Personally I think that is an excellent Corran Horn you sell yourself a little short. As a matter of fact I may be stealing your design. I have just started reading
"I, Jedi" and he is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters. And that is usually followed up by a custom or 2.
As far as my first custom, to tell you the truth Ive been customising in one way or another my entire life. When I was 10, I massacred several vintage SW, and G.I.Joe figs into the characters from 'V'. Im not proud of the figures I chose now, and beleive me you dont want to know.
but my first modern SW fig was Commander Cody. and I did him just before the movie came out. I had finally given up on the modern Joe line, which is what I hjad been customising before then. SW presented a new challenge, the figures couldnt be unscrewed and taken apart like joes there was a certain amount of skill involved. I've only recently begun swapping limbs and such, and I'm loving every minute of it.
Ive also found more online freinds that customise SW, the old joe crowd just wasnt that enthusiastic about it.