On Craftland, I have seen many Premium3+ donators who does not have a HD skin. Whatever the reason, whether they dont know how to make one, or cant find one they like, I will be creating a tutorial on how to create HD skins.
First things first, Here are a few applications I recommend for creating the skin:
- Photoshop CS6
- Image viewer of some kind
I am a graphic designer for a few minecraft server hosting companies, and I have to say first hand, If you get the correct size and formatting of skin making, it really isen't that difficult. Anyone can make their own skin! If for any reason, you want me to make you a skin, msg in in game and ill see what I can do.
If you want an example of my work, Below is an image of my skin attached. (Yes, I know its quite creepy
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Without further or do, Lets start the tutorial on the skin making!
First thing to do, is get a template for the skin. This tutorial targets skin size 1024x512 only. But all skins work the same way, you will just need to the custom size your looking for.
Open this link, right click the image and download it directly without changing its size : http://i.imgur.com/eHb0rBr.png
Once your done that, Right click the image, and select open with photoshop:
Once photostop loads, on the right bottom side, you should see a little tab that says "layers". Right click layer 0, select convert to smart object, then right click it again, and rasterize layer.
Now that your here, you have 2 choices. Either to shade it yourself, or overlay it with a texture.
I will start with shading it yourself. If you want to texturize it, scroll down. Now to shade the skin yourself, you need to first select the "quick selection tool".
Then find the piece on the skin that you want to shade. And use the tool to select the entire area. Make sure you dont select anything else extra or things can go bad. The little lines around the area means that the area is selected. Make sure you select the text within the area as well.
Once your done that, at the bottom left, select 2 colors that you would like to fill it with.
In my case, I have chosen blue and orange, but you can choose any colour you wish. Then you need to select the gradient tool.
Then at the top of the screen, select the way you want to shade. Select the 2 colors that you selected before.
Now remember, the reason we selected only that area is because the shading is only going to effect the area within. once you selected your colour, drag your mouse from the top point to the bottom point in the selected area and the area should be shaded in. If it says the layer is not directly editible, right click layer 0 and rasterize it again. But if you did follow the instructions clearly, it should look something like this.
The final step is to select the quick selection tool again and right click the selected area. and select deselect. If you did it right, the little lines should disappear.
Once complete, do the same for every single side of the skin to your wish. You can use different color or the same. Once your done, It should look something like this. But remember, I chose to use all the same color. If you used different colours it will look alot different.
if you dont want the hat, make sure you select layer 0, select the eraser and erase it.
Now to save the skin as .PNG and not as a .PSD, click "file", "save as". Name it, select a directory, and select "png" for format.
And your done! now how simple was that? With this teqnique, you can finish the skin in less then 15 minutes!
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And now to creating textured skins! Using textures for your skin is a little bit more difficult, but the idea is the same, it just takes more time.
If you do not know how to get the template ready to use, read the first tutorial first untill you bump into the area where it says "you have 2 choices from here". Once you have opened the template and converted it to a smart object and rasterize it, go to google images and search for any texture you want. In my case, I'll search for lava texture.
Once you found the picture you want to use, right click it, and download it or save it.
Then in photoshop, drag the image into your template layer and resize it so it fits one part of your skin. You may need to use the magnifying glass tool to get the image fit precisely. Once you resized it into one part, place the image down and it should look like something like this:
Now either use the same texture or other textures, resize and fill in every single part of the skin. After your completely done, it should look something like this:
And again, if you dont want the hat, make sure you select layer 0, select the eraser and erase it.
And now, ill teach you how to add facial features. ill teach you how to add eyes, and you can figure out the rest. Go to google images, search clipart eyes with clear backround. Find one, and make sure the backround of the picture is checkerboarded. meaning that its a clear backround.
Then scroll up to the top on layers, select the layer at the very top, drag the picture to the skin, and find the area where you want to place the eyes. (resize it as well). you may also need to zoom in on this one.
Now to do other facial features, its exactly the same but different textures. To save the skin in a .PNG, scroll up and find that in the first tutorial.
Anyways, thanks for being patient and reading this tutorial. If you think I did anything wrong, or some things may be simplifed in less words, leave a reply below. If you made a HD skin and you would like to share it, feel free to share it in this thread. If you want a video tutorial, again, leave a reply telling me and I will make one. Good luck on making your HD skin and I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!
~ Frozen
