This is a beginner's guide to the matching style. Not into matching? Fear not. It also contains general info, tips and tricks that apply to other styles as well.
This guide is budget-conscious. The examples use Gold Shop items. These tips and tricks can still be applied to avatars decked out in Cash Shop items. You are currently looking at the main guide. Some of the posts contain links to related topics. All of those links will direct you to mini-guides located within a guild. Remember, I'm not making you read this guide. I'm not forcing you to make your avatar match. You are free to dress your avatar however you want to (within Gaia's rules). But, since you've found your way here, I do hope that that guide will help you. ^ ____^ Please feel free to post with any comments or questions.
PLEASE NOTE: As of 04/27/14, this thread is undergoing some remodeling. During this time the index is wrong, some posts might refer to a wrongly numbered post on this page or whole sections might be missing. It's a slow process since I'm working on it in my spare time. I thank you for your patience. c:
03/21/15 Update: XD I just noticed that it's almost been a year. Yikes. Everything in this thread is still true, I just need to update it to fit the 2015 Gaian fads. Please enjoy a new mini guide while this one is still being edited.
Q&D Guide to Crafting a Great Avatar This is a stand alone guide that contains most of the basics. It also has helpful tips for creating dream avatars in a world without Tektek. This guide is for fitting into the crowd.
§►Index Post One: Introduction Post Two: Things to Mind Post Three: Synopsis Post Four: Making Avatars Post Five: Budget Avatars Post Six: Key Items Post Seven: Matching Post Eight: Color Balance Post Nine: Mass Balance Post Ten: Layers Vs Clutter Post Eleven: Originality Post Twelve: Avatar Arena Entries Post Thirteen: History / Affiliates / Banners
Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 7:55 pm
Matching Guide Post Two: Newbie Avatar Guide
Newbie Avatar Guide We all have to start somewhere.
• • • • Just a moment
New to Gaia? Welcome! If you need help with the mechanics of how to obtain items and dress your avatar, please check out this guide: [Avatar Guide for Newbies]
Here's a quick sheet of the rules. The topics will be fleshed out further in the following posts. Don't feel like scrolling? The links provided take you to those posts.
Note: These guidelines have existed for years. OP does not claim to have created them.
• • •• Matching
Use the same shade of each color. Gaia's items come in many different shades.
Pro tip: Go by the actual color of the item, not its name. Many items that are labelled as "pink" could be red, purple, coral, etc.
Yes, most people don't match their clothing to their hair and eye color irl. But, no, this isn't real life. Match your avatar's hair and eye color to the items if you're making a matching avatar. If you're not going for a strictly matching avatar, do what you please. 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.)
Another, valid, option is making a more realistic or reasonable matching avatar.
Distribute the color(s) evenly around the avatar. No one area should have too much of one color. An easy way to check is to imagine that the avatar is sliced into three or four pieces. For example, divide it by the head, torso and legs. Make sure that your colors appear in each of those areas (and have the same amount of that color). A key to succeeding is not having an item of one color touch another item of the same color. Alternate items of different colors. Accessory items play a big role in this. This idea sometimes plays a role in non-matching avatars. [For more on Color Balance, please see Post Five]
• • • •Mass Balance
Don't make the avatar top or bottom heavy. When the avatar is top heavy, too many items are cluttered at the top of the head or one large item is on the head. The avatar looks like it's going to topple over at any second.
If the item(s) on the head are overpowering and large, balance it with large items at the bottom. Wear larger shoes, use a leg mod with a wide stance, place a large object near the feet and/or use a cane. This tricks the viewer's mind. Visually seeing that the 'weight' is supported a cane makes the avatar look balanced.
The avatar is bottom heavy when an item sticks out too far on the bottom half of the avatar. This often makes the avatar look awkward and can ruin the overall flow.
I think you can usually get away with it, if the large item is at the very bottom of the avatar. For example, large shoes or having a pet sit next to you on the ground.
There's a fine line between layering enough items and adding too many items. Wearing too few items makes the avatar look sparse and incomplete. Wearing too many items is unappealing to the eye. For the most part, success comes from keeping a human-esque shape. (Some cluttered abstract blobs do look good too.) Use the different layers of items to your advantage. This allows you to better balance the colors on the avatar. Done correctly, using few items can be labelled as "simple." Also, if you are able to artistically layer quite a handful of items, the avatar is labelled as "complex." Exact amounts of items can't be provided since it's a sliding scale. [For more on Layering/Clutter, please see Post Seven]
• • • • Originality
If you want your avatar to stand out, don't make it look like most other common avatars on the site. Your avatar won't be noticed if it looks like every other avatar in the forums (or Towns, Rally, zOMG, etc.) It's possible to keep the same style as the others around you without using the exact same item combinations.
Don't use more than one item from the same set. Anyone can pair items together that were created to be paired together. Don't use multiple poses from the same item. *Same reasoning as above. Try to use items that few others use. Challenge yourself by using items that are hard to match or otherwise work with.
Big note; You can also use items that everyone uses, but try to put a new spin on them. Don't pair them in typical combinations. You can get away with two (or three) items from the same set if they are accessories and don't cover a major portion of the avatar. Also, wear a set or multiple poses if that's what will make you happy with your avatar (just don't expect a high rating in the original avatar arena). [For more on Originality, please see Post Eight]
• • • •Texture
Balance the overall texture of the avatar. This can be accomplished by balancing items of different textures, by balancing items of same textures or even by layering items in such a way as to create your desired texture. Texture is often confused with "quality." Quality can be a type of texture, but "non-quality" items also have texture. Every item has some sort of texture ranging from flat to highly detailed. Texture is a slightly advanced, abstract idea, but makes a lot of sense once you get the hang of it. Skip this idea until you have a good grasp of the other general guidelines. [For more on Texture, please see Post Nine]
• • • •Character
Character can be achieved in many ways. While your avatar doesn't need a full back story, interesting avatars from all styles share the trait of... character. This guideline is hard to achieve on a limited budget. Current gold shop items aren't very expressive, but it is still possible to create expressive gold shop avatars.
Pro tip: Can't afford Premium Items? Many freebie items have expressive poses. If they're no longer being granted, you can often buy them for cheap in the marketplace. Search out guides/lists for "grant" and "freebie" items to see what's currently available.
The following bullets expand on some methods of creating character.
Facial Expression
It's self explanatory. Let your avatar express emotion in his/her/its face. Use contacts, face mods, mouths, noses, facial jewelry, glasses, moles, makeup, etc to obtain desired expression.
Body Mods
The standard avatar pose might not match your avatar's facial expression. Use body mod items for effective body language. Pull out your hair in frustration. Hold up a peace sign to pair with your wink. Stand pigeon toed to complete your kawaii look. Etc.
Details
The amount of detail added will depend on how simple or complex your avatar is. Adding detail can be as simple as filling space with earrings, other jewelry, belts, anklets, etc. Detail items are often small. However, the details can be rather big sometimes. Add items that will complete your overall look. A fairy might need a wand. A bum might need tattered shoes or no shoes at all (or, well, you know, be in need of shoes). A baker might want to show off their latest yummy masterpiece.
• • •• The key is to pair items that are the same shade of color. Hence, the style is called "matching." Clever. When all items match, the colors blend well along the avatar. No item becomes an eyesore. Pick a color scheme. Use two to three colors. You can use more than three once you get the hang of it.
♦ ♦See these two diamonds? They do not match. They are two different shades of green. In order to match, the diamonds would have to be the same shade of green.
♦ ♦These diamonds match. Depending on the color, it's not always easy to find items that are the same shade. Just try to get as close to the same shade as possible.
You can't blindly pick items and expect them to match. See the avatar to the left? The four items equipped on it are: Red MehTRO T with Cross, Red Pleated Tennis Skirt, Red Traveller Boots, and Sam's Red Headwrap. They all have the word "red" in their names. However, they clearly have different values of red. They do not match. Now look at the four avatars below this text. The four items were paired with items that matched them. By no means do they match perfectly. However, they are at least very close in shade and do not clash.
The example above used one "shade" of color. Now we look at two "shades" of colors: yellow and blue. Look at the avatar on the left. The amount of yellow was spread evenly around the avatar. The amount of blue was spread evenly around the avatar. However, the items clash because the shades aren't the same. This avatar only catches the eye for being garish. (Note: This technique can work well sometimes for nonmatching avatars.)
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As you can see, each of the colors used on the right avatar are close in shade. This avatar is more pleasing to the eye than the previous example.
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• • •• Here are more random comments and tips concerning matching.
If you have trouble using three or more colors, don't forget that white and black also count. Many of Gaia's items are accented with a black or white trim. Heck, it can be hard to make avatars that don't have white or black in them. For now, use this fact to your advantage. For example, some of the work is done for you if many of your items have a white trim. You won't have to worry as much about finding separate white items to spread around the avatar.
It's easy to add the color gold to just about any outfit. A lot of gold jewelry and accessories exist. Just remember to spread the gold items evenly around the avatar.
Bright colors pop off the screen. Yes, some color combinations look better than others. However, the colors you use don't matter as long as all the shades match and are evenly balanced around around the avatar.
Matching Guide Post Five: Color Balance / Overall Flow
Color Balance It's important to spread the colors around evenly and to pay attention to the overall shape of the avatar.
• • •• Color Balance Color balance is especially important for matching avatars. Once a color scheme has been chosen, the colors must be distributed evenly around the avatar. The goal is to not have one large focal point. The eye should glide smoothly up and down a matching 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). Take advantage of the many different item layers in order to distribute the amount of each color equally. This idea can apply to non-matching avatars.
This avatar screams, "Hey, my eyes are up here!" It's a nice shirt. However, the shirt grabs all the attention.
Here we've swapped items to balance the colors. The amount of purple (and black and white) has been spread rather evenly around the avatar.
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Yay! This person attempted to spread the color around the avatar. There is red at the top, middle and bottom of the avatar. ... The problem? The amount of color is not spread evenly. This avatar has a full head of awesome red hair; A small belt and thin sandals cannot possibly balance that much hair.
Here, we've tweaked the avatar to add larger red items to balance out the hair. There are few items available in this shade of red so we had to be creative. Large red socks to balance the hair. A large red shirt helps unify the look. Black items were added to fill in any spaces.
• • •• Pay attention to the colors on the items you use. If an item adds a new color to the outfit, be sure to match that color too. The new color will draw all attention and be distracting unless matched. If you don't want to add that new color to the outfit, do not use that item. Note the skirt in the example below. It was added to match the yellow items. However, it also added cyan to the avatar. The person now has two choices. The person can remove the skirt so that cyan is not added to the avatar. The person can also keep the skirt and add spread cyan items evenly around the avatar.
-OR-
In option one, the person removed the skirt (and cyan). Gaia doesn't have any solid yellow skirts in that exact shade. The Pimpin skirt is the next best choice. In order to avoid using a set, the Pimpin hat had to be removed. In option two, items were swapped around to add hints of cyan items around the avatar to balance the skirt.
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• • •• The avatar's skin (skin tone) might be something you want to keep in mind. Hair and eyes are often matched just as if they were items. The skin tone can also be considered as another "item" to match. 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.
There are a few ways to approach this:
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.
Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 7:58 pm
Matching Guide Post Six: Balance
Mass Balance The overall shape of the avatar is also important.
• • •• Mass Balance Pay attention to the general shape and size of the items you use. An item that matches your avatar might also throw off the overall balance. The avatar can become too top heavy with items. Or even too bottom heavy. At the same time, you don't want the avatar to look like a gangly stick. The best way to deal with this is to look through all of your options and try to balance a large head with large feet. It sounds funny, but works out better in the end. =] Try adding wider shoes, a cane, a blanket on the floor. You know, anything that makes the base wider. Using a cane can trick the eye into thinking your avatar is using it for balance. [This thread] contains further information on the idea of overall avatar balance.
This first example is very top heavy. (I cheated a bit by adding the umbrella to make it more obvious.)
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This second avatar is an attempt to fix it. Chunkier items were added to the bottom of the avatar. (The umbrella was removed just because I felt like it. Heh. But it's possible to use the umbrella without looking top heavy.)
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If you can afford (or already own) them, leg mods with wide stances are useful for balancing a top heavy avatar. Or, anything that adds width to the bottom.
Layers Vs Clutter Avatars should be well-layered and not balls of random clutter.
• • •• Complexity All avatars range from simple to complex. Some styles require simple layering while other styles demand complex layering to execute. The complexity depends on your personal taste. The number of items you use doesn’t matter as long as the end result is an evenly balanced avatar. However, even simple avatars require quite a few items for an even spread of color. The more colors you use, the more items you’ll need to add in order to maintain balance. Those small accessories add up fast.
The complexity of the avatar increases with each item you add. A “clutter ball” avatar piled with random items is not necessarily complex. Make sure the overall flow and balance of the avatar stays even. It takes a lot of planning and tinkering to make a good-looking cluttered avatar. Some avatars have a speckled or dotted appearance because the items are so intricately layered that only small areas of color appear. (Of course, using speckled and dotted items also help add that texture too.) With some complex avatars, the goal is to combine items so well that it’s hard to distinguish one item from another. Making a good complex cluttered avatar takes practice. Learn the basics with simple avatars and slowly work your way up. Complex cluttered avatars require a lot of layering knowledge and a lot of funds for buying items.
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• • •• Clutter Cluttered avatars come in all sizes and shapes. An avatar becomes cluttered when too many items are added at random. A cluttered avatar has no continuity. Cluttered avatars have too many focal points that compete for your attention. The goal is to have no focal points that distract the eye from the whole avatar. Some styles work well with one focal point. Some matching avatars can even get away with having one focal point. However, multiple focal points usually do not fare well.
These two avatars on the right have too many items equipped in a sporadic way. There are too many focal points.
• • •• Blobby Dream Avatars Many dream avatars are a blob of angelic or demonic items. Yes, expensive Premium Items often attract attention. Giant blobs don't. (That is, unless you set out to make a giant blob that looks interesting.) If you're set on including expensive Premium Items, pick one or two and highlight them in the avatar so that they stand out. Or pick one or two and place them on as a subtle hint of class. Giant blobs of expensive Monthly Collectibles or other 'elitist' items label you as a show off. Just don't do it. It's not about how much the avatar is worth, but about how good the actual avatar looks. By all means, be proud of your items. But do them justice by showcasing them. You can still wear quite a few expensive items on your avatar. Heck, you can make an outfit completely out of Cash Shop items. Do so tastefully.
The first two avatars are common "dream avatars." Pause for a moment. If these items weren't worth millions, you'd think these people don't know how to dress. Woohoo, clutterball blobs. That's impressive talent. :/ The third avatar is a common sight. Many people spend all their time saving up for Cash Shop items and can't spare the gold to buy gold shop items.It makes sense. Buy the inflatable items first and the static gold shop items last. However, avatars don't look good with a bunch of random Cash Shop items added upon random clothing items.
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These avatars are more structured than the avatars above. The avatars are still very expensive, but the items look good.
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• • •• If you are unsure of how an item layers, [this thread] might help you.
Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 8:00 pm
Matching Guide Post Eight: Originality
Originality Originality is a highly valued aspect of avatars.
• • •• Gaians value creativity and originality. Any avatar can look drab if other users have seen the item combo used a million times before. There are a few things that can make your avatar look unoriginal. Color choices and item choices play a big role in the overall look of your avatar.
Color Schemes Gaians are attracted to certain color combinations. The black&red and light blue&gold color schemes are popular standards. You'll blend right into the crowd when you wear the same colors as everyone else. An easy way to stand out is to use lesser-used colors like teal, maroon, orange and brass. But, heck, even outfits that are red and black 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.
As of late 2013/early 2014, Gaia has been releasing recolors of popular items. And in popular colors. 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 also mix and match all of those items. 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. They're just not difficult to create (aside from cost).
Fads and Popular Items Gaia will always have its fads. And certain items will be favored due to versatility. 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.
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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). Do not use sets. When you wear a whole set, it looks like you lack creativity. Anyone can put 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 from different sets and show off your creativity. However, you can usually 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 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.
These avatars consist mostly of items from sets. They're also typical of many avatars that are seen around the site. I try my best to avoid the use of sets. Please look at the examples located in the other posts of this guide to see more examples of set-less outfits.
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The first avatar uses all 7 poses from Bunny March. The second avatar uses four of seven poses from Bunny March. The third avatar uses one pose from Bunny March. The fourth avatar uses zero poses from Bunny March.
The third and fourth avatars aren't wearing item sets. Seriously. The items are so well-paired that they look like sets. It helps that Gaia's Cash Shop items are often released in the same color palette. Branch out.
• • •• 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, 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. Voters don't judge based on how happy the entrant is with their own avatar. Most people value originality and creativity. Wearing a set shows very low originality and the voter/rater will give you a low score. If you like your outfit, be content with that fact. 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 opinions and/or not willing to change your outfit. ;3
The mini-guide on dressing with style also has a post about originality. It contains redundant info, but also brings up other points and more examples. You can find that post [here].
Texture All items have some form of texture. Very textured items give impact to simple avatars.
• • •• Feel the pixels with your eyes Gaians 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. It is best to try to match the texture of the items with items of similar texture.
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. Don't discount 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).
Texture can come from the pattern on the items, the artist's style of pixelling the items, or even the pattern created by layering items. 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.
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).
Below are two avatars with a very dotted texture. The avatar on the left has smooth hair that disrupts the pattern, while the avatar on the right has hair that blends in.
For more information on texture, please see this [post].
Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 8:02 pm
*under construction* Matching Guide Post Ten: Character
Character Make your avatar have that "it factor."
Character is an intangible concept that will vary from avatar to avatar since it can be achieved in many ways. It's mostly a matter of having a completed, finished look. (Duh, right?) Avatars don't always need to have a theme or be realistic to have character. However, character does increase with theme and the amount of features that bolster that theme.
Character can be achieved in many ways. While your avatar doesn't need a full back story, interesting avatars from all styles share the trait of... character.
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 personally 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.
• • •• Facial Expression It's self explanatory. It's adding detail... to your face. Let your avatar express emotion. Use contacts, face mods, mouths, noses, facial jewelry, glasses, moles, makeup, etc to obtain 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. Very often, it's the avatar's face that makes it look good.
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.)
Add expression:
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 has taught 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
Sorry to say, using just gold shop items isn't always enough anymore. The avatars look too... blank. If you're on a gold shop budget, here are some ideas for adding facial character. [[Will add soon, promise.]]
Also, be sure to collect freebies whenever possible. Sometimes the artists will give us free face items. Here are examples of items that were free, so maybe they're still on the cheap side.
• • •• Body Mods The standard avatar pose might not match your avatar's facial expression. Use body mod items for effective body language. Pull out your hair in frustration. Hold up a peace sign to pair with your wink. Stand pigeon toed to complete your kawaii look. Etc. Make note here that some body mods lengthen the legs and arms. Long arms should be paired with long legs and vice versa. Not balancing the length can make for awkwardness. Generally, also pay attention to mods that make the arms and legs too skinny in proportion to the rest of the body. If not balanced, your avatar could have ape arms or giraffe legs. (Note, in some circles, Gaians love mods that make the legs skinny and too long compared to the body. It just depends on the style you're aiming for.) Keep in mind that body mods can be the enemy of details since you can't layer as many items with them. You lose out on the ability to add items like jewelry and handhelds. This makes it hard to create matching avatars with color schemes of more than two colors. And you might lose the ability to hold a handheld item needed by your cosplay.
When leg mods lengthen the legs, the arms become too short. Add a body mod that lengthens the arms. Here, the body mod gives the illusion of longer arms since the hands disappear into pockets. When arm mods lengthen the arms, the legs become too short. Add a leg mod that lengthens the legs.
Avatar Guide for Newbies Post Eleven: Avatar Styles
Avatar Styles A snapshot of some of the styles on Gaia.
• • •• Here's a quick look at some of the avatar "styles" on Gaia. There are many other styles besides these ones. Go look through the forums and virtual spaces. Look at all the avatars and keep a mental note of what you like. Don't copy someone's exact avatar. It's rude. (If you and a friend want to dress like twins, that's different.) You can also play around on tektek for a while to get a feel for what you like.
Here's something to keep in mind about these categories. Sometimes avatars can fit in more than one category. A cosplay of a real life person might also then fit into the real life avatar category. A matching avatar might also have a theme. You don't have to be boxed into one category.
Cosplays:You can dress up your avatar to look like a famous movie star, movie character, cartoon character, historical figure, favorite anime, favorite video game, you name it. This is not always easy because the right items might not even exist to make the character. It can feel very rewarding to pull this off. Some people have usernames based off of a character and find it fun to dress and act like that character.
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Themes: 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 go all out though. You can't just hold a magician's wand and say you're a magician.
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Abstract Blobs:This one's neat. Sometimes people can equip certain items together that distort their shape and turn them into.. blobs. They look like they didn't start out human. This requires lots of items. It usually requires expensive items that add mists and swirls to the avatar. One tip is to turn around and sit down. This way, your avatar is less of a human shape to begin with. It also makes your avatar smaller and easier to hide.
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Inanimate Objects:This is also neat. Here, people make their avatars look like a table with tea on it or like a volcano in the midst of clouds. To accomplish this, people usually turn their avatars around and often sit down. There is no way to preview items with your avatar turned backwards or sitting down. These types of avatars are usually discovered by accident as a person plays around with items they own. Note, there are also poses called "I am" poses. These are poses that turn your avatar into an animal, another person, and sometimes even objects like swords. 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. :] In this example, seven different items were used, not just one item. This example is pretty simple because the avatar is hidden behind a wig that looks like gold coins. The rest of the items turn it into a scene.
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Cluttered Avatars: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.
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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 person to wear clothing like a toga or a suit of armor, but those kinds of items aren't everyday wear. An avatar dressed in a toga or suit of armor most likely wouldn't be a Real Life Avatar. 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. You might not see the difference between an average realistic avatar and an artistic realistic avatar until you've hung around the Avatar Talk subforum for awhile.
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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. They often use different shades of of one color throughout the avatar. You also have to pay attention to the shape and texture of items. Texture is created by how an item is colored. Some items have a smooth gradient, some are rough, some are plaid, some dotted, etc.
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.
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Matching Avatars:The goal of this style is to use two or more colors on an avatar. For each color used, all items have to be the same shade. For example, light sky blue does not match dark royal blue. Each color should be spread as evenly around the avatar as possible. Matching avatars can range from as simple as wearing five items to wearing forty items or more. Making simple matching avatars can be cheap, while the more complex cluttered matching avatars would most likely cost a lot.
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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.
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Halvatar: A halvatar is an avatar with a very distinctive 'split' in color or theme. These can be diagonal, as in the example, or they can be 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 using Gaia's real layering with the dress up screen. Tektek's layering will lie to you and you might make many impossible avatars using tektek. 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.
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Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 8:05 pm
Matching Guide Post Twelve: Inspiration
Making Matching Avatars Have an idea of what you want before you begin to make the outfit.
This post will be updated. The other combo method will also be linked. • • •• Inspiration The key to making a matching avatar is to find a bunch of items that match and will evenly equip around the avatar. Now, repeat that for other colors. Then hope that all the items will equip together. It's a constant dance of colors as you find out what works and it easier with practice.
Plan your first avatars using Tektek's dream avatar tool. This way you can create avatars without having to buy the items. Once you make a tektek that you like, you could buy those items on Gaia and use them on your own avatar. (Here's another link to [Tektek's Dream Avatar Tool].)
On tektek, you have most of Gaia’s items at your fingertips. That’s a lot of possibilities. You’ll need to have some idea of the color scheme you’ll want to use before you start. Matching avatars typically use 2 -3 colors. Some avatars even match five, six or more colors. The difficulty increases with each added color. This is an intro guide so the examples will mainly consist of three colors.
If you don’t know what colors you want to use, here are some ways to figure out how:
Match the hair and eye color you already have. Use your favorite colors. Pick a favorite or interesting item and make an avatar around it. Use the color wheel.
• • •• Examples This section aims to show you some of the process behind making a balanced avatar. We'll use Tektek to create some matching avatars using the suggested inspirations above. Remember that we want our final avatars to have balance. As we pick the items, we want to spread the colors evenly around the avatar. It helps if you picture the avatar split into parts. Here we'll picture the avatar split into three parts: Head, Torso (+arms) and Legs. When adding color to an avatar, make sure to add that color to the head, to the torso and to the legs. And try to add about the same amount of color to each of those three areas. Your final outfit might require some tweaking, but it's a good way to make sure you haven't forgotten to add color anywhere. The more complicated the outfit, the more parts your avatar must be split into. We're keeping this relatively simple, so we'll stick to the three part rule.
Existing Hair and Eye Color
For our first example, we'll use colors that match the avatar's eyes and hair. We don't have any other ideas in mind, but we know that we want to keep our hair and eye color. The avatar has red hair and teal eyes. Teal isn't the easiest color to work with, but it's possible. We shouldn't have too much trouble with red because there are lots of red items on Gaia. It doesn't matter which color we pick to start with. We'll pick teal. Picturing the avatar split into three parts, we add teal items. A teal hat is added to the head. A teal shirt is added to the torso. Teal boots are added to the legs. The color teal is now spread around the avatar. The boots have a thin white line. Since we're picky, we'll add white to the avatar. Notice how the red hair really stands out. Now we'll add red items to balance out the hair. The red hair is a very vibrant red so we'll need to pick bright red items. We can't use a dark red or a maroon because that won't help blend the hair. Since we already have a shirt on the torso, we add a red vest. We also add red pants to the avatar. Both of the vest and the pants have white on them. It's okay in this case because we need to add white anyway. We don't have to add a red item to the head because the hair is visible. Now we must deal with the last color: white. There's no white at the head so a white headband is added. The legs have enough white so we won't add any more items to the bottom. The torso already has white. We'll still add white accessories to polish off the outfit. We've added a white tie and a white wool top. The white wool top is an undershirt. We have to play by Gaia's rules. On tektek, you can equip as many shirts as you want. On Gaia, you usually can only equip one shirt at a time. However, shirts that layer on the undershirt layer can equip under normal shirts. When in doubt, preview an item in the marketplace to see how it equips with your items. We're almost done. The pants are a rather large area of red. There's too much red in the torso. We could cover up some of the pants with a teal skirt. This guy doesn't want to wear a skirt, so a teal mug was used instead. We now have a teal, red and white avatar that is rather well balanced.
Favorite Colors
This example is based on favorite colors. Here we'll just try to find items that match our favorite colors and spread them around the avatar. This person's favorite colors are orange and white. We're in luck. We've found a beanie that has both orange and green on it. It also has a white pompom with green shading. So to match this beanie, we must add orange, green and white items. We'll start with orange. Remember to split the avatar into three parts. The beanie already takes care of the orange on the head. We'll add orange eyes because our avatar needs eyes. We've also added a orange jacket to the torso and orange pants to the legs. Now we'll add green. The beanie already adds green to the head, but green hair was added for good measure. A green wool top was added to the torso. Green shoes were added to the feet. The shoes also add white, but that's good. The shoes will play a double role. Now we must add white. The beanie already adds a little bit of white to the head. The shoes already add a little bit of white to the feet. All that's left is the torso. We've chosen a shirt that's both green and white. This is to make sure that we still see a lot of green in the middle, but also see white. The green wool top is an undershirt. The checker shirt is a normal shirt. The green wool top layers under the checker shirt. Our avatar was pretty much done but now we'll add accessories to finish it all up. White hairpins add a smidge more white to the head. Orange glasses hide our glassy orange eyes. The green flag hides some of the pants. It helps balance out the orange and green. We now have a rather well balanced orange, green and white avatar.
Favorite/Interesting Item
We'll use a favorite item in this example. I really love these pink High Tops. This avatar is a blank canvas aside from the shoes. Let's start spreading the colors. Normally, I'd recommend starting with light pink because it makes up the bulk of the shoe. However, I started with the dark pink. We've added an item to the top and to the middle. Now let's add light pink. The light pink in the hat is close enough to the color we need. So we're only missing light pink in the middle of the avatar. We've added a dress and gloves. (Bare arms are too plain.) Lastly, we need to add white. We already had some white details in the existing items. We probably could have ignored this step and added in a fourth color to fill in the blanks. o: But, to keep things simple, we'll fill in the spaces with white items. We've added white shorts, hair and an undershirt. The last avatar is rather balanced. Now we're just gonna fill in more blanks and add a bit of character. Glasses and earrings help fill in a blank face. (So does makeup, but that's not found in the gold shops so I can't use it.) After a final review, we see that there's not quite enough dark pink at the bottom to balance the rest of the items. We were a little too gung ho. Oh well. Easily fixed. Dark pink leggings were added for balance.
Color Wheel
If you really want to get technical, you can choose your color scheme based on the color wheel. We'll pick an easy scheme and use the primary colors: red, blue and yellow. The avatar is a blank canvas. We know that we must add red, blue and yellow to the avatar. We know that we'll picture the avatar split into three parts: Head, Torso, Legs. We've decided to add yellow first. There are lots of blue and red items to work with on Gaia. There are less yellow items. Yellow hair was added to the head. A yellow shirt was added to the torso. Long yellow shorts were added to the legs. Next we fill in some of the spaces with blue. A blue hat and blue eyes were added to the head. A blue skirt and blue socks were added to the legs. The blue skirt is centered in the middle of the avatar so it takes care of the "torso" for now. We now have a pretty well balanced yellow and blue avatar. We could add more yellow and blue accessories to complete the outfit. However, we're following a color scheme. We must add red. We've already added a lot of items, so we'll have to get creative for red. We've added a red flower to the head. The flower also adds yellow. That's okay because it's part of our color scheme. A red undershirt was added to the torso. Red shoes were added to the legs. The avatar is almost complete, but it needs accessories. Red blush adds a touch of character to the face. A blue necklace and blue bracelets add blue to the torso. A red cincher adds more red to the torso. And a red cane is added to add red along the length of the legs, not just the feet. We now have a rather balanced red, blue, and yellow avatar.
Matching Guide Post Thirteen: History / Banners /Affiliates
History / Banners /Affiliates Any major changes are noted in this post. Banners for linking to this guide are located in this post. And Banners linking out to cool people are located in this post. ;D
• • •• Suggested Reading Here are some more guides. Many of the posts already contained links to them.
Main Thread - Matching If you'd like to learn how to match, continue to read the first page of this guide. It's aimed at users who are making their first attempts at matching. The index is located at the bottom of this first post. Post three contains a summary. The rest of the posts expand on those ideas and give examples. [Avatar Guide for Newbies] If you're brand new to Gaia and Gaia Avatars, read this guide. This guide explains the mechanics of dressing your avatar and introduces some of the various styles you'll see around the site. [Your Guide to Dressing with Style] I highly recommend this guide. It contains general ideas that can be applied to many different styles. [Color Wheel] This guide is completely optional. This guide contains some suggestions on how to use the color wheel to choose the color scheme for your avatar. [Layering] This guide attempts to explain how items layer. It follows the basic rules, but Gaia's items don't all items follow the rules. It contains some exceptions, but this guide can only be used to guestimate how items will equip together. [Guide Subforum] This is the subforum that houses the above guides. You can also find other guides here.
• • •• Budget Avatars Here are some avatars that cost around 5000 gold. Enjoy!
Here are some avatars that cost between 5,000 and 50,000 gold. Enjoy!
• • •• To do List 4/27/14 -- edit everything. D;
• • •• Updates
09/18/09:
Avatar Making Guide: The Guild was officially opened. Posts 1, 2, 3, and 5 were updated. I cut out a bit of rambling. This guide was written before we had EIs, RIGs, and Lucky Chests. I've updated some of the lingo since all I mentioned were MCs.
09/19/09:
More posts are being edited... Post 4, 6, and 13. ;D
09/20/09:
Updated posts: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
09/21/09:
Skin tone examples made for post seven. The undertaking of updating the main thread can now be called DONE. Finally. Now I can concentrate on the guides in the AMG guild for a while.
10/25/09:
Recycle That Roadkill made an awesome button.
01/28/10:
Major revamp! A Q&A section has been added. The large recommended items (key items) post was shrunk. The color group/ making outfits post was split into two. Post ten was left blank with Sept's update, so I removed it. The extra tekteks post was removed. Same total number of posts as before, but it feels more streamlined since a couple posts were shortened. The new intro post contains pretty much the same info, but in much less words. I thought that the Q&A post would help me shorten the first post. It only helped a tad. Oh well, it allowed me to add more info. People are still free to ask questions. <3
03/30/10:
The intro on post seven, first avatars, was altered.
04/06/10:
Jiti made a banner for the thread. =D
05/30/10:
The style guide was made a couple days ago. Many of the posts in this guide received small tweaks. Nothing major. This post got a revamp. Many of the old updates/banners/etc have been removed. It kills me, but I'm removing affiliates of dead threads. Thank you for your affiliation. However, there's no use in linking to a dead thread. It's no good to necro threads. If you were here, want back on the list, and your thread is active, please say so. I thought that I had the banner codes up, but I didn't. I added the slim versions~ And, ew, I don't like how they look. They'll stay like this until I think up something better though.
08/17/10:
Jiti made another pretty banner aaand a new header for the guide. =D Wow. x .x;;; (page 1143)
09/10/10:
I started a major edit at the end of July 2010. The old how-to-make-an-outfit examples and color-group examples were moved to the Combining Color Groups Thread. My long-winded newbie post was turned into a guide of its own. That post now remains as a cheap example post. The Q&A post was removed. The first post was split into two posts. The color balance and mass balance post was split into two posts. Most examples were replaced or revamped to fit with current styles. There used to be an item/price list with each example. The examples now link to tektek for any item list needs. I used to include item lists so people didn't have to click anything to find info. It really stretched the posts out though. The posts now look more compact. All posts were reread. If any thoughts were incomplete or unclear, I fixed them up. The making avatars post will get a fourth example once tektek updates with the last gold shop item update.
03/01/14:
I've been editing on and off for the past couple months. Mostly fixing broken links and updating examples. I forgot about editing this list. Ha. I'm removing both affiliates from the list. Looks like Mizenki stopped updating his journal in 2010. 04/27/14:
I hated the way it was organized so much that I've thrown what I've gotten done onto the main page. Incomplete: intro, texture, character. avatar styles and making matching avatars posts must also be updated, but at least are complete posts.
06/10/14:
About a month ago, tektek hiccuped and lost a lot of data. The thread looked okay at first glance. Most images were still up with just a handful missing. Turns out, all of the links were broken. D; I just found that out last night. So. Yeah. It's really too bad that I did an overall right before tektek lost its data. I have to redo all of the tekteks again. I've fixed all of the images in:
Post four (matching) post five (color balance) post six (mass balance) post seven (layer vs clutter)
I still must fix images in:
post eight (originality) -- this one still must be written post nine (texture) -- this one still must be written post ten (character) -- this one still must be written post eleven (styles) -- this one is technically complete, but should be updated post twelve (how to make matching avatars) post thirteen (the budget section)
• • •• Banners
Thank you to all who've made banners for this guide. <333 I really do appreciate it. You may copy/paste one of the links into your signature if you want. :3 (It was very nice of these people to make these banners for free and to include my username. If it were up to me though, my username wouldn't be included. Nor would it include expensive items. But beggars can't be choosers. XD; ) Banner makers: Spazztic Duckies, Vulpus, Recycle That Roadkill, Jiti, Jiti
This post is so far down at the end. Rules for affiliation; If you want to link to and recommend this guide, that's super of you. Please tell me if you've linked to the guide. However, I prefer to only add affiliate threads that are guides (preferably about avatars) or has some good, general info about items. Thanks!
