April 3, 2023
min read
With the LIV Store finally launched into early access, we're excited (and extremely grateful) to work with some absolutely amazing avatar creators! Keep an eye on this series to get to know more about the talented people behind these assets, how they got started and their inspirations!
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When did you first get into VR?
I got into VR on August 10, 2020, the day I bought my first VR Headset!
What are some of your favorite things to do in VR?
Favorite things, hmm.. I use LIV to record rhythm gameplay like Synth Riders or Beat Saber, I do have a somewhat short attention span when it comes to games but I do stick with rhythm games and adventure/shooting games like Half Life: Alyx and Tomb Raider.
How did you learn to create avatars?
Blood sweat and tears, mostly tears, lots of video watching, lots of trying and failing, but eventually things stuck to my brain and changed my tears into feelings of joy and success.
Was there anything (or anyone) that inspired your avatar designs/themes?
My designs just come from ideas, things I see online and sometimes even game characters. Usually what happens though is I start something and the end result turns out very different than planned. There are a lot of ideas and half finished avatars I scrapped because they just don't look right to me. My apologies to the scrapped avatars, I just couldn't do it, maybe we meet again... sometime, somewhere...
What's the hardest part of making avatars? What's the most enjoyable part?
Hardest part for me was to get there: Blender, Unity, Photoshop, etc.
Most enjoyable part is painting the textures. A lot of the time it takes to make my avatars is spent painting textures, love it.
What makes your avatars stand out?
I can paint great textures, I also paint digital portraits.
One thing that makes my avatars stand out is I include shadows and highlights into my hand painted textures. I see many avatars that look great in Unity and Blender because the 'Shader' will apply highlights and shadows automatically, but put them into a game, it can be a different story. Some games do not show shadow maps so the avatar looks flat. Since I paint shadows and highlights directly onto the textures, my avatars always look great.
Do you have any personal/professional goals when it comes to creating avatars?
Nope, I just enjoy making them, and they enjoying being, after I make them. Where they go when I turn my computer off, I don't know.. does anyone?
If you could design a character for any game, what would it be?
Haven't really thought about this but, off the cuff, it would be great to design one for FF14 or Guild Wars2... It would also be cool if avatars could be used/transferred to different games so one doesn't have to rely on what the game offers. That's what I love about LIV, I can play Synth Riders or Beat Saber or any multitude of games LIV supports with the same avatar!
What advice would you give to others who want to create their own avatars?
Don't do it.. haha, just kidding. Take small steps, pick Blender or Unity and go through some tutorials. It may be frustrating at first.. but it will work eventually and be fun to make avatars. Consider getting a tablet for drawing textures!
You can find GuWoSCH's current avatar listings on the LIV Store here, and don't forget to follow him over on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!
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