Who is your character's avatar?

[Salamander]

One of the things that attracted me to this site was the freedom regarding character images, and while I recognize the sources for a lot of them, there are plenty others where I have no clue where they came from or who they are. So to quench my curiosity, I'm asking y'all where your avatars came from, who they are, and why you chose them (if you had a reason).

I picked two old ballet dancers, mostly because I figured nobody else had done it and I wanted to stand out. I was leery of using actors or models because they tend to be too attractive, and most of them are too pristine - they don't look like they had rough childhoods, get into fights regularly, and run around across the galaxy fighting wizards and warriors. Immersion is important, y'know? I'd rather play as an average person with muscle mass than a waif or some Hollywood type with perfect teeth and hair. Don't ask me why my brain jumped to ballet rather than, I dunno, wrestling or some other kind of fighting sport. I just went with it because I know something about it already. And as you can see, this choice wound up informing some of their character traits as well.

Anyway: Alyosha Drutin's avatar is Mikhail Baryshnikov, mostly using pictures from the late 1970s/80s. Val Drutin's is Vaslav Nijinsky, using photographs that were taken around 1910 (!) when he was about 20 years old. So if you saw his picture and thought "is that from an old movie or something?", you were close, but not quite.

 

[Kyrel Ren]

I use myself a portrait painting of my character Kyrel Ren. Very lucky to have been given this painting as it is Kyrel Ren circa 856 ABY in the final days of the First Order. I chose it mainly as it shows Kyrel currently in his prime, while once an angry dark warrior and feared enforcer of the Supreme Leader Sieger Ren. Now a Warlord and perhaps the Last Ren. It shows him as still this powerful man not quite older, and yet had been experienced in his many missions and exploits among the First Order's rise and fall.

Spoiler

[member="mirifern"]

 

[Kyyrk]

[member="mirifern"]

As a Miralukan, Voph is tough to find profile pics for. Mostly cause of the blindfold. My options are pretty limited, because I need to fit a general description, and more often than not handwave the description to fit the picture. Though in this case, everything is more or less true to form as I am currently using fan art someone drew of Keanu Reeves as Kenshi from Mortal Combat. Keanu Reeves + blindfold = win

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="mirifern"]

For Kay I had first used my own acting headshots as I knew that no one would have claimed my face But then after a questionable, nsfw and rather embarrassing secret skype group about me amongst some Chaos writers arose, I changed it to Jennifer Connelly.

For [member="Loreena Arenais"] I had first chosen the little actress that played her daughter in the movie Dark Water. After that when she got older I chose Georgie Henley from Chronicles of Narnia. And now that Lori's gotten older, I changed it to Jennifer Lawrence. I'll probably stick with her now

 

[Darth Bellum]

[member="mirifern"]

Mine has been The Monitor from Anthem for about a bit over a year now. The game may have flopped, but I just found myself drawn to his design as there were a few scenes that could be spun as little Sith gifs (Mostly the way he carries himself/walks + Sith Lightning). My original avatar before that was General Glauca from Final Fantasy XV's Kingsglaive as I've always been drawn to armored titans/knight vibes for character aesthetics. It wasn't until Anthem fully released that I finalized the transition over to the Monitor because it had a more sci-fi/Imperial vibe to it. I've been quite happy with using him since and am fairly sure he will remain as my faceclaim for the duration of my character's life, though just a tad bit disappointed that there isn't much in the way of art/content involving him that I can photoshop/use.

​

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6YocpHqZWc[/youtube]​

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

Michelle Trachtenberg, currently and probably until she dies of old age. Long and ago, before she grew up, this character was represented by a Justin Bieber look-alike. I set out to make a diplomat and a pacifist, and decided to make it difficult to make friends and allies.

 

[Vrisskdohk]

To truly capture the Trandoshan look, I took an unedited photo of Newt Gingritch in his primal form and used it as my avatar.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="mirifern"] I use Tara Lynn for Scherezade. I fell in love with her aesthetics over a decade ago and initially was going to use her for Scherezade's mother, but got cold feet since at the time there was much less diversity among face choices and as a plus size model she wasn't part of the sort of images people used at he time. That and a combination of that and the fact that she didn't have too many images eventually led me to choose another. Things, among them my levels of care, are much different now, and I absolutely love the fact that I get to use her for this character.

Her sister, [member="Madalena Antares"], uses Ashleigh Graham, another plus size model.

My third character, [member="Alwine Lechner"], is Helston Sage. I saw her on the Orville and loved how she played someone who looks like a slip of a girl but could out bench anyone on a ship, most machines included. When I realized the actress was actually blonde it fit into the family she was supposed to be part of.

 

[Luca Donskoi]

[member='Alden Akaran'] = Jamie Bamber
[member='Kobi Fesser'] = Asa Butterfield
[member='Jorik Valnora'] = Steve Lund
[member='Dain Vikaar'] = Daniel MacPherson

There's really no rhyme or reason to why I pick who I pick to represent any of my characters as a face claim. More or less, I just come across random images in random scrubs through the nethers of the interwebs that catch my attention in one way or another, or feel they might be cool to turn into a character later on, and then just save it for later use.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

When I originally made Kaalia and needed an avatar for her, I used an image of a woman with red hair. What I didn't realize until I looked closer was that it was Katarina from League of Legends. Now nearly three years later, I still use her. Her current avatar is Scarlett Johansson edited to resemble Katarina.

[member="Asha Mataya"] uses Ciri from The Witcher.

 

[Fabula Caromed]

This one's a photo-edit of Tifa, graciously done by the ever-stunning @Netherworld. Initially I used just a normal screencap of her looking super sad. Tifa was one of my the few alt faces I used for Anna a super long time ago, so when Fabs grew up, I figured it'd work out well enough for her. Over time, she grew to be more motherly and punchy, almost like radiation poisoning from proximity to the motherliest, punchiest waifu.

[member="Anna Sachae"] uses Michelle Rodriguez. Once upon a very long time ago, it was specifically grease-stained, cargo pants and tank top Letty from the first F&F movie. Over time I found that I liked her smile more than her characters (not that I dislike her characters), so now I just use whichever pictures either have super messy hair or a brilliant, radiant smile.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

Coci = Kate Beckinsale - used Kate for years.
Theo = Kit Harington
Abaigeal = Gal Gadot

These are my main characters I write with mostly.

 

[Gideon Saigo]

Zef Halo - Jim Raynor from Starcraft
Jair Ordo - Reyes Vidal from Mass Effect: Andromeda
Scipio Alta - Lt. Aldo Raine as played by Brad Pitt in Inglorious Basterds
Amon Vizsla - Logan Marshall Green
Elias Logain - Tommy Shelby as played by Cilian Murphy in Peaky Blinders
Ember Farseer - Steve Trevor as played by Chris Pine in Wonderwoman
Dagon Perl - Jake Gyllenhahahalall

 

[Celiana]

SO! for me there wasn't really a rhyme or reason with any of my avatar face claims. I used deviant art XD ummm for Celiana I wanted to communicate a noble and proud young woman, being Echani I wanted to transition into that stage but I finally have platinum blonde hair and all. I think the current avatar for Celiana communicates a sense of nobility, darkness, pride and sensual beauty.

Spoiler

The artist is avvart and they are quite skilled. Anyhoozles that's me and the why behind the avatar choice.

 

[Cerria Rene]

For me it has kind of been a mix between characters and actresses/artists. For the characters from games, it's usually one who catches my eye aesthetically.

Cerria Rene = Destiny 2's Ana Bray
Ciri Jade = Chloe Bennet (Particularly pics from Agents of SHIELD)
Kiandra Ceryss = Hamh Eun-jung from T-ara (A K-Pop group)
Alluria Ivalice = Destiny's Queen of the Reef, Mara Sov
The Nameless = Dark Souls' Fire Keeper

 

[Darth Athora]

Darth Athora - Raina Hein
Djonas Vile - Trey Songz
Marina - Eva Green but BLUE
Elani Zambrano - Yumeko Jabami of Kakegurui
Val Aranda - Amber Heard
Thorus Arwyn - Swain from LoL
KLR-13 - Reaper from BO3
Kimora Min - Project Akali from LoL
Odin Stormbreaker - Charlie Hunnam
Bryce Americus - Young Leo Dicaprio

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

I use a host of different actors/actresses primarily from CW shows but there's a few that are from non-CW shows.

Fiolette Raaf = Bridget Regan (NPC, now)
Ryssa Yvarro = Haley Atwell
Charlyra Araano = Katrina Law
Ria Misrani = Eliza Taylor
Mishel Kryze = Marie Avgeropoulos
Ourania Amun = Lucy Liu
Valessia Brentioch = Lana Parrilla
Elisea Korrado = Kylie Bunbury
Frielle Kinniak = Hannah John-Kamen
Salara Zambrano = Paige Turco
Alvarex Zambrano = Brant Daugherty
Sarlow Zambrano = Tim Rozon (NPC, now)
Tiarri Duvnal = Anna Diop
Rowan Devonshire = Katie McGrath
Ishana Pavanos = Sarah Shahi

and if I ever bring back my Corellian...
Symara Tarriq = Nichole Beharie

 

[Jor Kvall]

It's Alexander Ludwig from "Vikings".

I picked it for the aesthetic. I don't watch the show.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Well, this'll be a lengthier post than most I reckon.
So, lets go back to 2017; for so long I couldn't find anything that worked for Tathra. I spent a long time looking for something suitable, nothing worked until I found this unfinished model here: x. Following some thirty attempts, I finally ended up with this;

Avatar 1:

This avatar took a LOT of hard work, I don't have access to any form of art or edition software beyond Windows 10's basic Photos edition tools. So, it was a struggle. Following that, over the last two years I've had Tathra Khaeus, there have been multiple commission pieces by an Artist known as Fredrik, the first two iterations were these;

Spoiler

I still really like both of these art pieces, as you can see I currently use an edited version of the second image as my Avatar;

These were Fred's first go at drawing Tathra Khaeus, Chieftain of the Bryn'adûl - and it wasn't till nearly a year later as Tathra evolved as a character that I requested a new Commission, to line up with Tathra's growth as a character.

The latest commission was towards the mid-length of 2018 and shortly before the Bryn'adûl became a Major Faction on Chaos, and thusly with Tathra being a much more significant character, leading a whole army and species rather than a rogue band of Draelvasier mercenaries, the Characters look & armaments developed into something more regal, and his physical stature in this latest art piece is my favourite to date.

Spoiler

This is also Tathra's new armour, resistant to force-based attacks primarily. Tathra has been a pain in my arse and a great character for me as well as being expensive. Only once I'd commissioned my own stuff was I satisfied with the Titan's appearance.

 

[Hwo]

This is a random cowboy picture I found on the internet, I think maybe from the Call of Juarez video game. I never actually played the game. But I do not RP this as a character, I just kind of use it as an OOC avatar. In the past, I've used various avatars for my characters that I found doing random Google images searches.

For Hwoarang, I originally used the Tekken character Hwoarang. I then used Cade Skywalker for a while. I have also used edited headshots of myself during periods when I really got into the character. During an undercover subplot, I used Chris Redfield from Resident Evil.

For Pal Vader, I used a headshot of myself for a long time, and I used some random Final Fantasy character before that. The character was based (loosely, obviously) on myself, so I imagined the character had my physical likeness.

For Ice Fox, I originally used X Man back in the 2000ish era. I used Winter Soldier when I brought the character back from the dead for a while.

For Jehovah, I used Starkiller.

For Ja Guevara, I used Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil.