Getting Skinned

I've been on Second Life for about five weeks now. I finally did buy land on Monday and it was less expensive than imagined. One piece of advice that I am glad I did not heed, was buying a new skin.

The original skins (I started out with the female avatar in the purple sweater which I ditched within minutes by digging out another texture. I hope this avatar is still there because she is quite versatile) really look quite fine once adjusted with the sliders. They lack some of the dark colors (The dark brown does not resemble real African American skin which needs more purple and grey) and also the greens and blues (if that is your thing. This is true of the hair as well.) they seem decent enough in a nice light brown. Also, it helped to wipe all the makeup off my face.

The one thing that an original female skin does not have is detailed nipples or genetalia. It is also matte textured, but who wants to glisten with sweat all the time and there is a simple solution to the lack of detailed breasts: clothes. They are relatively inexpensive to make. The first ten dollars worth of Lindens, of which I have spent about five dollars, was a good investment. Shirts are not difficult to make and the sliders feature the paint bucket to color up something if you don't want to pay to upload textures. If your character is going to wear shirts in public, she gets more variety for a lot less if she spends her L to upload textures and makes some clothes. Besides, it's more fun.

There's my advice for today. Throw tomatoes if you like.

So what was the question?

She is offering some advice that worked for her to other new players.

Good advice too.

Actually, I was amazed at the quality of the skins that come with the new beginning avatars. No 'lower regions,' but nicely detailed nipples, along with actually fun to wear. I have to give their creators greatly and wished like heck I had them when I started too many years ago.

It really depends on why you're here. I like to shop and I want my av hot...sort of like a virtual Barbie doll. And she is.

(Gratuitous pic-age coming up)







Not achievable with slider skin and clothes.

No argument.

Great pics but where's your ass?

NURSE!! I got an owie..

Where it always is...behind my av!

/me looks at pic, falls over injuring leg. "Nurse, when your done with Mac..."

My keyboard tray on my desk sits kinda low.. ok very low. I erm.. sprained something when I saw the pics.

lol, yay! I made this thread all about me!

I'm in lurve with the Nylon one with the one eyebrow arched higher than the other.
I keep my main AV kind of hot, but I like a bit more oddness on my others & especially in female skins, that's hard to find.

You can see what Iyoba looks like and some of her wardrobe over in the gallery at this URL:

/53/5f/266180/1.html#post2042188

/me yumms

My first guy was born in 2003 and I have never bought expensive skin.
And the photo realistic ones I have were gifts but I did buy some of cheaper ones out here.
It is really up to you if it makes you feel good to have nice skin on here you should have one.
I resisted because I didn't want to be like everyone else or just have others attracted to me due to the skin I had on at that moment.
A word of warning about land and prims....be careful they are addictive once you have one 512m lot if you're anything like me you will want more and won't have money to shop.

It depends what you want for your avatar. The original skins are pretty much single-toned or 'flat'-looking. They don't have shading that looks realistic. If you don't like much make-up, most skin-makers have 'nude' skins too -- they usually offer a variety of make-up options and you can choose which you like.

This is a fairer skin without make-up that I have:


And this is a more tanned one, also with hardly any make-up:


Anyway, there are a lot of good quality skins out there for free or $1L. Most of my skins are of that variety, including the two above.

I've just bought my first proper expensive skin having been here for over a year. I must have tried on about 200 demos before I found something that suited me (serves me right for bucking the trend and giving my avie a jawbone).

I started off with a library skin but quickly ditched it when I found a nice freebie skin that made the library one look like cardboard. Now, having worn my expensive skin for a week or two, the freebie one I was very happy with for a year suddenly looks ghastly and crudely drawn. The same process has happened with shoes and hair - what I have seems fine until I come across something better then the old stuff looks just a little bit crap.

A good skin is expensive and not something I'd worry about in the first few weeks - there are a lot of quite good free ones around (although I understand that the one called Malibu may be pirated?). Do a search for the Free Dove and see what they have there.

Alternatively, if you are making clothing textures you could have a go at making your own skin textures, although I think this is a highly skilled job.