Does anyone have any advice on how to design a good minecraft skin?

I have tried designing them but they seem to lack detail. Could someone give me some advice on how to add the detail? I don't have photoshop or anything. I use the editors online.

I used MCSkin-3D to create a couple of skins, one as an (Efflandt) elephant, and another as a cave spider hoping they would ignore me if I looked like them (nah). Athough, that was awhile ago before they added the ability to use separate left/right arms and legs (those skins still work).

How well they turn out depends how good of an artist you are. You can start with a Steve or other skin and modify the colors on that. Save them as you work on them, so if you make a mistake that does not look right, you can go back to an earlier version of the skin you are working on without having to start from scratch.

http://www.minecraftforum.net/...-mcskin-3d