Need advise on mesh head/body

[Lilia Levitsky]

Hello,

After 14 years in SL, I finally decided to invest into mesh head and body. But the problem I got: most of mesh avatars look too Kardashian: big cheekbones, silicon lips, huge female shapes. My system avatar is made to measure and looks a lot like me (well, as much as avatar can). Can you please advise me if there is a good mesh provider that makes non-mainstream avatars? Features that I'm looking for:

Head:

• Low cheeks
• Humpy nose

Body:

• Slim, almost teenage shapes.

This is my system body, and I want the same proportions, but without this "system" look.

Thank you in advance

[MoiraKathleen]

I would suggest getting demos for Tonic Fine and for Slink Physique.  You may still need to do some adjusting of the sliders for your shape (make a copy of your existing shape and use that copy to play around with when trying the demos).   I've had some luck with both of these bodies with getting a shape that is not to 'hippy'.   

The drawbacks of these are with the Tonic Fine, you may not be able to wear very many of your existing mesh clothes (at least that was my experience).  However both Tonic and Slink have BOM (bakes-on-mesh) options, which will allow you to wear system layer clothing that you might already have.  There are more creators making clothes for Tonic than there used to be, and I think there is still a lot available for Slink Physique, but at events you may find that not all creators include those bodies in their offerings.   According to many, neither of these are in the current "Top 3" of popular bodies, but I think these may be the best for you to demo first, given what you said you are looking for.  I currently wear the Slink Physique and have not had trouble finding clothes I like, and I wore Tonic Fine in the past, and was able to put together a pretty good wardrobe for it.

You may want to search in the MP for clothes for each one to get an idea about what is available for those bodies (or for any body that you decide to demo) to make sure that you feel there is an adequate supply of clothes in the styles you prefer for the body you decide to go with. 

Mesh heads will be a separate purchase - they are sold separately from the body, and often by different creators.  I would suggest getting settled on a body first, so that when you go to look for mesh heads to demo and start to look at what skin you might want, you'll know which body you need to match up skin-wise with which mesh head skin, and whether you need skin appliers or BOM skins.  However, Catya has had a free mesh head this month - I think the 24th may be last day it's available, so it might be good to scoop that up while it's free, though you will most likely want to demo other heads as well,  when you are ready for that stage of the makeover.  (look for Catya Freya on the marketplace).

 

 

[PixieGirrrrl]

Yes, might as well pick this up while its free: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/CATWA-HEAD-Freya-GIFT/19516951

The heads are normally 5k.

[Lillith Hapmouche]

You are aware that you can happily mod the shape underneath those mesh parts and thus change a lot about the look, in terms of both body and heads? Slides might behave a bit differently from what you know when modifying you system look, but still...

Sure, if you want a slim body, I wouldn't go for a body meant for busty and curvy looks. But I really can't see why it would would need a special "non-mainstream" mesh combo for the desired look.

[Chery Amore]

You might want to look into Maitreya too. It can be made slender and without too many curves. There is also the Lucy body that you can get for free by clicking a midnight madness board. Look up Lucy Shoes in world to find that option, join the group for free and hit that midnight madness board. That way you don't have to put much investment (if any) into your first mesh body. There's  is a purchase you can make for about 200 linden that makes it BOM capable. The Lucy body uses mostly Maitreya clothing and slink shoes and there are lots and lots of group gifts and great freebies out there so you don't make a costly mistake your first time out.

Also remember the shape can be adjusted... so if it seems too curvy adjust your shape under to see if it looks better. You can start with the shapes provided. A lot of shapes provided are very tall also so you can shorten it,  but remember to make adjustments to keep the proportions where you want them.

Don't be afraid to demo, demo, demo  and play with the shape underneath until you find the body shape  you want.

[Marianne Little]

5 hours ago, Lilia Levitsky said:

Hello,

After 14 years in SL, I finally decided to invest into mesh head and body. But the problem I got: most of mesh avatars look too Kardashian: big cheekbones, silicon lips, huge female shapes. My system avatar is made to measure and looks a lot like me (well, as much as avatar can). Can you please advise me if there is a good mesh provider that makes non-mainstream avatars? Features that I'm looking for:

Head:

• Low cheeks
• Humpy nose

Body:

• Slim, almost teenage shapes.

This is my system body, and I want the same proportions, but without this "system" look.

Thank you in advance

Most mesh bodies can look like that. (Some are meant to be huge boobs and hips, like Hourglass) If you try a mesh body demo over your own shape, you will have to nudge the numbers, but the wide-hipped, tall and busty avatars you see, looks that way because the numbers is pushed to give just that look. Push the numbers the other way, and you get short, small breasts and slim hips. This body under is one of my alts, with a 1 L body you can get to practice on. It is how she looks, I did not alter the shape before I took the pictures. The hips is 50 here, reduce it and she get slimmer hips, the saddle bags is 15 and you can set them to 0 and get very narrow hips. The body is the Meshbody Classic 1 L gift. https://ryanschultz.com/2020/04/17/second-life-steals-deals-and-freebies-the-meshbody-offers-free-versions-of-their-classic-mesh-bodies-for-men-and-women/

I am sure Maitreya and other bodies can look like that without problems. Belleza Isis is also easy to make a slim fit with.

I am showing the Meshbody Classic because it is a good practice body. It can wear Legacy shoes, nails and rings, and can also take other shoes... with the other feet that is included. Sometimes the Slink shoes fit better, sometimes the Maitreya ones.

The heads has the same flexibility. Kardashian makeup is a lot of highlights and shades to the extremes, and many SL skins copy that, plus that it is popular to set the skin to shiny or dewy. Use a skin without the Kardashian makeup and you will see that many heads does not have cheekbones that can cut glass. Plus the sliders can reduce cheek bones to lower. The included skins with heads is not good when you judge the head's look. The lips is set big and puffy with the sliders, reduce them with the sliders. The lipsticks is also made to make the lips very pillowy. If the lips is very protruding in the profile, it is very hard to make them go "in". But protruding lips is not on every mesh head.

What can you not do with a head? It is not possible to make a straight nose humpy. It is maybe is a dealbreaker? I can not remember seeing a female head with other than a straight nose.

You have to ignore the look others make for their avatar, take demos and experiment, edit shape, try different skins. Skins also come with demos.

As already mentioned, there is a free Catwa head with all the functions included. This offer ends May 24th. The full priced heads are 5010 L. I strongly urge you to pick it up before the offer ends, even if you don't like how it looks on the ad. People has created lots of different looks with this. It is versatile. It is also a good head to practice on. You learn how to use one of the major head brands in Second Life. https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/CATWA-HEAD-Freya-GIFT/19516951

My alt is not using it. She is using a previous freebie, not available now.

 

[Maitimo]

Maitreya will be able to give you that body shape easily. A few others will too; ebody (not the Curvy one), Belleza Isis, Slink Physique, Legacy, Altamura. However with other bodies the availability of clothes that fit will be much more limited (and in some cases almost non-existant).

For heads, any head will be able to do the low cheekbones as these can be adjusted on the sliders. However, I don't know of any head that will be able to give you a "humpy" nose. The slider coming into play here would normally be upper bridge size, but with mesh heads the sliders can only do so much and I don't know of any female head that can do a prominent Roman nose. If that's an important issue, you may consider having mesh body only, and keeping your Classic head.

[Lillith Hapmouche]

A reference pic for the nose would be nice...

I'd probably start with making the whole nose larger, then trim down the nostrils to the desired width. Like Maitimo said, the upper bridge height will "pop it out" from the face, perhaps bring in a bit of brow size increasement on the Head tab to get a nice line. Play with the nose tip angle and adjust the lower bridge as you like.

it helps to have a head where the basic nose shape matches your style. For example, I switched a male-alt from Catwa Victor to LeLutka Skyler because of the nose (and because the overall look was like 200 % more yummy, but well).

[ManuelAngel2004]

1 hour ago, Marianne Little said:

11 hours ago, Lilia Levitsky said:

My system avatar is made to measure and looks a lot like me

You can always modify mesh bodies with the "anatomy" option, of course, with a few limitations. 💁🏻‍♂️ 

 

[Lilia Levitsky]

Thank you for all your advises! I will definitely try them all. 

That's true, you can't make a humpy nose even with system female avatar, though I was able to give a nice eagle nose to my husband's avatar. But system shape has that "jowls" option, that allows me to make cheeks lower. The heads I tried - the three that were free recently - Freya, Ciara, and Genus, and Ruth 2.0 - looks like jowls slider doesn't work there. Is it a common mesh head thing, or do some heads have jowls implemented?

[Lillith Hapmouche]

The Jowls slider is barely supported, that's true.

Workarounds include changing the general head shape (like, length and width, forehead heavy or not...), a bit of sunken cheeks and working with other chin features.

[Marianne Little]

Just now, Lillith Hapmouche said:

The Jowls slider is barely supported, that's true.

Workarounds include changing the general head shape (like, length and width, forehead heavy or not...), a bit of sunken cheeks and working with other chin features.

Yes. But I seem to remember the Freya Catwa head has a bad slider response to other parts too, like the outer eye corner. Like the rigging was hasted to finish it. It might be worth trying a few more demos from Catwa. Her production is huge, after all.

[Lillith Hapmouche]

... or switch to a different brand right away ☺️

[Maitimo]

8 hours ago, Lilia Levitsky said:

Thank you for all your advises! I will definitely try them all. 

That's true, you can't make a humpy nose even with system female avatar, though I was able to give a nice eagle nose to my husband's avatar. But system shape has that "jowls" option, that allows me to make cheeks lower. The heads I tried - the three that were free recently - Freya, Ciara, and Genus, and Ruth 2.0 - looks like jowls slider doesn't work there. Is it a common mesh head thing, or do some heads have jowls implemented?

I don't think I have ever seen a head that has the jowls slider enabled.