im the best cause im new and my uploads are sure to be rejected hee hee.........ummm hope they dont though

I've seen alot of good Blinds made with PSP7

I have neither PSP or Photoshop

Virtually all my skins are 95% MS Paint and 5% PhotoImpact.

That's why I use so many flat images and rarely any glass or metal effects. I also haven't a clue how to use .tga's.

I firmly believe that good skinners would still be good skinners with or without the fancy tools. Their skins would still be good, just not as "shiny" or technically advanced.

hey davad70, you can do "shiny" skins with glass and stuff MS Paint. It will take forEVER but you can do it.

I am not sure about tga myself. I know ObjectBar seems to not like to import them.

Anyway I like:
essorant

He makes very nice skins and wallpapers. Very smooth and cool.

Others on my list are
JamesT
davad70
Chad Ross
Aleksyandr
Carlitus
Lecrayon
mindlessCRUSH
starone
Angelic Jean
MikeB314
LadyWolf
APB
andi18

I am sure I am forgeting some people... I have to look in my database of skins on my disk.

I still have to agree with koasati and DavidK.....

"I see what I like, I download it" is my quote for the evening...

yup

I think there is one guy (or girl; I can't tell) who made one skin years ago and it is great. (s)he is on my list too.


I guess when it comes down to it, it is people ho work hard to make something and just give it away are my favourites.

people who work hard to make something and just give it away...

Brings up an issue of the rating game.
Why rate a skin? The rating system is flawed and full of prejudicial ratings and should be done away with.
Everyone knows that the internet is not an accurate assessment of a persons true feelings and when a person rates a skin it is first rated by author and then by author and not by, is this skin really a good skin?

I say if gold stars have to be given out change the 10 rating system to a more accurate one such as downloads. Yes ppl do download and dump but they do first look at the screenshot and decide to download or not.
WIth the rating button they can choose not to download and rate low or vice versa without ever opening up the skin for closer detailed looksie.

My 2 cents one more time on ratings ;\

I found 2 more cents

The possibility of a person rating a skin low and downloading it is rare. Also, who downloads, installs and then rates a skin? The monitors don't even do that. The rating is done before installation and is made by looking at a screenshot.

Can this be an accurate rating with such complex skins.

Why spend weeks on a skin when all you need to do is spend a few hours making a nice screenshot.

Delicious, I rarely rate, but when I do, it definatly after installation.

As for the main question, there is no best author. There is only one skinning God and his name is Treetog.

Hey now, be careful paxx, you're still under the service of all the other admins

paxx you are but one person but we all know that screenshots are what determines a skins rating for one simple reason, ppl are generally lazy and don't care to take the time to install and revist the page for a rating.

Treetog is an exceptional artist but overrated by his groopies.

Some aspects of his drooled over skins are not readable. Black background with dark gray text? Is that a feature that should be oogled over?

No offense treetog you are still an outstanding artist.

Each to his/her own art

"Perfection is our goal. Excellence will be tolerated."

I download a blind before I rate it. But I don't rate that many blinds.

Rating by downloads is irrelevant and superfluous.
The DL number IS a rating....a popularity rating.
Many times, however, popularity and genuine, tangible quality are not always the same.

'Bob the Builder' or 'The Chipmonks' are/were both popular 'music'...but hardly 'quality'.

Many pop singers are only as good as their spin-doctors and last silicone implant....certainly nothing to do with 'quality'.

But...we won't be delving into another ratings debate, now will we....?....

nope!

Lets hope not Jafo.

/me chokes on her bread when a sudden image comes to mind...

I'm such a.. brown noser, was it?

/me thinks Elfkura is funny.

My bestfriend calls it being amusing

Regarding photoshop or lack thereof, one of my favorite wb skinners, Shawn Murdock, only worked in PaintShop Pro and created some of the most tasteful,elegant skins. Alas, he seems to have dropped out of the skinning community. His Sigma series alone are some of the greatest WB skins ever created, IMHO.

Husipoo ... who is your favourtie ???

The last rating debate was productive seeing less 10 ratings now.

re 'it's not the tools, it's the artist' thing...

Norm Abrams can make some really incredible pieces of furniture, but he has every single high tech gadget in the universe given to him free by his sponsors. His stuff is all technically perfect, but lack some certain something. They look machine made, there's no heart and sould in them, and it shows. The guy from the *real* Yankee Workshop uses nothing but old fashioned hand tools and makes really incredible pieces of furniture, which, while maybe not technically perfect, look better because of the 'heart and soul' put into his work. I'd rather have most of his stuff than Norms (no offense Norm..you're still the king

This may not make any sense, but there it is

/me slinks off looking for coffee