Help with skins/shapes - how to change face? lol please

[Qnu]

Hey all, I hope you're having a good holiday season :p 

I've made a new SL account after 3-4 years since I was last regularly on and I've totally forgotten how to do most things..!

One thing I can't relearn is the skins/shape stuff and how the hell you change what your face looks like?! I thought it was shapes but the few I have used do not seem to change what my avi looks like. I'm a male avi by the way.

Also, since I was last on a few years ago, mesh heads seem to be a thing so all the shapes I look at are all made for catwa heads and so on.

A friend kindly gifted me a sLink mesh body but that isn't making my troubles any easier lol

Anyway... my main question is: What changes the look of your face? And if it is indeed Shapes.. what could I be doing wrong?? 

If someone could please explain skins/shapes/ appliers(?) and those things in layman's terms, that would be highly appreciated also. Thanku very much in advance!!!

[Cindy Evanier]

5 minutes ago, Qnu said:

Hey all, I hope you're having a good holiday season 😛

I've made a new SL account after 3-4 years since I was last regularly on and I've totally forgotten how to do most things..!

One thing I can't relearn is the skins/shape stuff and how the hell you change what your face looks like?! I thought it was shapes but the few I have used do not seem to change what my avi looks like. I'm a male avi by the way.

Also, since I was last on a few years ago, mesh heads seem to be a thing so all the shapes I look at are all made for catwa heads and so on.

A friend kindly gifted me a sLink mesh body but that isn't making my troubles any easier lol

Anyway... my main question is: What changes the look of your face? And if it is indeed Shapes.. what could I be doing wrong?? 

If someone could please explain skins/shapes/ appliers(?) and those things in layman's terms, that would be highly appreciated also. Thanku very much in advance!!!

Steep learning curve.  May  I recommend the excellent blog of one of our forum regulars that might help you

http://www.virtualbloke.com/noob-dude-a-style-101-for-the-second-life-male-avatar

[Ariel Vuissent]

It's.... sort of both?

Shape changes the actual, physical structure of your face. Skin, however, adds contouring and details that can greatly affect the finished look. (Similar to skillfully applying heavy makeup in RL, actually.)

Shape is limited by the sliders; there are a series amount, and technically, we could all create the very same shape, because we all have access to the exact same resource. It's possible, given personal taste, that the shapes you're choosing are all similar in structure. If that's the case, they'd all look pretty similar with the same skin over top. Try a few demo skins (for classic avatars) and see what happens!

[Qnu]

9 hours ago, Ariel Vuissent said:

It's.... sort of both?

Shape changes the actual, physical structure of your face. Skin, however, adds contouring and details that can greatly affect the finished look. (Similar to skillfully applying heavy makeup in RL, actually.)

Shape is limited by the sliders; there are a series amount, and technically, we could all create the very same shape, because we all have access to the exact same resource. It's possible, given personal taste, that the shapes you're choosing are all similar in structure. If that's the case, they'd all look pretty similar with the same skin over top. Try a few demo skins (for classic avatars) and see what happens!

Thanks Ariel, that's helped very much :)