How to Get Your Skins into CS2

How to Get Your Skins Added to Counter-Strike - Header Image — How to Get Your Skins into CS2

The CS2 Workshop isn’t just a goldmine of awesome content; it’s an opportunity for aspiring visual artists to create a gun skin that could end up being added in-game, earning money from Valve for its use in Counter-Strike. Over the years, several excellent skin creators like Coridium, Puffin, and G99-Factory have emerged from the Steam Workshop and created multiple iconic designs now featured in the game.

Joining them is not an easy task, as the Workshop is full of amazing skins that haven’t been picked up by Valve yet. But if graphic design is unironically your passion and you have the time to create some skins, here’s a guide on how to get your skins into CS2.

Step 1: Create the Skin

While we can’t tell you how to create the perfect skin, we can give you the rundown of the technical requirements for a skin to be submitted into the Workshop. Here’s what you’ll need:

Get Some Image Editing Software

You probably already know this, but in case you don’t—you won’t go far if you’re unable to edit the image. That’s why you’ll need an image editor. GIMP is perhaps the best free version, but the Adobe Creative Cloud suite is probably your best bet for the highest quality skins, with creators using Photoshop, Illustrator, and Substance Painter 3D to get the best results.

Install CS2 Workshop Tools

The next step is to download the CS2 Workshop Tools. You can do this through the Game Options menu by right-clicking the game on Steam and going to Add-Ons. The Editor will allow you to export skins, create your own design, and apply it to any gun.

Pick Your Finish

Finishes are an important part of every CS gun, with different finishes providing different features to your skin. The most popular styles among creators are the Custom Paint Job and Gunsmith finishes, as they give the most creative liberties to the designer. However, if you want to go for something more minimal, the other finishes are absolutely an option, as they allow you to play around with various patterns and visual tricks and effects.

The finishes available are:

Solid Color – A one-color design. For example, the Glock 18 | Candy Apple.
Spray-Paint – A finish styled for a stenciled and sprayed-on look. For example, the MAG-7 | Firestarter.
Hydrographic – Based on a real process where parts of the gun are dipped in a tank containing film with the patterns, applying them to it. For example, the AWP | BOOM.
Anodized – A shiny, single-color skin with a “candy coat,” like the MP9 | Hot Rod.
Anodized Multicolor – The same as above, but with more than one color in the design, bringing awesome images to life, for example, the MP9 | Rose Iron.
Anodized Airbrush – The same as Anodized skins, but the multicolored coat is styled to look like an airbrush. For example, the Desert Eagle | Blaze.
Patina – Simulating a chemical reaction, it creates an additional shell over the metallic parts of a gun. For example, the Glock-18 | Bunsen Burner.
Custom Paint Job – Simply allows you to create whatever you want on the skin. The simplest and most popular style for community creations, for example, the AWP | Hyper Beast.
Gunsmith – Combines the shine of the Patina with the customization of the Custom Paint Job, allowing you to simulate depth with your skin, creating intricate 3D-like designs, for example, the AK-47 | Legion of Anubis.

Start Working

Now you know the basics. Follow the guide on the Counter-Strike website or check out the detailed book at overpay.guide. Once you’re ready, create, create, create! A good idea is to create different color variants of each skin you design. That way, you avoid losing a great design if Valve is looking for a different palette. Also, remember that you can only use your own designs. Do not steal other people’s work, lest you end up like the infamous creator of the M4A4 Howl. Once you’re happy with your creation, show it to some people. They’ll give you invaluable feedback that will help you perfect the skin before you show it to the world. Once everyone tells you it’s nice, then the hard work really begins.

What Should You Consider When Creating Your Skins?

Valve likes a variety of styles and hasn’t really avoided any of late. However, it’s important to consider that your weapon should either stand out very much or look kind of low-key while still standing out. If you look at Valve’s selection process, it’s clear that they select the absolutely stunning skins for Covert skins, while Mil-Specs, for example, are usually far less vibrant and detailed while still being very much vibey and fun. Collection-fillers are often straight-up generic. Creating those is still a talent.

What we’ve noticed is that creating collections for various weapons might be beneficial, as Valve is big on adding similar weapons together, as was the case with the Asiimov, Cyrex, and Hyper Beast. If you have a cool design, test it out on a bunch of weapons to get the best chance.

This means that your collections should be themed, varied in complexity and “fun factor,” while keeping an original concept. We know! Easier said than done; that’s why we write blogs and don’t design Counter-Strike skins.

Step 2: Submit Your Skin

We joke, of course, but the truth is the submission isn’t just as simple as rendering out your skin and sending it to the Workshop. You have to promote it, making it look appealing, using your friends to tell people about it, and posting it on various subreddits. There’s a lot of work to do here. The goal isn’t to get the most upvotes but to make sure the skin is noticed by the Valve mods… and then it’s just… waiting. For example, the P250 | Apep’s Curse from Apel8 had to wait three years to be included in-game.

Right now, creating memorable skins for the SG 553 might be your best bet, as the gun has the fewest Workshop submissions at 404 and not too many skins in CS2 itself with 34. That’s a good marker of some growth potential for future cases.

Step 3: Profit?

Workshop submissions are a lot of work, but the rewards can be immense. With Valve giving you a percentage of the earnings from the skin, you can expect anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for your work.

Valve has also organized contests in the past, with pretty impressive cash rewards for the winners. The 2022 Dreams & Nightmares contest, for instance, which gave us the case of the same name, had a prize pool of $1.7 million! 17 skins were selected, meaning that each winner received a $100,000 prize. Nothing to sniff at, eh?

Of course, there’s a risk, but if you work on them as a hobby, it can be an unexpected bonus and absolutely life-changing money. We wouldn’t bet our house on this, but if you like creating weapons anyway… why not try in CS2?

That’s all for this one! What are your favorite Workshop submissions? Perhaps you want to promote some of your own? Let us know on our socials!

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