Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is considered to be one of the most popular games of all time. It has been on the market for more than a decade, and it has millions of players and fans all around the world. Even if you have not played this game, you definitely know of it. One of the reasons why this game is so popular is because of the additional features that the play allows. Players are allowed to customize their weapons as well as their characters with a variety of skins. They range from simple color changes up to intricate designs that can make your character and your weapon stand out from the rest of the crowd. Customizing and creating your own skin can be a pretty fun experience and it can also be challenging. Some of the unique models can be worth tens of thousands of dollars. In this article, we are going to talk about the art of cs:go skin customization. Keep on reading to learn some tips for designing your own unique skins.
1. Understand the basics of the skin design
Before you start your design plan, you first need to understand the texture of the skin. These pieces are made of several different textures including a diffuse, normal, and specular map. The defuse map is the base texture of the skin. This is the part where you can add designs as well as colors to the skin. The normal map is the one that adds depth and intricate designs to the skin. Finally, the specular map determines how reflective or shiny the skin is.
When you start the designing process, you need to understand that some areas of the skin will be stretched or distorted when they are applied to the weapon. This means that some of the small details you create are not going to be visible on certain parts of the weapon, so it is much more important to focus on the larger designs that will be seen by others. Once you have a better understanding of the basics of skin design, it is going to be easier for you to start customizing your characters and your weapons.
If you want to see what others have done, and if you want to explore some of the most popular, rarest, and even unique skins that you can acquire for your next play, then you should visit csgoskins.gg.
Find inspiration
The next step of the process is figuring out what you want to do. It is pretty difficult to start from scratch if you don’t know what you want to base your design on, so for this part, it is best if you look for inspiration from some of the other models that are already available on the market. Keep in mind that the more intricate the design is the more difficult it is going to be to create it. Because of that, it is best to start with something that is relatively simple and that you can play around with. When you put those skins on the weapon, they are definitely going to look far different than how they looked when you first designed them.
When you look for inspiration, make sure that you think out of the box, explore different models, see what other players have, and you can even explore some fan art. The main thing you need to remember is that you should never be afraid to think out of the box, and you should never be afraid to create something that is going to be extremely unique and never seen before.
Start planning
Once you have found your idea, and know what you want to create, the next step is planning your design. You can choose if you want to start by sketching everything out on paper or if you want to use a digital tool that will let you create more detailed designs.
Once again, when you plan the design, consider how it is going to look on the weapon. Some parts are going to be stretched when the skin is applied so focus on larger designs until you have a better idea on how that distortion looks. Once you have a better hold of the whole process, you will be able to focus on smaller designs and understand how they are going to book stretched. Consider the color scheme of the skin, and try to use colors that are going to look well together. Avoid using too many flashy colors that will be distracting or that will wrong together.
Get a template to help you out
The thing that is going to help you out the most with this whole process is a template. The template is going to ensure that your design fits properly on the weapon that you are creating it for. The great thing about this is that there are so many templates available online and you can download and use them as a guide. Some of them are going to be free for you to download and use, while others may require you to pay a small fee so that you can test everything out on them. You don’t necessarily have to pay for the templates, however, if you want to have a better guide and if you want to get a better direction on what you are creating, then you may want to invest some cash into the templates.
This is ultimately going to help you understand what your design is going to look like on the weapon, and it will allow you to make any adjustments before you apply them to the game. It’s far easier to do the changes and customization before you add the skin to the game than after you do it.
Create the design and test it out
The only thing that is left is for you to sit down and create the design you want. You can use different platforms and online tools, and you can also use the skin editor to test skin out and make any necessary adjustments.
Once you are happy with the design, make sure that you check for any pixelation and distortion. You should also test your skin out in different lighting conditions and make sure that it looks good in every given situation. Keep in mind that you can always go back to the drawing board, make the necessary changes, and ultimately continue creating contesting until you are completely happy with what you have come up with.
Don’t forget to apply the skin that you have created in the game, and you can even get some feedback from other players and see what they think about your newest design. Creating customizing skins is an extremely interesting thing, so if you have not tried it out before, you should definitely give it a chance and see what you come up with.
