Skin Development - Lucrative?

I wanted to get an idea of what you guys think about doing skin development for [enter your favorite CRM(s) here] on a full-time basis. I noticed there are some individuals/companies out there that focus completely on this (whether via a third-party or their own website), but I can't tell if it's something that would be profitable on it's own, especially considering there are already so many of them out there. Any thoughts?

No one has any opinions on this?

Are you talking about the graphical side of development? If so, then as I was discussing it with Chris (a.k.a. cpr), some applications are in dire need of great designers. For example, take vBulletin. It is an awesome application, but at any given time there are too few shops who can produce brilliant designs. In any software niche, there are plenty of just average and typical production type of designs that are not pleasing to look at.

So if you are great at that, I say, why not. Pick a couple of applications that are popular, learn them inside out, and if you produce phenomenal work, I am quite certain you will be in demand.

It can certainly be lucrative as with all things though, you have to be good at it.

If you focus on a certain system and really get under it's skin, people will find you. It also really pays to stay up to date with the latest beta's If you could offer potential customers support for the newest features, you'll always have an edge on your competitor.

I agree with the answers that were already given. What I would add is to research on the software platform that does not have a lot of designs yet so that you don't have to compete with other designers.

I skin Wordpress as my job. The money isn't awesome but I work for a popular company so I get jobs constantly. It's definitely lucrative. My average project is north of $500

Originally Posted by Magnus I skin Wordpress as my job. The money isn't awesome but I work for a popular company so I get jobs constantly. It's definitely lucrative. My average project is north of $500

That is definitely lucrative if you are gaining $500 a month. How many designs do you need to make to get for such projects? What design software is perfectly suited for this kind of job?

Originally Posted by freeme That is definitely lucrative if you are gaining $500 a month. How many designs do you need to make to get for such projects? What design software is perfectly suited for this kind of job?

I make more than $500 a month. And no, my job is turning other people's designs into html/css and then into Wordpress. Wordpress is a very popular CMS not only for blogs but for content managing normal sites, so web firms use it then source the backend coding to me. I'm like a subcontractor. I wouldn't call it lucrative, at best I could earn a middle class wage but projects a lot of the time end up going out of scope and the deadlines are usually unrealistic. I'm trying to make the transition into a full time web developer with real clients for myself. It's difficult though.