time to yap
Now, there are a lot of differences between the new and old styles for skins, which isn't only the 'shading'. As a retired tailor, that's the last part to think of while making a skin. We can look into it color wise and structure wise.
COLOR WISE
This doesn't apply for every single SRP skin, but it's what most people use and what I've seen professional tailors do.
First of all, in the old style, the colors that were used the most for shadows and highlights were black and white, so the absence of light and complete light. You can see this for example in white clothing, where the shadows are completely gray. This applied for each color that was used in the skin. This isn't a problem BUT it does make the colors less appealing, since black, white and its gradients don't have saturation at all. Of course, using this type of color scheme is way easier since you don't have to worry about the colors too much (you're only using black and white, after all) , but that's also the reason why the new skins catch our eye more than the old ones. In the new shading, a lot of people use complementary colors for the shadows and the highlights: for those who don't know, complementary colors are those who are opposite to each other in the color wheel, like blue and yellow. In fact, these last 2 colors are the most used to shade nowadays. Let's take the white clothing example again: you can notice that in the new shading, the highlights are more yellow-ish and the shadows are blue-ish. You also might notice that red colors have purple shadows, which is the mix between red and guess what, blue!
Using these colors also leads to more saturation, which is what catches our eyes instantly. I've also seen some people use the base color but 50% more saturated for the highlights, which also works in some cases.
STRUCTURE WISE
There's not much to say about the actual placing of the pixels: the only thing I noticed is that in the old shading, the pixels were grouped into 'blocks' that left some spaces with absolutely no shading (like the arms), while in the new shading they're more scattered around.
The biggest difference is in the shading itself. The old one was very harsh and the color difference between one pixel and another was giant. For example, let's take a shadow in an old skin: the lightest pixel for the shadow is 10% darker than the base color, but the pixel right next to it is 30% darker. That's what I mean by harsh shading. In the new one, the color of the pixels are only slightly different, which makes the the skin look softer. (This applies both for highlights and shadows)
THE COMMUNITY
Now this was only a technical aspect of the SRP skins, but it's not the only thing that matters. It's also about the community itself. This kinda works like how trends work irl: when a certain amount of people or a character starts dressing a certain way or using something that is 'appealing', more and more people do too until it becomes trendy and until everyone's into it. That's called 'following the mass'. This also applies for our skins! (A side note, don't take the phrase 'following the mass' negatively, because it isn't.)
Both the old and new skins are beautiful in their own ways, we've just changed our preferences since that's how a community works. Back in the day, we saw that old shading just like we see our current skins now. In my opinion, it's not even fair to call the old shading 'ugly', a lot of people have to remember that it was the style everyone loved back in the day and I bet that the same people will call the current style ugly too in the future.
It's us who decide what's going to be trendy or not, but it still doesn't authorize us to decide what's considered ugly and what not. Every style is beautiful and it's just the flow that changes, but some people still can't get over that.
(This isn't directed to anyone and again, this is just a general thought of what is actually going on. If there are some mistakes don't hesitate to lmk)
Now, there are a lot of differences between the new and old styles for skins, which isn't only the 'shading'. As a retired tailor, that's the last part to think of while making a skin. We can look into it color wise and structure wise.
COLOR WISE
This doesn't apply for every single SRP skin, but it's what most people use and what I've seen professional tailors do.
First of all, in the old style, the colors that were used the most for shadows and highlights were black and white, so the absence of light and complete light. You can see this for example in white clothing, where the shadows are completely gray. This applied for each color that was used in the skin. This isn't a problem BUT it does make the colors less appealing, since black, white and its gradients don't have saturation at all. Of course, using this type of color scheme is way easier since you don't have to worry about the colors too much (you're only using black and white, after all) , but that's also the reason why the new skins catch our eye more than the old ones. In the new shading, a lot of people use complementary colors for the shadows and the highlights: for those who don't know, complementary colors are those who are opposite to each other in the color wheel, like blue and yellow. In fact, these last 2 colors are the most used to shade nowadays. Let's take the white clothing example again: you can notice that in the new shading, the highlights are more yellow-ish and the shadows are blue-ish. You also might notice that red colors have purple shadows, which is the mix between red and guess what, blue!
Using these colors also leads to more saturation, which is what catches our eyes instantly. I've also seen some people use the base color but 50% more saturated for the highlights, which also works in some cases.
STRUCTURE WISE
There's not much to say about the actual placing of the pixels: the only thing I noticed is that in the old shading, the pixels were grouped into 'blocks' that left some spaces with absolutely no shading (like the arms), while in the new shading they're more scattered around.
The biggest difference is in the shading itself. The old one was very harsh and the color difference between one pixel and another was giant. For example, let's take a shadow in an old skin: the lightest pixel for the shadow is 10% darker than the base color, but the pixel right next to it is 30% darker. That's what I mean by harsh shading. In the new one, the color of the pixels are only slightly different, which makes the the skin look softer. (This applies both for highlights and shadows)
THE COMMUNITY
Now this was only a technical aspect of the SRP skins, but it's not the only thing that matters. It's also about the community itself. This kinda works like how trends work irl: when a certain amount of people or a character starts dressing a certain way or using something that is 'appealing', more and more people do too until it becomes trendy and until everyone's into it. That's called 'following the mass'. This also applies for our skins! (A side note, don't take the phrase 'following the mass' negatively, because it isn't.)
Both the old and new skins are beautiful in their own ways, we've just changed our preferences since that's how a community works. Back in the day, we saw that old shading just like we see our current skins now. In my opinion, it's not even fair to call the old shading 'ugly', a lot of people have to remember that it was the style everyone loved back in the day and I bet that the same people will call the current style ugly too in the future.
It's us who decide what's going to be trendy or not, but it still doesn't authorize us to decide what's considered ugly and what not. Every style is beautiful and it's just the flow that changes, but some people still can't get over that.
(This isn't directed to anyone and again, this is just a general thought of what is actually going on. If there are some mistakes don't hesitate to lmk)