Milestone Skins

[laughing paradox]

Skinners, I was wondering if you guys have any milestone skins.. skins that, when completed, you knew were on a higher level than your previous work.

Maybe you overcame a particular problem you've faced with reflection, or seams, or hair, or highlights, or whatever.. but something just clicked after this skin, making you realize you actually can do better work.

Post that skin and let us know the story behind it.

For me, it was Mantis:



So, lay it on us, what was your milestone skin?

[murs47]

Off the top of my head, I think the skin I'm most proud of is Cyborg Superman.

[GogglesPizanno]

I was just using that cyborg superman skin last night and thinking how nice it was...

[Courtnall6]

I have a few milestone skins and 1000+ skins to comb through...so It'll be awhile until you see mine. :P

[AfghanAnt]

I honestly do not want to skin another skin because I don't know if it will be this good.

[murs47]

I honestly do not want to skin another skin because I don't know if it will be this good.

Don't play with everyone's emotions AA! :o

[Courtnall6]

Didn't take as long as I thought. :cool:

[spoiler][/spoiler]

-Alex Ross Captain Marvel: This was my first skin where I covered most of Gryphon's base with my own work (only the face is photoskinned). I was very happy with how it turned
out and knew I was getting somewhere at this skinning game.

-Ironman Silver Centurion: This was the first skin where I had very little to guide me in the way of a base or wireframes. All my own work.

-Siverage Superman: My 300th skin! This was all my work from scratch. Creating my own "base" for the first time.

-Cyclops: I can't be 100% positive but I think this is my very first skin done using my public released base.

-The Shadow: One of my first serious attempts at cloth. I started to understand how cloth would sit on a mesh after this one.

-Canadian Shield: My first skin using my 2nd base (the one I didn't release).

-Captain Marvel: I finally "got" how to do hair with this skin.

-Lobo: This skin represents me firing on all cylinders at the time...Facial expression...body hair...clothes...detailing...etc.

-Lex Luthor: Suits were always a pain until this bad boy!

-Ultimate Captain America WWII: Another skin firing on all cylinders...but at another level.

-Hydra Thug: My best cloth work to date.

-Superman Kingdom Come: My best face work to date.

[The Enigma]

I was expecting to see Vincent London in that list, C6. I remember it being about your best leather work of the era and a huge step towards the style you have now.

[laughing paradox]

Murs, that Cyborg Superman skin is sick. I'd be proud if I made that, too. :)

AA, that skin certainly has a lot of details placed on it, which add up to make it look good. Were there any other 'milestone' skins from your past work?

C6, it's funny, I completely understand your sentiment on your Shazam, about getting the hair right.. I'm still trying to get there! It's inspiring to see your older skins and how you've progressed.

[Courtnall6]

I have a few other milestone skins that didn't make the list due to being repetitive. Vigilante and Vincent London were on my list but I catagorized them under the Lobo milestone. Doc Ock on Beyonder's mesh should probably be a milestone too since he was skinned from scratch using no base whatsoever.

[style]

That Mantis skin is rich in color luv it!
Love the detail work in that Cyborg Superman skin
AA I'm am not a fan of MiracleMan but that skin will have me playing him in  :ff:
And C6, Look how Vincent London to this day still can hold a candle to two of your best skin work ever: Doc Ock and Vigilante! (I told you they are gonna love him!)

[Podmark]

I've been thinking about my skins and looking through them trying to decide what to put. I've done so many and in most cases improvement has very gradual for me so there is nothing that really stands out as a milestone.

There is one skin that does stand out though:

This skin is likely my best face work to date and symbolizes, even if it fails to realize, my desire to bring my skinning up to the next level. I was very happy with it.

Honorable mention goes to:

No face work here but I took a design that was very inconsistent, had limited reference-able pictures, and looked terrible in most of them anyway - and made something that looked very cool and full of small details. This skin took forever and the character probably wasn't worth it but I'm very happy how it worked out. There's actually an unreleased update somewhere with better hair, if I ever get around to releasing it I'll have to fix that face, it's kinda ugh.

Also a neat bonus:
[spoiler]Throughout my skinning career one skin has been representative of my development over time. The character is Earth Sentry from Marvel's MC2 line and I've updated him 3 times each time between a significant gap of time, and it's about due for another update.

Version 1:

One of my early skins, on a Gryphon base and really has little technique.

Version 2:

First update, now on a Courtnall base, actual use of techniques here. Notable in that this skin was done when I still kitbashed. The face is from some skin by Courtnall6, I don't recall which anymore.

Version 3

Newest version. Changed mesh, my own face (which is slightly altered from the generic one), and it's on my personal slightly modified base. There are some technifcal improvements but this skin might not represent them best. However this skin was far more accurate than the previous two as I'd seen far more reference for the character by this point.

Eventually I'll due a version 4 which will benefit from my best skinning friend - Nifskope. [/spoiler]

[the_ultimate_evil]

hmm have to think about this