Summarize:

In Minecraft, skins are essentially pieces of paper folded around your character to change its appearance. You can edit the color of pixels, or little squares, to make designs, outfits, and costumes. You are limited to editing individual squares, and cannot make complex curves or shapes. Skin editors simplify this process by letting you “paint” your design right onto your character. A quick internet search for “Minecraft Skin Maker” will reveal a host of sites that let you make your own skins.  Some popular sites include MCSkinner, SkinEdit, Minecraftskins, Novaskin, and Minecraft Skin Editor. While very difficult, you can make a custom skin without an editor in Microsoft Paint or Photoshop. This takes careful precision to fit perfectly on your character. You can design almost anything, from astronauts, pirates, and monsters to a version of yourself. The editor will automatically turn your image into a skin, so have fun and be creative. Some sites let your upload your skin directly to Minecraft, but most require that you save the skin and add it to your character yourself. If you want to tweak someone else’s design, or you want to change your own, open the .png file in a photo editor like Photoshop. Here, you can change the colors or edit the pattern. You must stay within the boundaries of the skin, or the skin will not fit your Minecraft character. The site paint.net lets you edit skins with ease. Use the same username and password you used to register for the game to log onto the website. This is your personalized page where you can edit your account. You can navigate directly to www.minecraft.net/profile instead. Click on your homemade skin and press “Upload.” Wait for a confirmation message before continuing. If you already have Minecraft open, restart it. Don’t forget to hit F5 to change your view and see your skin. If you have not updated Minecraft since version 1.3, you will not see your new skin. Update your version of Minecraft to the latest edition to make sure you can see the fruits of your labor. As of May 27, 2015, the newest edition of Minecraft for PC is 1.8.
Understand how skins work. Navigate to a “skin customizer” online. Use the pre-made colors and accessories to make a custom skin. Save the skin as a .png file. Alternatively, customize pre-made skins in a photo editor. Log on at Minecraft.net. Click on the “Profile” tab at the top of the page. Click on “Browse” and select your skin. Start Minecraft to see your new skin. Remember that the earliest versions of Minecraft do not allow skin changes.