I can make an awesome looking Orc, Dunmer, or Nord, but every time I try to play another human race, I give up in the character creator. I usually pick one of the least ugly presets and go from there, but with little success. Any tips? I just gave up trying to make a Breton male.

I usually just make the base design for my character in CG, and then put in the finishing touches with the face sculptor in Riften(after I've seen my character in game and I have a better idea of what I want him/her to look like).

When you pick a preset, do you look at the overall impression with warpaint and everything, or do you look at the actual shape of the face?

I don't have any tips for male Bretons (only made females), but in general, I strip the presets from paint, scars, beard (for males) and so on. Actually, it doesn't really matter which one you choose, messing with the sliders can theoretically make them all look the same in the end.

I set the screen to brightest, pick a hairstyle that's neutral and not in the way, and then I start. And it takes a while. About an hour isn't uncommon. I play with sliders, go back and change small things - if I make a longer chin, I might need to change the jaw and cheekbones and eye height. Changing the mouth height (which makes the mouth look very different sometimes) might lead to having to change the nose length. And so on.

I set the screen back to normal before choosing colors, shading around the eyes and things like that.

I'm on console, so I take photos of the sliders (making sure to look out for the ones that jump around when scroll up and down), and then I check myself out all through Helgen , since they tend to look a bit different in the actual game:
One of my Imperials in http://m1073.photobucket.com/albumview/albums/Auroratiger/Skyrim/Arkas1.jpg.html?o=22 and in http://m1073.photobucket.com/albumview/albums/Auroratiger/Skyrim/Arkas3.jpg.html?o=23.

I've learned a lot about face sculpting by creating a few of http://www.truancyfactory.com/mods/skyrim/skyrim_characters.html.