Here is the finished skin: http://www.planetminecraft.com/skin/space-explorer-3d-details/This is a timelapse of my space explorer skin being created. the timelapse was made by making the skin, then undoing everything, and finally holding down the redo key while recording.
I usually take about 2 hours to make a skin, although this one took closer to 3. It was made with gimp.

My thought process as i made it was this:
1. mark out the armor, and do some basic shading around the edges.
2. For the fire/jetback, i wanted to give the skin more than just blue plates over everything.
3. finally, i decided raise the contrast and add a little 3d edge shading, so it seems more "shiny"

Hope you Enjoy!
Depending on the reception I may be posting more of these, but in any case lots are already up on my youtube channel, so check that out, it also has lots of video tutorials on texture pack creation!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Sumpumpolis