If you had to sum up Minecraft in just a few words, what words might you use? Some might say mining, building, surviving. Others might get more poetic with their choices. Some might even call it simple and childish. But the fact that you will always get slightly different answers from different people shows just how diverse Minecraft is.
For me, the words I would use is creative freedom. Because at its heart, that is what Minecraft is all about. Freedom. From the very beginning of your Minecraft experience it offers you the world. You are thrown into a map and the game says ‘do with this what you will!’ And it is this level of creative freedom that draws in so many players each year.
One of my favorite aspects of creative freedom the game offers is in the form of player skins. A skin, for those who don’t know, is the appearance your character has within the world. The basic skin, known as Minecraft Steve, is a human with a blue shirt and blue trousers. But the game lets you become anything you can imagine. But how do you put on new skins? Where do you get them from? And which skins are best? This guide is going to provide you with everything you need to know about Minecraft skins.
How Skins Are Created
The design process for a Minecraft skin isn’t as complicated as you might think. But at the same time, it isn’t easy either. When designing a skin an artist doesn’t draw around the body of the Minecraft character. Instead, the skin is drawn onto a grid that folds around the skins. Think of it like putting together a paper craft. Any digital painting app can create a Minecraft skin. As long as it is 69×69 pixels large.
Downloading Skins for Minecraft
The easier way to acquire new skin for use in Minecraft is to download them. But the method of downloading depends very much on which version of Minecraft you are playing on. The console versions of the game don’t allow you to just upload any old skins. Instead you have to buy skin packs from the store and download them that way.
But if you are playing on PC then you can download the latest skins for Minecraft from websites like Servers-Minecraft or Skinpedia. These sites are filled to the brim with incredible skins created by some truly talented people. The best thing to do is save all your skins to one folder that you can find easily.
Commissioning A Skin
There are hundreds upon hundreds of skins out there ready for download. But you won’t always be able to find the skin you want. Which is where commissioning comes into play. There are plenty of fantastic artists online who are willing to create custom Minecraft skins for a price.
The great thing about commissioning a skin is that you can ask for anything you want. You can pick any character from a TV or movie. You can even send in your own character designs and have them translated into a Minecraft skin. Or you can simply let the artist use their imagination. The important thing to remember is that you should always respect the artist’s time and prices. Don’t haggle and don’t demand anything for free.
Applying New Skins
The process of applying a new skin to your Minecraft character is amazingly simple. You first need to open up Minecraft. Once you are on the main menu you will need to go to the profile page. From here it will give you the option to upload a .png. This is the file type your skin design needs to be in.
Once you upload the image the skin should automatically wrap around the player model and viola. You are now wearing a new Minecraft skin. Now whenever you play single player or online, your character model will appear as the skin you just added.
You are free to change your skin at any time of course. There is no need to commit to just one skin forever. But you can’t change your skin mid-game. You always need to go back to the main menu to do so.
Which Skins Are Best
We should start this section off by saying there is no real ‘best’ Minecraft skin. It always comes down to taste and preference. But you should always steer clear of any skin that is going to be insensitive to other cultures or races.
But some of the most popular skins currently being used are characters from popular culture. I have seen lots of people using Stranger Things themed skins. And Marvel characters are always a good choice. Some of my personal favorites are the different Doctors from the show Doctor Who. But at the end of the day, the real best skin is whatever one makes you happy.
