Guys, I have been grounded and can't speak up right now so please everyone stop before I am forced to surrender my Master status.   

Who is jealous of what? Why would accomplished skinners, Masters at that, be jealous of a few Vista clones?

... isn't that many. Jealousy wasn't a catalyst.

I don't think great skins come out from the stuff done in SKS as much as the design done before-hand. You can't easily teach someone to get good at art.

Amen!!!!

That explains why I haven't installed SKS.I'd come in last in a Finger painting Olympics.I would need a lot more than software to give me any talent

Well, I was going to upload my Vista version skin today.
I wanted to do one and get it out of my system, but after reading all this, I'm afraid I might get yelled at if I do.......you know, it being unoriginal and all or just trying to get downloads.
What to do......what to do....

Get it out of ur system   

LOL...Good to know somebody took it for what it's worth. Tongue in cheek...

There wouldn't be near as much in the galleries, but what was there would be first class...lol.   

I've been so busy lately that in the past couple of weeks I have gone from rechecking the site every hour or so to only logging in a couple of times a week. So I'm a bit late to this thread, and I completely missed the catalyst for the events that prompted it.

Yet you'll have to forgive me because I still decided to leave a comment (and from all the thoughts running through my head it will probably be quite a long one).

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First let me say I still haven't been around here very long at all compared to alot of people. I never have been and don't think ever will be an artistic person. For these simple facts alone, not to mention what even I consider to be the lacking quality of my work, I was shocked when I was recently promoted to Apprentice.

To comment on the OP I would have to almost completely agree with vStyler.
I have changed jobs many times in my life and done many different things from simple labor to business management and many things in between. The reason I switch so often is because (and no this is not ego) I've excelled at every job I've done and then gotten bored with it and wanted to learn something new. Any work I've ever tried my hand at I always found it best to take a very short initial period of time to see how it is they did things at that job and then find my own way to not only do the job but do it in a better more efficient manner. I will always believe that the best way to learn anything is to teach yourself. That's not to say that you can't learn things from others that you may not think of but it goes back to the old "Teach a man to fish..etc. etc.". I feel that anything someone shows you you can catch onto eventually but even better anything you are forced to learn on your own will stick with you a lot sooner and for a longer period of time.

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As for masters and others around here helping newer skinners I would say I have always been really surprised at the ease with which it seems people will lend a hand. I have seen quite a few uploaded skins and forum posts with people thanking others for their help on the projects. I myself when first getting started with things asked a few small questions of people such as messiah1, WebGizmos, and I.R. Braniac and found them very willing to respond with helpful answers.

I myself found this place and thought "Hey here's something fun to kill some time while work is slow during the winter". So I did something I wouldn't normally do and jumped right into it and started uploading stuff that got good comments from others but that I knew wasn't the quality work it should be before getting uploaded. Once I started spending more time around the community and seeing how the people were and what kind of stuff was being done, I decided that it is something worth taking more seriously than that if for no other reason than to show respect to those who put so much time and effort into the works they hand over to us to use freely.

After realizing how much stuff I had missed doing correctly by just jumping into it that way I decided to slow down and look through things a bit more thoroughly. I have since released few works of my own because of the many things I had started I couldn't quite please myself with the way they look so far. I have one Xion skin I did a couple months ago that I'm sure wouldn't be a huge hit but that I really like the look it has myself but I have set it aside and left it untouched because I just couldn't come up with buttons for it yet that made me happy. Someday I'll go back to it. I have another that is a very simple concept that I made while not really working toward anything at all but that I think could be turned into something really cool looking. But since I know I can't yet do what I want with it it will also be left behind for now.

I switched to using the psd files that I.R has made freely available to the community on his last few projects. Some may look at that as looking for a way to easily up my download numbers. I look at it as not only does he come up with such great creative concepts that I would have to be crazy not to want to work with them. But also as a great way to take my time and see how things are supposed to be done.

I've done another Xion from one of NightTrains windowblinds and am about to start working on the Xion for the Boxxi suite from kittys graphics. Both of which are great and having them to work with will also help me to learn more. And not to lessen either of those projects because they are both great skins and I'm glad to have been able to work with them, but I don't think anything is as great a learning tool as being able to work with a live psd file and sort through the layers and see just how each step of something was put together to make a great final product.

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I still have more in my head but I think I've gone on long enough. I guess I could have just said "People here are helpful but hard work and figuring things out will always pay off more than someone handing you knowledge". But I didn't so.... sorry. lol

Thanks to those who have helped me out here. And thanks I.R. for the mention in your earlier comment.

Nice post zakai.. If I had a dollar for every .psd I handed out   

I'd be opor (I zubazed it)   

Normally I would just lurk and eat popcorn but this struck a nerve.

Butch, I have downloaded a few of your WB's and found that they were just too much like normal windows for me…install, delete.
Why bother buying WindowBlinds to end up with the same look as original.
Now on the other hand, I have 5 of I.R.'s WB's permanently loaded with back ups made after I added my finishing touches.

Thanks.



More than the sale of the blinds themselves?

10 fold... people must think we make some kinda decent living selling the occasional blind... It works out to be about 25c an hour.   My wife basically takes up my slack.. has done for years.. I'd like to think at some point I can make something more of it.. just hasn't happened yet... But i'm definately driven to.

I enjoyed reading your first post, John and your work shows how much effort you put in and the talent you have. That takes time and a huge amount of self motivation plus some sacrifices along the way. You deserve to get more out of it and I hope that one day you receieve suitable financial gain for everything you've put in. Mike too.   

Thx Leo, appreciate that.. and your past and continued support.

That's what counts.

Please....

and 'pleas'....

There's no 'a' in ' definitely' ....see? ....