Interview with c-specter
Few words about yourself...
My name is Christian Schönrank and I live in a small town in Germany close to the Netherlands. In the Internet you will see me as c-specter or c(-)5pecter. Little Christian was born 18 years ago and goes still to school where he hopes to graduate next year to enroll at a university. In my spare time I used to hang out with friends, listening to music, doing some karate moves in the gym or sitting at my pc and pushing around some pixels for a new skin.
When have you started to make your skins? What tools do you use?
I started skinning in 1999 when I saw that you can change the look of applications like winamp with simple ".bmps". Skins like "Receiver" by Fli7e had amazed me so much that I gave it a try. My first skins were not very good, because my skills were pretty low in gfx and the programs I was using at that time. So I took a long break to learn more about the usage of gfx programs and their features! In the beginning I made my skins with Corel Draw 6 Photopaint and MS Paint, but soon I got Adobe Photoshop and I started experimenting around. IMO it is the best tool for skinning applications. I started skinning again 9 months ago with more success than I thought.
How much time does it take from you to create an average skin?
Hard to tell, but I think I make an "average" skin in ca. 8 hours, spending only max. 1-2 hours a day on its development. But it really depends on the complexity of the skin, how many details you apply and what application the skin is for. Some skins took me very long (2 months) to finish them, because I do not "force" myself to find an solution how skin the volume bar region, for example. If I have no good ideas, I do something else... work on other projects or do other stuff. When I return to the skin I might have the right idea, if not I will try to figure it out on another day.
You've seen lots of skins, you create your own... How should a "perfect" winamp skin look like? Your opinion?
It is hard to please everyone; everybody has a different taste of what is good or what is not. In my opinion a "perfect" skin should combine user friendliness with an appealing look. Many really cool looking skins are almost "impossible" to use for users who are not familiar with the application and many "clean" or simple structured skins become boring after some time. It is always good to add some details, but not too many. In this case the skin becomes too busy. A perfect skin should have a harmony between color scheme and design. ... hm, I think that is it! But there is no tutorial how to create a "perfect" skin!
Where do you get ideas for your skins?
I get the ideas in ordinary life situations... while I am taking a shower, during breakfast etc. I do not ask myself questions like: "Ok, how should the new skin look like?" or "What style would look best?" It is more a short vision, which can appear any time. If I get one it is hard to keep that vision in my mind, so I try to grab as fast as possible a pen and some paper to make ruff sketch. But sometimes I start a skin just from scratch, by just opening Photoshop and messing around to see if something "useable" comes out.
But why Winamp? Why not to skin another player, like CoolPlayer, Sonique or WMP?
In my case it is because I am using Winamp everyday, it was the first skinnable application on my pc and everything (skinning) started with this player. I use the other players just frequently when I am in the mood or I want to see a certain skin etc... I am not only skinning media player I have made some skins for other applications like Switch a color picking tool. But I have looked at CoolPlayer a little bit closer and maybe I will make a skin for it in the future.
Do you use any skins by other authors or prefer to use your own?
When I am working on a new skin I am using this skin to see what can be improved or what can be changed, but right after its competition I am using of course other skins depending on my mood, my current wallpaper etc., not on any author.
Well, what kind of music do you like most of all: rock, synth-pop, classics or just something popsy? ;) Does the music influence your works?
Music is a big source of my inspiration and it helps while I am working. I like to listen to a big variation of music styles (accept "popsy" and most of the trendy techno stuff). From Noize (Atari Teenage Roit) to chill out music (Cafe Del Mar), from Industrial and heavier music (NIN, The Shizit, Static-X...) to Punk/Ska (Green Day, Hoobastank, etc.). My favorite bands are Incubus and Filter. They have influenced my work and me a lot. I not sure if you see this in my skins, but they did and still do.
Prefer to work while listening to the music?
Yes, I am constantly listening to music while I am working in Photoshop. I can not do it without music! :)
What do you think about skinning applications in general?
I think skinning is a good way to train/improve your skills in designing and if you like to solve problems etc. skinning should be the right thing for you. Of course companies make their applications customizerable in their look, because of marketing strategies. They want their applications/products to become more popular and in this way their products and so their name/brand spreads easily on the Internet. Besides this, there is another point, which I think is most important. Skinning has become a new art style with a growing skinner scene and fan base.
Your "Vitalizor" skin was selected as "featured" at www.winamp.com, my congratulations. What do you think about it? Could you name it your best work?
Thank you very much for your congratulations! I am really happy about that www.winamp.com features one of my skin on their homepage. I never really expected, one of my skins would be worth to be featured at one of the biggest mp3/mediaplayer related site on the Internet. The taste of each person is different. Due to this award I can share the skin with many people around the world. They can get information about me and my work, are able to download other skins I have made and it is always nice to see, that other people like my stuff and all the time and effort you spent on creating the skin was not for "nothing". I would not say "Vitalizor" is my best skin. I have no favorite skin among my skins. They all have elements that I really like and actually "Vitalizor" is not my newest skin. Currently I am working on two skins, which are quite different to my usual style, and I can already tell you ... they kick ass!
Now you have a word... Wanna tell something to our readers?
Yes, I would like to thank all the readers for reading this article and you (SacRat) for being a nice and kind interviewer. I also would like to send greetings to my parents, my friends here in Germany and all around the world, my classmates: the 12.3 (now 13.3) English-History class of the Betty-Reis Gesamtschule Wassenberg and to the art communities Deviantart and Velocityart! If you have not visited them before just do it you won't be disappointed!
Thanks for the interview.
P.S.: You can find all of C-Specter's skins at his homepage.