I love Subeta, but dang it I can never create the avatar I want! I generally like to put an emphasis on expression, since I can't do much about the pose I want to use the hair and face. But there just aren't any options! Everything is centered around looking pretty and tame, and the items that aren't tend to just look stupid. Case and point, this is the avatar I wound up making:

Yet this is the avatar I wanted to make: http://community.cgcookie.com/uploads/default/optimized/3X/0/0/00a0a15d56943199a1be5a655d5defadfc25854d_1_631x500.png

The eyes are great, but the brows aren't mad enough, the grin not wicked enough, and as far as I know there are no items that put shade in front of your avatar's eyes without adding a hood or something. This is too much:

This doesn't doesn't cover the forehead:

We all know what this is to and it's not a dirty look I want anyway:

This is what I mean by items that cast shade but with a hood:

This sits too far up on the face:

This is dumb:

This almost literally touches the ear, which is weird:

And none of this is even mentioning the severe lack of hairstyles that are being blown by the wind.... Or the awful naming conventions that keep me from being able to find the ones that do exist. Expression-wise, everything on Subeta is either flat or cartoonish, and it always just leaves me in want. I would consider making CWs if I had money, but there are so many items I want that I tend to think it would be cheaper to make my own site. Expression of pure, raw, intense emotions is my thing, explosions of epicness and feeling that Subeta just doesn't give me. No avatar I make ever feels like me, even if the designs themselves are visually appealing. Will I end my eight-year membership on Subeta over it? No, Subeta's events are still some of my favorite out of any site I'm on, but I will never really feel right on here until I can properly express myself.

I apologize for making this, I normally wouldn't rant about these kind of things to the general public, but this is only one example in a long-running frustration I've had with Subeta. From very few decent expressions that show real emotion and very few hairstyles that are being blown in the wind, to almost no proper faux hawks, no buzzcuts that look even half-decent, and lipstick-less mouths that are frankly getting repetitive with their kissy-faces, everything just keeps missing the mark whether by a little or a lot.

What about these eyes?

The brows work for larger eyes like Bottled Summer Dream Contacts, but the expression still seems dull on their own or when I layer them with something like Green Tinted Peka Glade Eye Drops. I'm not a fan of the way the eye is made to extend all the way to the edge like cat eyes, either. I have a couple of eye items similar to that already, and I never wear them.

I tried again. It's annoying how the nose disappears, but you get the idea..

Private Outfit

Giselle Underwater Gurl Eye Compact works, for the most part. It still seems a little lackluster but I like it more than the others. I was rather surprised to see Sougara Whiteout Wig there though, that actually works really well! Only while my avatar is wearing the goggles, but still. I'll have to grab that later on. I'm definitely not a fan of the mouth, though. Most of the nude Delish lip balm items just look like playful pouts to me, that one included. On that front though, I think I might know at least most of the nude lip items thanks to putting together a thread for that.... if there are any I don't know about that would be great, but as it stands exactly none of the mouth items I know of would work. Delish comes the closest.

By the way, I really appreciate that you're trying to help. I sort of didn't expect anyone to be interested in helping when I'd posted to the rant forum.

That's OK! It was fun for me to try and find some items for you to use. I really thought the mouth was spot on, hahaha, ^_^;

Ah, haha. Yeah, unfortunately not. I realize that sketch kinda leaves it up to inturpretation though. This is more the kind of looks I'd had in mind:

You got it pretty close. It's a shame about the shadow over the face, I mean there's really nothing like that!

I know! Frankly every time I think about it I'm amazed Subeta doesn't have such an item yet.