Critique my skin

Hello, good evening! I've been working on a skin that I want to someday sell in SL and I think I've got it good enough where I'm ready to hear some feedback from the community here about how I could improve it, what people like about it and don't like, would anyone buy it etc. Right now it's just one medium caucasian tone with no makeup whatsoever. Figured I'd start from the plainest look possible and expand from there... Anyway it's completely hand drawn in photoshop, there are no blended photographic elements. Take a look and tell me what you think!

Notice to those at work, do not click these unless you have an open minded IT guy and boss.



I like the skin, but I'm not an expert by any means. It shows a lot of promise for a first attempt, IMO.

A

not bad at all, and hey, no bubble butt or silicone enhanced chest shading... that's an instant points bonus in my book.

might need a little work under the rear, and maybe separate the collar bone shading a bit, and a personal prefrerence for eyebrows that start a little closer to center. I like the details on the feet

well the first thing you should really think of are Nails ! Alot of Skin Designer do not think about this part and you will have black points on that spot or no toes/fingers ?

For your first try not that bad, but I like and many others do too photo skins, but thats just my opinion. and I would prefer some Hightlights on yours. not that much but a bit hehe. The body doesnt really matter even if alot of ppl wanna tell you so. There are a bunch of skin designers outside without payin attention that you shouldnt do, but you shouldnt start a hard shading like others do. Make ups are very important on Female Skins and to get those right you might step back and use photo images and draw your make ups on it. Have a look on my skins, not that perfect tho but still learning the New Year Make Up is extreme highlighted. some ppl like it some dont, i think for new year not bad to have a gold shine on it

Nice work ;D Face wouldn't personally suit me, but I'm sure that'll shape up as you start working on makeups

Let me know when you sell it, I like it. It's exactly what I've been looking for.

Nice skin! Some observations on the pictures:

-- The collarbones look low to me. Aren't they closer to the neck on most people? Or is that a mesh issue that I just never noticed before? D'oh!
-- It looks like there are gray creases on the inside of the elbows all the time - or perhaps that's just in these pics.
-- Need much more detail on the hands and feet, but I assume you'll get to those.
-- The skin color looks fairly yellow in these pictures - how does it look under Windlight? Last time I checked, there was a lot of orange in the air with Windlight.

Shape of facial features makes a big difference in how a skin looks. This avie looks to me like her face is a little flat, I cannot tell if that is the shape or the shading. You might wish to test with a variety of facial shapes, if you're not already.

For example, my normal shape has delicate features but a wide mouth and big eyes that are slightly widely spaced. CS skins do not look well, tho they are fabulous skins. ND, Tuli, and some other makers look just great. In general, dark lipsticks don't work tremendously well (this is true for the RL face hers is modeled on lol - I was amused to see that I had recreated that problem for her).

Great job so far, Opiate! Nice soft pretty features.

A couple points I would fix, the collarbones look too low, as some others have pointed out. Also, I could be wrong from just looking at the pic, but I think that the crease on the bottom of the buttcheeks is a little too high. Its conflicting with the mesh shadowing below it, and depending on the shape of the wearer, this could become even more pronounced. I would move it lower to match the mesh shape. I dont know know if you've done this already, but I would strongly recommend getting as wide a variety of shapes as possible and testing the skin on all of them as you work. I've learned from hard experience that things that look perfect on one shape can distort awfully on the next shape.

The face looks pretty so far, but the eyes look like they could use a little more shading and definition around the lids and the browbone to bring them out more. And there are some markings on the shoulders that look like bruises.

Also, the overall skintone seems a little bit too uniform in color. it could use some subtle variations, with warmer and cooler areas that hint at the thickness of the skin and veins under the surface. You can fake it fairly easily by making a new layer set to Color mode with the opacity way down to like 5 or 10% and just paint in some soft blues and yellows and magentas in different areas. Its a very subtle and barely noticeable effect, but it really makes a big difference in the final skin.

Wow, what great feedback! Thanks so much everyone! I'm really excited to make all the changes suggested now... sucks that I'm all tied up with work until I go home for Christmas and then I'm away from my PC for a week! : (

Oh well, anyway, I moved the collarbone up and moved the crease in the buttocks down as you all so rightly suggested. I think both changes go a long way in making the skin look more anatomically correct.

Soon I'll put the rest of your suggestions to good use, I'll be getting back on the project after new years but for now I uploaded new pics with the fixed collar bone and butt...

Thanks again! Promise to check back after the new year!

LOoks good areas to look at lkisted below:

Collar bones are low
scapula are not defines enough on the lower area
time to make a dif eywbrow set so its not to large at the center
other than that super work kepp foing

just two other suggestions, a little lighter touch on the the joint shading, and watch the stretch on the freckles (noticed it in the shoulder on the last set)...

oh you might want to test it on some different shapes too... that particular one is a bit bulky especially in the shoulders, and may change some of the shading for other common shapes

not bad at all

here are the first 2 skins I have made

I still need to work on the body details, I find those the hardest

I liked the face..classic ... Of course I like a more natural look, but thats me.. Not sure about the crotch area though (first versions).. seems.. um.. big

Hi again!

UPDATE - Applied all suggestions thus far and got a good first draft of the face sans makeup. So FIRE AWAY, but try and hold off on makeup related suggestions for now since I'm just looking to fine tune the plain look at this stage.