no clue what it really took to make a skin.
I have been tring to teach myself Photoshop CS2.
Special thanks to DrSawBones & Dazzle,
for being very understanding and taking the time to teach me how to use it & a few tricks.

Let me tell you all this,
I have Greater Respect for all you skinners out there !
From the Elites Skinners like DrSwaBones & Rabban,
all they way down to the Newcomers,
Like myself.

Yes I am learning to skin but not for tanks !
I want to get into making Joingame skins.
Background,loadplayer,tankselection & joingame skins.

Any person who attempts to skin deservers respect.
Reason being, it has taken me about 100 hours if not more in the last 2 months and I have only completd 4 skins.

The problem is I lost my sight of direction, instead of sticking to one idea for a group of skins,
it has now split into 2 directions and with in the last 26 hours it has now gone into 3 directions.
^{LONEWOLF pulls his hair out, hoping it doesn't change direction again !} :P
Which by the way I will post for all when 1 of the Sets is completed.

Either way the point is, it takes a idea to get started,
then it takes the time to learn it.
That learning time is fast for some & yet very slow for others.
Either way I don't think people see the real time put into making a skin.
It may look like the skin took only 5 or 10 mintues but what about all that time they spent trying to learn the program in order to get that idea on the skin.

This alone is why any attempt at skinning deserves Respect !

Done ranting now B)

Last edited: Monday, February 13, 2006 at 1:29:26 PM

Yes, when doing a group of skins it's very difficult to stay on target. Heck, sometimes it's difficult enough just staying on target for a single skin! ;) My "Goth Skin" got sidetracked into what became the "Black Chrome" skin. Looks cool, but not remotely what I was after when I started.

I'm currently working on another complete skin set (I swear I'm going to be the king of skin sets by the time this is all over with) - and it's already changed directions once, leaving me with a set of terrain skins I couldn't use and had to replace. (Just a progress report: nearly complete with all Lush skins, only the sky left to do. Then Spooky and Frantic need to be done, and then tanks themselves.)

I agree with Dr Saw - get your concept firm in your mind before you begin. Write it down if you need to. I've tried this once, but write down what you want each part of the skin to be: for a tank: Left Side, Right Side, Top, Bottom, Turret Mount, Turret, Gun Barrels, Treads, Wheels, Brain, etc. Plan your concept all out before ever opening your art program.

Or, just wing the whole thing. %) Don't listen to me! See if I care! *sniff*

Yeah...

I like to wing it. :)