Winamp got it started for me, back in like 1999, snooped around the skin sites for bit...but then I took a break. Few years later I download a StyleXP trial, exactly 4 minutes later, I download WB 3.5 trial, now here I am.

I really got into skinning, when I saw Polymer by The Skindicate back in the day.

I started tweaking it and the next thing I knew I was hooked.
If it was skinable, I turned it into a Polymer skin.

Sonique 1 (Back in '99) and the skins by Supa, Luke, Pordey, Wreck etc...

Contrary to all you WinAmp skinners out there, my first inspiration came from the skins available in Windows Media Player. Back then it still was version 7, so the skins were limited. I decided to take a whack at skinning it. First step: destroying about 6 skins trying to modify them. Moved from there to making some cursors and stuff to complement an idea I was workin with at the time. From there I've gone pretty much nuts with failed attempts at other stuff. WindowBlinds is actually easier than I thought it would be.

I am on the brink of just slapping graphics together and posting them in the library for others to pick and use if they like... *sigh*

I am on the brink

.....join the party

"Steel this Amp" Winamp skin, and the Dreams Windowblinds skin started the ball rolling for me.

Simply being tired of the way Windows looks and feels!

Really though, I like a lot of the stuff that I've downloaded and run. However, I'm the type of person that likes to know how things work. On top of that, I've always been into artistic things. So, while I enjoy much of the skins/icons/objects...etc, there's always that "I like it, but I wish that( object/skin part) were a little more ( adjective)" aspect.

Plus, I'd really like to develop some stuff that's based on my favorite Anime/Games/Movies/Books... etc. Overall though, it's just that I love to learn new stuff, and this stuff is just too cool not to want to learn.

"Steel this Amp"

Now THERE'S a blast from the past.....

LiteStep from 97 ish.
Back in the day when customizing it meant finding different tiles for the Wharf, and matching efX skins.