My general advice with character creation is to pick the preset with the nicest facial 'structure'. Eyes, noses, skin tone and dirt can all be changed, but it's a lot harder to change the face as a whole.
Other than that ... Just fiddle with the sliders and hope for the best!
If we were talking about Oblivion, my answer would be "You can't." Seriously, the game is great, but I've never seen uglier characters in any game EVER!
I sincerely have to disagree with you there.
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1418247-am-i-hot-or-not/
The Oblivion 'Hot or Not?' Thread has some stunning characters, both modded and vanilla. The thread is proof that Oblivion characters can be very beautiful!
