What makes an avi's face unique?

[tontipichulino]

Hello, I want to edit a face so that it is unique to me. But i want to make it memorable...

What is the best option?

Piercings? Asymetric face? Skins? Beauty spots? Freckles? Custom makeup? Eyes?

 

Any advice is well received

[Mollymews]

skin and makeup. Followed by shape editing. Shape editing meaning either a mesh head or classic head that responds to the shape sliders

as a measure of uniqueness, right now I am on a line dance. 24 female avatars, nobody has a face that is similar to the others. Same with the 8 male avatars. 3 of who have beards

Edited November 14, 2019 by Mollymews
s

[Lindal Kidd]

"Unique", or "beautiful"...or both?  That is an important and profound question...because many people feel that there is an "ideal" when it comes to beauty.  Even though this ideal differs between cultures, and even between individuals, you may notice that all "beautiful" women tend to look...well, not the same, but at least similar.  This is less true of men.

Madelaine McMasters (in her usual "little demon" avatar) is an example of an avatar who is absolutely unique...but not conventionally beautiful.  Skell Dagger, in all his incarnations, is both unique AND beautiful.  The man is amazing.

I can't do as well as either of them.  Nevertheless, I feel that I've achieved a level of "beauty" that is acceptable, and a level of uniqueness that lets me know I'm me, and not the person next to me.  For me, the process involved:

• First, developing a shape.  I worked on my shape, off and on, for several months before I finally decided that I'd achieved "me".
• Next, skin.  When I bought my skin, we did not have separate makeup.  Instead, a pack of skins included several makeup options.  Over the course of about three years, I went through four different major skin updates.  I finally settled on a skin from LaQroki (LAQ), and haven't changed it for years.
• Eyes and makeup.  For a long time, I wore only green eyes (and, mostly, red hair).  I still do, a lot of the time, but now I change eyes and hair to match my mood or outfit much more often.  If you want a consistent look though, you can stick with one eye color, and one hair color...but get several different hair styles in the same color.  This way, it appears you've just styled your hair differently than you did yesterday.
• Clothing.  Over time, I developed a fairly consistent style.  I've always tried for a classy look, whether I'm dressed casually, or in high style.  I do have some outfits for special occasions that go outside my usual look and persona, though!

[Madelaine McMasters]

9 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

...but not conventionally beautiful.

...sets you on fire, over and over and over again.

Edited November 14, 2019 by Madelaine McMasters

[tontipichulino]

3 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

"Unique", or "beautiful"...or both?  That is an important and profound question...because many people feel that there is an "ideal" when it comes to beauty.  Even though this ideal differs between cultures, and even between individuals, you may notice that all "beautiful" women tend to look...well, not the same, but at least similar.  This is less true of men.

Madelaine McMasters (in her usual "little demon" avatar) is an example of an avatar who is absolutely unique...but not conventionally beautiful.  Skell Dagger, in all his incarnations, is both unique AND beautiful.  The man is amazing.

I can't do as well as either of them.  Nevertheless, I feel that I've achieved a level of "beauty" that is acceptable, and a level of uniqueness that lets me know I'm me, and not the person next to me.  For me, the process involved:

• First, developing a shape.  I worked on my shape, off and on, for several months before I finally decided that I'd achieved "me".
• Next, skin.  When I bought my skin, we did not have separate makeup.  Instead, a pack of skins included several makeup options.  Over the course of about three years, I went through four different major skin updates.  I finally settled on a skin from LaQroki (LAQ), and haven't changed it for years.
• Eyes and makeup.  For a long time, I wore only green eyes (and, mostly, red hair).  I still do, a lot of the time, but now I change eyes and hair to match my mood or outfit much more often.  If you want a consistent look though, you can stick with one eye color, and one hair color...but get several different hair styles in the same color.  This way, it appears you've just styled your hair differently than you did yesterday.
• Clothing.  Over time, I developed a fairly consistent style.  I've always tried for a classy look, whether I'm dressed casually, or in high style.  I do have some outfits for special occasions that go outside my usual look and persona, though!

I am looking for a way to see my face and not think of all the other people in SL. I don't think i would be able to identify my avi if someone bought diferent clothing and hair and changed the look. 

I want to see that face and remember that face. That way i can create a persona for myself and not be like any other avi.

Does anybody know any accesories that can make your face unique?

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I just want different

[Lindal Kidd]

24 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

...sets you on fire, over and over and over again.

Oh, come now.  Sure, your hair and your slippers are cute as can be, but a solid black horned devil?  Also cute, I admit, but not "conventionally" beautiful.  You don't need to be...your soul is a thing of ultimate beauty.

[Madelaine McMasters]

6 hours ago, tontipichulino said:

I want to edit a face so that it is unique to me. But i want to make it memorable...

The easiest way to make something memorable is to make it atypical or to not change it. The asymmetry you mentioned is one way to do that, but that comes at the cost of attractiveness, as humans are wired to appreciate symmetry. Keeping the same look over long periods of time allows everyone, including you, to become familiar with it, even if it's not terribly unique.

I've noticed that the first thing I recognize about people I see frequently (generally in the forums) is not actually the face, but the hair and glasses (if any). You can recognize hair styles from greater distances, and from more angles, than faces. It's the same in RL, where I was always able to find my father in a sea of people simply by looking for a white ponytail and Harry Potter glasses. Hats make a huge difference, and because of the difficulty of wearing them, they're a fairly rare sight. I modified my usual hair to accommodate wearing a fedora.

Once you get close enough to examine the face, you're going to be drawn to the eyes, as they (in RL) indicate attention, emotion, and intent. I've found that eye-reflections makes a big difference in whether a pair of eyes look alive or dead. You rarely, if ever, see a human iris without also seeing a reflection of the environment in front of it. On a bright day, I can often see myself, upside down, in the eyes of people I'm engaging. I don't have any examples to show, but during my search for eyes for my human avatar, I actually made some myself, overlaying reflections of various interesting things (generally in silhouette form, as if against a bright sky). Most of my attempts were icky, but some were interesting. Spend time trying eyes, they are the window to your soul, after all.

In RL, I have both freckles and vitiligo. I did spend some time creating freckles and moles on my avatar skin, in the shape of night sky constellations, but I ran out of time and interest before I could get to my face, where I planned to do the same. Instead, I wear an Anne Francis mole, a little spinning globe of nighttime Earth. I also wear mismatched simple hoop earrings that I made myself. My alter-ego, Snugs, wears a complimentarily mismatched pair. Very few people notice these little things and that's fine. I did them for me.

[Lindal Kidd]

...pops back in, slapping at embers.

All of Maddy's comments are spot on, but I'd add that in SL, since we all can change just about everything about our appearance in a second, what I look at first is...name tags.  I have them set to show user names, which are always unique and never change!

[Nalates Urriah]

Is there a real life face you consider memorable? Kiss? Mick Jagger? Obama? Trump? What makes the face you think is memorable, memorable to you?

[Galactikat]

Really you're in SL where you can look like anything your brain conjures up. You don't have to be human and beautiful. To me everyone's face is unique on it's own until they start copying each other and following the same beauty/fashion trends.  But your question is hard to answer because everyone has their own opinion on what makes a face look unique. If you want ideas on how to look different search for RL alternative/unique model faces. There's one female model Sophia Hadjipanteli who's known as the monobrow model. She gets praise for "breaking traditional beauty standards" but her look isn't unique to me just because she's not the first and last person to have a monobrow. I like a model called Ilka Brühl because she has the appearance of a fairytale creature like a woodland fairy.

But again really it depends what you personally think looks unique/interesting. It's hard to look unique in a world where everyone copies each other.

[Dean Haystack]

On 11/14/2019 at 2:52 PM, tontipichulino said:

I am looking for a way to see my face and not think of all the other people in SL. I don't think i would be able to identify my avi if someone bought diferent clothing and hair and changed the look. 
I want to see that face and remember that face. That way i can create a persona for myself and not be like any other avi.
Does anybody know any accesories that can make your face unique?

Forget accessories, that is a mistake that so many people do, they think if they put together the right combination of face piercings and mesh ears with a million earrings, then a scar, then a tattoo, then different colored eyes they'll look "unique." But they don't, they look like everyone else, only with different bells and whistles glued on them, same goes for makeup.

Your shape and skin combination is what will give you that unique feel, the shape in particular.
I know many people that will say "I've made my own custom shape" but all they did was make the lips every so slightly fuller and the nose ever so slightly smaller, you need to put in a LOT more work than that to avoid that familiar look of "I've seen this head before."
Personally I just took a picture of myself, put it on a prim and placed it in front of my mesh head to shape it. You can try doing the same or use a picture of a celebrity. Another good trick is try shaping a head that you DON'T like, do that with the demo before you commit to buying it. The reason being, if you get one you like you'll resist moving away from its off-the-box look, if you try turning a head you don't like into something you to, you're gonna get far from that initial familiar look.

This goes without saying but I'll say it anyway, avoid getting the latest heads banking on the fact they are new and there for unique, so "job done" that is another mistake I've known people to make only to hear them complain about the money they've spend on their dozens of heads that a few months later "everyone is using."

[Alyona Su]

15 hours ago, Dean Haystack said:

Forget accessories, that is a mistake that so many people do, they think if they put together the right combination of face piercings and mesh ears with a million earrings, then a scar, then a tattoo, then different colored eyes they'll look "unique." But they don't, they look like everyone else, only with different bells and whistles glued on them, same goes for makeup.

Your shape and skin combination is what will give you that unique feel, the shape in particular.
I know many people that will say "I've made my own custom shape" but all they did was make the lips every so slightly fuller and the nose ever so slightly smaller, you need to put in a LOT more work than that to avoid that familiar look of "I've seen this head before."
Personally I just took a picture of myself, put it on a prim and placed it in front of my mesh head to shape it. You can try doing the same or use a picture of a celebrity. Another good trick is try shaping a head that you DON'T like, do that with the demo before you commit to buying it. The reason being, if you get one you like you'll resist moving away from its off-the-box look, if you try turning a head you don't like into something you to, you're gonna get far from that initial familiar look.

This goes without saying but I'll say it anyway, avoid getting the latest heads banking on the fact they are new and there for unique, so "job done" that is another mistake I've known people to make only to hear them complain about the money they've spend on their dozens of heads that a few months later "everyone is using."

You may be a little late to the party, most have gone home the day after the most recent post before yours, if the dates are correct.

Besides, @Mollymews already nailed it with this:

On 11/14/2019 at 1:51 AM, Mollymews said:

skin and makeup. Followed by shape editing

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by Alyona Su