oc art/images/faceclaims?

[pavelius]

back when i first started rping in 2006, i remember using faceclaims without knowing what they actually were. years later, i couldn't even remember doing such a thing as i had joined a forum where original art was required, and there were nice artists who'd kindly draw your oc for you if you didn't draw yourself.


although i do love oc art, i rarely draw any myself for lack of skill, but i also don't really use faceclaims as there's a whole muck of issues surrounding that. i'm friends with a LOT of artists and i've seen my friends' art of their ocs being used as faceclaims for other people's ocs, which... is really, really uncomfortable. i can afford to commission artists, so i use what i've purchased and the art gifts i've been given.


i mean, i totally understand wanting to have a visual of your character, but i also don't think it's necessary. i honestly prefer written descriptions over faceclaims as it often breaks my immersion. i really like being able to imagine how a character looks for myself rather than having some aesthetic forced onto me— oc art notwithstanding, since oc art comes with a "may not be fully accurate" disclaimer more often than not.


i also noticed a lot of roleplays also seem to require faceclaims, which puts me off of a ton of them since i don't use any. kind of puts a sour taste in my mouth since a lot of them are pretty interesting looking, yet alas, i am faceclaimless.


what about you? how do you go about using images/art/faceclaims? do you commission your own art? how about written appearances?


also, before anyone gets mad: i don't HATE fcs. please, by all means, continue to use them.

 

[DikkeVetteVlinder]

I mostly use photo's. It never really bothered me and sometimes it allows my character to notice something subtle about someone's looks that that character's writer might not have mentioned in the first brief description. It also allows me to fuck around in Photoshop when the rp gets so good weird edits just need to be made.


I would like to draw all my characters instead, however, as it just gives me more freedom in what I want them to look like, but I simply don't have the time for that and with a busy schedule not always the energy either.


It never really bothers me what other people use. From pictures to anime screenshots; I roll with pretty much anything that's not a stick figure :')

 

[mindheist]

I use faceclaims pretty much always. For me, it's because it's easier seeing how the character looks like rather than wasting time to read the appearance description over and over (especially since I have a semi-bad memory). It also allows the participants in the rp to be on the same page since the visual is right there.


I use both anime, manga, and real faceclaims but when it comes to the real faceclaims, I only use pictures of celebrities. I feel like using pictures of Youtubers and ordinary people on Tumblr and everything is kind of weird.


Normally I don't like original art because many of them don't look neat to me. I would be okay with digital art if it looks good, but I'm not a fan of self-drawn characters. This isn't to insult artists or anything like that; it's just my personal preference and I apologize if anyone feels offended.

 

[ApfelSeine]

I like to draw my own characters. Usually if I have to sign up before I can get a chance to draw my character, I'll just use written descriptions and I like those pretty well. A lot of the time when I finally do draw my character, I'll have both the picture and original description xD


I think if I couldn't draw a character myself, I'd just use descriptions. Face claims are alright, but I have to say that it throws me for a loop when someone uses a faceclaim of an existing fictional character that I'm familiar with. Additionally, I'm not a big fan of using realistic face claims. I mean, to each their own, and it doesn't really bother me when other people do it, but it skeeves me out when I have to look for a picture of a real person to use. When a person absolutely 100% demands that I use a real person face claim instead of just describing them, I'll usually pick a picture of an actor, or maybe a stock footage picture, but more likely the former. I don't know why, but the thought of using someone else's face bothers me. Same with using other people's art, though to a lesser extent.

 

[DikkeVetteVlinder]

Yeah, other people's art is something I don't do either, though I think that in my case it's more of an artist's ego kind of thing :')

 

[SandraDeelightful]

Personally, I prefer descriptions, along with real pictures. However, I'm starting to be over pictures, and I am now, just leaning towards descriptions, as I come here to write. I'd like to let my words paint the pictures.

 

[call me rae]

I'll use a variety depending on the story and what my partners are comfortable with. I'm an extremely visual person so I prefer some kind of visual to accompany my character and roleplay as I just think it makes it look more interesting and it helps me conceptualize things in my head.


I don't really have a preference between real or drawn photos. Nor do I have any bias against one type over the other. The only thing that I won't do is like stick figures on notebook paper. If your visual doesn't actually show me what your character looks like than I'm not going to be happy with it.


The same thing with like selfies from instagram or whatever. Unless it fits the roleplay itself than I just thing it's weird to use other peoples social media photos.


Then again I do a lot of fandom related roleplays so I'm used to using other peoples images for characters in that anyway.

 

[Archie]

Oh man I remember gaiaonline which had an economy and money. I'd do arbitrage years back all the time and rack up the gold, then could pay artists with a fortune to draw all my characters for me.


Then again, that forum used a format that was totally incompatible to RPing easily with no tab threads.

 

[NotEpic]

I commission art for my characters now. It feels right, to be honest, and it makes them unique to my vision.

 

[GenericHenchman]

@Archie Lol, gaia ( )


I've used my avatar on I think two roleplaying scenarios. Found this piece of art a year ago I think, really love the design. In whatever setting I can get away with, this is the face (or lack thereof) that I use.


But otherwise, I grab artwork that I find. Failing that, I just describe them.


When playing tabletop, I inevitably draw my characters. When I make them, I always have this vision in my head. Although I'm not great at it, I've managed to create a good idea of what my characters look like.