Suffice to say I didn't like them.
So what do I do, as a resourceful, Mad Photoshopper?
That's right. I made my own.
Using the shirt from one skin in particular (made by some guy named Warsaw. I left his name on the skin) and the head from an official VC alternate skin, I figured I would be okay with just cooking up my own 'version' of Tommy Vercetti, as opposed to an identical digital avatar.
So here's the first attempt at solving my problem:
Not bad for a short-term solution, I thought so myself, but after an hour or so, I realized I needed much more to satisfy my vanity.
Only my face would suffice. My own dead-sexy mug and no one else's.
Now, keep in mind that for a 3D model, the 2D skin needs to wrap and stretch over the surface. A simple cut and paste job from a photograph won't suffice unless I want eyes the size of softballs and mishapen, minute lips replacing my nosrils. Since I wasn't doing a CLAMP-style skin (j/k ;P ), I had to make some major modifications and airbrushing in PS 6.0.
Using about 3 photographs and at least 15 layers of various facial elements, skin textures, and other bits and pieces from numerous images I needed to cut apart, reshape, and fill-in to fit the space provided by the original skin, I came up with my first version:
The one on the right is the real-life pic, in case it's hard to tell. I've been told the resemblance is uncanny. Now just to add some cool specs...
...And now it's definitely me. That right there is the best pic in the bunch, I think (the one on the left).
I also added some new faded bluejeans, based on the skin from the GTA3 guy, but they can't be seen in these shots. So then I added some minor dodge/burn changes to fix some oddities in the hair and chin...
That one's the sexiest of the bunch (the one on the right). Oh, and the one on the left isn't too bad either, considering it's the closest shot you can get in the game and the skins aren't technically high enough resolution to view at that distance.
Here's another comparison:
I must admit, playing Vice City as myself is fucking awesome. Few things can beat crusing down the 'Ave in a white '86 Mercedes SE-class, One Night in Bangkok blaring on the radio, and looking this fucking awesome.
Yeah, it's definitely fun.
