The basics of avatar making?

-- First off, I'd like to say that I'm incredibly new to SL, but not to other MMOs, photoshop use, ect. I apologize if I am breaking any rules, if this is in the wrong catergory, or if there are a million posts like this around (though I haven't seen any).

I just want to know the basics of how to make avatars. Not textures, I have easily figured out how to make those. But what will I need to make the actual avatar modifications, in this case, I'd like to make a furry looking avatar. Head, body, and hopefully tail. How would I go about doing this? I assume I would have to use some sort of 3D modeling program, but am not sure. I don't need anything too detailed, maybe just a few good programs that people use, and anything else to keep in mind. If there are any tutorials already made, please link me.

Thanks.

Hi there Deidre Welcome to SL.

I create avatars and maybe not all avatar makers are the same but I do not use any programs for the model itself. Just building the avatar with prims. I use Photoshop for the textures and use various other programs for making the animations.
So, build it with prims, texture it, put it the necessary scripts (blinking eyes, sounds, etc), and attach to body.
Hope that helps.

Jenee Marten
Screwball Cartoon Avatars