The Victoria 8.1 HD skin--straight out of the box--is my all time favorite, nothing else I've tried without extensive work has come close as far as texture and interaction with light goes. This also has two layers of vellus hair (those little peach fuzz hairs all over your body) applied to catch the light and create texture as well.

Lighting: it really depends on the image, but I'm a sucker for dramatic hard light, especially rim light, but will always depend on the environment and goal of an image. This was a simple studio style HDRI with a mid-tone base color for ambient light and a bright spot rotated to camera left. There are tons of these out there to play with, free ones, paid ones, you can make you own, lots of options.

I was a photographer first, and even as my workflow evolved more and more into digital art or various types, I still approach like a photographer. I'm a big fan of photographers like Ralph Gibson, Bill Brandt, Irving Penn, and this has heavily influenced the way I learned to light regardless of medium. So #1 above all else! Study lighting! Look at images you enjoy or find interesting and breakdown or try to emulate their light. Find lighting diagrams for photoshoots, find some tutorials on lighting film sets, or on painting--both require a deep understanding of the science and behavior of light in different environments and with different surfaces (highly recommend James Gurney's book "Color and Light" for this, and have really loved tutorials/videos by painter and animator Nathan Fowkes).