Thoughts on how to customize my avi

[GeminiRoyalice]

I'm pretty new here to Second life, and I gotta say... there's a lot of cool looking avi's out there. Almost everyone I see looks very interesting in terms of how their avatar looks, while mine's.... well mine's looks a bit "plain jane". (yeah I'm a noobie, lol). Anyway, does any have advice for customising your avatar to the way to want it to look, as well some info on how you can do this while being new, and broke... yeah gotta get some lindens..

[GeminiRoyalice]

I'm pretty new here to Second life, and I gotta say... there's a lot of cool looking avi's out there. Almost everyone I see looks very interesting in terms of how their avatar looks, while mine's.... well mine's looks a bit "plain jane". (yeah I'm a noobie, lol). Anyway, does any have advice for customising your avatar to the way to want it to look, as well some info on how you can do this while being new, and broke... yeah gotta get some lindens..

[Bree Giffen]

Being new and broke can be fun. I'd suggest finding all the different ways to get free clothes. It's like hunting for treasure. Another thing is you will get a better understanding of how clothes work in SL. You'll figure out how to handle the sizing issues with mesh clothes, how to wear layers with attachments, how to adjust things, and mix and match.

Enjoy free clothes now because once you start buying your clothes the thrill of the freebie hunt will fade.

[GeminiRoyalice]

lol.. Sounds, like a good idea, Bree. Thanks once again for your help!

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Welcome to SL  Customizing your avatar is one of the fun things about SL for many.  Most everyone continues to tweak theirs as new and better things come out.  So don't feel that you have just one shot at this.  Start with finding the best quality that you can afford, even if that's freebies,  When you get L's you can always substitute better quality items that you have to pay for.

Many creators have free things available for newbs in their store.  They hope you like their work and when you are ready to spend L's you remember their generosity.

A great avatar starts with a skin and shape.  There are a lot of free quality skins available if you look for them.  Don't go to freebie stores but to actual skin shops.  Some creators have free starter skins, others give away skins to members of their group.  Some come with shapes too.

Shapes are also available for free.  Get one that is modifiable and tweak it to your liking using the appearance editor or you can make your own. 

This blog is a great resource for finding freebies in SL including skins, shapes, clothes and accessories.  They have a special section for freebies for avatars 30 days old and younger.  http://fabfree.wordpress.com/ 

Have fun.

[Marianne Little]

It is good to have a few §L to play dressup with. A lot of bloggers call items that cost §L1 "free" while they should call them "Dollarbies". 

I know that many will come in now and say "Just buy lindens" but I think that is ruining a lot of fun for newbies who take creating an avatar for free or almost free as a good sport. And it builds up an interest in SL that will lead to wanting just that skin... that hair... this skybox.... that they have to buy lindens for.

Read here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/How_to_Earn_Linden_Dollars_in_Second_Life

This entry is resident-created, but I think you can find most of it reliable. The Linden Realms is legit at least, it is created by LL itself. http://secondlife.com/destinations/realms I am not sure how this works, because I am too old. I had already started to buy §L and had lost interest in hunting small amounts of money. I also get less and less "me" time to use on SL, so I feel that I have to use my time on other things. 

Google is a lot of help, there is more bloggers that use free items and dollarbies... good luck! Have fun with customizing!

Oh, and don't be afraid to compliment avatars and ask where they buy things. You will find the occasional snob that start to rant about not sharing their "unique" look, but most are happy to share.

 

[GeminiRoyalice]

Thanks again, Marianne Little.

[GeminiRoyalice]

Ah Thanks, Amethyst Jetaime! I've also joined the fabulously free group in SL as well.

[Pussycat Catnap]

I forget if I wrote about this in my own newbie guide.

It might be one subject that I never went into. So maybe I should get cracking on that.

 

I suggest thinking a bit about how you see yourself "on the hidden inside" - the you that the folks at work, church, and family don't see.

Mix in a bit of the "what would I be if I could be anything - my fantasy of what is the perfect existence?"

Everyone has a bit of fantasy imagining. Do you wish you were taller, shorter, do you imagine an animal you identify with, something technological, something faith based, even a cartoon character you identify with?

Just think about a true inner you.

You've got to be bold here. Write down some crazy ideas of yourself.

 

 

Now go buy from 2000-4000L. In US dollars this is $8 to $16. Pretty cheap. Split it into two pools (use an alt and send half of it away, or just remember not to spend exactly half of it, or even buy the second half later, there's only a 30-cent charge on each purchase of lindens, so its not that rough to just do this).

Spend the first half making an avatar that's a blend of at least three things from the list of ideas I just had you brainstorm.

Be sure to get a basic AO along with it. You may need to budget in a skin too - these two alone can consume from 500-2000L... And you have to think about that because of why I told you to split the money..

Spend a monthy on this new look, then you pull out the rest of that money and redo the things that didn't 'click' - be bold. Don't just "buy a new pair of fitted mesh jeans". This is the moment when you say to yourself "being a furry was ok, but I think I'd feel more at home as a robot made out of twigs" - or something...).

 

My original concept in SL was kind of not there. I played with the dials and got a shape I could deal with. I found the darkest skin tone I could find, which was basically a 'British person with a 30 second tan' because options were pretty thin at the time...

Playing around in freebie shops, which were all over SL back then, I accidentally wore the contents of a box, and discovered 'neko' in SL. I'd already been aware of neko and had long thought of myself as having a neko persona - but it hadn't occurred to me as a possible SL identity until that moment.

- So you could just stumble aroun and try 'anything' until one of them clicks. And if you go this route, be open to trying as much anything as you can stand. It can take a while to find yourself, and its very easy to 'screen' too many things and end up filtering your self discovery out of happening.

 

[Bobbie Faulds]

Another way is hunts. SLHunts website has them listed. FInd one that sounds like what you are after and then find the objects. Do start with one that's free and don't start with the Twisted Hunt. They will also introduce you to some of the stores in SL where you will be doing your shopping.

One good deal is WoW skins. It's 250L to join the group but you get a box with the past group gifts in it. For a female, that's 16 or more skins. You also get a free one each month as well as the MM boards and lucky boards. Check out places like Designer's Circle where many inworld designers have their stuff at a discounted price as well.

Do decide on what look you want for your avi. Snowpaws has a very different look from Razor or L&B, for instance. Do you want punk, goth, upscale. What you want to look like will decide where you want to shop.

Good luck.