A note about Custom Avatars

[sktarq]

And since I'd guestimate that more than half of those who have post counts over 250 have custom avatars that would make me unusual....Didn't think i was until a month ago.

[Sneak]

Dunno how long I've been here. I think I registered maybe a day to a week before SKtarq.

And now for something completely different. I don't like lurking, especially when people never post at all. I just feel like: "Well, why did you register if you're never going to post?"

Okay, sorry, I just felt like ranting for a bit.

EDIT: The reason I was reminded of this was because we were discussing when we joined, and I was thinking that so many people post in the "Hello" thread, but only some of them ever post at all.

[The_King_of_Durf]

No actually, you joined April 17, SKTarq joined February 25, I know, because SKTarq was here before I was, and you came after. I came March 31

[pumpkinetics]

Late october for me.

(Casts telekinesis to move this thread back on topic)

I must admit though, now that a custom avatar is more common than a regular one, the style of the forum seems to have changed. Nowadays there's a lot more vibrancy it seems, and more... optimism.

shudder

[Mick_the_Rogue]

Looked back, I joined april first of this year, seems so long ago at this point. That was also when I used the ninja avatar too.

[White Blade]

Early July of LAST year. ;D

[RawBearNYC]

Late october for me.

(Casts telekinesis to move this thread back on topic)

You don't get points for trying to get the thread back on topic when you participate in it's derailment :P

Voice of a Mod: Um, lets drift back in the direction of the topic...discuss lengths of membership elsewhere.

[HempRope]

Apologies. I think I am to blame.

Now, I'm confused. How many people make custom avatars?

Veera is most famous, yes, and she and Losar started the trend (of making them for others), I do believe. Now, Gorby maikes a few, and recently Sneak & Erisian have started offering their services.
That's... 5 people, but I'm sure there are other manufacturers artists.

Aren't there?

[The_King_of_Durf]

I started but I have a crappy old version of Illustrator so they don't come out very good, I'm learning to fool around with the program and I think I may have finally got it to work

[Wukei]

Yea..and he also said he was planning on making avies of all of Eminence Grise and never did ^.^ but his are actually really good, save that the eyes might be a little too big.

[HempRope]

I just saw Nikolai II's caption, & then went to the custom avvie thread to check (I've never been there)... and it's true! [glow=red,2,300]Veera is retiring!!![/glow]

I weep.

So that's one less avatar artist... but does Peregrine do them too?

[Alarra]

I was the first person offering them. But don't anymore, mainly because I don't have AI, so mine don't look as nice.

But yes in the vein of the main topic, it is kind of irritating when people change to drastically different avatars all the time, although I have started going mainly by names rather than pictures, although then they change those too. And I really can't talk, cause I have changed my avatar a fair number of times while I was trying to figure out how to make them, what I really wanted, etc.

[Wukei]

My name never will change, though my avatars probably will maybe once a month. However, all of my avatars are listed under my sig (in the ootsatars link) so at least if people get confused they can look and say "okay...is this the person I was talking to"...and you know, at least when your avatar changes, it changes on all of your posts...the last board I was on didn't do that.

[Peregrine]

Now, I'm confused. How many people make custom avatars?

I'm responsible for five that were by request, and a few others that I put out free to good homes, as it were. I guess you could lay a little blame on me for the avatar-swapping trend, because I know of at least a couple of people who used my drawings for only a very short period. On the other hand, four of the requests I did are still used exclusively, and the fifth gets alternated with a Veeratar.

[HempRope]

My name never will change, though my avatars probably will maybe once a month.

That's a lot. :-/

However, all of my avatars are listed under my sig (in the ootsatars link) so at least if people get confused they can look and say "okay...is this the person I was talking to"

But no one will ever do that. Ever.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

I did! Before reading this thread, too ;D

Anyways, when it comes to changing avatars, changing to different versions of the same persona doesn't bother me, and rotating a couple regularly would probably be ok. It's the drastic changes to seemingly unconnected avatars on a regular basic that gets me.

[Wukei]

my problem is that I don't like all of my avatars to look nearly the same. But I only plan to rotate between the avatars given to me. (And not my wanna-be-tar Grim)

[HempRope]

Changing once a month is still a lot, though... ::)

[Wukei]

Yea, I don't actually intend for it to be that often..I'm just saying that's the soonest I'd change it out. I dunno, I might ask for holiday avatars from someone, avatars that look almost like the original, but their wearing santa hats or holding boxes of chocolate shaped like hearts or something... not all the holidays ..just christmas mostly, cuz X-mas rocks! Maybe easter they could be holding an easter egg or be wearing bunny ears. (It'd be fun to see Sivain in floppy bunny ears)

[sktarq]

Well I went to the New people say hi thread. and starting on pg 64 (selected randomly) i counted up 15 new users. 3 now have custom avatars (but post counts of 7,1, and 39 since March). We also have only 3 with post counts over 50 (including 1 over 500) and none of those had a custom avatar. So we seem to have quite a few people creating avatars as soon as they arrive (generally the non-OotS style ones). Now when people started flipping over in droves I don't think i can look up, otherwise i'd start searching for events that might have caused the cultural shift....does anyone have ideas?

[The_King_of_Durf]

Well some people such as Sneak as erisian, to name two, make avatars for those who have less than 50 posts

[Wukei]

Yea, Eri made mine even though I'd only been here 1-2 days..but my post count was over 50, so there :P Now I've been here 11 days and it's over 500

[sktarq]

To get away from how long people have been here.

Maybe Veera or someone else who was active in the Avatar request thread can answer this.....was there a growth in the number of artists and then a boom in demand or the other way around? And roughly when did many people who had been around awhile start asking for them?

[Veera]

April was the big avatar boom for me, when I ended up getting swarmed with requests from members both new and old. That was also about the same time that I noticed a large number of people starting to create their own avatars. Oftentimes, right after I made them one. >_>

I'd say the demand came first, then the artists.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

I agree. There's always been a desire for custom avatars, but until Veera came along no-one who was able to accurately portray the style was doing requests. And once it became clear that it was in fact possible to get very close simulations of the OotS style, others (including myself) started trying to make them ourselves.

[bingo_bob]

Guess I came in during or around the boom, but it took me a while to reach dwarf, and I only got my current avvie AFTER 250 posts, and I plan on sticking with it for a LONG time. The only major rapid-changer I ever saw was Sneak, and he did most of his own, and has pretty much quit that now.

[Sneak]

Er...yes....I stopped that....huh..... ::)

But seriously, I will try to keep avatar changing down to a minimum. Probably not for another month, at the LEAST.
But if I do change it, it'll look basically the same, but with different weapons, some more clothes, different pose, etc.

[GeeVee]

I got my lovely little tonberry here from Veera. It's one of the few custom avatar of a monster. It's a completely unique avatar, and there isn't a chance you'll mistake me for another member of the board. I absolutely love it, and wouldn't change avatars if you paid me to.

Ok, I'm done bragging. :P

[sktarq]

Okay, why do you people care so much for your avatars....i picked one where i had a single experience with something that looked similar...I thought this would be normal but i am apparently mistaken. I want to know what you get out of having your spiffy neeto custom avatars.

[Jibar]

To show off really,
Personally, I got my Jibar and jibar the Bard because I wanted to see what they looked like OOTS sryle (thanks Sneak by the way) Then Annex made me makobo and Edwardo for something to do, and Gorbash made me Jibarrp so it was a full set,
I then got Sneak to make me a spiffy little changing avatar so that I could show all their talents,
So I'm showing people their work, not mine,
And did that make sense?