Heroes of the skinning
Sunday, August 19, 2001 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Many of you reading this have been around since the beginning.
Which skinners, past or present, would you say were instrumental to making skinning evolve from being a technogeek hobby into something that is done by millions of people?
I'm going to name a few people from the really old days that I think were absolutely crucial. This is by no means a complete list, please add your own.
DAK. (Dimitry). He made the WBMania series of skins and they were amongst the first skins to really show why you might want to use a GUI changer.
Luche. He made the "Simple" series of skins. His "Simple" skin was the first UIS2 skin that I saw that made me go, "Wow, this is why we're spending all this time making this software!" (simple v.02 is here).
Decoder. He was the FIRST real skin author for WindowBlinds. He somehow managed to get the primitive original UIS1 language to do neat stuff. We don't even support UIS1 anymore. I really miss Decoder. I haven't seen him around in a long time and he really had a good eye for things.
John Folden. He was the OS master. And the thing I think that helped WindowBlinds beat out say Chroma and eFX is that WindowBlinds could do OS skins better and that's what many of the early adopters used it for (to make Windows look like a Mac or OS/2 or NeXT). John Folden, who went on to help launch NeXTStart, created much of the early OS ports.
Ed Deans. Ed Deans and I have known each other since 1995. He was the Stardock icon guy. He has done every major Stardock product's icon since 1996. Starting on OS/2 and continuing forward on Windows. He's an OS guru. He's made some of the best and most popular WindowBlinds skins (Liquid), some of the best icon collections, and has done Kaleidoscope themes. Lots of people talk about the "skin community", Ed Deans is arguably one of the founders of it.
Allen Bond. He created skins that were useful and just incredibly unique. Ampulla, which I noticed is queued to be highlighted soon, was one of many skins he created. I miss his presence online a great deal.
Mercury. He hasn't been really active recently but he started making skins in early 1999 and continued a steady release of increasingly impressive skins. No skin author yet has created more technologically advanced skins. Some of his skins have done things we weren't aware were possible. He was the first to have animated scrollbars for instance in his skins.
Dangeruss. No list woudl be complete without Dangeruss. Russ was particularly crucial because he helped put a mainstream face on skinning. The responsible adult with a regular job who also liked creating skins was highlighted in a Wired magazine article on the growing movement. Russ also created skins that were particularly..polished. SOmething many skinners of the time failed to do. And he also created the first quality Aqua based skin which really put the world on notice that skinnign wasn't just a bunch of hacker crap. The Aqua skin on WindowBlinds was authentic enough to scare the crap out of Apple and sent their lawyers on a frenzy to remove that skin from every site they could.
Now this is just a partial list. But these and many others are what have made it possible for us all to enjoy such complete customization of our systems.
It is with some irony that Microsoft shoudl be thankful to them as well. One has to wonder how many people might have been tempted to go to Linux for its customization if skinning on Windows hadn't exploded into popularity when it did.
Which skinners, past or present, would you say were instrumental to making skinning evolve from being a technogeek hobby into something that is done by millions of people?
I'm going to name a few people from the really old days that I think were absolutely crucial. This is by no means a complete list, please add your own.
DAK. (Dimitry). He made the WBMania series of skins and they were amongst the first skins to really show why you might want to use a GUI changer.
Luche. He made the "Simple" series of skins. His "Simple" skin was the first UIS2 skin that I saw that made me go, "Wow, this is why we're spending all this time making this software!" (simple v.02 is here).
Decoder. He was the FIRST real skin author for WindowBlinds. He somehow managed to get the primitive original UIS1 language to do neat stuff. We don't even support UIS1 anymore. I really miss Decoder. I haven't seen him around in a long time and he really had a good eye for things.
John Folden. He was the OS master. And the thing I think that helped WindowBlinds beat out say Chroma and eFX is that WindowBlinds could do OS skins better and that's what many of the early adopters used it for (to make Windows look like a Mac or OS/2 or NeXT). John Folden, who went on to help launch NeXTStart, created much of the early OS ports.
Ed Deans. Ed Deans and I have known each other since 1995. He was the Stardock icon guy. He has done every major Stardock product's icon since 1996. Starting on OS/2 and continuing forward on Windows. He's an OS guru. He's made some of the best and most popular WindowBlinds skins (Liquid), some of the best icon collections, and has done Kaleidoscope themes. Lots of people talk about the "skin community", Ed Deans is arguably one of the founders of it.
Allen Bond. He created skins that were useful and just incredibly unique. Ampulla, which I noticed is queued to be highlighted soon, was one of many skins he created. I miss his presence online a great deal.
Mercury. He hasn't been really active recently but he started making skins in early 1999 and continued a steady release of increasingly impressive skins. No skin author yet has created more technologically advanced skins. Some of his skins have done things we weren't aware were possible. He was the first to have animated scrollbars for instance in his skins.
Dangeruss. No list woudl be complete without Dangeruss. Russ was particularly crucial because he helped put a mainstream face on skinning. The responsible adult with a regular job who also liked creating skins was highlighted in a Wired magazine article on the growing movement. Russ also created skins that were particularly..polished. SOmething many skinners of the time failed to do. And he also created the first quality Aqua based skin which really put the world on notice that skinnign wasn't just a bunch of hacker crap. The Aqua skin on WindowBlinds was authentic enough to scare the crap out of Apple and sent their lawyers on a frenzy to remove that skin from every site they could.
Now this is just a partial list. But these and many others are what have made it possible for us all to enjoy such complete customization of our systems.
It is with some irony that Microsoft shoudl be thankful to them as well. One has to wonder how many people might have been tempted to go to Linux for its customization if skinning on Windows hadn't exploded into popularity when it did.
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CygnusXII
Reply #42 Monday, August 20, 2001 11:56 PM
Reply #42 Monday, August 20, 2001 11:56 PM
1.Allen Bond
2.Dangeruss
3.Crumbutt
4.Shoggott
5.Treetog
6.Hippy
These are the cast of my regulars.
May they always be remembered, in the long time to come.
2.Dangeruss
3.Crumbutt
4.Shoggott
5.Treetog
6.Hippy
These are the cast of my regulars.
May they always be remembered, in the long time to come.
Doreen
Reply #43 Monday, August 20, 2001 11:56 PM
Reply #43 Monday, August 20, 2001 11:56 PM
and I forgot treetog??? okay I really hate these questions!!!
Treetog - The epitome of skinning!
okay that's it I think I got mines covered...
carry on.... hehe
Treetog - The epitome of skinning!
okay that's it I think I got mines covered...
carry on.... hehe
CygnusXII
Reply #44 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 12:26 AM
Reply #44 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 12:26 AM
Speaking of Allen Bond, there was a red version of the Ampulla's, and I can't find it..anyone got a clue??
CygnusXII
Reply #46 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 1:20 AM
Reply #46 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 1:20 AM
Thanks Treetog, that was the one I was looking for.
kenray
Reply #47 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 1:57 AM
Reply #47 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 1:57 AM
man, it was so totally steve moss for me. I was never really a big fan of winamp in general, but looking at what he did whithin the confines of the programs limitations was very, very inspring to me...
guiltily running Major TOm or E-india every now and then.....
guiltily running Major TOm or E-india every now and then.....
davad70
Reply #48 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 2:04 AM
Reply #48 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 2:04 AM
I'm rather surprised that no one has mentioned the Professor up to this point. I think WIN3000 and Profskin still stand up as a great skins after all these "years". I think WIN3000 is still in the top 50.
By the way, is anyone in contact with him anymore? Know what he's up to?
My Heroes-
Treetog
Essorant
Dangeruss
Alexandrie
Professor
By the way, is anyone in contact with him anymore? Know what he's up to?
My Heroes-
Treetog
Essorant
Dangeruss
Alexandrie
Professor
DavidK
Reply #49 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 4:14 AM
Reply #49 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 4:14 AM
In the beginning... for me at least, these "old-timers" were my heroes:
Fli7e - made winamp skins before it was a skinnable app. And his nemesis - Pordy a very prolific winamp skinner.
misery - doodle - kig - H Lowendaller - Bronze - Supa - Precursor and Vendicator. All great artists, and masters of the mp-3 players, whose work has inspired the entire digital art scene.
When I finally made a winamp skin myself, the greatest source of inspiration for me at the time was:
Topaz (Kelly McClarnen)only one amp but still the best
Steve Moss - the reigning king of artistic skill and detail in winamp skins.
Today I feel the same way about Monaux's winamp skins.
And then in WindowBlinds (1st program I made skins for) my early heroes were:
Allen Bond (I sure hope he comes back someday, still the most original skins ever)
Lufia (Alexandrie) for her super clean graphics style.
Bat, DAK, Luche, Frogboy and Decoder - all pioneers of the format and innovators whose work is still popular today.
Mercury started about the same time I did and it was fun watching his graphics develop into such a great style.
Dangeruss and Crumbut came a little later and were so prolific it was astounding. Russ going into skinning with such a passion and technical skill, skinning every app available and making skin "suites" with unbelievable quality.
Treetog - whose work has always been a benchmark of perfection and also helped to make skin "suites" a reality. Like Russ, his innovation, quality and tireless production are an inspiration to everyone.
Today there are so many great skinners making WB skins it would be really difficult to make a list and not leave out some of the best.
My list of skinning heroes has to also include some other names that might not be the authors of the skins you use:
Shoggot - inspired more artists to work harder to improve their technique than any other person.
Gorman - gave the skinning world a home at Deskmod and innovated most of the concepts that are common on such sites today.
Jsenn (Joy Senn) - shared a depth of vision and artistic appreciation with all of us that went deeper into her soul than most people are willing to venture.
MadIce - Innovative programmer and inspiring, motivating influence.
China, Doreen, Jafo, Craeonics - all true super-heros of the skinning world.
Nuvem, Buzz, Grimspoon, Jigit, Tananda, Koasati, Jumbles, Hippy, D'mer, Paxx, Snowman, Jark, and Chaz (plus a bunch of others) are all truely heroic figures of the skinning world for me today as well!
To everyone listed and the many who should be listed and just didn't pop into my sleepy brain tonight, THANK YOU! for sharing your work and your hearts with us all and inspiring so much great art.
Fli7e - made winamp skins before it was a skinnable app. And his nemesis - Pordy a very prolific winamp skinner.
misery - doodle - kig - H Lowendaller - Bronze - Supa - Precursor and Vendicator. All great artists, and masters of the mp-3 players, whose work has inspired the entire digital art scene.
When I finally made a winamp skin myself, the greatest source of inspiration for me at the time was:
Topaz (Kelly McClarnen)only one amp but still the best
Steve Moss - the reigning king of artistic skill and detail in winamp skins.
Today I feel the same way about Monaux's winamp skins.
And then in WindowBlinds (1st program I made skins for) my early heroes were:
Allen Bond (I sure hope he comes back someday, still the most original skins ever)
Lufia (Alexandrie) for her super clean graphics style.
Bat, DAK, Luche, Frogboy and Decoder - all pioneers of the format and innovators whose work is still popular today.
Mercury started about the same time I did and it was fun watching his graphics develop into such a great style.
Dangeruss and Crumbut came a little later and were so prolific it was astounding. Russ going into skinning with such a passion and technical skill, skinning every app available and making skin "suites" with unbelievable quality.
Treetog - whose work has always been a benchmark of perfection and also helped to make skin "suites" a reality. Like Russ, his innovation, quality and tireless production are an inspiration to everyone.
Today there are so many great skinners making WB skins it would be really difficult to make a list and not leave out some of the best.
My list of skinning heroes has to also include some other names that might not be the authors of the skins you use:
Shoggot - inspired more artists to work harder to improve their technique than any other person.
Gorman - gave the skinning world a home at Deskmod and innovated most of the concepts that are common on such sites today.
Jsenn (Joy Senn) - shared a depth of vision and artistic appreciation with all of us that went deeper into her soul than most people are willing to venture.
MadIce - Innovative programmer and inspiring, motivating influence.
China, Doreen, Jafo, Craeonics - all true super-heros of the skinning world.
Nuvem, Buzz, Grimspoon, Jigit, Tananda, Koasati, Jumbles, Hippy, D'mer, Paxx, Snowman, Jark, and Chaz (plus a bunch of others) are all truely heroic figures of the skinning world for me today as well!
To everyone listed and the many who should be listed and just didn't pop into my sleepy brain tonight, THANK YOU! for sharing your work and your hearts with us all and inspiring so much great art.
manni
Reply #50 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 4:40 AM
Reply #50 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 4:40 AM
You all forgot "Zts", one of the best WB-skinners,
and i always love the skins of Marco van Hirtum
(MVHDesigns)and the Professor is one of my favorits too. The other of my heroes are dangeruss, treetog, crumbut, honz12, hippy, D.A.K,
Alexandrie and essorant and of course DavidK. There were a lot of good skinners around like morphh, EntityX, Jotum and so on, who joined the
community with 3 to 5 good skins and then vanished. Browse the wincustomize cd and there they are and you think, what great skinners they
are and you think, what happend to them.
and i always love the skins of Marco van Hirtum
(MVHDesigns)and the Professor is one of my favorits too. The other of my heroes are dangeruss, treetog, crumbut, honz12, hippy, D.A.K,
Alexandrie and essorant and of course DavidK. There were a lot of good skinners around like morphh, EntityX, Jotum and so on, who joined the
community with 3 to 5 good skins and then vanished. Browse the wincustomize cd and there they are and you think, what great skinners they
are and you think, what happend to them.
jumbles
Reply #51 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 4:49 AM
Reply #51 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 4:49 AM
"Shoggot" inspired many, including myself. My other favourites: Lorenla,Gillon,Fli7e,$teven,Professor,Shawn Murdock,Mormegil,Treetog etc etc,and my partner in crime "Kenray", for all his help,inspiration,
and his idea for a skinning mag "Teknidermy".
and his idea for a skinning mag "Teknidermy".
indigoe
Reply #52 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 5:18 AM
Reply #52 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 5:18 AM
The name of Shoggot has been mentioned before and I agree with DavidK how he inspired many, including me, to work harder. Moderation was evil, and i got moderated every now and then, but i never gave up
Xcaponius to me is one of the greatest skinners of audio players, i always find myself amazed looking at his work.
Monaux is also inspiring for he is young and talented beyond description... i cannot imagine what his work will be like in a year from now.
Xcaponius to me is one of the greatest skinners of audio players, i always find myself amazed looking at his work.
Monaux is also inspiring for he is young and talented beyond description... i cannot imagine what his work will be like in a year from now.
fearoffours
Reply #53 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 5:53 AM
Reply #53 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 5:53 AM
Pabo... for his encouragement and hosting my first skins
rethan... for developing the program for my first skins (colorpad)
And pretty much everyone else mentioned above, with particular shouts to Mercury, DavidK, Shoggot, the whole 34i team, anyone who'se ever hosted/adminned a skin site and Ken, witha massive acknowledgement to Jumbles who is in no small matter probabluy the hardest working person in the scene\community\collection of people\skinnign world\whatever you want to call it.
rethan... for developing the program for my first skins (colorpad)
And pretty much everyone else mentioned above, with particular shouts to Mercury, DavidK, Shoggot, the whole 34i team, anyone who'se ever hosted/adminned a skin site and Ken, witha massive acknowledgement to Jumbles who is in no small matter probabluy the hardest working person in the scene\community\collection of people\skinnign world\whatever you want to call it.
fearoffours
Reply #54 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 5:54 AM
Reply #54 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 5:54 AM
And Jsenn, boxxi, Jafo, oh strewth and a billion other people.. like doreen said, I wish I hadn't posted to start off with
Elwin
Reply #55 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 6:17 AM
Reply #55 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 6:17 AM
MorpheusX!
Good grief!
I'm ashamed he didn't make number 1 on a lot of peoples list - mine especially!
Take a look at Dangeruss' and Mercury's early works and who do you see?
All the young skinners wanted to grow up to be MorpheusX...
He created the Holy Grail of LS themes - BorgX.
And just before it's release, he disappears, causing him to become probably the most sought after "What ever happened to?" themer ever.
A true "hero of skinning"
Elwin goes off to place flowers and light incense at the shrine of the holy "LiteStep Noir"...
Good grief!
I'm ashamed he didn't make number 1 on a lot of peoples list - mine especially!
Take a look at Dangeruss' and Mercury's early works and who do you see?
All the young skinners wanted to grow up to be MorpheusX...
He created the Holy Grail of LS themes - BorgX.
And just before it's release, he disappears, causing him to become probably the most sought after "What ever happened to?" themer ever.
A true "hero of skinning"
Elwin goes off to place flowers and light incense at the shrine of the holy "LiteStep Noir"...
craeonics
Reply #57 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 8:50 AM
Reply #57 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 8:50 AM
I bumped into skinning when WinAmp was already skinnable, so the persona of Fli7e is more of an ancient legend to me. Was he the first one to make a skin on the Win32 platform?
treetog
Reply #58 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 10:36 AM
Reply #58 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 10:36 AM
Some other names I didn't mentioned ...
Lorenela...one of the best skinners around and the fist person to help me on the skinning
Jsenn...the skinner of words
How could I forgot to mention Kig before? the most detailed winamp skins!
Vendicator a wizard for players
My good friend Nuven (nicole's owner), for the intire art work, including the best wall, XPutinik.
Jafo, the transparencies king.
Deaddreamer, precurser, Mobious Co and Bronze for the fantastic walls.
There are much more wonderfull artists in the cummunity I'm sure I forgot to mention, but I'd like to thank too.
and finally, Shoggot, skinzorg master...
the liking Jark, the God of Deviant art...
Gorman, for his wonderfull job at Customize and Deskmod...
and Chaz for the friendly LOS.
hmmmm...is that all? for sure not....
/treetog knows that he will be back to post again in this thread
Lorenela...one of the best skinners around and the fist person to help me on the skinning
Jsenn...the skinner of words
How could I forgot to mention Kig before? the most detailed winamp skins!
Vendicator a wizard for players
My good friend Nuven (nicole's owner
), for the intire art work, including the best wall, XPutinik.Jafo, the transparencies king.
Deaddreamer, precurser, Mobious Co and Bronze for the fantastic walls.
There are much more wonderfull artists in the cummunity I'm sure I forgot to mention, but I'd like to thank too.
and finally, Shoggot, skinzorg master...
the liking Jark, the God of Deviant art...
Gorman, for his wonderfull job at Customize and Deskmod...
and Chaz for the friendly LOS.
hmmmm...is that all? for sure not....
/treetog knows that he will be back to post again in this thread
BoXXi
Reply #59 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 5:01 PM
Reply #59 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 5:01 PM
Where is Shoggot?, I miss him. He is probably the person responsible for me being here now. I was lucky enough to get my first ever wallpaper past moderation at Skinz, and it gave me so much confidence. I didn't get another past him for ages after that.
I think I will upload that first ever wall if I can find it.
BoXXi goes off to search the depths of his hard drive........
I think I will upload that first ever wall if I can find it.
BoXXi goes off to search the depths of his hard drive........
migellito
Reply #60 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 6:27 PM
Reply #60 Tuesday, August 21, 2001 6:27 PM
toasty & mian
rhino (and d).. their site is still up!
tech13 (big time!)
copland
floach
wow, too many.. all those mentioned above too. i still love to run inkman and morpheusx' windowblinds.. nice inkman's just lately went offline, but borgx is still online.
rhino (and d).. their site is still up!
tech13 (big time!)
copland
floach
wow, too many.. all those mentioned above too. i still love to run inkman and morpheusx' windowblinds.. nice
inkman's just lately went offline, but borgx is still online.Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.
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Reply #41 Monday, August 20, 2001 9:35 PM