Skinmasters #11 WinGNOME-XP

Welcome to Skinmasters! A series of interviews with top graphic designers and skinners on deviantART.

The eleventh interview of the series features an artist who's skins you all will surely know. It's a pleasure to interview him. The famous Skinner/Themer I am talking about is of course WinGNOME-XP

Jamie aka :devwingnome-xp and now aka jg-visuals (dude get's around ) is a name I've come to quite well here on DA due to his contributions to the skinning community. He has made some great skins and themes. You should definitely check out his works! I've selected a few of my favourites for your viewing


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b>Hello Jamie. Let's start with the introduction first ok? Can you tell us a little about yourself? ie name, age, location etc</b>

Let me start off by saying thanks for this oppurunity and how humbled & honroured I am to be considered for this interview.  Well my name is Jamie Green & I reside in the great white north otherwise known as Canada.   (Sudbury, Ontario to be exact)  
I've been described as a paranoid schizophrenic who's bipolar & a manic depressive, but I took my meds today so all is well.


Living in Canada would do that to you DAMN, my boss is canadian. CANADA ROCKS . Tell us all when you started tinkering with skins and themes. Your name suggests you didn't start on windows.

Well I first got turned on to the whole 'gnome' scene after coming across the awesome tango patcher by ~vertigosity on another forum I used to frequent. Although there was some great ports out there (namely by ~hsn, ~schmoove  &  ~FioreSSj) I still craved more so instead of being a whinny baby & requesting for certain styles I set about doing some myself.
The name is pretty self explanatory, and I thought it would be easy to recognize & remember.


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I love it when people start do stuff for themselves. It benefits everyone when someone starts creating and learning, instead of requesting. You mentioned a few names there I know. Is there anyone else your a fan of today?

Aside from the aforementioned I was a fan of b0se, kol, OmART & rob-louw.  Today I've kind of moved on from the 'WinGnome' personna and am a fan of artists such as heylove, aMADme, Nevezen, & naalo to name a few.


Ah yes, some good names there for sure with some very distinct styles . Would you say you had a preffered style?

From my gallery you would guess I am a total gnome head, but my current desktops reflect a more minimalistic/retro feel which I've been fine tuning as of late. (For those wondering of my absence continue reading)


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Gnome, minimalistic and retro are definitely perfect desciptions for you How do you go about creating these styles or any skin?

Each skin is different.  For the ports I've done I tried to stay true to the skin yet throw my own personal style or twist into it while staying in the boundaries/limitations of the Windows XP skinning engine.  Some more ambitious projects I've planned have never come to fruition based on these limitations.  So what starts off as ideas eventually dwindle down to what is practical/possible within these 'boundaries'.  In the future I may move to SkinStudio i.e. windowblinds to enable easier porting to Microsoft's current OS 'Vista' and possibly provide some much needed minamilstic skins to it.


Hmmm, you don't just have to use windowblinds and skinstudio to skin vista. You should keep an eye out for my next newsletter to find out what I mean How long would you say it takes to you to finish a skin?

I had a system going with the ports which really diminished the time in creating them & in doing so I became very familiar with the inner workings of Stylebuilder & ResEdit.  With the originals it all depends on the preparation & how ambitious I'm feeling.  Many of my skins have plenty to offer in terms of variety, for example the amount of sub-styles, colors, task-bar configs & font choices.


I know how development can be sometimes tripled in time when adding additional sub-styles. You offer a lot so it must take you ages. If you're like me, I can start a skin and then go into complete creators block with it. I end up with loads of different unfinished works and keep trying to come back to them. Is this something you have to deal with?

We wont even go there. Needless to say I feel your pain, the unfinished stuff I haven't released is....  


Creators block FTW So does that mean you have any work in progress?

You heard it here first, (unless you're one of my watchers that is) I plan on moving accounts with my next release. jg-visuals. An ambitious project entitled 'Retrofukation'.  There's some big names involved with it.  I've went back to the drawing board and have started on my first complete set of icons which will be the basis & backbone for the project. It will include Visual Styles, Icons, Stylers, Winamps, & a very cool collection of Wallpapers created by some of the top artists here on deviantART.  Stay tuned to the new account for progress, news & details.


Let's hope the switch goes well and your recognised quickly for your new name. I look forward to seeing good stuff from you Luckily your in the best place. Has deviatART been an influence to you? How big was that influence?

In terms of desktop customizing it's been a major influence. I've met many cool like minded people here and have had, for the most part, a very rewarding experience.


Let's hope you have more There is of course people out there that would like to be in your position. Any advice for those that are wanting to start and create their own skins?

I'll use the cliche, just do it.  Take some of your favorite skins out there dissect them and become familiar with the tools. Start with small modifications and once you are more comfortable move up to originals and release. Take the feedback you get and cipher the constructive criticisms out and use them to improve yourself.  Mostly do what makes you happy, but for God's sake please no more VISTA MODS!!!

Agreed, especially on the damn vista mods. The 2nd one ever made is exactly the same as the 160th one made. I would rather see there talent in a unique skin, than tweaking the standard OS of a widely available OS. Anyway, I digress hehe. You obviously have a passion for GUI, is there anything else you are a fan of when your not at your computer?  


I am a huge music fan, I play many instruments but guitar is my true passion. I enjoy creating, playing as well as listening to it.


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AWWW It's time to go. Thank you Jamie. I wish you all the best of luck for the future and look forward to seeing something new from you soon Have you got any final words you would like to add?

I just want to say thank you the awesome deviants out there for the support in the form of 's & comments.  I had a lot of fun as WinGnome-XP and hope to bring you some classics in the future as jg-visuals on my new account.  Keep an eye on the 1 year anniversary of my joining here & stay tuned.

Also thanks again Stephen, I mean Mr. Gallery Director.  BTW can I take this oppurtunity to request a dd for my most faved work NiteLite XP + Modpack? CIAO 4 NOW!

I will award it a DD as soon as I've finished awarding my entire gallery them


Thank you,
Stephen aka mrrste