That has to be one of the cutest Avatars I've ever seen!

BTW the link isn't working.

Anyone want to be a guinea pig?  I'll send you brushes - if you give me feedback.  At the worst you may end up with brushes you don't want - at the best, you'll be getting some pretty cool brushes for free.

I'm working on dynamic flame brushes - so far I am very close to achieving it.  What version Photoshop do you use?  Or if you use PSP - let me know too.

There are several posts on the SecondLife forums regarding this.  Although there are several ways to create skins.  Your best bet would be to search those forums and find tutorials on digital painting - as creating skins is very similar.

Here are a few links:

http://olilas-secondlife.com/2007/12/tutorials/skin-tutorial-part-1-skintexture/

http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_3/makingof_hecate/hecate_01.asp

http://www.secondskinlabs.com/Downloads/downloads4.html

http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=246059

Basically there are two ways to make a skin for SecondLife or any 3D avatar - you either paint it by hand or you use photographs and manipulate the heck out of them and use photoshop to blend together.  You might want to look up tutorials on using the hue/sat controls or channel mixer.  I personally like using adjustment layers to do the skin tones.  Hope these help.

So I guess for the most part - Poser is a hobbist/enthusiest tool?  I work in ZBrush and 3DS max - I've used poser for preliminary animatics or storyboards and some small pieces of animation.  I would love to get more into character design and the like (I'm pretty good at modeling and sculpting in ZBrush and Max) - but alas my brain is already as full capacity and I have no time machine to freeze time so that I can learn another program to its full extent.  I just have to say that some of the pieces I've seen are really great and I hope that I can contribute to such a rich field of work.

Thanks for answering everyone!

I usually use an inner glow or drop shadow with 1or 2 pixels out and 15-30% opacity.  Also, duplicating the cloud layer and using a color overlay on the bottom layer will also produce nice results.  It depends on the background and the image you are trying to produce.  Clouds can be tricky.  If you bought brushes you should query the seller and see if they have any advice.