Hi, Ill try to keep this brief and simple, since I came back to Skyrim, exploring and stuff. Method and going full gung-ho on female casual clothes.
I’m starting a new mage playthrough soon and really wanted something other than the same old boring College of Winterhold robes to wear around Skyrim. My journey into the depths of Nexus yielded a fine list of nice looking clothing options ranging from the practical to the frivolous. So I thought to myself, “Why not share?” Consider it a late Yuletide present for those of you who like to play a bit of dress-up with your Skyrim ladies.
Let me get this out of the way: While some of these outfits may have a bit of cleavage, bare shoulders, tight pants, a bit of thigh, etc., you’re going to be disappointed if you’re looking for really sexy stuff. That’s not the way I play Skyrim. If you’re looking for “modest” coverage to 'a bit skimpy', though, I think you’ll be pretty happy with the time I’ve saved you wading through all the body replacer clothing and fetish gear. I ventured into the Models and Textures section on Nexus for a few of the retextures on this list and…...I’ve seen some shit. That which has been seen cannot be unseen. <shudders>
You may be wondering why this list only includes clothing for vanilla and UNP body types. The answer is that I was looking for clothing for my own use, and I’m perfectly happy with the vanilla female body. People who use a body replacer can easily type in Caliente, CBBE, Dreamgirl, or whatever and get results. Sadly, there is no such option for people who just want a list of vanilla clothes, and that’s why I created this list.
I’ve opted to include some of the less revealing UNP outfits, as well, as the body types are similar enough that a lot of the non-skimpy UNP stuff works just fine on vanilla bodies, and vice-versa. There’s always a possibility that a mod used on one and meant for the other will have some clipping or odd meshes on your particular character, particularly around the neck and chest area. But I’d rather give you more options to check out than dismiss the UNP stuff out of hand because there might be an issue. A good rule of thumb is that if there’s bare cleavage/shoulders showing, you may want to wear something like a scarf, cloak, cape, or mantle that obscures the neck seam area. I’ve included a few mods that add such things to the bottom of the list, and I hope to eventually compile a separate lore-friendly list of accessories and equipment.
A few other notes: When multiple versions of the same design existed, I gave preference to standalone and/or craftable versions when available. Where standalone versions weren’t available I’ve indicated additional required files for replacer-only designs. I’ve also omitted global NPC clothing replacers that I didn’t think worked well for the NPCs in question. For example: A White Mini Dress might be cute on a certain type of character, but I don’t think every wench in Skyrim would be serving drinks in an all-white minidress. Your mileage may vary.
Although I had originally intended to include variants of the Nocturnal dress here, there are just too damn many of them. Apparently modders have a thing for open-front dresses that defy several laws of physics. Who knew? Anyway, if you’re interested in the metric asston of Nocturnal dress retextures out there, a simple Nexus search should yield the desired results. For similar reasons, I’ve also decided to forgo listing the various retextures for the Greybeard, Thalmor, and Archmage robes. There are too many options to narrow down for this list.
Interested in some nice looking light armor options? I have a list for that, too:
As always, make sure to endorse the mods you like and offer polite feedback where appropriate.
Let’s get on with it, shall we?
Arguably one of the best features of Bethesda's role-playing games is the amount of control they give you over customizing your character's appearance. This tutorial will help you understand your own personal definition of beauty and what goes into creating good looking characters.
It might seem surprising that I spend so much time on theory in this article instead of telling you where to set the sliders, but let's be honest: the sliders aren't the problem; what's preventing you from creating the characters you want is not the sliders or the presets, but a general lack of awareness of what constitutes beauty for you as an individual. With the right understanding and a bit of practice, you can make any Skyrim character much more attractive.
If you've already started playing but you want to change how your character looks and you are on PC, you can follow this guide to safely change your character: How to Change Your Appearance and Name. Just don't try changing the race!
Character customization is not a trivial feature in a role-playing game. In a linear game, where you play a character created by a writer and follow that character's progress through the story as it is related by the game, your identification with the character is handled by the author. A good writer can help you identify with the character through sympathy, well-written dialogue, and commonly shared values.
In a role-playing game, where the developers allow you to create your own character and write your own story, the developers can't count on a writer to create your identification with any particular viewpoint. They have given up some (but not all) control over your character.
Instead, the player learns to identify with his or avatar, at least in part, by customizing his or her character's appearance. By being able to create the character you envision, you are able to take something from your imagination and place it in the world created by the developers. You participate in that world. This participation creates an instant bond of identification and is a primary means of immersion. If you have trouble creating exactly the kind of character that you want to create, it can cause a loss of immersion.
One of the characteristics that many people imagine their characters possessing is great physical beauty. Who doesn't want to be able to play a character who is not only physically or mentally superior to their ordinary selves, but also much better looking? If you have trouble creating beautiful characters in Skyrim, this guide will show you a few things that you can do to increase your ability to model the characters of your dreams. First off, a few tips and tricks.
Understanding beauty requires a lot theory and observation, which will be discussed below. That's pretty much all you need to understand in order to create more attractive characters. Nevertheless, here are a few practical tips that will help you get started:
This might seem like strange advice, but an important place to start is to get to know your personal definition of beauty. Don't assume that you already know what you like. You may know who you think is attractive, but think about why you think they're attractive. Many people are much less consciously aware of what they find attractive than they think they are.
Pop culture promotes all sorts of stereotypes about physical beauty. Big eyes and full lips, for example, are often exaggerated in cartoons to denote female beauty. These features are, indeed, attractive on many women for many people; but do the people you find attractive actually possess these characteristics?
When I first started studying faces, I was surprised by how often my preconceptions (what I thought I thought was beautiful) failed to match my observations (what actually attracted my interest). As a teenager, I had always assumed that big eyes and full lips were what I found attractive in women, and that, other things being equal, women who possessed these features would be more attractive to me. When I sat down and started comparing features I discovered, much to my surprise, that many of the women I found most attractive possessed neither of these features. In fact, many of them had smaller than average eyes and lips.
The point of this personal anecdote: If you don't know what you actually find attractive, you may be customizing your characters to match your preconceptions instead of your desires. This doesn't mean that these features are unattractive--the characters you make following your preconceptions will no doubt still be attractive to you--but they will lack that special quality that you associate with beauty and will fail to live up to your expectations.
When photo-sourcing, a great way to find tons of high-quality pictures of faces is to Google actors or actresses.
Try Googling 'chinese actress' or 'brazilian actor,' for example, and see what comes up.
The first thing you need to do then, is figure out your own personal definition of beauty.
Studying facial anatomy will help you identify the different features that go into an interesting face. Many of these features are customizable in the character creation screen in-game. The ones that aren't will at least tell you why you can't create a certain look that you're going for.
One thing you will probably notice as you study these faces is that many of them have very different features. It might be hard for you to identify a single set of features that you like. You may find that one person you find attractive may have features in direct opposition to the features of another, equally attractive person. You may also find when you sit down to create your character that certain features, which you find attractive in isolation, don't work very well when combined together. (I refer to this affectionately as the 'Frankenstein effect'.)
This happens because every face is defined not only by the individual features that go into it, but by the balance or harmony that exists between them. If the balance is good, the face 'works' and is attractive to you. If it doesn't, the face fails to be attractive even though it may possess attractive features. That's part of the reason why different people find different people attractive. Fortunately, when creating your character, you only have to worry about pleasing one person: yourself.
Balancing features is a very iterative activity. Every time you adjust something, you'll find that you have to adjust something else to accommodate it. Often, the only difference between an okay face and a beautiful face is a few small tweaks.
Too much tweaking, however, can result in something I call 'mannequin face': after hours of tweaking, the face no longer looks human, but like a mask or some sort of creepy doll. When this happens, I sometimes have to start all over again from scratch.
A good way to avoid mannequin face is to get to know how the different sliders work and how different features work together before you sit down to create your masterpiece.
Skyrim uses basically the same system as Fallout 3. In Skyrim, it is relatively easy to create an attractive character, but you have somewhat less freedom than you had in Oblivion. Nevertheless, since the head meshes use more polys, even without all of the control of Oblivion, most of your characters are going to look better, and look closer to what you imagine. Many of the presets in Skyrim, in fact, are fine just the way they are. But it is always possible to create more attractive characters by learning how to use the sliders.
One good way to learn how to use the sliders is to experiment with features you don't typically find attractive. Pick a feature that you wouldn't ordinarily pick and try to make a beautiful face that includes that feature. This takes the focus away from creating some abstract ideal and places it on learning how to balance different features. After doing this a few times, you will probably discover that you can create a beautiful character using any feature.
If you really want to test yourself and grow as a face sculptor, I recommend you try the Makeover Challenge: pick the ugliest preset you can find in the game and turn it into something beautiful.
I've done that here with three faces Dark Elf 1 (above), Wood Elf 9 (below), and one of the Orc presets (below).
The Wood Elf 9 preset is, in my opinion, the ugliest preset in the game. Many of the less attractive presets are simply wrinkled and easy fix with a quick tug on the Complexion slider. The Wood Elf 9 preset, however, looks more like a wooden mask than a living character. (To be honest, I'm surprised by some of the presets they've included and can only assume that they have intentionally made them unattractive to encourage you to customize them. It certainly worked on me!)
Engaging in these kinds of experiments will help you refine your skill with the sliders and will teach you about many different kinds of beauty. More importantly, they may lead to some fresh and surprising characters that you would otherwise never have discovered.
If you're playing on PC, you can improve the appearance of your characters in significant ways by downloading mods.
Most beautification mods use file replacement to achieve their effects: replacing the diffuse, normal, or specular maps, for example. Some use other techniques, like making all eyes or hair available to every race.
A great place to find mods is the Skyrim Nexus. In particular, I recommend the following:
The characters in the screenshots in this thread use Beauty Faces for Females, Detailed Bodies, Detailed Lips, High Quality Eyes, and No More Blocky Faces.
This is the fun part, where you get to play with things like scars, dirt, war paint, hair, and makeup. Use these tools to give your character a personal history, social class, and attitude.
And don't forget to give them character! Sometimes the difference between like and love is a small imperfection that gives a person's face individuality and history and makes them memorable.
The airbrushed models you see in magazines are certainly beautiful, but they also frequently seem to have the personality of cardboard. For me, the absence of imperfection is the absence of character. Don't be afraid to take your perfect character and add some minor flaw to give them life and make them feel more real. Make the lips a little smaller or the brows a little lower. This small, subtle difference can make the difference between a character you like to look at, and a character you like to spin a tale with. Remember, these details are the best way to capture a character's mood or attitude!
Knowing a bit about the different files that go into making a game character can help you identify problems and select appropriate mods to address them.
Here's a quick run-down of the biggies:
When you're playing Skyrim, the engine uses all of these different files (along with a few others) to determine how to render your character's appearance. As you can see, character models can be quite complex!
If you really can't get the look you're going for and you're on PC, you can always try downloading a save game created by someone else. The SkyrimNexus has a whole category devoted to it with almost 500 saved games (there will probably be thousands by next year).
If you have a specific look you're going for, I might be able to provide some advice, or even take a request. Just shoot me an email or comment below!
Khajiit has wares
If you got coin...
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This was a very interesting read and incredibly detailed. Thank you for writing this!
I fussed over this for hours when I started Skyrim. Then actually restarted the game, and considered restarting AGAIN, just because I thought my character was ugly.
Eventually I concluded, most builds look ugly. Rugged, tough, but ugly. :P
Mods :p Mods all the way!
Avoid the creepy ones though, plenty of those around. And no, Khajit aren't meant to be kawaii.
Thanks for this amazing tutorial! It's super detailed and brimming with creativity! Amazing stuff!
Hopefully this thread is still active. First of all, wonderful article thank you! I was wondering if you could please provide the slides for your first female? (Seen again next to Nord 2) I just cant get her nose right:(
Wow just wow. This is creativity on a whole new level. The possibilities are endless.
I have a request for character sliders, but how do I email it to you?
But what if I like the elves look already?
I actually prefer a more alien look then the pretty human with pointed ears look. I don't think they added the presents in to make you want to customize them, though I always tweak each character, rather they're just trying to move away from the standard image of elves which has frankly worn itself almost completely out.
But if you want the generic elf look, theres at least a dozen mods you can use. The best part of this game is the modability, allowing you to not only customize your character, but the entire game.
I just stumbled on your article, and it was eloquent, thoughtful, insightful, and beautifully written (pun intended). I signed up for Hubpages specifically to tell you so. Thanks very much for this — this is philosophically the antidote to the beauty industry, and something that might benefit teenagers to read, to become more aware of what they're absorbing from modern media. Cheers!
I could really use the sliders for the girl where it says this on the bottom of her pic Studying a wide range of faces will help you refine your understanding of what it means to be beautiful.
Source: Personal screenshot
im trying to copy the girl where it says this on the bottom of the picture Studying a wide range of faces will help you refine your understanding of what it means to be beautiful.
Source: Personal screenshot
I never really played Skyrim before but it seems like an awesome alternate video game world to be apart of. Extensive information and very useful. Voted up.
This is one thing that I have had a struggle with. I think that this is the best game but it's so hard to get a good looking character.
Cool... With Skyrim, I honestly took 2 hours constructing my dark elf. I liked the 'get rid of extraneous features - or features that detract from your focus' good plan. Well written, and easy to follow. Well done!
Do you have the sliders for the makeover challenge wood elf? She's amazing! I'm on xBox so did you use mods to create her? (although I'm pretty sure you did because no bosmer can have bright yellow-orange eyes...)
As always, those posts talk a lot about creating beautiful female char, but where the heck are the black-haired tenebrous slim, tall and strong handsome male for us, girl players ? T.T
I took it upon myself as a challenge to make an attractive Orc female. To my own surprise, I succeeded.
Request:
Can you please create a really fierce looking khajit perhaps with a black/white mix coat?
What no khajits? (racist)
I couldn't find Loric slider settings amongst the NPC characters on your website.
Hey, I would like to know how to make a character (Women) Nord or any human race that would look like Kate Upton
can I know whtas your website? and where loric is? i did not find him in nexus. cheers from VeryFluffy4 (nexusname)
Hey this is an amazing article, and I am very happy that your thoughts have been shared. I just made an amazing dark elf chic, and you mentioned adding a backstory to characters, I always start with the story idea and make a character around it. Lately tho I make them kinda out of whim (like the dark elf) and I made a character to look like Sam Byrne from gears of war 3. She turned out pretty good. If you ever feel like making a character look like Sam, that'd be something I'd like to see. All in all I really liked what you had to say, and your mentioning of examining what makes someone attractive to you was great. Really made me look at it differently! Thanks again!
Hey mate, how to create a male High Elf like the one you portrayed here?
I would love to attempt creating a beautiful character for each race and gender, since i'd want to play as a stereotype of each race, as well as unique personalities type thing. God that would be a lot of work... This is my objective! I want to accomplish it without somebody getting suspicious XD
Excellent article. I'm a serial re-roller, and often spend an hour or more on character creation; it's good to see somebody else putting as much thought into the process!
One thing I found helpful to accustom myself with the sliders was trying to create the faces of actual people. Leonidas was my greatest creation, but once I'd done a few I'd really Got to grips with the mechanics behind it all.
This was really really helpful for me, thank you very very much. I can't even tell you how many times I've sat in woe over how bad I am at creating attractive characters in creation, regardless of the game. I realise now that having a path is the best, just to make sure I don't get fed up with how my character is not turning out the way I want them to, attractive or not. I'm going to go through some of your other articles too - you've put a lot of thought into it. Thanks!
So many wow's lol, this is a good article and you put a lot of work into it. Good Job~ :b I've found this helpful in more ways than one.
I can tell you worked hard on this dude
Lol i was so inspired i tried to make Victoria Justice But it was IMPOSSIBLE for me :(
Nearly (or all) of your women characters that you screenshot have huge lips. You know there is beauty in thinner lips. Holy crap dude.
The part where he says try Nd guess this celeberity it kinda looks like Britanny Spears. Doesn't it?
Could you make a Boromir tutorial? Also an Aragorn one would be interesting as I had a pretty good attempt at him and would like to see how yours is different.
Voted up and interesting! I usually give up on character design or go with a random selection of slider choices. Your tips are a great help in putting thought into the design process without getting incredibly frustrated that things aren't turning out right. Thanks for sharing!
Very in-depth and well thought out. What I like best about this article is that it doesn't only pertain to the video game, but also to our perception of beauty in the rest of humanity. Very interesting, keep up the great work!
I'll admit, I came into this article thinking this was gonna be shallow as hell. I'll gladly admit I was very wrong. Great article dude.
I would love to sit down with a coffee or something with you man xD
is there any more help u can give me on female creation im on ps3 and pc version is different 2 consoles
Wow even though they look good its pointless if your on console the game demands the use of a helmet just about and that just ruins all the time you spent on the char looks, fun for when your not being serious though
I am an xbox user and I am trying to make a young looking female wood elf but I want to know what present I should start with and some tips on how to do so, as you said elves are hard to create.
Is the Nord on the left under the heading 'Well-Proportioned Faces' totally default without changing any options?
Also what are the settings for the first screenshot under heading 'Tips and Tricks'?
Thanks for all the help and information so far!
Would it be possible to post a video on how to make some of the ones you have made I'm having trouble on certain races
I was feeling stupid reading this but my nord is so awesome now !
Hi, uh, I'm trying to make my female wood elf look around the age of 16-25 if that's even possible 'xd I'm going for an elf that looks similar to the Zelda from Twilight Princess. Zelda as in Legend of zelda?
@juice thanks, but i'm on ps3 so i can't use mod or change after made him, now i ll try to make him
hey, nice post, how can I make a young (25-30 years) Male Imperial?
The wood elf is really gorgeous. I already started playing the game (Im on console) with my male high elf, and after reading this, I feel that my guy is really ugly! :/
Anyway this tutorial is really good. Il follow this on my second character. :D
Hi there, really nice work. Do you have any Wood Elf males that you've done? I want to make an attractive one by I can't seem to do it. Thanks in advance.
Great page! I have been trying to recreate this face I found on Google, and have had no luck. I can't even figure out what race he is. :(
Image: http://static.skyrimnexus.com/imageshare/images/55...
i use karmin for a name for every game i play lol but i agree good stuff
Good work, very good ideas here. Guys, please do not use my name for anything that requires a name. Thanks-Karmin.
Very well written. Though I'm happy with my current Skyrim build, I think I'll put some of your ideas into practice on my next run though.
Very in depth and helpful. Thanks.
how did u make that dark elf!? :O its gorgeous i want one :D
There s a lot of good info on beauty here but what if beauty isn't your issue, for example my issue is age i play on xbox so i can't use mods what could i do to get my male characters to stop looking so old ive tried every race but nords, bretons , and imperials are my favorite races any advice on how i can stop my characters from looking like old men
is it possible you have anything on the presets of your ork used here with the ornange eyes, if so plz email me a response
Interesting article...
When I first played Skyrim and got to the character creation part I do remember having 'Urg! Wha! Gah!' moments when clicking through the character presets... Especially the elven faces.
I recall thinking that wow most of the races and character models looked atrocious compared to other games like this, such as Mass Effect series, and felt it was hard to make pleasant looking characters. I didn't think it would have mattered much, but I guess it did to some level. At least the npc character Lydia's face was nicely rendered
I was really amazed at most of the face pictures in this article. They look much better than I would have thought possible in the game.
That's some great content on the different characters and looks you can create on Skyrim. I'm currently slashing my way through Skyrim as Conan The Barbarian, with a mod created on Skyrim Nexus.
Can I commission you to make some characters for me? I will provide pictures/profiles.
could you help me make dianna agron face?, preferably something like this pict :
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmfwch8O7M1qj8ou... , http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_ll7... , http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmfwch8O7M1qj8ou...
i have tried to make one but im really unskilled, and i play on ps3 so i can't use those mods, any helps would be appreciated!
this is awesome! very nicely done :)
Wow, loads of detail and perfectly written. Beautiful isn't something I'd go with - the environments (like Fallout) can be rugged and ruined at times, and my mucky Nord seems to fit in well.
Excellent as always ^_^
I'm impressed by the amount of thought you put into this. Great job!
I somehow managed to make an Argonian who I feel is very pretty, for a lizard lady. :P
Wow man.
You took a load of time with this.
Good work.