Create a naturally looking female avatar

[ErinGolden]

I want to create a naturally looking female avatar. She should look as close as possible like a real human female.

What creators would you recommend for

Skin

Shape

Body

Head

[Orwar]

   It's really hard to say, 'realistic' is a pretty vague goal.

   First you'll need to decide on what body type you want, as that is the main factor in choosing a body. Legacy (or its 'perky' variant if you want a smaller bosom) is probably the best if you want a 'normal' or 'fit' shape (it can have some curviness to it if you shape it that way). Reborn is the go-to if you have a preference for corpulence. 

   For heads it's also entirely up to what kind of facial shape you're looking for, most heads can be made to look 'realistic'.

   Skin and shape depends on what choices you make for body and head. It seems as if most people around here make their own shapes, but if you're new to avatar design then that could actually be where you start instead; shapes will generally come with style cards that tell you which body, head, and skin were used for the advert (just beware AI adverts when browsing shapes; if they look too good to be true, they are!), so you could just browse shapes and use that as your starting point.

[Dorientje Woller]

10 minutes ago, Orwar said:

   It's really hard to say, 'realistic' is a pretty vague goal.

   First you'll need to decide on what body type you want, as that is the main factor in choosing a body. Legacy (or its 'perky' variant if you want a smaller bosom) is probably the best if you want a 'normal' or 'fit' shape (it can have some curviness to it if you shape it that way). Reborn is the go-to if you have a preference for corpulence. 

   For heads it's also entirely up to what kind of facial shape you're looking for, most heads can be made to look 'realistic'.

   Skin and shape depends on what choices you make for body and head. It seems as if most people around here make their own shapes, but if you're new to avatar design then that could actually be where you start instead; shapes will generally come with style cards that tell you which body, head, and skin were used for the advert (just beware AI adverts when browsing shapes; if they look too good to be true, they are!), so you could just browse shapes and use that as your starting point.

Yeah, hard to give advice on something what the OP finds natural looking, if none of own input is given. 

Best to have a look in this thread and make up your mind, ask then how to create such avatar: 

 

Edited November 22 by Dorientje Woller

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, Dorientje Woller said:

Yeah, hard to give advice on something what the OP finds natural looking, if none of own input is given.

Could be "large" with sagging boobs and cellulite!

[Dorientje Woller]

1 minute ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Could be "large" with sagging boobs and cellulite!

Not everybody is granted with that

[JacksonBollock]

11 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Could be "large" with sagging boobs and cellulite!

Ok, that's the natural looking men taken care of, but the OP asked about females!

[Persephone Emerald]

11 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Could be "large" with sagging boobs and cellulite!

You can buy cellulite tattoo layers from Izzie's!

[Persephone Emerald]

13 hours ago, ErinGolden said:

I want to create a naturally looking female avatar. She should look as close as possible like a real human female.

What creators would you recommend for

Skin

Shape

Body

Head

You said it should be female. Now, what kind of body shape? (Pictures would help.)  What kind of skin tone? (Most skin stores either favor caucasian or "ethnic" skins.)

I think Lelutka has the best heads, but other brands might have exactly the shape you want that Lelutka doesn't have.

There are "rules" for the ideal body shape, but RL shapes are seldom "ideal". Generally speaking, the length of arms from fingertip to fingertip is the same as total height, the head is 1/7 of the total height, head and torso are about the same height as just the legs, and the hands should be around hip height or slightly longer.  No T-Rex arms, please. 

                        🧍‍♀️  🦖

Edited November 22 by Persephone Emerald
added pictures from link

[Charalyne Blackwood]

Pick a famous woman you find has that general shape you're after, then edit a shape to as close as you can get. Once you have a head you like (demos!) then work the head. Most mesh heads will have a few features that the sliders won't have an effect on, but they aren't major deal breakers

[Stephanie Misfit]

17 hours ago, ErinGolden said:

I want to create a naturally looking female avatar. She should look as close as possible like a real human female.

What creators would you recommend for

Skin

Shape

Body

Head

On sale at the moment, realistic body skin, click through for details on Flickr.

I would recommend Reborn for a realistic body, but you may need to use deformers. For face skins, Voguel has some realistic skins for EvoX, and is usually in the weekend sales.

[Ceka Cianci]

18 hours ago, ErinGolden said:

I want to create a naturally looking female avatar. She should look as close as possible like a real human female.

What creators would you recommend for

Skin

Shape

Body

Head

You may want to add a lot more details of what you are wanting, since we come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and features and tones and different parts of the world and much much more.

It will make things much easier for us to be as helpful as we can be. 

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

5 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

You said it should be female. Now, what kind of body shape? (Pictures would help.)  What kind of skin tone? (Most skin stores either favor caucasian or "ethnic" skins.)

I think Lelutka has the best heads, but other brands might have exactly the shape you want that Lelutka doesn't have.

There are "rules" for the ideal body shape, but RL shapes are seldom "ideal". Generally speaking, the length of arms from fingertip to fingertip is the same as total height, the head is 1/7 of the total height, head and torso are about the same height as just the legs, and the hands should be around hip height or slightly longer.  No T-Rex arms, please. 

                        🧍‍♀️  🦖

There no rules for the ideal body shape at all. Everyone has a different idea what is ideal. You are going to create a bunch of avatars that all look the same and no individuality or uniqueness. Who tf is to say who or what is ideal or the best? Not me, certainly not someone who thinks that everyone should be the same.  No offense 

[Stephanie Misfit]

26 minutes ago, SpiritSparrow Skydancer said:

There no rules for the ideal body shape at all. Everyone has a different idea what is ideal. You are going to create a bunch of avatars that all look the same and no individuality or uniqueness. Who tf is to say who or what is ideal or the best? Not me, certainly not someone who thinks that everyone should be the same.  No offense 

Those are just guidelines, to avoid giraffe necks, tiny heads, and t-rex arms and other common mistakes people make when making their shapes.

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

2 hours ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

Those are just guidelines, to avoid giraffe necks, tiny heads, and t-rex arms and other common mistakes people make when making their shapes.

But but T. rex arms are so fun! 🤩  

[SlammedSam]

This is a highly subjective question, with as many answers as there are women in SL.

Your best bet is to try demos of looks you like. What's right for me may - or may not - work for you.

So here's some advice: Try Demos. Another suggestion is try demos. Did I mention that you should try demos? Oh, and don't forget to try demos!

With all that, I am generally willing to tell one what I am wearing if asked. 😃 Though with that, I'm not suggesting you should get those things specifically.

Back in the day, and even now, if I see a style card with something, I will use the style card as a base, while adding my own touches, until I am satisfied enough to say "Yep, that's me!".

[Dorientje Woller]

1 hour ago, SlammedSam said:

This is a highly subjective question, with as many answers as there are women in SL.

Your best bet is to try demos of looks you like. What's right for me may - or may not - work for you.

So here's some advice: Try Demos. Another suggestion is try demos. Did I mention that you should try demos? Oh, and don't forget to try demos!

With all that, I am generally willing to tell one what I am wearing if asked. 😃 Though with that, I'm not suggesting you should get those things specifically.

Back in the day, and even now, if I see a style card with something, I will use the style card as a base, while adding my own touches, until I am satisfied enough to say "Yep, that's me!".

Besides try demos ... inform yourself if a product has a market. Meaning if there are outfits for it or in case of heads, skins. Nothing worse than getting something, even cheap, where you can do nothing with it.

[SlammedSam]

1 hour ago, Dorientje Woller said:

Besides try demos ... inform yourself if a product has a market. Meaning if there are outfits for it or in case of heads, skins. Nothing worse than getting something, even cheap, where you can do nothing with it.

True. It is best to know if products are well supported.

[Clem Marques]

On 11/23/2024 at 3:26 AM, Stephanie Misfit said:

On sale at the moment, realistic body skin, click through for details on Flickr.

I would recommend Reborn for a realistic body, but you may need to use deformers. For face skins, Voguel has some realistic skins for EvoX, and is usually in the weekend sales.

Which body was used on the model in the left? Looks good, haven't seen a shape like that before.

[Ceka Cianci]

1 hour ago, Clem Marques said:

Which body was used on the model in the left? Looks good, haven't seen a shape like that before.

That looks like reborn with Waifu boobs and juicy rolls,which give it that extra little bit of tummy.

[JeromFranzic]

On 11/22/2024 at 6:02 PM, Persephone Emerald said:

You said it should be female. Now, what kind of body shape? (Pictures would help.)  What kind of skin tone? (Most skin stores either favor caucasian or "ethnic" skins.)

I think Lelutka has the best heads, but other brands might have exactly the shape you want that Lelutka doesn't have.

There are "rules" for the ideal body shape, but RL shapes are seldom "ideal". Generally speaking, the length of arms from fingertip to fingertip is the same as total height, the head is 1/7 of the total height, head and torso are about the same height as just the legs, and the hands should be around hip height or slightly longer.  No T-Rex arms, please. 

                        🧍‍♀️  🦖

I think the wider hip look could be achieved with Belleza's Freya body. *asks Sehrina if she's ok with that...*

[Psyche Starling]

Erika does a wider hip look well too, though clothing support is limited.

[Nalates Urriah]

Its SL... set your arm length to 100%.

To have a realistic look things have to be in proportion. Betlejuice is an example of extreme disproportion. He looks funny. 😂

The shape of the body can vary a great deal. But to look natural all parts must remain in proportion, A 300lb person does not have a 200lb leg and the rest of the body and other leg totaling 100lb.

There are tools in the marketplace to help you with the proportions of the body and face. I make a couple of them. Plus there are shapes made by various people.

SL has not implemented the tech to render realistic skin. We get close. But it tends to be a bit flat and lack the typical imperfections.

If you see SL photos that look super realistic... that comes from how the camera is used. Take a hi-rez image, say 8k x whatever pixels and then Photoshop down to 1024px and things REALLY improve looking more realistic. But you won't see that avatar looking that way when you meet them  in world. What I am saying is what you see on screen and what you see in images, are different. Trying to get your on screen appearance to look like an image by changing the avatar isn't going to work. That magic happens in the computer hardware.

[JeromFranzic]

2 hours ago, Psyche Starling said:

Erika does a wider hip look well too, though clothing support is limited.

Yeah... but Sehrina and I love to mess with it!  It's also excellent for some slimmer looks if you put some time into crafting that... that's something that the Analexa did well, along with deformers for Maitreya compatibility.

[Conifer Dada]

If you want to have a realistic 'mainstream' shape, the best references to use are photos of real-life people. 

There are all sorts of highly improbable avatar shapes shapes in SL, some of which you could probably find real-life equivalents of if you look hard enough - but those are the exception rather than the norm. 

[Katherine Heartsong]

Proportions are your friend to make a body look real. Whether it's a 7:1 ratio, 7-1/2, or the artist "perfect" 8:1 find a guide and start there. Get your head size right, use that as your guide—in these proportional models your head is, for example, in the 8:1 version, 1/8th of your overall height—then get your torso the correct length, and your legs and arms the right length proportionally, and you'll have made a good start.

One other simple rule to follow is on average especially using the proportion guides, the V of a woman's crotch is almost exactly 1/2 way up your body. SL has an adundance of female avatars who have their crotch roughly where there navel would actually be ... the modelsque long legs look. Totally unreal. Makes me, as an artist, giggle. But hey, it's a look, go for it but don't claim it looks normal for an average woman.

And yes, lots of different RL body shapes and sizes—you would be amazed who models in life drawing classes—but standard proportions are a good base point to start then modify to what you like. I've attached a 7.5:1 image to show you where to start. See the crotch position? 3.75 heads down from top.

And please, the neck is always thicker/wider than people assume when tweaking their avatar.

Edited November 27 by Katherine Heartsong