Outcast skin practice

[Outcast]

My first two attempts can be found
here....

Well. Here's my third attempt at skinning and another bad choice in character i suppose.

Still figuring out how i can improve on it though.

Spoiler

Clint Barton has always been my favorite character, and i wanted to play him in his current costume.

[detourne_me]

I think he looks excellent!

[The Hitman]

That is PHENOMINAL!! Actually makes me like the character.

[Podmark]

Yeah that's pretty good looking.

[Gremlin]

WOW! That's awesome, Outcast! The detail on the trim is fantastic!

EDIT: Since you said you were looking for suggestions on how to improve, I figured I'd give some feedback, although I had to look really hard to find anything to criticize, so props for that. The only thing I could think of was the mask looks like a solid black face with a domino mask stuck on--maybe go for something that looks more seamless. Maybe some additional highlights on the shape of the face, or tone down the highlights around the eyes.

[billdamn22]

Man, I was planning on doing Ronin. I guess I don't have to anymore. Great work!

[ghazkul]

So loving it, not enouph Ronin love out there and that is a great skin for him.

[Cyber Burn]

   I gotta admit, this is an awesome skin. Great texturing on the skirt.

WOW! That's awesome, Outcast! The detail on the trim is fantastic!

EDIT: Since you said you were looking for suggestions on how to improve, I figured I'd give some feedback, although I had to look really hard to find anything to criticize, so props for that. The only thing I could think of was the mask looks like a solid black face with a domino mask stuck on--maybe go for something that looks more seamless. Maybe some additional highlights on the shape of the face, or tone down the highlights around the eyes.

   And I'll have to agree that the mask does seem to be a bit on the bright side, but otherwise, just a really clean, crisp skin.

[tommyboy]

It's a great skin of a "character" I sorta hate.
Good stuff.

[Outcast]

I think he looks excellent!

That is PHENOMINAL!! Actually makes me like the character.

Yeah that's pretty good looking.

So loving it, not enouph Ronin love out there and that is a great skin for him.

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm really glad some of you like it.

WOW! That's awesome, Outcast! The detail on the trim is fantastic!

EDIT: Since you said you were looking for suggestions on how to improve, I figured I'd give some feedback, although I had to look really hard to find anything to criticize, so props for that. The only thing I could think of was the mask looks like a solid black face with a domino mask stuck on--maybe go for something that looks more seamless. Maybe some additional highlights on the shape of the face, or tone down the highlights around the eyes.

   I gotta admit, this is an awesome skin. Great texturing on the skirt.
   And I'll have to agree that the mask does seem to be a bit on the bright side, but otherwise, just a really clean, crisp skin.

I really appreciate the advise and suggestions guys. Much obliged. I'll see what i can do when i get home.

It's a great skin of a "character" I sorta hate.
Good stuff.

Thanks for the compliment Tommy. Yeah, i know there are a lot of people who hate the "character" not to mention the "costume" as well. Sorry, couldn't help trying to skin him.

Man, I was planning on doing Ronin. I guess I don't have to anymore. Great work!

Sorry man didn't know, but you can still skin him if you want. There's no doubt in my mind you would have done a much better looking skin. Thanks for the compliment too.

[/quote]

[murs47]

Dude, that's only your 3rd skin? That's darn impressive.

When will we be seeing more from you?

[Outcast]

  Thanks for the kind words Master Murs.

Distractions and maybe a little bit of laziness in between have kept me from skinning again but i'm trying set some time for it now.

There are a few characters i would like to skin like a guy gardner/deadpool murs sort of avatar, just kidding. Once i get the skopes to work right. I hope to have something new.

[Dr. Kraken]

Dude....not only does your avatar rock more socks than a busted sole on a dirt road, but your skin kicks major! Nice jub, keep up the goodness.

[Outcast]

Hehe.  Well, I'm glad you like the pics that much. Thanks for the compliments.

[murs47]

Dude....not only does your avatar rock more socks than a busted sole on a dirt road...

That was great

[ghazkul]

Any sign of a release yet Outcast? I'm on short of my New Avengers team.

[Outcast]

Yes, I haven't forgotten about this Ghazkul. Thanks for the interest.
I am still in the process of updating him a tid bit. Health problems been kinda slowing/keeping me down lately but i've been working on and off, so there is at least some progress. All i need is just a few more days. I hope. I get tired just thinking about some of the backtracking i need to do on my messy psd files but i'll try and pick up the pace. 

[Outcast]

Ok. Only made a few changes. Need to get some second opinions/suggestions on what parts i need to try and fix...

Spoiler

[AfghanAnt]

Stunning work on the costume.

[Outcast]

Thanks for the comment AA. 

I still want to try improving it some more but i don't know if i can.

Anyways, for those interested. Release is sometime this weekend.

Suggestions are still welcome of course.

[Tomato]

I have a few minor suggestions, nothing really serious though... I won't say it's the most perfect job you could ever do, but short of making an entirely new base or something you've come about as far as you can go with it. Looking at your previous skins, you've made leaps and bounds here... Even as is, this is a very solid skin, one that wouldn't feel out of place next to some of my own skins or the few skins I have from other members here.

For this particular Ronin skin

-skope/hex the swords a bit further back from his torso... I notice they're clipping an awful lot where they are.

For Future reference (unless you absolutely want to pull it back out and apply them)

-watch your transitions from highlights to shadows, especially on the lines... I notice on the collar especially there's a particularly sharp break where you ended a highlight and began a shadow. There are a few things you could do to alleviate a break like that, but here are the two I prefer.

    1. The better method, at least for the spot I pointed out, would be to move the lower end of the shadow line (assuming it's a vector line) over to the right a pixel or so (just so it isn't directly touching the highlight line) and then extend the highlight upwards on another layer. Then you can use a soft eraser tool to fade the highlight line out as it extends upward. you could also accomplish the same sort of thing by making the vector line a gradient and adjusting opacity, making a selection with a high feather and hitting CTRL+X, masking it out, or smudging it. Whatever way works best.
    2. The second method works better for areas like symbols, usually ones with rounded or circular edges. If I'm making say... a typical Flash logo, and I'm putting my highlights on top and shadows on bottom, instead of doing one set of highlight vectors and one set of shadow vectors, I'll only make two... one for the circle and one for the lightning bolt. I'll make those vectors either the color of my highlight or my shadow color (doesn't really matter) and then take a small color change brush (Paint Shop Pro has one that will change it to the hue, saturation, or brightness of the color you're using, without altering opacity) with a slightly soft edge and transition the shadows manually.

-On the off chance you do Ronin again, or any other character with a similar mask... you're probably better off starting with a different base mesh... the face mask has so much warping on it you can't really put any decent detail into it. I have a Male_DPmask styled after Male_Basic up on Newpowerinc, and I know if Vertex ever finishes his V3 mesh it'll have a "DPmask" alternate as well.

[laughing paradox]

Outcast, wow! This is such a great skin.. I can't wait to d/l it.

[murs47]

Outcast...I feel like you've been holding out on all of us this whole time. When did you become this awesome!

[AfghanAnt]

I don't see a problem with his use of lining on the collar so much as different style. I think at the level he is skinning at he's well on his way to not only being what people around these parts call a "good skinner" but developing a style of his own. His use of the base skin as a base rather than a recolor and cut illustrates that much to me.

I do disagree with the mask - it along with the shoulder guards, and details on the swords are the reason I used the word stunning.


Besides once he's branched out some more he'll develop and learn naturally what he likes and dislikes.

[Outcast]

Wow. 

First, Thanks for the advices Tomato. Yeah the swords do clip a lot, i didn't thought of moving it back using Nifskope. Geat suggestion. As for the collar, yeah it was hard making it look 3D. Really really appreciate those tips on highlights and shadows. I'll try and see if i can apply them next time. After this though, it would be a nice to skin something a little bit easy but i think there is no easy skin for me at least. Hehe.

Thanks LP. Still working on a few small things. Last minute changes.Still experimenting i guess..haha..still got some time left before the weekend ends. Woohoo! 

Murs...well all i did was follow your skin tutorial.. ...no seriously i still have a lot to learn. Skinning this guy was a lot of work. I made a lot of mistakes but i kept on trying. It might look good from afar but upclose it's still needs more work.

AA...thanks for the comments/compliments again. I'm glad you like the mask, shoulder guards and swords. It's nice to know what areas i need to put more work on. Yeah most of the time, i don't really know what i'm doing. And sometimes i think i'm doing it the long hard way. 

You guys make it all look easy with the skins you do so fast, i just don't know how you guys do it. Thanks again, appreciate all the comments, especially from great skinners such as yourselves.

[electro]

Ronin turned out Great

[detourne_me]

yeah! he's a masterpiece. well done Outcast.

[Outcast]

Thanks for the comments. Glad you guys approve.

Would have been nice if i knew how to give him additional weapons too but i think that would have been more work too....

[area34]

Yeah it would be nice if someone with the skills to skope and do keyframes cough*Detourne_me*cough could add a bow and arrow.

[detourne_me]

You mean like this?

Spoiler

Outcast, I'll send this to you if you want to update the skin for him!