1.  Who are you?
Me?  I'm just your friendly neighborhood skinner, Chris Anderson.  You may be familiar with my work as formerly seen at Seneca's Wicked Sims and the Simz Online skin database or currently at Dr. Frankensim's Laboratory and my good friend DarkJared's site, the Skindex.  I'm also responsible for one of the first "long" capes for superhero Sims, one of the largest Sims ever created (Spawn, at over 120 parts!), and, to my knowledge, the first floating Sim, Professor X (from X-Men) in his hovering wheelchair.

2.  What are skins?
Just about the coolest thing ever!  The beauty of The Sims is that there is so much that can be customized to make your gaming experience unique.  Skins are simply the "clothes" your Sims wear.  Anyone can customize these skins to their taste and, with some practice, make some really cool skins to enhance their game.

3.  What program(s) do you use to make skins?
I get asked this quite a bit.  For skinning itself, I use two programs.  First, I use plain ol' MS Paint, believe it or not.  When I'm happy with the basic look of the skin, I use Adobe Photoshop to add muscle tone, 3D effects on items such as big belts or pouches, and other details until I'm happy with how the skin looks.  It's very important to have a paint program that can handle layers and transparency to achieve the proper look.

4.  What program(s) do you use to make meshes?
<blush> Well, some people call me a "mesh maker extraordinaire." </blush>  I like it because it can be so challenging.  To create meshes or edit existing meshes, I use a program called MilkShape 3D.  Actually, MilkShape is only one of three programs I use.  As of this writing (4-10-01) MilkShape has a plugin in development to export meshes into a format that the game can use.  Until then, however, I use Aladrin Kehlahn's SKN2OBJ, and Scott McDonnell's CMX Editor.  Aladrin's site also features an excellent tutorial on creating your own meshes that I highly recommend to anyone.

You can find these programs, at their respective sites, here:
MilkShape 3D
SKN2OBJ
CMX Editor

5.  Do you accept submissions?
Sorry, I don't accept submissions due to bandwidth issues.

6.  Do you take requests?
Normally, I'm willing to listen to a request.  Unfortunately, I've got a very large "to do" list right now and I'm not taking any requests until I've completed or significantly shortened my list.  If you've got a comic book or sci-fi related request, I recommend posting to the Comic Skins Network request forum here.  The people there are a really helpful and fun bunch.  I hang out there quite a bit as well! :)

7.  I want to make my own skins; Can I use your meshes to do that?
I give blanket permission to use any meshes I have made to aid you in making your own skins.  All I ask is that you give me credit for making the meshes in the first place in the readme file along with your skins and on any page where you post your skins.  A link to this site would be nice, too (I like to see what people are doing with my meshes :), but not necessary.

8.  Can I put your skins on my site?
Some artists are really touchy about this one and with good reason: Piracy is an unfortunate fact that does happen to artists from time to time.  However, I am usually willing to allow people to post my skins on their sites provided they:
1)  Contact me and ask permission.  It only takes a few minutes and I will answer you as soon as I can.
2)  Do not alter the ZIP file in any way.  This includes the readme file included.  This is my work, after all, and I like it to remain as I intended it.
3)  Send me a link for the site where  the skin will be.  This is optional but, like I said before, I like to see what's being done with my work.

9.  I'm making a Sims online comic using SimPose; Can I use your skins and meshes for that?
This goes under that thing I said about blanket permission above.  Read #7 for your answer.

10.  What happened to all the Marvel and Amalgam skins?
In short, Marvel happened.  Check here for the full details.  Until Marvel changes their view of their fans and starts treating them with some respect, the Marvel and Amalgam (because they're part Marvel) skins will remain off of this site.

11.  Will you email me "Insert-Marvel-Skin-Here" or "Insert-Amalgam-Skin-Here?"
No.  It may sound paranoid but if I were to do that and Marvel somehow got wind of it, they could me shut down by going straight to my ISP.  Please don't waste both our time by asking me.

12.  I notice you've added a donation button to the navigation bar.  Does this mean this is turning into a pay site?
Absolutely not.  It is simply that: a donation.  I don't want anyone to feel like they have to donate to get skins here.  My policy is this:  Donate if you want and can afford to do so.  If you don't want to or can't afford it, it's OK.