Minecraft’s modding community has been around since the inception of the game itself, and remains strong with promised support from the developer, Notch. The world of Minecraft Texture Packs is far too large to be contained in a simple must-have mod list, so it gets it's very own.
#12 Eldpack
Minecraft brings out artists from everywhere. Eldcraft, in particular, is made by a professional video game artist Jonatan Pöljö. Though the world of Minecraft is a world of flat cubes, amazingly Eldpack gives it a 3D look without the use of outside mods. The level of detail within its textures shows a lot of love.
#11 Glimmar's Steampunk
This is by far one of the best texture packs out there; the level of detail is mindblowing and there are nearly 700 variations of textures available for use. Nothing has been forgotten or left behind and it even comes with support for other mods. There's enough clockwork gears in this pack to choke an iron horse. There's even clockwork mobs! To anyone who is a fan of both Minecraft and Steampunk, this is a necessary mod.
#10 JohnSmith
A medieval style pack with an RPG flavor, JohnSmith's pack is another well loved Texture Pack. It comes equipped with a customizer, so you can create your own unique version of his pack. It also works with other mods.
#9 Doku
Doku's been a long time favorite in the Minecraft community for his texture packs. Starting with Doku's RPG, he's finished up with Doku Craft. His pack comes in three flavors. High, Light and Dark. With a style reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, it's hard to see why you would want to use anything else. It’s also available with mod support. Unfortunately there will be no continued support with this pack so if you fall in love with this pack you will have to keep an eye open for continued fan versions. Thankfully, the community is full of talent and we're likely to see textures in the same style and quality, like what happened with Doku's RPG.
#8 Painterly
Rhodox’s (of Something Awful) Painterly Pack is out of this world in terms of content. Rhodox's website offers literally thousands of different variations of the Minecraft blocks, resulting in infinite combinations of texture packs for everyone to enjoy. He also provides artwork for a number of Minecraft mods, allowing you to keep your textures uniform. This isn't an example of quality vs. quantity though—there's real artwork in his texture pack. There are even holiday themes when you find yourself in a snowy biome and feel struck with the inspiration to build Santa's Workshop.
#7 LB Photo Realism
With the goal of making Minecraft look as realistic as possible, this mod certainly hits the mark. Using it with the GLSL shader mod will blow you away. You'll probably forget you're in a world where everything is a cube.
#6 Ovo's Rustic Pack
Amazingly, this texture pack is hand painted. And yes, it tiles as it should! This particular style creates a very soft world, making any castle seem cozy and well-worn.
#5 SMP Revival
SMP is an old face in the Minecraft texture pack community, making a number of well loved packs. Over time, he's learned more and more about pixel art and he's left those old packs behind to make this one. Visually speaking, this pack is loaded with texture, and is reminiscent of other familiar packs while still standing out on it's own. It certainly helps that he has his own art collection for the pack too, which many others tend to leave out altogether.
#4 Soartex
Created by Soartex, this 64×64 sized pack is a work of art. Unfortunately, a lot of larger resolution texture packs are harsh to look at. In contrast, everything looks very soft in this one. If one could take a moment to imagine if Minecraft with this texture pack as a tangible object, the world would feel like a well worn and loved t-shirt. Though his English is poor, it's good to know he spends most of his time working on things as lovely as this, rather than on learning how to speak another language.
#3 Misa's Realistic
Another pack made by someone driven for realism, Misa's pack is a clear success if you can get past the square animals. It’s very popular for people who are looking to get more out of their packs. It even comes with support for several popular mods.
#2 Frenden
Another cute and friendly looking texture pack made by the artist Ray Frenden http://frenden.com/, this pack is colorful, warm and vibrant.
#1 Jolicraft
Jolicraft's cute, whimsical and original design makes it stand out from the rest. With it's fresh, celery colored flora and original paintings, it would be unfair to not include this. Made by professional artist André Jolicoeur, whose website is available here http://www.andrejolicoeur.com/index.html. His chunky, silly and youthful artwork makes Minecraft come alive in a fresh, new way. It even comes with a customizer. Jolicraft
