I've noticed something that really bugs me when I'm getting a rate. It's something people have said to me repeatedly.

I keep getting told by a few people that my avatar is too cluttered and focuses too much on color balance. That's just my style, it's the way I work. As an artist I have this obsessive need to balance colors, and I tend to lean towards more complex avatars. When someone tells me to not be cluttered, they're basically telling me to not be myself, and I get rated lower for a style that I just can't help.

I think the important thing to keep in mind is that your avatar is a representation of yourself, and you should keep to whatever makes you comfortable. I apply this to myself as well, but sometimes I can't help but feel even a bit uneasy.
What do you guys think?

Do you ever get rates that bug you? Why?

I find it a bit annoying if people say "Your icecream
does not fit your outfit." I know it's an avatar site but I
won't buy an icecream irl because it fits my outfit xD It's just
a sweet addition. Same as animals. "The bird does not go with the colors."

What also bugs me is when people realy keep going on the fact that
'not every brown/blue' color is exactly the same color as my hair/eyes. ^^;

The only time that REALLy bugs me is when the color is so completely isolated that it gets to be really distracting. You know how the harem headdress has that yellow dot in the flower? If I'm wearing all cool colors and it's just that dot, I keep looking back at the dot x.x

Shades are impossible to perfectly match so I've given up on that to a certain extent. Whatever works for someone's avi works.

Your bird example made me LOL but for a reason that's off-topic so I'm just going to avoid going into random tangents x.x

I think your style works really well for you.

I remember being biased before x.x

Yeah others seem to have that problem too with the harem headdress
when I wear it, so I barely dare to wear it anymore :(

Indeed all the different shades won't always go with eachother,
but it also bugs me when people say I wear to many 'basic'.

Sometimes, basics are really necessary. I use them quite a bit. I think I'm wearing 3 basic items right now, actually. Not sure what's called what anymore XD

If you can combinate alot of colors from the basics,
or either basics with other items, I don't see the problem.

Ah~ I do wish there was a more "clever" way of doing things lol.

I just like feeling clever DX

Like you said, I have had many avatars that were just being myself and I get rated out of the people not liking my type of colors. They should rate the avatars on how well put they are and how they reflect a person's color wanting. Lets say I have a red and black avatar, only because it is red and black does not mean it should be judged for that. It should be judged on how well put it is and how creative/unique the items are.

I find alot, well not as much as it used to be but it still exists, that people in the AC really rip apart a persons avi if it does not adhere to the norm. The norm is slightly veering away from what it used to be but it can still be pretty cruel. I think people need to focus less on the errors (OMG that one shade of red is one shade too dark omg omg omg.....your avi totally sucks) and focus on the good things. I've talked to quite a few people outside the AC who wont come anywhere near it because it makes them feel there avi's are inadequet(sp?)

I think this is what bugs me the most xP
sorry for the little rant, most people here are nice people accept when they are rateing xP

@Soul: I agree. I've had some black and white as well as monochrome avatars myself, and have seen some really good basic-colored avis. It's not about just the colors, it's about how well someone can use those colors even IF they're used by a lot of people.

I used to be one of those AC people that was like.."OMG YOUR SHADES ARE OFF OTL"
I'm working on getting over it, still, but I'm definitely more open when looking at avatars. Everyone has their own way of working with things.

Colors and shade-matching are my own personal challenge now, but I don't expect everyone to have the same approach.

hmm...I tend to be like you plat, I find an item and I go omg that item totally rocks...now I need to use that.

Then I work on balancing that item, then I add in more colors.

Ive done simple color avis, in fact just last week I had one entirely silver/white but I tend to used at least 4-5 colors.

I've used various colors, and apparently succeeded at making a rainbow avi at one point (based on the Carnival hairpin), but I haven't quite created something I'm satisfied with, so it's temporarily scrapped >.<

This avy was created FOR a jacket that I'm not even wearing anymore. It ended up not working well with the jacket, but other elements worked pretty well, so I kept them for the most part, and then moved and added some things. Still trying to figure out both the jacket and the hairpin. Ah well >.<



I've noticed when I'm rating, I'm scared of rating avis with less items because I always feel like I'm biased but still trying not to be x.x

Hmm..I dont think I really have that problem. I tend to look at the avi as a whole and try to judge what they are going for before I start the rate.

I used to be one of those people that were like "Your shoes are the wrong color"
And sometimes, I wont lie, I still am. Bright neon green shoes on a dark green avi is DISTRACTING from the outfit as a whole. >>;
But now I like to consiter myself more of an overall appeal rater.

But my least favorite people for rates are the ones that say "8/10, it looks nice, but I just don't like gray."
... oooook. I see. I got down rated because you don't like gray. Niiiiiice. What a shame, because I happen to love the color gray and all of my avis on all avi websites use this color.
I guess what really gets to me for them is that they seem totally ok with bias rating because they 'just don't like' that item or that color.

well neon and dark green unless they used both throughout IS distracting. I was mostly refereing to two different shades that are really really close but people have to scrutinize....like if the whole avi is dark green so they used the dark green hair....but the hair is slightly off of the other greens (hair is hard to match) people will tear you apart over that.

All ratings are personal opinion, and everyone is going for something different. All the time you have people who care more about theme and get annoyed when they're told their outfit is too simple or the color not balanced enough, or you get people with very complicated unthemed outfits who are told that their outfit is too cluttered or doesn't make sense. That's just part of asking someone else's opinion and you have to be willing to shrug off when other people's opinions clash with your own.

Ah, good ol' color rates!

I really dislike when people rate down based on the fact that they don't like a certain color. Biased rate based on what colors they do/don't like is something I find irritating.

Green, blue, pink, and orange hair are particularly cruel, I think. The greens and blues have this weird de-saturated feel about them in some of the lighter shades. Rates based on hair can feel pretty unfair. Sometimes it's the highlight that throws people off.

EDIT: Missed one x.x

I know that everyone is going to have different opinions, it's just when it starts to get really silly that I start to build up this sort of..irritation?

Plat - Yeah I know what you mean with the irritation, you can deal with it a few post but then it gets irritating when people judge off from not liking the colors given or if people judge off from hate. I noticed some people rate someone just because that someone rated them bad. But yeah, it gets irritating a lot :p.

Honestly, if you're only doing what you like/want with your avi, why are you getting it rate by others? The fact that you are asking for a rating makes it seem like you want suggestions, otherwise, what's the point? WE don't know you. It's not OUR fault that you come in and want to be rated, so we rate you on what we personally think and what we personally think needs to be changed. If you don't like listening to what others have to say about your avatar, why are you asking to be rated in the first place? If you're not willing to change anything then don't post.

Don't rate me low because you don't like the items I happen to choose as mainpieces. The CP headgear, Ruby Bells, I'm trying to make them WORK.
Please do NOT tell menot to use them, instead, I'd love if it you could point out problems like "oh, there isn't enough gold to balance the avatar" or "try removing [accessory]." Please be SMART enough to realize that I WILL NOT remove the item I'm basing an outfit on. >___________________>

THen they tell me that the colors don't go to together.
Well, excuse me for not going by your color choices. I generally like contrast, so I'll use orange and purple whenever I want. Don't rate me on the color choice, rate me on BALANCE.
It's not YOUR choice to tell me what colors I use.
So please stop giving me 1/10 because you don't think it matches.

/rant


EDIT:
@Shalandriel: I'm always open to suggestions, but my point is to RATE INTELLIGENTLY.
What's the point of telling someone "i don't like those colors" or "take off [main item]."

I mean, if they don't like it fine, but that's not what a rate is about.

If the person has a RP themed avatar, rate them based on how accurate they are with the representation.

If the person has a regular avi, then rate them based on color balance.

Winter, may I make a suggestion about your avi? The belt buckle waist cinch thing sticks out far too much in my opinion. All the other black you have are a soft black, and that is a very dark black and it's also the only item with gold in it. I really like your avi, I love the color choices and the theme in general, I just think it draws too much attention, thus taking a lot of attention away from the rest of the avi. Have you tried the black waspie? I know it's a bit of a strange black that doesn't seem to match with most things, just a suggestion. I'd rather see a belt there though than what you currently have.

Thank you for the suggestions! :3

A black waspie...I forgot I had that. xD
Thanks. :3

It looks wayy cuter now, thank you! ^^

Side note: Shalandriel's rate is the good type I'm talking about.

She didn't say anything like "i don't like your colors 1/10" or "remove that mask".

oh I love getting rates from people, I just feel people should be constructive and not cruel...there is a fine line between the two.

Originally Posted by Shalandriel

Honestly, if you're only doing what you like/want with your avi, why are you getting it rate by others? The fact that you are asking for a rating makes it seem like you want suggestions, otherwise, what's the point? WE don't know you. It's not OUR fault that you come in and want to be rated, so we rate you on what we personally think and what we personally think needs to be changed. If you don't like listening to what others have to say about your avatar, why are you asking to be rated in the first place? If you're not willing to change anything then don't post.

Shalandriel, we are getting rated for suggestions yes and to see how good our design is, but when you don't give suggestions but you rate it bad just because of not liking the color, it is wasting the point of posting. We like listening to what you have to say but try making it more towards the fact of how well put the avatar is. That is what makes an avatar good, is the color combination mixed well and how well they are layered. But just saying you do not like that color is not helping us out at all.

Dear batman, I have been grounded for being an agnostic that doesn't want to go to church, so if it takes me a while to reply to your comment, I apologize. I feel rather silly admitting that but people should at least know why I'm neglecting some posts x.x;

@WinterWind: I have rates like that too. However, I do get that there are items that I haven't successfully worked with yet. This avatar was originally designed for a jacket that I'm not even wearing yet because it simply did not work. I did specifically ask for a rate that would let the jacket stay, but I can't say I got too many of those x.x

By the way... Orange and Purple are supposed to be perfect matches for each-other, as they are complementary colors. Well, that depends on the color wheel you're looking at but it's generally purple/orange or purple/yellow.

@Soul: I've had someone rate me right after I rated them so they could give me a bad rate. I actually found it sort of amusing, but I was kind of peeved because I really didn't want to rate them again, and of course, I didn't get any real suggestions.

@Shalandriel (tell me if I spell it wrong, I've got things with l's and a's repeating):

I'm doing it because I want to get rates from others BASED ON WHAT I'M TRYING TO DO. I even tell people what I need help on, although that has largely gone ignored, and I can't repeat it too much or it gets to be spammy. I'm not going to rate someone based on color balance if they're trying to make an avatar based on a character. I'll take color balance into consideration to some extent, but I'm not going to be all "I don't like avatars based on *blank* so I'm rating you lower" or "your avatar has no theme so I'm rating you lower for that".

I just want a rate that actually has to do with the direction I'm heading in. If it's a cosplay, which I've sort of done (more like MAC'd), then I get rates based on that. I just don't like being told to go in an entirely different direction when I'm obviously wanting to go in a particular direction.

It's like making a piece of art wanting to appeal to younger children, then being told "it needs more blood" << exaggeration because my brain is not wanting to be more subtle right now. It's been a bad day >_<

@Cora: I like getting suggestions too. I've fixed so many avis that way. Still haven't fixed this one though xD