This guide contains tips and tricks for making eye-pleasing avatars. This information can be applied to many different avatar styles. (The tips apply no matter the outfit cost. Your budget is up to you.)
Click the spoiler buttons. The examples are hidden within spoiler tags to save space.
Yes! Like that.
Don’t agree with this guide? That’s fine. ^ ___^ Dress your however you want.
Have any questions, suggestions or comments? Please post (or send me a PM)! This guide has been shaped by user input over the years.
★ Are you new to Gaia? Welcome! If you need help with the mechanics of how to obtain items, dress your avatar, and create dream avatars please check out this guide: [Newbie Avatar Guide]
★ This guide (the one you're about to read) is a giant wall of text. Want a more streamlined guide? Check out [Q&D Guide]. It has a more direct approach to creating your outfit.
★ One last thing. Looking for the old guide? This guide has had many iterations over the years. The last update has brought the biggest change to date. If you miss the old one, you can find a copy of it here:
§► INDEX
Introduction
Index
Synopsis
Character - Expression, Details
Shape - Outline, Body Mod Items
Flow (Part One) - Color Balance
Flow (Part Two) - Texture
Matching
Originality
Example Styles
Example One
Example Two
Bookkeeping - Models, Updates, Banners, Affiliates
intro ★ index ★ synopsis ★ shape ★ balance ★ flow1 ★ flow2 ★ originality ★ character ★ matching ★ styles ★ example1 ★ example2 ★ final notes
Here's a quick sheet of the rules. The topics will be fleshed out further in the following posts.
These are generic guidelines. There are always exceptions to the rules. Do what makes sense to you. Good avatars are a mix of these concepts.
Note: These guidelines have existed for years. OP does not claim to have created them.
• • •• PLEASING SHAPE
★ Avatars are more appealing when the overall shape is not too cluttered, doesn't have odd things sticking out everywhere and isn't too bulky at the top.
★ You'll also want to consider using body mod items. While not necessary and more limiting, these items are currently the height of fashion. They also help form an appealing overall shape. Be sure that the torso matches the legs. Nothing's worse than legs that are walking to the left, while the torso/arms are stiffly angled to the right.
• • •• FLOW
★ The items all have to agree and work with each other, ya dig? Items all have different patterns, textures and colors that can clash. Unless this is perfectly planned out, you usually look like a walking disaster when your items clash.
★ Distribute colors/shades evenly around an avatar. You don't necessarily have to match (though that helps). Even non-matching avatars have balance. Don't have a ton of light blue items at the head with only a speck of light blue at the feet. It ruins the flow, man.
• • •• CHARACTER
★ Make your avatar expressive. Your avatar can be angry, haughty, bored, happy, crying, whatever. If done right, a plain face can look expressive. That will be hard to achieve when you're new to creating avatars. So, for now, go as expressive as possible.
★ Stick to your theme. All avatars have some sort of theme: matching, non-matching, realistic, pirate, apathy, etc.
★ It's all in the details. Polish off your look. Remember to add items like makeup, glasses, jewelry, belts, etc. Hold an item. Add only what makes sense. This doesn't mean that you clutter every possible accessory onto the avatar.
• • •• ORIGINALITY
★ This is a big one if you're into asking others to rate your avatar. If you don't care at all what others think about your avatar, ignore this.
★ Putting together sets is seen as boring and not creative. It doesn't matter how much gold/cash you had to spend to create your look. It's not about the journey; it's about the destination. All you did was combine items that were made to go together. Big whoop. You'll get no points for creativity.
★ Using popular color schemes can sometimes come across as unoriginal since you look like everyone else. For that same reason, pairing overly popular items can also seem unoriginal.
Character is an intangible concept that varies from avatar to avatar. It's mostly a matter of having a complete, finished look. (Duh, right?) Avatars don't always need to have a theme to have character. However, the amount of character does increase with amount of theme (and amount of features that bolster that theme).
Character can be achieved in many ways. While your avatar doesn't need a full backstory, an interesting avatar often tells its own story.
• • •• FACIAL EXPRESSION
It's self-explanatory. It's adding detail... to your face. Let your avatar express emotion. Use items like contacts, face mods, mouths, noses, facial jewelry, glasses, moles, makeup, etc to obtain the desired expression.
Facial expression can range from very simple to very emotive.
Facial expression is one of the most important concepts. Look around the forums and flash spaces at avatars you like. Cover the avatar's face and take a look at the rest of the outfit. Often, it's the avatar's face that makes it look good. The rest of the avatar will look crappy. (They should’ve read this guide. ;D)
Here are various avatars that make good use of expression. Notice how the facial expression defines the character.
Heck, you can often throw a great face on a crappy avatar and it will look polished. Exhibit A: Crappy Avatar. (It'll grow on you. I promise.)
See what I told you? The avatar goes from looking like a newbie's closet threw up to looking rather polished. The moral of the story is that you can forget everything this thread will teach you as long as your avatar has an interesting face. Seriously. Don't tell anyone I told you that or I'll be out of a job. ;D
• • •• DETAILS
Pay attention to the details. This is especially important for themed and cosplay avatars. The details will help people recognize the persona you're trying to achieve.
In non-themed avatars, adding details often means just filling space with accessory items. The amount of accessories added will vary depending on how simple or complex the avatar is. It's not always about loading your avatar with accessories. A simplistic avatar can also have impact.
However, I'm a fan of filling space with small details like small hair accessories, glasses, necklaces, bracelets, rings, belts, anklets, tattoos, etc. Those accessories elevate an avatar from incomplete to complete.
The following avatars have dotted their Is and crossed their Ts. Details have been added. Note for the themed avatars have accessories that bolster their theme. The non-themed avatars have filled in space (added texture) by adding accessories.
• • •• FURTHER COMMENTS
★ On a budget? Buying makeup, scars, moles, freckles, eyes, noses, mouths, facial jewelry, etc can really add up and cost a ton. In some cases, using a ready-made face can be a cheaper option than buying separate items.
This might sound funny at first, but the overall shape of your avatar matters.
I'm going to be honest here - I can't give you a formula to follow for this one. Some shapes are pleasing to the eye. Other shapes come off as haphazard, cluttery (in a wrong way), uncoordinated and/or awkward. (Please don't lose faith in this guide! At least not yet.)
What I can give you is a rule of thumb to follow. Make the avatar compact. Don’t have too many bits and pieces that jut out or float around your avatar sporadically. The closer all items hug your avatar, the better.
However, sometimes it’s good to have an item (sword, scarf, wings, tail, etc) stick out here and there to create a better overall shape. And, heck, a few butterflies or sparkles won't hurt either. Just use it in moderation. Don't haphazardly pile on a lot of random items of all shapes and colors.
If items do stick out from or float around the avatar, don't leave too much white space in between the item and your avatar. When in doubt, use a background item that ties in with your theme to help fill in the gaps.
Here are some examples of "compact" avatars. I put the word "compact" in quotes because the term is used loosely. Notice that most of the items hug the avatar's frame. If items extend from the avatar, part of those items still touch the avatar.
These avatars make good use of background items and other various bulky items. Items extend from the avatar, but they generally touch the avatar or are otherwise not distracting.
The following avatars are examples of what to avoid. The background items are busy. The avatars would look more pulled together without them.
• • •• BODY MODIFICATION ITEMS
Body mod items replace the avatar arms and legs with … other arms and legs. Use this to your advantage. The default bases can often look awkward. Craft your avatar into something that has a nice shape.
Use body mods that match your theme. Add beefy arms to a hunky lifeguard or skinny legs to achieve the ultimate skinny jeans. Sit in the corner and snuggle with your video game or jump in the air to cheer on your team. These are ways that body mod items can enhance your overall look in a way that the default arms and legs might not be able to do.
Be sure to use body mods that create a pleasing shape for your avatar. Remember to match the torso to the legs. If the legs are running to the left, the arms and torso shouldn’t be held stiffly at the right. You know, unless you’re making a twisted joke…
The following avatars use body mod items. Notice how the mods enhance the overall theme. Notice the interesting silhouettes. Notice how arm and leg length make sense. And notice how the motion of the arms, legs, torso all agree.
The following avatars are examples of how body mods can go wrong. Arm and leg length may not agree. The motion of the arms and legs might not agree.
This is an example of how small tweaks can bring avatars out of the pre-mod era and into the current era.
Pay heed to the length of arms and legs. Try to keep arm and leg length in proportion.
• • •• FURTHER COMMENTS
★ Body mods have become an expected standard now that there are so many options available. In fact, using body mods can now mean the difference between an avatar that looks noobish and not. (Body mod items are not necessary, they're just common. Awesome avatars can be and are crafted without them.)
★ Many body mods give the avatars tiny feet. Don't like that? Don't worry! Gaia also has body mod items that change the angle (and/or shape) of the legs and feet without compromising size. They exist. I promise.
★ The length of arms and legs should be proportionate. One exception to this is a style in which legs are extended to an extreme length, often very skinny.
★ This guide used to give a talk about mass balance. It used to warn users to avoid avatars that were too top or bottom heavy because they looked awkward. Now, I won't take that back. They did (and still do) look awkward. However, I personally haven't seen many avatars in the past few years with this issue. I believe that body mods solved a lot of it. But still, avoid avatars that look like they're about to tip over because the bottom can't hold up the weight of the top. Please.
★ For more tips on body mod items that exist, please check out this guide:
Colors should be evenly distributed around the avatar. More specifically, the amount of each color used should be distributed evenly.
For example, say an avatar only has a small blue stripe in the shirt. Small amounts of blue should then be spread to the arms, legs, feet, neck, face and head (most likely). If there’s a large amount of blue (say a whole shirt) then large amounts of blue should be spread around. Do not attempt to balance a large patch of a color with a small patch of color.
The goal is to avoid having focal points. If there’s only one patch of blue on your avatar, it’s a focal point.
Having one focal point is often okay. However, if you have three or four different spots that attract attention, avatars look sporadic instead of polished. The eye should glide smoothly up and down an avatar. The overall flow of an avatar is disrupted if a whole chunk of color is missing from some area. The overall flow is also disrupted if there's one huge chunk of color that's not being balanced (by another item of the same color).
The following avatars spread colors evenly around the avatar.
The following avatars don't have have the colors perfectly spread even, but are still nicely balanced.
The following avatars do not evenly balance the colors. Notice how your eye darts around the avatar.
The first avatar is unbalanced. The second avatar is balanced. Using matching colors doesn't guarantee that the avatar will be balanced. The first avatar uses matching items, but it is incredibly unbalanced.
• • •• SKIN BALANCE
The skin tone can also be considered as another "item" to match. Hair and eyes are often matched just as if they were items, same goes for the skin. Whether or not you apply this concept is up to you. This mainly applies when making matching avatars.
This concept can be intermediate to advanced. It's not easy for beginners to do, but maybe you'll grasp it quickly. If not, ignore skin tone for now and return to this idea later.
Covering the skin is a good way to make sure that it won't be a distraction. It can't mess up the outfit if you can't see it. To do so, you'll use a lot of items like masks, gloves and socks to cover up any skin that may be showing.
Treat the skin as one of the colors in your color scheme. Use flesh-toned items to match your skin if you have them. It's easier to leave areas where the skin tone shows through. To do this, you'll usually need short sleeved shirts, shorts and skirts. Pants with holes in the knees also work well. Just try to leave spaces between the items.
You can also use a Potion or Item Skin that matches one or more of the colors you're using in your outfit. In this example, the purple skin tone is treated as if it were another item.
EYES EYES EYES FOCAL POINT
• • •• FURTHER COMMENTS
★ Color balance is integral to the matching style. Matching avatars should evenly spread the colors around the avatar. This concept can also apply to other styles. In the non-matching style, brightness levels and shades of colors should generally be balanced. Obviously, if you’re cosplaying a specific character, don’t spread colors evenly around the avatar if it ruins the cosplay.
★ A very viable exception to this rule is to have one focal point. A good focal point to choose is the face. An easy way to achieve this would be to use facial features that don't match the rest of the avatar. Remember to make the rest of the avatar (aside from face) flow to allow the face to shine.
★ Pay attention to the colors of the items you use. If an item adds a new color to the outfit, be sure to spread around that color too. The new color will draw all attention and be distracting unless balanced. If you don't want to add that new color to the outfit, do not use that item.
Texture can arise from the pattern on the items, the artist's style of pixelling the items, or even the pattern created by layering multiple items. Consistently use items with the same texture (pixel quality or item pattern). If using more than one texture, spread them around evenly.
Texture can be a medium to advanced concept. Some people have an innate grasp of texture while it may take others a while to get the hang of it. Follow this concept only after you've got a good grasp of expression, shape and color balance.
Below are examples of avatars with various textures. The avatars are arranged from "having very little texture" (on left) to "having a lot of texture" (on right).
The following avatars show good use of texture. The texture adds interest. The various textures are also balanced.
dotted
regular
clutter
The following avatars are all about that texture.
• • •• FURTHER COMMENTS
★ Have you ever heard people say that gold shop items look old? Or that they won't pair gold shop items with their Premium Items because the Gold Shop Items don't mix with them? They're talking about texture (even if they don't know it). Don't dismiss items just because of their source (gold shop, event, cash shop, freebie, etc). Gold shop items have a vast variety of textures (and so do all the others).
★ There's no such thing as having a bad texture. You may dislike a certain style of texture, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible to make a good-looking avatar with that texture.
★ Gaians often refer to smooth items as having no texture. The more rough, detailed and/or "pixelly" an item gets, the more texture it is said to have. However, all items inherently have texture as it is the appearance of the feel of the item. (Silky fabric vs woolly fabric. Smooth steel vs pockmarked stone.)
A popular avatar style on Gaia is often referred to as "matching." Matching avatars use 2-3 different colors (and can even go up to 5 or more). The key to matching is pairing items in the same exact shades of colors. Color balance is integral to this style. It's not just about throwing on matching colors. Those colors must also be spread evenly around the avatar.
The matching style has gone in and out of favor over the years. This style got a resurgence in late 2013 when Gaia started to recoloring items using uniform color palettes.
Don’t want to match? Then don’t. It's your avatar.
The examples below are matching avatars. Notice the consistency of the shades of colors and how each of those colors is spread (rather) evenly.
The following avatars aren't horrible. They're just poor examples of the matching style.
• • •• FURTHER COMMENTS
★ Use your eyes. Go by the actual color of the item, not its name or tags. Many items that are labelled as "pink" could be red, purple, coral, etc.
★ If you're new to this style, stick to balancing two (maybe 3) colors. Try using more than three colors once you get the hang of spreading color evenly.
★ Now that matching is so easy, it’s even more important to create an interesting look utilizing expression, adding details and backing it up with body mods.
★ Gaia tags many of the items with the code name for the exact color shade (and color combos). It can be easy to find items to pair with your avatar once you know that code. Some examples are: amarynth, shamrock, CMYK
On that note, are you new to the matching style and have a low budget? Do a marketplace search for a color tag that you like. Sort it by the lowest price. Buy up cheap items of that color so you can start putting together matching avatars as you save up for the more expensive items on your wishlist.
★ The shades and numbers of colors you use is up to you. However, it may also be up to Gaia. ;D Gaia picks the color schemes. The artists also have favorite color combos. For example, Amaranth Pink is often paired with Dusk Gray.
★ There are two different camps when it comes to the matching style. One method is strict. All colors must match and spread evenly. This means that your eyes will match your hair will match your clothing (and possibly even your skin). Yes, most people don't match their clothing to their hair and eye color irl. But, no, this isn't real life. On the other hand, there is a camp that believes it's fine to not match hair and eyes to the rest of the avatar. What you do is up to you. Please be aware that this division exists.
★ Matching avatars don't have to make sense. Often, you're limited by the existing (or non existing) items. You just might have to go stomping outdoors in rain boots, holding a toothbrush, wearing a cape and carrying a dragon on your head. (But it's all for a good cause.)
Gaians value creativity and originality. Having a unique avatar is your goal. Any avatar can look drab if users have seen it a million times before. Having a unique avatar is impacted by three major things:
Item Sets
Popular Color Schemes
Fads/Popular Items
• • •• ITEM SETS
Wearing a set of items is your fast ticket to unoriginal-ville. A set is a group of items that were made to pair with each other. These items usually share a keyword or phrase in their titles. For example, all of the items with the word "Glamrock" in their title are considered to be a set (even if they don't match). Along the same lines, wearing multiple poses from one item is considered to be using a set.
Do not use sets. When you wear a whole set, it looks like you lack creativity. Anyone can pair a set of items together. The Gaia artists did all the work for you when they created the items. And everyone has most likely already seen that set of items paired together. Boring.
Use items/poses from different sets and show off your creativity. However, you can get away with wearing about two or three items from one set if you must. Pick the pieces you deem to be the most important and fill in the rest of your outfit with items/poses from other sets. You can try to find other items of similar shapes and colors. You also have a better chance of getting away with using a set if those items don't compose the main body of your outfit. For example, if your shirt and pants come from the same set, your outfit has a high chance of looking unoriginal. If you use a necklace and shoes from the same set, it's probably not as noticeable.
The first avatar uses all 7 poses from Bunny March.
The second avatar uses 4 of seven poses from Bunny March.
The third avatar uses 1 pose from Bunny March.
The fourth avatar uses 0 poses from Bunny March.
In fact, the third and fourth avatars have no repeat items/poses from sets. Seriously. The items are so well-paired that they look like they could be from sets. It helps that Gaia's Cash Shop items are often released in the same color palette. Branch out and pair different items together.
• • •• COLOR SCHEMES
Gaians are attracted to certain color combinations. That's fine. The problem starts when everyone is wearing the same color schemes. Everyone blends into the crowd.
An easy way to stand out is to use lesser-used colors like teal, maroon, orange and brass. Or, combine colors that are rarely paired together. But, heck, even outfits that are red and black (a common combo) can still look original. If your favorite colors are popular, make careful item choices. Try to use items or item combinations that aren't common.
The upside of popular color schemes: They're easy to work with! There are many items to choose from that all match each other.
The downside of popular color schemes: Everyone begins to look alike. Avatars can look like they're wearing sets, when they aren't.
The following avatars were created without using multiple poses from the same item nor using item sets. (Problem is, they still look like sets...) But heck, wear these colors all you want. They're gorgeous. The outfits are just not difficult to create (aside from cost).
The following avatars are more examples of not using a set. Mixing and matching the various color schemes may help show creativity and show that it's not a set.
The following avatars stand out from the crowd due to using rarely-used colors or rarely-used color combinations.
• • •• FADS AND POPULAR ITEMS
Gaia will always have its fads. And certain items will be favored. Again, everyone all looks the same when they're wearing the same items. Gaia has tons of items to work from. Use them! You don't have to avoid the popular or favored items. However, try to pair those items with other items that other people don't see very often.
The following avatars may or may not be your cup of tea. However, they're examples of outfits that pair popular items with unpopular items. What results are avatars that don't look exactly like every other avatar on the site. Though, there are bound to be similarities.
• • •• FURTHER COMMENTS
★ As of late 2013/early 2014, Gaia began recoloring popular items in popular color schemes. These items all look like they were made for each other. You won't get too many points for originality on the matching avatar scale (since Gaia made it easy for you), but you can still mix and match all of those items.
★ I've heard a counterargument to this post many times: "But the artists paired these items for a reason! Why not wear them as they're meant to be worn? Why not wear full sets?"
Remember, originality is highly valued, but it's not a vital aspect of any style. You're free to wear whatever you want. You won't get props for difficulty or creativity, but it's all about what makes you content and happy. If you want to wear a set, and look like you're wearing a set, then wear it.
★ Bear in mind that avatar contests look for original participants. Most people rate based on originality and creativity. Wearing a set shows very low originality and the voter/rater will give you a low score. Voters don't judge based on how happy the entrant is with their own avatar.
★ Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. You're entitled to like your avatar. Other people are entitled to dislike your avatar. Don't ask for a rate if you're not willing to hear opposing opinions, take constructive criticism and/or are not willing to change your outfit. ;3
★ The takeaway: Make your avatar what you want it to be. Want to use a set? No problem. In the various forums, games and flash spaces, you're generally not judged poorly for wearing a set. However, you will likely receive negative feedback if you ask for rates or enter avatar contests. If you like your outfit, be content with that.
This post is here to help acquaint readers with some of the Gaian styles. Hopefully it'll help you see some of the commonalities found within those styles so that you can make your own creations.
The styles are not mutually exclusive. Many avatars can fit into multiple categories.
This post doesn't encompass all styles. (Am I missing one (or more) that totally needs to be here? Lemme know.)
★ Cosplay: You can dress up your avatar to look like a famous movie star, movie character, cartoon character, historical figure, favorite anime character, favorite video game villain, you name it. The avatar should be recognizable. Gaia has tons of tribute items for various fandoms, but the right items might not even exist to make the character. Do the best you can to reproduce the character. Accuracy is a must. It can feel very rewarding to successfully create intricate cosplays.
Some people have usernames based off of a character and find it fun to dress and act like that character.
★ Themed: With a themed avatar, you don't really dress your avatar up as a specific person; you dress like a stereotype. For example, you wouldn't dress up like David Blaine, the magician. You dress up like a stereotypical magician. You'd wear a top hat, have a magic wand, hold a bunny-- that kind of stuff. This category is widely varied since you can dress up in all sorts of themes from attorneys to zebras.
Depending on the theme, the items needed might be cheap or expensive. You have to commit to the details. You can't just hold a magician's wand and say you're a magician.
★ Fantasy: Fantasy is a subcategory of themed. It's so popular, however, that I've decided to give it a separate category. Fantasy often pulls from mythology and folklore and other such settings where magic may exist. Some common types of characters seen in fantasy are elves, trolls, unicorns, dragons, wizards, fairies, spell casters, bards, knights, etc. Commit to the world and era your character inhabits. Your mythical knight has a phone and earbuds? She'd better be lost in time (and obvious that she knows she's displaced in time).
★ Real Life Avatars: The goal here is to make your avatar look like an average person. You can dress up like that guy or girl you see walking down the street. You can dress it up to look like yourself. Yes, it's possible for a real person to wear clothing like a toga or a suit of armor, but those kinds of items aren't everyday wear. A Real Life Avatar would more likely have a couple pieces of clothing with regular accessories like glasses, earrings, and belts.
Real Life Avatars can look boring or they can look interesting. To make a Real Life Avatar look more interesting, you often need items like contacts, wigs, tattoos, scars, moles, etc. Do more than just throw on a pair of shorts and a shirt.
Augmented Real Life Avatars: These avatars are still real people you'd see walking down the street. However, these avatars take their fashions to the extreme and really get decked out in full gear. Possible real life fashions such as goth, emo, punk, hipster, hippie, steampunk, lolita, decora, you name it.
Gaia has a wide variety of items that range in different styles. Some items are even tagged with the name of the fashion it's styled in. (For example, want punk items? Search for "punk" in the marketplace.) Not all items are tagged this way, but it's a good start for an item search.
★ Non-matching Avatars: This sounds easy, right? Just throw on random items and say you went for the non-matching style. Wrong. Non-matching avatars actually take a lot of coordination. There's often still a hint of matching. Different shades of colors and the various brightness levels are balanced overall. A poorly created Matching Avatar is not automatically a Non-matching Avatar.
Sometimes the two styles of Real Life Avatars and Non-matching Avatars look like the same thing. This is because an avatar can match, not match, be themed, or be a cosplay and still be realistic. A Real Life Avatar would wear an outfit that you can or would wear in real life (irl). A Real Life Avatar can match or not match. With Non-matching, the outfit might be possible irl or it might not. You can also get away with things like tails, wings and scarves that defy gravity.
★ Matching Avatars: The goal of this style is to match. For each color used, all items have to be the same shade. Each color should be spread as evenly around the avatar as possible. Matching avatars typically use 2-3 colors. Users often create matching avatars of 4,5,6+ colors to challenge themselves. Matching avatars can range from as simple as wearing five items to wearing forty items or more. Matching avatars can be themed or non-themed.
A subcategory of matching is monochrome. In this style, users pick one color and then evenly balance different saturation levels, highlights and shadows within that hue.
★ Halvatar (Halfatar): A halvatar is an avatar with a very distinctive 'split' in color or theme. These can be diagonal, vertical or horizontal. The same concept can also be used to achieve a gradient effect- where one color slowly fades into another through careful choice of items. Horizontal halvatars tend to be fairly easy, and most people will look at them as non-matching messes if few items are used. Diagonal is a bit more difficult, and a vertical split generally requires quite a bit of time and effort to achieve. Most diagonal or vertical halvatars tend to be a bit expensive to execute.
Halvatars are hard. They're easier to make while in the dress up screen. Halvatars require you to play around with item combinations. Try to add colors to only one side of the avatar. Sometimes a color will be added to both sides. For example, most pants cover two legs, not just one. If you want the other leg to be a different color, you must hide the pants with items of the correct color. Along with Blobs and Inanimate Objects, Halvatars are easier to make when you own lots of items. Texture can be important. The less recognizable individual items are, the better.
★ Animal Avatars: The idea here is to make the avatar resemble an animal, an anthropomorph, or a Furry. These generally include ears and, depending on the animal, a tail. If the creator is going for believability, they will likely follow the color scheme for the chosen animal or add other defining features such as paws, collars, or special skins. However, if care is not put into these, they often look cheap and sloppy. An animal look is often taken as a theme with additional, non-animal items added to enhance the look of the avatar. Most users who attempt animal themes, for example, will use clothes or accessories to enhance visual appeal.
Users have been creating animal avatars for their human bases long before the animal bases (paws) existed. Items exist that allow paws to look like miniature humans. There's a strong faction of paws who are outspoken against dressing up as humans. (This was true last I checked in 2014. Please correct me if views have changed.)
★ Cluttered: Clutter isn't all about showing off all your expensive items at once. In fact, stylish clutter is not about showing off items at all. However, you do have to own a lot of items. The goal here is to equip lots of items in such a way that it's hard to pick out each item. The items meld together in one large clutter ball. Most successful cluttered avatars often still keep their human shape. Cluttered avatars can match or not match. There are also varying degrees of clutter. Cluttered avatars can be themed (uncommon).
★ Inanimate Objects/ Scenery: This is neat. The goal is to turn your human/paw avatar into an inanimate object or some form of scene. Your original avatar base must be disguised. When this style started, "i am" poses and backgrounds did not exist. There was no cheating. To accomplish this style, people usually turn their avatars around and often sit down and hide behind long wigs. These types of avatars are usually discovered by accident as a person plays around with items they own.
Nowadays, "i am" poses make this style a lot easier. Too easy. These are poses that turn your avatar into an animal, another person, and sometimes even objects. That's cheating, in this case. For example, using an item that turns you into a volcano doesn't count in this category. To count, you'd have to use a bunch of other random items that make your avatar look like a volcano. ...And none of those items are volcanic to start with.
★ Humor: Humorous avatars exist to make people laugh. Humorous avatars often pull from jokes or situations that would be humorous in real life (or online). Maybe Cinderella's feet are too big for her glass slipper. Maybe a chicken is crossing a road. Maybe Elmer Fudd is boiling in a pot of carrot soup. I don't know. Make your own jokes.
If you laugh, great! If others laugh with you... your avatar is humorous.
★ Rally: Rally is a style often found worn by those who hang out in Gaia's Rally flash space. Depending on whom you ask, "Rally" is not stylish. However, it is indeed a style of a subculture that has existed for years. There are common themes found to Rally avatars. Some of them are: Lusty Scoundrel sweat, oversized slippers, specific donation items (and their recolors), baggy clothing, swimsuits, bling, and smoking paraphernalia. The more expensive your outfit costs, the better. Your goal is to show off as you stand and chat with your friends for hours in a parking lot.
The rewrite of the guide has taken much too long. In that time, we've lost Tektek and gained an Avatar Builder. Sadly, the Avatar Builder would be much too slow for me (cropping screen shots and all).
I, uh, have used avatars without first obtaining permission from the creators. I do apologize for that. I thank the users for your beautiful creations. (Thank you for your eye candy!) If you've found your avatar in this guide and want to be removed, please send a PM. I will remedy it immediately (as soon as I can).
I am not accepting new models at this time. I will add and update examples as needed.
Post 4: Character
EXPRESSION
Good use of expression
Stasha-Pistashio ★ - B I a c k N e o n - ★ - B I a c k N e o n - ★ - B I a c k N e o n - ★- B I a c k N e o n - ★ sdrawkcab ★ sdrawkcab ★ HatsuHikari ★ sdrawkcab ★ sdrawkcab
Ora Serphanta ★ RueRouge_Returns ★ Renaissance ★ Lord Elwrind ★ Krenaes ★ NibunnoIchi ★ iymcool ★ Aly-Chan182
Humor
Tamcsi ★ Niccolo Ammaniti ★ Pegasaurus Rex ★ Fizzy Tears ★ Dannysomui ★ courtzilla ★ Castiel Lover ★ Belle Bonjour ★ aj OwO ★ Kinny Fear
Rally
X_-Music man-_X ★ FkYoFeelins ★ Fvck up ★ Crayon Saint ★ ((unknown)) ★ 4musinq ★ VORZO ★ Nox Nix
• • •• THREAD UPDATES
09-17-15
Finished the last few tweaks. There's still work to do, but that will happen at a much later time. Hope this helps!
09-12-15
The new update has arrived. I've got little bits left to tweak so haven't announced an official update. A grand-opening, per se. I'd rather see this here with its imperfections than the old guide that was here. I'd begun to despise the old look only because it was a forever reminded that I had to work on the update. The update took forever because I've been busy irl, because I've made other mini guides in the meantime and because I wrote different versions of this update. My goal was to be as succinct as possible. I finally gave up on that.
During the rewrite, Tektek was removed. That derailed me for a bit.
The biggest change made is that I've included example avatars that weren't created solely by myself. My main reasoning has usually been budgetary concerns. I used to restrict the cost of the examples to show users that good avatars don't have to be expensive. However, this post-2013 economy is whack. Full gold shop avatars no longer make sense for this guide. And thanks to Dumpster Dive, charities, various donators, games, etc, I've seen newbies obtain Premium Items (and dream avatars full of them) very quickly. With that reasoning, the examples are no longer restricted by budget.
I'm sure I'll also edit down this ramble. XD I think I've now got it in three places in this post. ^ ___^;
Anywho, if someone happens to find this... I hope you enjoy the newest update and please excuse the errors and bits of unfinished pieces. Thanks~ c:
• • •• BANNERS (links in)
Banners made by: Jiti, Jiti, Pheroic. <33
[url=http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/t.28682173/][img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/WinkNod/Avatar Guide/435a0574.png[/img][/url]
Please remember: how your avatar is up to you. All that matters is that you are happy with your avatar. Seriously. Don't worry about what I or anyone else has to say about it.
A note about this guide: Please know that I'm an advocate of style over worth. I believe that good-looking avatars can range from cheap to expensive. And I believe that many expensive avatars look downright ugly. Don't let the market value fool you.
I used to use only gold shop items when creating models for this guide. Times have changed. This guide would have no credibility if it were still that way.
I apologize for the examples in this thread. Many of the items used are expensive. Please know that you can replicate those ideals using cheap items. (You can also replicate them using expensive items, if you wish to do so.) If you have a tight budget and are having trouble finding items that will work, I can help you with your item search. Just ask. c:
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