Help me with my new avatar?

[Philip Linden]

After much good-natured pressuring, I'm going to dive into creating a modern avatar for myself, starting this coming week.  I'd like to dress a modern body in a way that comes out looking recognizable as my old avatar, meaning a handlebar-moustache'd cowboy in chaps with a concert T-shirt and some tattoos, etc.  GIven those constraints as starting point, any suggestions on shopping or approach?   I'll post to the Friends of Philip group when I'm shopping.... see ya soon.  

[Space Zehetbauer]

Oh, I am sure you are about to get a lot of advice 🙂

Will be interesting to see how it turns out.

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

/me smiles and gets some popcorn 🍿 

If you want a similar body shape, there are some nice slim male bodies, but some have much more content than others.

I will think on your very specific clothing requirements.  @Eddy Vortex just made your look with some full perm mesh chaps. I'm not sure, however, what mesh body he used.

A band shirt: since it shouldnt be anything branded, we can all look for "inspired by" t-shirts for you.

How hard can it be to find sparkly BOM undies???  *grins*

[Love Zhaoying]

This may be the best thread ever in the Second Life Community Forums! Thanks, @Philip Linden!

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

@Philip Linden

Please save your current avatar as an Outfit before you attempt a makeover.

If you didn't know already, Outfits are folders containing shortcut links to all the individual components of an avatar's appearance. Outfits folders do not contain copies of those components, just links.

Once you have made multiple Outfits, you'll find switching between Outfits is very quick and easy and saves the time you would have otherwise needed to scroll through your Inventory searching and wearing the individual components.

When making a new or updating an avatar, be certain not to use your original components, you should always use copies of them instead. That way, you will preserve your original avatar's appearance without permanantly changing it.

Personally, I like your avatar as it is and I wouldn't change it. It's okay to look different than other people and yours is unique.

Edited November 17 by SarahKB7 Koskinen

[Ze Helix]

Makeovers are fun! Especially since its easy to go back to the old look. I think people will react to you updating your avatar the way babies react to seeing their dads with their beards shaved for the first time. You'll have to decide on a body before you start trying on clothes. Legacy is gonna have the most clothing options probably. Jake has a bunch too but is less modern. Anatomy (what I usually use) and CZ Slim are both newer and can do slimmer bodies but they also have less clothing options.

There are a few hairs that remind me of yours.

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/NIJU-Zommie-Hair-fatpack/23768778 Shaved sides but similar in spirit I think.

[AzureWaves]

4 hours ago, Philip Linden said:

After much good-natured pressuring, I'm going to dive into creating a modern avatar for myself, starting this coming week.  I'd like to dress a modern body in a way that comes out looking recognizable as my old avatar, meaning a handlebar-moustache'd cowboy in chaps with a concert T-shirt and some tattoos, etc.  GIven those constraints as starting point, any suggestions on shopping or approach?   I'll post to the Friends of Philip group when I'm shopping.... see ya soon.  

Dear Philip, to have the most authentic Second Life resident experience, you must ignore all of the suggestions here and research what is available out there on your own. What is a mesh body? What is a mesh head? What components make up an avatar in 2024? If people tell you, you won't really understand the struggle to obtain information that new residents have. Good luck!

I just want to add that Second Life search doesn't work either, so good luck finding any stores relevant to whatever you're searching for.

Edited November 17 by AzureWaves

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

I am happy you asked residents for help. I love a collaborative project!  

I also know you could ask any number of Lindens and Moles for assistance.  Some of them have amazing avatars.

Azure has a point though. New residents don't have a huge community to ask. They are told to watch tutorials or they're given blog sites to visit for fashion advice. They use the search available inworld and the one on the marketplace to find specialty clothing. They are told to demo demo demo.

They wonder why their mouth is on the back of their head and why their body skin doesn't match the head skin. They buy clothing for the wrong bodies and wonder why it doesn't fit like the ad shows.

If you want assistance, it would help us to know what you already know. Do you know about EvoX? Have you tried a mesh head? Do you have a mesh body in mind?

If you just want help with the clothes and mustache, let us know. It will narrow down what help you actually need.

[SabrinaCooke]

5 hours ago, Philip Linden said:

After much good-natured pressuring, I'm going to dive into creating a modern avatar for myself, starting this coming week.  I'd like to dress a modern body in a way that comes out looking recognizable as my old avatar, meaning a handlebar-moustache'd cowboy in chaps with a concert T-shirt and some tattoos, etc.  GIven those constraints as starting point, any suggestions on shopping or approach?   I'll post to the Friends of Philip group when I'm shopping.... see ya soon.  

Whoa, is this really you? 🤯

To stay on topic, I agree with the suggestions above about trying an authentic SL newbie experience. It's a great way to understand how a new user experiences SL when they arrive. 

[Sandra8675]

Its gives me a headache to think about all the advise/ opinions that will soon be flooding his inbox on best this or that.  Sigh.

[Ecko Soulstar]

1. If you aren't accustomed to a lot of time being naked in world, you will be after this journey, lol.

2. I also encourage saving your current avatar outfit before diving in. A full custom rebuild can take time, even for folks who know all the tricks. You will probably want to show up as yourself, in the meantime, and saving outfits is that bridge between.

3. Take notes on what you love and what sucked for you, it'd be cool to compare notes.
Maybe Ask yourself "Why can we drag and drop to reorder our inventory, but not while editing our current outfit. Are those arrow buttons really the best we can do?"

I can't wait to see your glow up!!! ❤️ Please share progress reports with us!!

Welcome Home Philip 🙂 

[Eddy Vortex]

AzureWaves and Cinnamon made good points about putting yourself in the shoes of the regular SL resident in order to get a feel of their experiences in trying to put an avatar together.  It's a minefield of various user-made wares that are not so intuitive and newbies don't have a quick-start guide to help figure how to fit the pieces together.

You could take the Senra body for a spin. Your original threads will work as BoM on it.  I made an approximate replica of your signature outfit to suit a female body. I am not skilled enough to make mesh chaps from scratch and had to resort to using a full perm kit made by someone else.

I hold the same opinion as SarahKB7 and I think your avatar is perfectly fine as is. There is no mistaking the spiky hair, the Rocky Horror tee, and chaps with the colorful "codpiece" as the Phillip look.

And welcome home, @Philip Linden

 

Edited November 17 by Eddy Vortex

[Love Zhaoying]

2 hours ago, Eddy Vortex said:

There is no mistaking the spiky hair, the Rocky Horror tee, and chaps with the colorful "codpiece" as the Phillip look.

Adding, @Philip Linden: The Rocky Horror tee in particular is a clear signal that you're cool!

[MissSweetViolet]

Hello, Philip,  nice to meet you! For moustaches, a couple places you can try checking out in SL are Mr. Coin, Not Found and Stray Dog, and the later two stores also do skins as well if your needing one still.

You've jumped in at a great time too, as advent season starts soon!

Edited November 17 by MissSweetViolet
Spelling corrections.

[Dorientje Woller]

And as usual ... the question that isn't been asked is: What's the budget or how much do you wanna spend on the make over?

[Rowan Amore]

Please purchase an AO as well.  

[coyotegirlchild]

philip you're going to need a new.... everything. head, body, AO, hair, accessories. this is not going to be a cheap endeavor so expect to shell out quite a lot of lindens.

the most popular male bodies are belleza jake and legacy m, but you could also go with signature gianni, cz slim, or anatomy if you like them. DEMO EVERYTHING. you will save thousands in the long run. lelutka is the most popular head but you could go with catwa (however you will be limited in accessories seeing as lelutka has dominated the market). you can use "out of the box" skins or grab some from velour and stray dog. lelutka heads come with facial hair to try out, along with scars, freckles, and some scalp tattoos.

many tattoos are BOM (bakes on mesh) these days so make sure whatever body you're demoing has that enabled if it didn't already. get a variety of demos to play around with, experiment with how you want to look. or even grab some freebies off the marketplace and see how you'd look in varying clothing styles.

[Rowan Amore]

Hair...

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Action-Inkubator-Hair-Benji/26138904

Edited November 19 by Rowan Amore

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

Philip at SL7B in June 2010:

 

Found these images of Philip before and after a makeover in October 2010.

 

It seems Philip's current avatar is this 2010 makeover one, but with his original pre-makeover hair.

Edited November 18 by SarahKB7 Koskinen

[Theresa Tennyson]

On 11/17/2024 at 12:30 AM, AzureWaves said:

Dear Philip, to have the most authentic Second Life resident experience, you must ignore all of the suggestions here and research what is available out there on your own. What is a mesh body? What is a mesh head? What components make up an avatar in 2024? If people tell you, you won't really understand the struggle to obtain information that new residents have.

Unless they talk to someone and ask questions, which is exactly what Philip is doing.

[Love Zhaoying]

Hmmm...now that I think of it, I bet Dura has some hairs that would look just right!  (And maybe even beards!)

I'll have to go looking.

[Stephanie Misfit]

5 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

Hair...

 

That is perfect. I hope Philip will share his new look in this thread once he has found everything.

[Cayenne Republic]

Dinkies rule! 

[Love Zhaoying]

On 11/18/2024 at 1:37 PM, Rowan Amore said:

Hair...

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Action-Inkubator-Hair-Benji/26138904

I love the red, it reminds me of my own mane! And of Philip's color, IIRC.

[Alia Baroque]

55 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I love the red, it reminds me of my own mane! And of Philip's color, IIRC.

Don't do it, you are perfect as you are. VIVA LA VINTAGE RESISTANCE