Skins, Shapes, Hair, Oh My! Confused?!

OK, so I know what hair is, but what exactly is the difference between skin and shape? It's been a while since I was active and I can't seem to remember that. Also any tips for picking nice African American or black skins/shapes/hair would be much appreciated.

The shape is the shape of your avatar, adjusted by using the appearance sliders. The skin is the colouring and detail 'painted' on to your avatar.

I guess you are male but you could be female? There are a bit more female african skins. Do you want photorealistic skins?

And what kind of hair... long, short, dreads or painted on hair (painted on the skin, looks like very short hair).

http://www.second-man.com/new-male-skins-by-chip-midnight.html

This is something that everyone seems to have trouble with initially.......if you take the words 'skin' and 'shape' and apply them in literal terms.....there's your answer. Shape is (as someone explained) the skeletal and muscular structure of your avatar as controled by the body sliders in edit.
Skin...is quite literally....the layer that is worn over the shape to give your avatar details like skin tone...shading...even body hair details will be different with different skins.....as they are very detailed painted images done in photoshop or a similar program.....so that when 'worn' by the avatar....we get a more human quality.

Also....it helps to realize that different skin makers will apply details in slightly different ways. Lips, for example....can be painted in to show a more prominant top or bottom lip. I have seen that with many male skins......some seem to hardly have any top lip at all.....thus you have to adjust your 'shape' and give your top lip more volume. Does any of this make sense? LOL
Best thing to do is try on skin demos to see what enhances your shape the best.

also note....you can do some skin editing with the basic avatar, but you wont get the quality of details with those sliders....and skins made to be 'worn' wont be modifiable.

I'm actually female. And now you've confused me more. What's photorealistic and what are other options?

Thanks for the effort though.

Yes, this does help. Thanks. I figured it would be a kind of literal meaning to the terms, just wasn't sure of some of the specifics.

But I'm sure I don't know what you mean by "skins made to be worn." Aren't they all made to be worn?

I think the "made to be worn" might have been a sort of slip-up. All skins are made to be worn. Many are no-mod, meaning you can't change the skin tone at all. Some are modifiable, meaning you can change the basic skin tone within a few shades of light/darkness. Some people love this feature, while others can't be bothered. I'm of the latter group.

For darker ladies' skins, try the Zoe line by Naughty, or Celestial Studios, which has a huge variety of shades, from Goth-white to African-American. I'm not inworld right now, or I'd be able to recommend a few others.

Re: hair... off the top of my head (get it? Head?... haha I crack myself up) Booperfunk has a large variety of dreads, and HCT (Here Comes Trouble) has a black line. The Zoe skins come with either painted on hair for short-short hair, or the regular baldies, and include a nice hair.

Oh, yeah I remember Booperfunk from when I was here a couple years ago. Nice to hear it's still around as so much has changed. Thanks for all the tips.

Welcome back, Zillow. Don't worry, we were all confused at first.

As for a shape, it is not necessary to buy a shape if you have the patience to play with the sliders in the appearance editor a lot. Some skins look better on some shapes than others, because of where the shading may fall, so when I try on a skin I usually make a copy of my shape and play with the sliders a bit to make the shape match the skin.

I don't know of any skins that are NOT "worn". You have to "wear" a skin from your inventory. A few are provided in the Library folder of your inventory, but there are hundreds more resident-made skins in world. Some are free, but for really good quality and customer service (and accessories to match the skin, such as custom nail polish, makeup and so on), it may be worth spending about 5000 Lindens (USD $5) to get one you REALLY like. I shopped for 4 months before finding the "right one", take your time.

There have been a couple threads about black skins in this forum; the most often mentioned creator of black skins seems to be Chip Midnight. You can look him up in world and find his shop in his profile. For other creators try also using the keyword ethnic. Mej & Mau's has some kinky/curly long hairstyles.

Photorealistic means that the creator used actual photos to create the skins, so you will have a more realistic look. Hand drawn means they were created entirely by drawing/painting so these will tend to look more airbrushed.

MOST IMPORTANT: When you are shopping for skins, ALWAYS try a demo, and look at it in different kinds of light!!!!! Usually the demo is sold right next to the skin for 0L or 1L. Same with hair.

LOL let me try to explain. English isn't my #1 language, so maybe I confuse you more and more. As I understood it, photorealistic skins are much more "real" looking, since they use real pictures as a source. There's more pores and flaws. There's handdrawn skins who are more "smooth" and painted in photoshop. And there's a mix of both. This is how I have understood it, please don't take it as a 100% accurate. You don't need to know how a skin is made, you just try on a demo and see if you like it.

I linked you to a review of Chip Midnight's skins. He also has beautiful female african skins. I was trying to find a good pic of his female skins, but it's getting late here in RL for me.

Redgrave had some nice darker female skins.

You can pick up a free pack of beautiful dark skins if you follow the slurl in this blog: http://slife.sezmra.com/. It's in Crestfallen, and the slurl take you direct there. The designer of these skins have put them out for free and also a shape included in every pack. I didn't like the shape since it's based on real life height, but that's just me. The shape is modify, so it's a great start. You can easily adjust it so it suits you.

I add a pic of a shape I made, with one of these free skins:

Cocoluv has really nice African hair! If you join the group, there's a free hair in the store. Join the group and click the board with your group activated. And Bishwear has a nice set of dreads.

I wrote a post at my blog about that called 'The naked avatar' that might help...

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http://olilas-secondlife.com/2007/11/tutorials/the-naked-avatar/