Creating Pretty Female Characters

[Mirokun]

I was scrolling through many of the beauty mods for the game, and I was just wondering what does it take to create such pretty faces? The default Imperial is so ugly and fat, and lets not get started with the randomize feature. It seems like for every pretty face out there, theres 700 other ways to get it wrong. I'm sure it takes an an artist and a keen eye to make an attractive character, even with the right mods.

 

But I was wondering if I could get some pointers on creating a pretty face.My first girl turned out pretty average on my first attempt at the game. I thought I created the perfect face with the capabilities of the face constructor, untill I saw other examples.

 

So anyway, I'm looking for some tips in creating some real beauties that I wouldn't mind looking at for 40+ straight hours in the tab menu. I'm looking for tips on creating an overall pretty character.

 

I attached an example. I like her eyes and lips, how would I go about reproducing those results? What mod files would I need?

 

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/6327/1212882288028oblivionoi9.jpg

[Sarya]

Begin with new face textures. You actually can create nice face shape with Imperials - but no settings can correct those lousy default textures. I believe the face texture in your picture is from "Human Race deluxe edition" but I may be wrong as I don't use it.

If you need more than just face then you should also look out for a new body mod.

[Mirokun]

I got the HG Eye Candy Body mod. Its working fine. I'm just getting into MOD's now. There are so many. I replaced the NPC's with more attractive looking characters.

 

Still, I can't get over how the default textures gives the characters cottage cheese face (aka lumpy). As if they're made to look so realistic they got to be ugly.

[Sarya]

Well, I have no idea whatever got in developers' heads with that. But anyone will tell you that textures replacer for faces is absolutely a "must have", and not only for a protagonist. Hardly a pleasure to watch that freak show whenever you talk to a NPC. There's pretty much of such replacers around.

If you already use HG EC, then try face textures that come in addition to that mod, alongside with body textures. I wouldn't call them marvelous, but they fit well. Besides, all I can do in the way of personal recomendation are Lattamer textures - though they come with custom race. Not a problem if you use construction set.

[Mirokun]

Actually, I'm trying to discuss methodology to creating a character.

As in should I frame the face first by shaping the head, and then working on details?

What is everyone's experience with creating faces?

 

Any pro tips?

[Aerin Morth]

I download custom races. Most of them(I.E Ren's Mystic Elf, Cute Elf, Lineage II Elves) have much, much prettier face textures. Also, I find custom races easier to work with, seeing as how the pre-set facegen character already has at least a semi-attractive face.

 

Since you already have HG's body, then I won't bother suggesting any body replacers.

 

My advice would be to get a custom race and start fiddling around with the chargen. You'll eventually find a face you like. Good luck.

[LFact]

If you don't mind, download Facegen Modeller Free demo version. I found it's easier to make decent looking face than fiddling with in-game facegen sliders. Make your face, save it, then use fg2ob or focon to transplant the face. Although the results are not already satisfying, you can make some good-looking face even for vanilla human/elven races.

[helzi]

Mystic Elf Mod.

 

I just wanted to make it blunt. The Mystic Elf mod worked best for me, and I had exactly the same problem as you. I wasn't happy with the original faces, especially the Breton's. So fat and plain.

 

When I installed this mod, even randomising can make the faces pretty. Just set the complexion to highest, and age to lowest, then you're good to go!

 

(P.S. The character in the picture you just posted is amazing, I can understand why you want one to look like her!)

[Cynster]

Well what you want to do is do the face structure first before any toning.

 

Structure:

You want to keep the forhead large and square, keep the eyebrows as close to the eyes as you can without making them look unrealistic or weird, the nose needs to be near the mouth which needs to be close to the chin.

 

Jaw/Cheeks:

She has a heart shaped face, so don't be afraid to give her some width.

- Cheeks as high as you can make them

- Soften them to what hers look like

-Back jaw should be wider

- Turn the face to the side

- Convex/concave The neckline should not be sharp. It should look like a slope.

- Cheeks should be wider rather than concave. Make them just roll over, no dipping.

 

 

 

Eyes:

For her eyes, you probably need to get that mod for the shape, but you can get close on vanilla if you DONT MAKE THEM HUGE!

- Make the eyes medium first, pick a slider from the two at the bottom, slide one as far in whichever direction, then slide it back, do the same with the next one. You should see that one controls the angle of the eye. Use that one primarily to shape the eye into an almondy shape far ends slightly pointing up. It's okay if it looks like alien eyes, use your aux. slider to take care of the size, not the size slider. That way it looks more natural.

- once you have your shape, you can make the eyes bigger or smaller. Hers aren't very big or small, just go with something that looks right to you, try and stick away from making them too big. Big can be bright, but you should only add a touch of it.

 

Nose: Side and front

-She has small nares/lines so go ahead and make it a little smaller if you need to.

- One of the sliders near the bottom should say small->>larger, you want to slide it just a little smaller than what you would want it

- Find the pointed slider and slide it very slightly up until it looks right.

- If you need to change the deep/shallow, deeper almost always looks better.

- You want the brow (it could be called something else, but you know what I mean) to be closer to the middle of the eye, the deep part where the nose begins. Lower is better.

 

Lips: front - side just to be sure she has an overbite.

Hers will be very hard to do on vanilla, as they look to be custom-race

- Move lips as close to the chin as possible to get that lower lip thicker than the upper.

- You want small and non-pursed lips. Work the sliders by moving the non-pursed all the way to the non-pursed side. Move the small all the way to the small side. If either of them moved, continue putting them back until they both stay. Eventually they will.

- Toggle the sliders to get the correct shape you want after that.

 

 

Chin: Turn the face to the side.

-She has a tall chin

-that only protrudes a little bit.

-The portrude is soft.

- If you end up with a pointy chin, but the general shape, don't fret! Leave it be once it is the right length and protrusion. Go to the jaw to fix any sharp angles.

 

rinse and repeat. Anything that got messed up, go back and fix it. It will look better if you do everything in one swoop, then go back to it.

 

 

Okay, and I tried this all on my own just now to see how close I could get: You definitely need the eye and mouth mods. The textures are too different to get close there, but everything else I have here should get you a pretty character similar to her facial construction on vanilla :3 and if you have her mods, then just apply it with her.

[Leenysaurus]

Don't flame me, I personally don't like the Mystic Elves anymore. :biggrin:

 

That's because my love lies in Lineage II Dark Elves.

 

Anyway, nice faces can be most easily obtained on the default of custom races. They'll far surpass stock races and if you don't mess with them much, you won't have to worry about making them ugly. >.>

 

You can scour save games, but I find a lot of those to be odd-looking.

 

If you can find some Japanese mod sites, they tend to have incredible faces in their save games! I knew an awesome one, but it's down. T_T

 

Find a custom race mod you really love the looks of. Edit the default faces minorly. On custom races resetting the face right-off can help because it diminishes such unattractive features.

 

Some things I personally think one should avoid doing to their character that can make them unattractive:

 

- Large, overly-pursed lips (looks too doll-like)

- Massive eyes (too unnatural and anime-like)

- Very wide jawlines (a female character can end up looking too masculine, likewise odd if her jawline is too narrow)

- Sunken cheeks (messing around too much with the settings for cheeks can make your character look unhealthy)

- Overly-rounded faces (simply make a character look too plump in comparison to their body)

- Too much eye makeup (a lot messing with those eye tone sliders seems to mess with the rest of the face's tones and makes a character look creepy!)

- Ghostly white skin (fair skin is beautiful, but when your character is outright glowing in the sunlight, well aside from eye damage, its just odd ... tone lighten the skin far too much, keep the light/dark slider about halfway and use adjust the ratio of blue and gold tones in the skin instead)

 

Those are some majors for me. These days I like my light-skinned characters to be fair with healthy golden hues to their skin and my Dark Elves to be more blue than green looking, and I don't actually add eyeliner or eyeshadow to them much at all, and it seems to help!

 

I hope those tips can help you out.