Black beautiful avatar?

Not sure if there's been a thread about Black/African/Ethnic avatars?

Post your pictures here, so we have all the "ethnic" avatars in one thread!

I think I've read complaints about how hard it is to want to look different from "White Caucasian" before. That might be more easy now, but I have to say that the new starter avatars in the library folder was a disappointment.

So I started SL a year ago and I really wanted to change my looks. I thought: "I can make an attractive avatar who's not white?"



The amazing new skins from Tuli.... I've played with the thought of beeing different, black in a white world. This demanded a lot of work with the nose. Making it wider and flatter. The lips wider and more full. I increased the body fat a bit and gave myself a bit more chin
Fabulous hair from Bishwear. The bandanna is edited, zebra texture from our library folder. Free "Pewter" eyes from Miriel. I hope Tuli will make a even darker skin next time.
I want to go out on the grid and ask everybody if the nose turned out ok, LOL. I don't think it looks right with a thin european nose with the look I wanted. I'm rather happy with the upper bridge, it looks natural IMO. But I might be biased? The nose tip was harder, I wanted to widen it a bit more, but the skin structure is not meant to be applied over other than a thin nose. The details of the nostrils go weird when they're stretched over a wider shape.

(EDIT: I used wrong descripion of eye color, it's the right one now. Miriel also had wonderful dark browns called "Earth"

Shape definitely plays a roll in the believability of a non-Caucasian avatar, but in my own experience the skin textures are an even stronger influence on the ethnic look. This seems to be the strongest case with black skinned avatars. The darker the skin goes, assuming pigmentation, reflectivity, and sub surface scattering is treated in a realistic way, the stronger baked in features (nose, eyes, lips, cheek bones) compete with or compliment shape.

Your avatar is most definitely attractive! I think she still has a large degree of ethnic ambiguity though. Is she part Caucasian (lighter eye pigmentation), or is she more Latino (nose texture/shape)? If I were confined only to working with the shape and eye textures, I would start by replacing the eye textures with very dark brown. I'm not sure how much farther you can go with the shape. If the nose and lip shape was not so much governed by the textures, I would focus on those next. I think you have done extremely well over all with your restrictions on shape. The prim accessories, especially the hair, help with defining the ethnic character too.

What SL really needs is a new set of avatars to break the Whitebread mold. Virtual technologies like Eon Human are things to watch. LL has ties with the company (Eon Reality) that produces Eon Human. That's encouraging.

every skin shop has now the black range of skins ( and shapes) and they are really nice!

Then please tell me where they are. I have been searching for months, but the quality of black skins is abysmal. I have yet to find one very much superior to the stock SL beginning avatars. So again, where are these beautiful black skins? My very recent inworld searching has turned up nothing but garbage--that is, nothing in which I'd be caught dead as a supposed black person.

And frankly, this presents other problems in using Second Life. There are places where I am denied entrance or membership b/c I do not have and cannot find a black skin which looks good and is anywhere near the money being charged. Skins are mandatory in these places. I also refuse to pay for inferior quality products. (It's no wonder my L$ balance is so high in SL. )

To further illustrate the inaccuracy of your statement, I see white celebrity skins and shapes everywhere. I've yet to see one of Denzel Washington, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Alicia Keys, or many other blacks even every white person finds attractive and/or beautiful. Sorry to burst your bubble, but SL still is not the place for blacks wanting to appear as a black avatar.

BTW, the skin produced and which began this thread is beautiful. Her ethnicity may be a little vague b/c that's the way it is for many blacks in America. I have some in my family who could easily pass for white. Others appear Creole. I am 1/4 Cherokee, 1/4 white, and 1/2 black. So no, I do not want an "African" skin. I want an American Black skin. The one illustrated very much achieves that goal. Congrats! (Make one for me? Please?)

Blacks run a wide range of shades and features, thanks to mixing during colonial times. Every race is mixed heavily and there are few, if any, "pure" anything in this world. Even whites are commonly mixed from different groups that reflect not only different nationalities but different looks.

That is a gorgeous avatar, Marianne.

Your avatar is pretty. As others have stated she is more a mixed race or fair skinned interpretation. There is a subtle and insinuating racism in both SL and RL and within the black community towards darker skin. I am especially disappointed in the response from Zenwarrior since they are of African ancestry in part. I embrace darker skin tones and have an "African" ebony av. I also have a distinctly European av as well. They are all beautiful.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28429763@N08/2665277748/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28429763@N08/2659808073/

Features. Who is your character? Is she afro caribbean, more latin, or maybe a "sistah" from urban america? Black features and I don't shy away from them are stronger and bolder but not exaggerated. Noses are both straight high bridge flared nostril think -north africa. Also rounder flatter think -west africa orgins and congo area. When you shape you are going for strong bone structure and full but not exaggerated lips. Your skin should not have the lips overdrawn in any "ethnicity". Typically american blacks have broader features the full lips and will have an incredible range of skin tone mixed with bone structure. Ranging from light skinned very african features to very dark skinned blacks with the more north african mediteranan look of thinner lips wavy hair and lighter eyes.

I have found several outstanding skin makers: Skin Within, Sin Skins, Indulgence, Lagroki, Nominee. Also MB Skins and Body by Eve. There are others but the quality is not quite as high overall although there are some surpising "boutique" makers doing great work. Pulse makes a very good skin and Domestic V makes a mid range brown that is very nice. Also see FaliinAngel for more a fantasy interpretation that is surpisingly good. More Photo real is Redgrave. I meet a multitude of "Naomi Campbell's" in various degrees of curviness. My issue is it discrimination or common sense. Some makers don't do well with darker tones. they lack finesse or cultural context to make a good skin or shape for that market. So they sell what they are good at. For that I can't find fault. I can only be frustrated by the lack of availlability in the offerings. Also having had to look for a good "caucasian" skin has taught me that most people only work well within a narrow tonal range.

In buying a very dark skin understand that shading and clarity is important. Dark skins require brighter lighting to bring out the detail. Medium brown may use a peach or warm tone. I use a medium warm on my asian av to avoid the sallowness of some skins and lighting. Very very dark skin requires a light at maximum strength and maybe a secondary one to warm the color and even out shadows. It was an epiphany when I figured out you could adjust the face light or make your own.

I hope you see the complete bass-ackwards mentality of even patronizing such a place.

Back on the original topic - We (us skin artists) try out best to work with what we are given (craptastic UVW's, ethnically challenged morph targets, and no dynamic rendering effects). Dark black skins are technically harder to create for SL given it's limitations. Also, the subjectivity of what is considered quality or not often falls completely in the customer's court. See this recently revived necropost:

/327/d2/207311/1.html

I do agree that the OP has done a great job on her avatar, especially since she has no access to the skin textures. The only thing I can see out of place, that is in the OP's control to fix, is the lighter color of the eyes. They seem out of place with the darker skin pigmentation. Then again, that might just be the baked in reflections creating that illusion. It's hard to tell.

Here's one of my darker skinned avatars:

Namssor does most excellent work!

I got my skins at Naughty, and their skins are moddable. Most skins aren't, especially the photorealistic ones. I am happy to see more ethnic skins coming out. There are so many avatars that basically look the same. The thing that really needs work are golden undertones for lighter women and Latinas, and cool undertones for darker women. There is way too much peach in some of these skins.

I think she looks fantastic!

Why does she have to look specific, why do you have to be able to tell what race she is. She's beautiful. I don't think it matters if her ethnicity is ambiguous, in RL ethnicity is often ambiguous, she's certainly not a European and isn't that the point. In RL it is often very difficult to speculate where people are from

EDDESIGN has some amazing and beautiful black skins!
very Naomi Campbell style...and in different shades from light chocolate to dark yummy one!
You can easily see them using-search-classified--EDDESIGN

The hair on your avatar is phenomenal!

I suggest checking out "platinum africa" skins. I went to their sim and just GRIEVED because they were so high quality and they offered no caucasion (which I'm a white chick who wants my av to look like me). Redgrave skins has been known for quite some time to be the most detailed skins in the grid, but platinum africa even beat them! I was so floored by the high realism, shading and features. The skins made me want to be black! I'll have to go buy some myself, I've just been a cheap ass lately, investing all my cash in textures

You clearly missed my point. I, in no way, look African in RL. Why would I again select a skin not all representative of the appearance I am and would prefer? To pick an African skin would not be very different than to pick a Swedish skin--not at all the appearance I prefer and which closely mirrors my RL appearance. (I have no desire to be anyone else. I like the way I look.)

For what it is worth, my grandfather was very African in appearance--with the most beautiful ebony black skin. He was a great man, but I have no desire to look like him. I wish to look like me--which came after Caucasian and Cherokee were added to the mix.

So again, why would I want to appear African when I clearly do not? Why would it disappoint you that I prefer to look like me and not someone of another quite different ethnicity and culture? I am also of white ancestry. You seem not disappointed I don't want a white skin. I am also of Cherokee ancestry. Applying the logic you have thus far, you must also be disappointed that I am not looking to more close mirror my Native American ancestry.

Thank you! I will do that today. Your pointer is very much appreciated.

No, I do not. It is not a racial issue. Skins are required for *ALL* members. (In fact, knowing the problems of obtaining black skins, one particular place waived their "skins only" policy for me, but I'd rather not be the worst looking av there.)


It's freaking great! Congratulations on superb work. So, when will mine be finished?

Thanks for the pointer to Platinum. Had they a larger selection, I might find something I like. However, I seem to have a true choice of only *one* decent black male skin--that is, one seemingly designed as black from the start. At least they seem to be trying.

That said, they need help with display and advertising. Why display the photo of a white guy beside the [supposedly] black skins? It certainly appears they have done what has been stated here in the forums--took a white skin and made slight modifications to achieve a [somewhat] black one. They even show the initial white skin!

Also, and this applies to 90% of items/vendors in SL, why no product information? Can the skin be made darker? Is it mod? Without that information, how can anyone make an informed purchase? I certainly cannot. (And why at Platinum did I get an empty blue dialog box with only "Second Life" and "Okay" on it, and nothing else at all? It had not been requested; I had clicked on nothing. Not having any clue as to what I was clicking, I had to log out of SL just to get rid of it. Nice way to drive customers out of your store!)

I give up. I'll look again in a couple more years. For now, it's a waste of time in SL to look for nice black male skins.

I misunderstood you. From your description it sounded like they expected patrons to only wear a specific type of skin. Still, there are die hards that refuse to wear skins at all. They must feel bummed out by such a rule.
Renie is as Renie rezzes . She sells for 3k (six skins) at Second Skin Labs.

It would take several lifetimes to produce custom work for everyone that has asked me "Can you make me a custom skin". Very few are willing to pay competitive rates for it, so I have only done a handful. They can not be sold to the general public. That would be a violation of my contract with the clients.

TY for the nice compliments, but I hoped to see a lot of pictures posted here, not just me. Inspiration and tips. Oh, why is this shop closing down: http://slife.sezmra.com/



Nora BodySkins & Fashions sold the skin to the right, and I think it's the best "black" skin I've seen so far. And in a few days it's gone. The creator will make her skin files open for all to use, so maybe this will be the start of new skins....

I made both these shapes, they are almost similar but work best with the Nora skin. I had to buy one of these skins myself...

I was at the Skin Fair 2008 today, and found a shop that sold dreads. I think it was the only shop that didn't have a dollarbie or a free gift.

The hair used in my first picture in post #1 was on sale for 130 L, the hair on the right here has been posted a lot but look stunning on a african avatar. Sale now, 100 L. From Little Heaven. But the hair on the left is free from Cocoluv!

To make a goodlooking avatar cheap of free is hard. I have a job RL and buy L when I want, but others may have a tight budget.

Namssor Daguerre really does a good job! That is a realistic skin! I've also seen good skins from Chip Midnight.

There are good ethic skins out there if you will pay for it. And the best are worth every L. Same with shapes.

But I think the majority in SL don't have a lot of money to spend here. And every week there's free or very cheap skins available in pale, sun kissed, tanned... but no darker tones. For men, it's even worse. Maybe 3-4 free or cheap skins in a year? No wonder it's not many ethnic avatars to see.

My "Cocoa" skin was free in the Tuli group since I already was a member there. New members have to pay 250 L now. That's not much since she gives out samples every time she release new products. That's the darkest skin I've seen Tuli sell the year I've been in SL, and I hope to see her make more of them.

When Eloh Eliot gave out her skin templates for free, it was said to ruin the skin industry in SL. Instead I think both cheap and expensive skins sell well. I am sad that Nora BodySkins & Fashions will close down, but with those templates maybe it will be more "ethnic" skins to choose from?

Sorry about any spelling errors or mistakes, English isn't my 1 language.

the hair on the right looks very realistic like that.

Is it a full prim style? or is it prims with some the hair painted on the skin?

It kind of looks like the later, but just checking.


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And where is it from? (come in dark brown? hehe)

My full details for the service are here:

http://www.secondskinlabs.com/Portraits/portraits.html

Details aside, the price quote is 395 US dollars, and the custom service only includes work on the head texture and body shape of an avatar. Textures are seam blended with a stock skin for the lower and upper body.

You may want to wait until I've completed a full-bodied version of a black male skin, and demo that. I can't say when that skin will be complete. There are very, very few good resources for black males that have not already been used extensively. I waited over a year and a half for good resource material for the black female skin that I posted here. www.3dsk came out with it earlier this year and I worked on it for about a month before releasing it.

There can be many reasons for a vendor not contacting you within 48 hours. I would give it a bit longer. Also, don't get your hopes up for a refund or exchange. Many skin vendors don't offer refunds or exchanges because of the way the permissions are set up. Nontransferable skins present a problem for returns and exchanges. Transferable skins are a problem for vendors. They are not trackable through transaction histories. Also, people can exploit the permissions system very easily with transferable skins. Everyone is familiar with the real-life situation where someone purchases a little black evening dress for the night and then returns it the next day. Skin vendors find themselves in the same situation with transferable skins. Copy permissions are far more useful to customers (multiple outfits, back-ups, etc.) with the flaky inventories that we have. Copy, transfer is not a viable option for obvious reasons.

Demo, demo, demo, and never impulse buy. Live with the demo for several days (and nights). I can not stress that enough.

Chip I should send you that shot I made with your skin.

Think it turned out pretty well.

I still use it on my vendor.

That would be great, Colette I'm way lazy about taking screenshots.

Huh? (scratching head)

No naming names! You need to edit out the skin shop & the name of the owner.