How can I create skins for a character in a game?

Question

Is there any software which enables that. My character needs to be realistic - like a real person. By skin I mean like a skin from Vice City. To the professionalists out there - can i animate as well?

Answer 1

It depends on the game. Some games will let you do it, some games won't (without advanced hacking techniques and reverse engineering).
Some are as simple as putting an image file in a certain folder, which will be used as the character's texture (like Vice City). Typically, each game will have its own rules as to what parts of the body should go where in the image, how the parts wrap around, etc.
Some game will even let you create full 3D models of new characters Unreal Tournament comes to mind in this regards.

As for animation - guess what? That, too, depends on the game. Quake 3, for example, allowed basic animation in skins. One of the default characters had an animated flame screen thingy on his arms and legs.

On a final note: unless you're adept at a proper graphics tool, like Photoshop or The Gimp, you're out of luck. Do feel free to do a web search for the millions of ready-made skins that may already exist for your game though.