Premium Skin Logic

For some Masters, it's their sole source of income. Imagine the thousands of dollars spent on the software it takes to skin nowdays...gotta recoup that expense somehow.

By the way, not all Masters sell their work, quite a few give freely to the community. For the masters that do, they also still give some work freely as well.

i think some people need to get over the fact that master skins exsist and move on. there are MILLIONS of free skins on this site.

and not only that, becoming a master takes ALOT of hard work, personal dedication and thousands upon thousands of man hours, ect. I think more respect for masters is in order for those who dont seem to have a clue about what master skins are about.

I believe Brad and the folks who created WB are still around

Plenty of the Masters still make free skins. Infact all mine are free

Yes Master skins typically dont get as many downloads as Free skins... but then typically anything free is always in more demand then pay, thats why theft is so prevalent in todays society. 

one would ponder why the masses would not want to spend a small portion of $ to help skinners keep going. It takes tons of time to build a WB and even longer to do a suite. The old times of spending 5 days on a cool WB are long gone.

I like the replys.   thank you thank you  We need lots more.

   I know the types of the software it requires to make skins.

Yeah! Hg's skins are awesome! And man! If I had a dollar for every one he did....well...ok..I wouldn't have any money! But its the thought that counts!

There is no doubt that some of the fine skinners who participate in the community are getting recognized and being promoted along the way from Apprentice up to Master.  That in it self in not a bad thing.  I think it helps keep the focus on improving one's talent and skill as the skinners gain experience in skinning.

There are also new members coming into the community all the time that try thier had a skinning.   Those willing to go through the process will  improve on thier talent and skills and will keep the community alive.   All that is required is encouragment from the rest of us.

I see nothing to lament here, Stardock and WinCustmoize haven't done an about face.  There are loads of good quality skins being uploaded to the WinCustomize Gallelry Libraries on a daily basis.  I've been able to find enough to gather them up and make Theme Manager Suites, which keeps be busy.

Now you may not agree with me that is all right, both of us are just expressing our feelings and opinoins.

   hehe..

Great points, Philly!

When I first came to this community, I told myself that I would NEVER purchase a skin.

Well, that ship has sailed!**

I, of course, like to grab the good free skins out there, but it didn't take long for me to break down and purchase a master skin. The way I see it, it's a hobby; and I'm an enthusiast. An enthusiast doesn't mind investing in his hobby.

I agree with you, HG; why not give back a little in the form of a few $. Besides, for less than a value meal at most any fast food establishment, you can get a top-knotch skin!

**bonus points to the first one who can tell me which movie this line is from.

Vamp, you make some nice skins.  You just recently moved into the master skin status.  Congratulations!!  I respect your work.  And I apologize for ranting about this in your skin review.  It belonged out here so everyone can see it.  So I deserve a little of your "bite".

I honestly can't imagine anyone spending 1000s of hours on one skin.  Learning to be an artist yes, but not on one skin. 

I have nothing personal against any of you Master Skinners.  You are very talented folks.  I question paying for Windowblinds(or any other premium skin base product) and then paying someone else to use it also.

This one skin took 6 months to do. And is not fully finished. https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=3806&libid=31

And Has spanned over 2 artists, Adam Solley originated the theme. I have added to it and kept it updated for DX. over the last 4 years.

Ah...that's easy...The Love boat!

I thought he was refering to my diet... but sure love boat works too.

Will it ever be "finished"?

HG...was the engineering part done with 3d models and if so, where did you find them?

Honestly though that looks awesome....get yur butt moving!

Adam made those animated Gifs, along time ago.Ive added bits here and there mostly sounds and button roll overs, animations to main interface, rebuilt the DX player etc.

Well let me know when ya need a tester for XP!

Isn't it kind of like buying a dvd or mps player that is sold by itself, and then having to purchase movies and music, you don't think twice about doing that. At least here you can still get tons of free skins!

hehe will do Bro havt had much time to poke at it lately but with winter setting in time may come available..

well said Karmat.

You won't find many better free skins than this..... https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=7000&libid=1 So, nothing to complain about really......

Master status was Stardock's way of saying thank you to the top skinners who provided so much free content over the years. I think it was a natural progression in skinning. Many Masters, including me, still haven't sold a skin yet and continue to provide free content that we enjoy making. So, it's not ALL about the money. Maybe I'll sell a skin when I make one that's worth selling.....

Ignoring [our] Master skinners and their premium skins for a moment....the concept of purchasing/paying for skins was going to happen...with or without Stardock/Wincustomize.

It did just that.

The first notable commercial skins were from/by Pixtudio and about the same time - The Skins Factory, neither of whom were 'doing it' through Wincustomize.com/Stardock.

The lamentation of the loss of an 'era' occured years ago.....the arenas were Deviantart.com and more vocally Customize.org.

PixelPunk ....did you miss all that grief way back then? [if so then you were lucky]....;)

As has been stated previously by Brad, the site does not run itself. It takes people and money. I imagine with the size it has grown to and with all it has to offer, subscription fees do not cover the entire cost. The impression I always had was that Wincustomize was really about the community and could easily cut the community out and go completely commercial.

Masters and anyone else who can are going to sell their skins if given the oppurtunity. There are ohter sites, some run by Masters, that already do. Wincustomize is the best place to do it for them, higher visibility and all. They deserve the chance to profit for their hard work. Not everyone could make a skin that could or would sell.

There have been 10 skins this year that subscribers could download. Not to mention the discount subscribers get on Master skins.

Masters can still make free skins. It benefits them to as well as everyone else. As to who they 'cater' to...they make skins they hope will appeal to all. Some Masters offer the skins on this site and their own, so the base isn't that small. I am not sure what you mean by reduced exposure. Folks still post screenshots across multiple sites for others to get a glimpse. (Free advertising, really) If anything, it had made Wincustomize 'exclusive' as the site to come to for the best in skinning. Kind of like having to go to AT&T for an iPhone, but you've heard of them, right?

I'm not a Master, but there must be a different kind of gratification when selling the skins. I have seen skins that were just awful, even downloaded a few, that had no bussiness being uploaded to begin with. The number of downloads for them will often be go into the hundreds or thousands. If people were paying for them, they would be freaking out. Being a Master, you have the satisfaction of knowing your work is good enough that someone 'would' pay for it. When you download a Master skin, you know you are getting quality work.  When I played guitar on streetcorners for the fun and love of it, I didn't make money. When clubs started paying me to play and took me off the corners, the crowds were smaller, but there was the satisfaction that I had reached a level of professionalism and quality that I could get paid for it. When I want to do it just for the love of it, I go hit the corners again.

IMO having the Master program keeps some of the better graphic artists working (at least part-time) in the Windowblinds arena.

It doesn't serve the community to have them hone their skills here and then move on to just doing web site design and custom skins for those willing to pay.

Neil can correct me if I'm wrong but the only thing the first version he created did was roll up the open window...hince the name "WindowBlind". Skinning came at a later date.