TeddyHey Sven. It's nice to see more people learning how to create skins.

I've posted this same message in a few other threads, so you may have seen it before. Nevertheless, I think it will benefit you.

I suggest reading through a few tutorials, downloading McSkin3D (or SkinEdit if you own a Mac) and experimenting.
McSkin3D/SkinEdit is great because you can see the physical model and what the skin will look like. It also has guide-lines so you don't accidentally end up misplacing certain pixels.

Here are a few links to start you off.

Mcskin3D, http://www.planetminecraft.com/mod/mcskin3d/

SkinEdit (if you own a Mac, or just prefer a simpler program), http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/379 ... a-3-pre-7/

Sneeze7's 'Where to Shade' tutorial, http://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/sne ... -tutorial/

RipClaw's 'How to Palette Shade a Skin' tutorial, http://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/how ... n-contest/

The_Soup's Colour Picking Guide, 'Palettes and Hue Shifting' tutorial, http://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/tut ... -shifting/

As you progress, you will start to flesh out your own style. Every single skinner has their own style and it's good to download their skins and study how they place pixels, how they pick colours, where shades and highlights are, etc.

Here are a few people who have drastically different styles, but are all amazing skinners;

http://www.planetminecraft.com/member/the_soup/
http://www.planetminecraft.com/member/peytonisgreat
http://www.planetminecraft.com/member/leostereo
http://www.planetminecraft.com/member/lilfella
http://www.planetminecraft.com/member/dollars
http://www.planetminecraft.com/member/sneeze7/
http://www.planetminecraft.com/member/halucid/
http://www.planetminecraft.com/member/cipher_punk/
http://www.planetminecraft.com/member/oldeagle

(These are just a few. There are many wonderful skinners on this site and I'm sure you can learn from them)

You can also PM a certain skinner you admire and ask them for advice. Usually they'll have a few good tips for you.

Remember - always experiment. You can keep improving. Practice makes perfect and sometimes skins may not go the way you want. But don't let that get you down.

Hopefully this gives you a wider insight on skinning and pixel art in general.
I look forward to seeing you progress.

-Teddy.