Artist with questions on the Art of Avatar creation.

Hello, I am doing am an artist and I am doing research on the Art of Avatar Creation. If you are interested, you can just answer the questions here on the message board or meet up with me in Second Life to conduct an interview. If can and would like to meet in Second Life, please email me at [email]bhbarr@hotmail.com[/email]. Here are the questions if you can not meet up.

1.) How long have you been on Second Life?

2.) What about Second Life, attracted you to it?

3.) What choices did you make when designing your avatar and why? Did you keep it true to life or imaginative?

4.) What type of skills, were required to create your avatar?

5.) Where does the attraction lie in designing and taking control of this "identity" (avatar) within the virtual world?

6.) Would you consider a person's avatar as a more honest depiction than the real life self?

7.) Would you say there is an emotional release when creating an avatar? If so, how?


Thankyou for your time and participation.

I'll give you the shorthand of the art of avatar creation and save you a lot of studies - it's a lot like playing Barbie.

Except when you burn Barbie in SL her flesh doesn't melt.

1.) Just over 2 years
2.) Being creative and learning new things
3.) Mostly true to life - but rather more idealised
4.) General computer user skills
5.) Playing a grown up version of "dollies houses", I suppose. It costs a lot less than re-inventing yourself and rebuilding your real life house etc.
6.) Not necessarily.
7.) Not noticeably.

Good luck!

i have a question for anyone.
Has anyone ever figured out what people are making all these surveys for?
also has anyone ever seen any results from them?

I believe that most surveys here are done by students who then write a report about it and get some marks for that.

As for the OP's questions:
1) Almost 2 years
2) Control about designing your environment
3) Imaginative. It's nice to change what the avatar looks like at the press of a button.
4) Mainly shopping prowess
5) Ease and being (comparative) inexpensive
6) No, for sure not
7) Not really

1. About 50, but I might have forgotten a few because I was drunk
2. Red
3. !5 years and 128 days
4. Peter J Warfield
5. Bacon Sandwiches
6. Top Gear
7. Helen

Pep (Now *you * have to guess what the questions were that I have answered)

1. Almost 3 years now.
2. Boredom, news clips on the local news where I live
3.It's me, as much as I can pull off, even photo sourced skin from head to toe, I am a graphic artist in RL, this wasn't difficult for me
4. Well as mentioned above, I have a university degree in graphic arts
5. Now that you mention it, I have a slight phobia of being naked in public, it just isn't me. And I did the sex club thing in SL, I think we all do at some point, it gets tired quickly.

Anyway when I see this avatar naked, which is rare, been years now, anyway it's me, I get just as attached to him as I am in RL. This may be a bit difficult to explain, I get just as embaressed in SL as I do in RL involving my avatar. If that makes sense at all.
6. In general, not, I think I stand alone on this one, at least in my social circles.
7. When creating one, no, but I do enjoy shopping, although I create default templates that last a good 4-6 months, so get used to seeing me in the same clothes for months at a time.

Hi BHB

1.) How long have you been on Second Life?
about 18 months

2.) What about Second Life, attracted you to it?
the art scene

3.) What choices did you make when designing your avatar and why? Did you keep it true to life or imaginative?
I started out making her as true to life as possible, but felt like a lumpen dwarf next to everybody else. Now she is deliberately nothing like me. I have several different avatars I wear - none looks like me, except my kid avie looks a lot how I did when I was about 4.

4.) What type of skills, were required to create your avatar?
shopping, playing with sliders, and a general "eye" for proportions.

5.) Where does the attraction lie in designing and taking control of this "identity" (avatar) within the virtual world?
it allows me to explore different aspects of myself.

6.) Would you consider a person's avatar as a more honest depiction than the real life self?
no, not more honest. I tend to assume everybody is exploring different aspects of themselves though, so even if the avie is nothing like the RL person, I think there is some truth in it.

7.) Would you say there is an emotional release when creating an avatar? If so, how?
no.

Good Luck! (people here get a little tired of surveys as we get so many of them, and a lot are thinly veiled attempts to sell us RL branded trainers, but yours is obviously not one of those )

1. About 1.5 years. Twenty months, if you want to get technical.

2. First, curiosity; then, the ability to keep in touch with my husband who was then working 4 hours away; ultimately, exploration, creation, and friendships with other residents.

3. When I originally made Nic, I wanted her to look "real." My old shape looked a lot more realistic, to me, than many others I saw on the grid. Some of the hair I chose was unrealistic, but in a way that could be achieved in RL with dye, curlers, styling products, wigs, etc. When I returned after a bit of a hiatus, I wasn't satisfied with my old shape (it seemed bow-legged and the face didn't work so well in Windlight), so I found another. My new shape is probably less realistic now, but I find that at the moment I'm satisfied with that.
I suppose I spend a fair amount of time on composing outfits to wear, and I like to think that I've achieved a style that suits me and is somewhat different than "all the other avatars" - but everyone probably likes to think that! I frequently play with vintage or retro looks and matching hairstyle and shoes to the era as well as the clothes. I suppose it's fair to say that keeping it "real" has been important to me in style as well as body.
I also have several fantasy avatars, including a magpie and a set of goldfish, but I tend to think of those as costumes rather than representing the physically real "me" in SL.

4. Mostly shopping, freebie hunting, inventory organizing, and coordinating. Some prim adjustment, especially before, when my shape had a high (for SL) body thickness and a fairly high percentage of body fat. I like to think I have a knack for matching pieces from different places in unexpected and distinctive ways. I'm probably not as distinctive or cool as I'd like to think.

5. I think for me part of the attraction lies in the ease and comfort of wearing things in SL that would not be easy or comfortable in RL. Changing a hairstyle or hair color is as easy as clicking the mouse. Getting something just so can be meticulous, but not nearly to the same degree as achieving a particular look in RL. My stockings never twist or run, and my waistband never pinches. Clothes don't get worn out or torn or stained. What I looked like yesterday has no bearing on what I look like today or tomorrow.

6. That's an interesting question. I suppose in a way, an avatar is someone's answer to, "If you could be anything you wanted, what would you be?" On the other hand, an avatar can be used to hide behind, too. I realized the other day as my alt was trying on an object from a hunt that was nothing like her usual style that she could just as easily portray that style and no one would know that she didn't feel like "her" in it, if that makes sense. I tend to think most SL avatars reveal something of how the people behind them think of themselves, but I'm not sure if it does so to a greater degree than their RL appearance.

7. I hadn't thought about it that way, but I suppose there is. That AHA! moment when you know you've captured the look you were going for and you're ready to take it out and show it to the world... I have spent so much of my SL money on photo uploads...

First of all, BHB, I hope you realize that there's a big difference between creating an avatar, and putting one together from parts you've gotten from other people. So far all but one the answers that I've seen are from people doing the latter (the more common method). I do both, but I'll answer as one who creates from scratch.


1.) How long have you been on Second Life?

I found it in 2003, but I didn't really start doing anything with it until about two and a half years ago.

2.) What about Second Life, attracted you to it?

The ability to bring my creatures to life. It's like every gamer kid's dream here.

3.) What choices did you make when designing your avatar and why? Did you keep it true to life or imaginative?

A little of both, though it depends on what I'm making. For some I reference real animals, their coat and skin patterns, bone structure, etc. For others I just use some basic anatomy knowledge and otherwise make things up. For instance, I don't do the extremely angled digitigrade legs that some furries end up with, because it wouldn't work as well holding up a real biped.

4.) What type of skills, were required to create your avatar?

Depends on which avatar you're talking about - I've made dozens. Scattered amongst them, I've done animations, textures, scripting, and 3D modeling.

5.) Where does the attraction lie in designing and taking control of this "identity" (avatar) within the virtual world?

See number 2.

6.) Would you consider a person's avatar as a more honest depiction than the real life self?

Hm, let's look at some of my friends' choices: Anthropomorphic rats, cats, dogs, bats, and other real animals; dragons, griffins, nightmares, and other fantasy creatures; electronics, rocks, and horrible mutant lab experiments gone horribly wrong....Yeah, sure. Seriously, not really. It does say something about the person's tastes, but not what they look like, which I think is what you're getting at.

7.) Would you say there is an emotional release when creating an avatar? If so, how?

It's the same as any other art form. The artist puts part of themselves into it. For me it's about enjoyment, I get pleasure from making things. It helps relieve stress too.

All in all, BHB, you sound like you really need to spend some more time in-world. You don't seem to even realize how limitless avatar creation is, or that some of us (self included) make real life money from doing so. Look me up in world sometime, and I'll show you some of my collection. I'll break you of that human supremacy habit yet

It doesn't have to be one or the other. Most of the avatars I have put together are a mixture of stuff I have made, stuff I have bought and some heavily edited freebies.

That's true. But the way the OP worded it, it made me want to point out the difference between the two. I didn't mean that it had to be one or the other, so good on ya pointing that out.

For me, though, it's almost always one or the other. If I use an avatar someone else made, I may add things to it from other sources and mod it, but it's still not something I made. If I wear an avatar I made, it's usually all things I've made, with the exception of prim hair, which my sister/business partner frequently does for me because I'm terrible at it. I was also pointing out that avatar SALES are a big thing, and you can only (ethically) sell things you've made yourself or have permission to sell (like the aforementioned hair.)

hey, thank you to everyone who participated in these questions. you have helped me out immensely. and sorry to anyone who was annoyed. i am actually really intrigued by SL and consider one of the strongest art forms that exists right now. not just in the avatars, but the whole concept itself. i think that there is much to be said about worlds like SL and hope everyone is as blown away as i am. Thanks again.

Ok I'll bite.....

1.) How long have you been on Second Life? - Almost 2 years.

2.) What about Second Life, attracted you to it? Fascination with the concept and graphics.

3.) What choices did you make when designing your avatar and why? Did you keep it true to life or imaginative? - I keep mine human/female, like myself...but from there it is just a doll of sorts that I morph at will depending on the photo project I'm working on.

4.) What type of skills, were required to create your avatar? - Honestly, as an artist/photographer...it took only imagination and learning the basics of SL. It takes time to get used to the sliders to create the shape...but then also one has to choose the right skin and accessories to achieve the desired look. It takles a good eye....and in my case the 24" moniter helps!

5.) Where does the attraction lie in designing and taking control of this "identity" (avatar) within the virtual world? - For my it is not role play...it is simply a canvas I am constantly re-working to appeal to my own creative ideas.... I remake characters...from art or movies stories or history (Josephine Bake, Rogue, Venus....stuff like that)

6.) Would you consider a person's avatar as a more honest depiction than the real life self?
No...SL gives us creative license in expressing who we are...inevitable folks are going to leave certain things out...or perhaps other traits will be magnified. But no avatar is going to accurately portray the person behind it.

7.) Would you say there is an emotional release when creating an avatar? If so, how?
To a point it is...it's a de-stresser for me....like any other creative outlet....I use SL to satisfy that part of myself that enjoys creating...and also enjoys more immediate gratification. In that respect, it's an emotional release of sorts...a 'time out'.