~Avatar Making Guide~Intro to dressing avatars-Upd 3/19/10

[Daypaw]

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Updated~

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[sdrawkcab]

Um, updated. That was weird to see. XD Thank you for doing a good job on the write up. :}
I'm sorry, but I'm going to change the examples. They're good avatars. However, to make everything easier on myself, I was just going to use my examples in this guide. ^^;;

I know that there are many, many different avatar categories. I used the ones I did because I had to cut it off somewhere. This is just a little intro guide. I didn't add animal to the list since I consider it to be under "theme." I also didn't add halfatars since I felt that concept is too advanced for this guide. ...But if you feel that those two are needed sections, I'll give in. ^^




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I'll keep the avatars here just because I like to keep track of everything. :]
 

[Art Greylace]

Hi there!
I like your guide.
Here is some of my own little creations, I hope you'll critique them.
I generally have what I think are some pretty cute avatars and most of them are not excessively expensive- I'd say one really expensive item per avatar.

So, here's a pretty bad one- red and black is such a boring combo.

Total Value: 15,506 Gold
[Item Information]

Item List:
Red And Maroon Reversible Hair Pins
Red Sweetheart Mary-Janes
G-Team Ranger Red Gloves
Striped Rocker Tie
Red And Black Striped Stockings
Red Leather Mini SKirt
Michael's Memory
Vampire's Fangs (RAWR)  

[Daypaw]

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Not a problem- I just wanted to make sure there was SOME sort of example there so I used my own when the updates were made.

I added them mostly just to have the information present; we're in the process of trying to clean this subforum up, and we're condensing / combining / eliminating a lot of guides in the process. This is a beautiful thread full of GOOD info (and there is obvious time and care in crafting it), so it'll be the remaining 'Avatar' topic :]

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[Blitzkraig]

I really like this guide.

May I suggest Monochrome, Steampunk, Powerclash, Rainbow and Scenic Avatar themes. (:

 

[Gyzvx]

Im curiouse. What catagory would this incarnation of my avi fall under?  

[Blitzkraig]

Animal?

 

[Gyzvx]

i guess that my avi could be seen that way. blaugh  

[sdrawkcab]

Insanity Dragonfly; Sorry for not checking this guide sooner. I just didn't expect to find any posts here. .- .
Red and black is overdone, but at least the matching is pretty good here. The items are all a very vibrant red and close to the same shade. You had the right idea by using red and black hair. However, that's also where the avatar falls short. Your items are mainly red with hints of black. Your hair is black with hints of red. You'd be better off using red hair with a small black head item. Orrrr... hide most of your black hair with a big red hat. Whatever you do, your head needs more red and less black.
But it looks like you've got the hang of the matching style. ^^

Daypaw; ^^ Good to know. :3

John Reese; :} Thanks.

Gyzvx; I'm definitely late on the scene because your current outfit reeks of pokemon trainer. XD <3 I'm hoping that those capsules eventually become cheaper so that I can own one too~


@ The guide; That's very cool that this thread gets to stay. :3 I did use bit and pieces of existing posts, but I also wrote up the intro to different styles post with this mini-guide in mind. A lot of work did go into it. XD;
*laughs* You guys are really hard to please though. This was supposed to be a really basic introduction to avatar styles. If I add all that stuff, it'll no longer be basic. x -----x It'll be extensive.
*looks at the suggestions again* Psssh, Oh gosh, it'd also be like I tried to copy candycrack's guide. XDD
I wanted to keep the styles in this thread simple. You know, just something that could be possible for someone who just joined Gaia. I guess I already broke that rule by adding inanimate objects and abstract blobs.


>>>>>>>>>> Okay, so... make me some arguments here... Why should Monochrome, Steampunk, Powerclash, Rainbow and Scenic Avatar themes be added to this guide?
(I'm open to the idea.. I just like logic and reasoning and talking things out. :} I'm eventually going to add that sort of style to my main guide, so I might as well add it here too. I just... didn't have plans of doing that any time soon.)

Monochrome is just a subheading under matching. Instead of 2 or 3 colors, the person tries to match items of one shade. (In fact, i wanted to avoid this so people didn't think that adding random black items to their avatar counts as having style...)

Steampunk is just another theme. Just as someone dresses up from the Victorian style, in a cyberpunk theme, as a pirate, as a jungle native... someone could dress in the steampunk theme. Would using specific items like goggles and other such brass instruments really set a steampunk aside as its own style... When pirates and ninjas aren't a separate style? What makes steampunk more of a style than pirates and ninjas? XD What separates it and makes it a style when "gangsta" is just a theme?

Powerclash is just matching... but using colors that clash. . -. Seriously, I never understood why powerclash gets its own separate distinction. It's the matching style. So is this to say that colors can't clash on avatars that are strictly labeled "matching"?

Rainbow, rainbow, rainbow... Yeah, okay. I've always considered rainbow to be its own thing. It's not matching. It's not quite non-matching. It is a theme, but that's being pretty broad. Does it really need to be explained in a guide though? XD; Okay... maybe... if halfatars can get their own section in this guide, I guess rainbow can too.
(For the record, I also consider halfatars to be in the matching category. You just happen to combine two separate matching halves.)

Scenic Avatars... I consider them to be the same category as inanimate objects. Both show scenes. One thing may focus on a table, another may focus on a city scape. Both are scenes of objects rather than a living avatar. . -.

There's also another theme called Color Splash. It's basically monotone with one splash of a different color on the avatar. Should that one be added also?


Should the "i am" poses be introduced as a style? There's no real thought involved in equipping a single pose, but it is a popular style in the virtual spaces. It's guaranteed to make you popular or spark conversation. Should it be mentioned here to explain how people become little green bunnies, pink wolves or slices of bacon? Equipping and wearing one single pose that makes you look like everyone else isn't considered stylish by those who are into Gaia fashion. However, it is a different form of avatar dress up from the other styles since it doesn't really belong in any of the other categories.



> < And for the record, I don't consider "cluttered" or "complex" to be a theme. All styles have varying degrees of clutter. There's simple non-matching and simple matching. There's complex cluttered matching and complex cluttered non-matching, etc. I treated it as a different style here to introduce the idea of complexly cluttering an outfit (as opposed to being a random clutterball of MCs/EIs). I went against my logic there. So~ like I said, I'm not opposed to giving these other themes their own styles. I just... like to discuss the reasoning for why different themes end up standing alone as their own styles.



Edit; Sorry, John. XD That wasn't the answer I expected, but yeah, I know I wrote too much. u .u;;  

[Blitzkraig]

Oh ok then good point. xD