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The Pretty, Young People of the RP World


Uaithne
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The problem with using celebrity PBs is that celebrities are, well, pretty.  You're not going to find an ugly character because there aren't really any 'ugly' celebrities out there.  You're in a tough spot to find an overweight or pudgy character because plus-size models are still made up to be pretty and aren't really that 'plus size' to begin with, and you're not going to find people who look like folks you meet on the street.  Wrinkles on 40-year-old women are nonexistent, pot bellies on middle aged men don't exist, and the dorky girl who wears glasses and doesn't do her makeup is secretly cute because you'll never find a PB that matches the actual description.

 

 

That is all.

 

For now.

 

Edited by Uaithne
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I tend to find celebrities that are not well used or anything because of those same flaws however they are the celebrities that tend to be overlooked. For example I love Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, both extremely unconventional for characters on a roleplay however they are some of my favorites. Some women that I find are unconventional but they aren't really "made pretty" for me they are just pretty but I have an odd sense are the lovely hacker girls of some of my favorite crime shows like Pauley Perrette (I see her with wrinkles all of the time) and Kirsten Vangsness.

 

I guess it really depends on what you think is "prettified". I know that hollywood will always doll them up and put them in the best light they can but I don't think that is necessarily considered "beautiful.

 

I'll take, for example, my favorite playby to use ever which is Charlize Theron. She once looked like this in a movie:

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This was the role she became the most famous for although she is also well known for her part in the Devil's Advocate. She has done other movies, like Young Adult and Mad Max in which she is in unflattering roles as well (even though Furiosa is a BAMF).

 

So all in all it tends to be pretty, I can agree with that, but I don't think that is general consensus. I do think it is a ton harder to find more overweight celebrities because they aren't as popular without some sort of shtick which sucks IMHO.

 

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Photoshop, video editing and screen makeup is a wonderful thing. Makes all those celebrities into those pretty people you see in a movie or television. Look at those celebrities without their stage makeup or photoshop and they don't look as pretty as you think they do. There is a lot more out there is you look than you think. You see what you say is "prettified" because that is the first thing that is noticed. Society plays a pretty damning role in the inability to find true plus size or overweight playbys because they are not what is conventionally pretty, though I think they would all disagree. 

 

One of my favorite character right now is a wolf I have who's face is Johnny Depp. Not Johnny Depp from the time of What's Eating Gilbert Grape or Cry Baby, Johnny Depp now. With his worn face and frazzled appearance and wrinkles. This Johnny Depp is my favorite Johnny Depp because he has lived. Another of my favorite faces is Kim Coates. I absolutely love Kim Coates. He is unconventional and not at all pretty or handsome in society's sense but he is beautiful because his crooked nose and wrinkles and rather sparse hair make him so. Tommy Flanagan is another favorite of mine because he is like Kim Coates and is far from conventionally pretty but he is nonetheless. 

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. 

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Lately, I've started turning to Scandinavian actors for more life-like faces. Henrik Mestad and Atle Antonsen come immediately to mind of actors who haven't had the same cosmetic treatment as it feels many Hollywood actors receive. Somewhat tangential, but even the casting choices for characters in films/tv series appear to struggle when faced with "ugly" characters. For instance, in War and Peace, Princess Marya is supposed to be plain and a bit ugly. Jessie Buckley seems a bit too attractive imho for a character who's resigned herself to being single in part because of her looks.

 

When it comes to picking play bys, I tend to emphasize their appearance through my writing than a picture. If I play an overweight character, I'll describe them as such even if it doesn't match the play by image. 

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Part of the problem with using a PB that was "made up" to look unattractive in a movie is that you look at the PB and see the character the person played in the movie.   I give props to Charlize Theron for playing that role because you don't normally see many "ugly" women on TV.  Men are more often allowed to be "unattractive" or to show age, but women can't.

 

One could totally use candid photos of celebrities when they're not made up and pretty, but I think that's . . . shady.

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I can partly agree with that @Uaithne however they are starting to notice this flaw. There are plenty of women still gorgeous (at least to me) that are older. I will use some of my favorite aged women.

 

Susan Sarandon, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Sally Field I mean I could go on really I love a lot of older actresses. They aren't made perfect, they aren't even trying to make them significantly younger either. It again depends on the person and the role and whatnot. Our society is slowly moving into less "thin pretty women" it just takes time. I mean less than a century ago we did find women with large hips more beautiful than skinny women (see pin ups from the 59s-ish). We as a society get to choose what's pretty unfortunately we choose to continue to allow people to make it scrawny women that are beautiful.

 

There are people that are trying to change that (I'd say Suicide Girls but they are still rather scrawny women that are beautiful just in unconventional ways) but we are. It takes people actually showing what they enjoy. Unfortunately we all still go see movies with Megan Fox and Scarlet Johanssen as lead roles. We may not be seeing the movie for those actors but we do see them and that sort of thing tells Hollywood "Scrawny women that are beautiful".

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Actors and actresses from the 80's or earlier are pretty diverse in their looks. It is a shame that celebrities now are more about how they look than anything else, but they are around, you just need to know where to look for them. (I was watching an historical drama made in the late 90s recently and although the people in it were mostly pretty, they did have flaws, especially in their teeth, etc, which would probably get airbrushed out now. I think people just need to expand where they look for fc and as a community, the rp world doesn't help when anyone in their 40s are lumped with 'old' people, when the way people over 40 look is very diverse in itself. I say this because I noticed this on a rpg resource forum recently.

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I'm pretty face blind so unless someone looks distinctive they look like everyone else to me. As a result a lot of my faces are ones that "stand out" to me. This means a lot of imperfect people and older guys. Finding women is really hard for me because everyone looks the same.

 

I think part of the problem is that people look at movie stars and then stop their search. There are tons of older models, TV shows tend to have a wider variety in their casts that include "imperfect" people. Plus singers, sports stars, etc. 

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And I don't think it helps when face claims are required and everyone ELSE has gorgeous people. It definitely sets a tone for how your character should look.

 

I do agree with what a lot of people here are saying. I love peculiar faces and going with models/TV stars or singers that you usually don't see. (I'm using Grimes right now myself.) I usually never pick people that you see a lot of like Jennifer Lawrence or some others. I also think people go through fads with face claims lol. And I always appreciate it when I see older women used as face claims. I have the biggest girl crush on Vera Farmiga!

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I always use unknown models or actors that look fairly normal.

 

Unexpected plus, I never have to check if the face claim exists first.

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A good resource I've used in the past for faces is British TV shows and movies. While the actors are still "pretty," they're usually more diverse in looks and more normal looking. At least compared with Hollywood productions. You can also usually find more normal sized people there as well, who aren't rail thin and perfectly in shape. 

 

Though I'm not gonna lie, I like using pretty people as PBs. Looking at something nice as I write out these fantasies definitely never bothered me before xD Though now that you brought it up, my perception is changing a little on how I approach finding faces in the future.

 

Also, if you have some minor skills in photoshop or image editing, that could really help you. Choose photos of a celebrity that are more ambiguous and allow you to elaborate on particular features in your writing. I've definitely done that in the past and it's worked out.

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8 hours ago, Rune said:

Plus singers, sports stars, etc. 

 

I actually tend to use a lot of singers etc (some are still in the "Pretty" category but beauty is all in the eye of the beholder. I mean I find people like Amanda Palmer, Yolandi Visser, Rosario Dawson (while considered a pretty face she advocates women's bodies, health and fitness), Cillian Murphy, Guy Pearce, Lee Pace, Lily Allen, Minnie Driver, Paul Bettany, and Richard Ayoade. There are plenty more I use (and all of these will eventually put into the playby Directory here I promise. >_<

 

To me all of these people are gorgeous but not to everyone.

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Thanks for the ideas, guys.

 

I'll also note that British actors are definitely a lot more "normal" in appearance than many other countries.

 

I do think that the RP community is partially to blame because sometimes people don't want to RP with "ugly" characters.  I mean, I see outright in some character ads and plot pages that they want pretty faces.  In our other topic about playing disabled characters, I noted that I've never had an issue with getting RP plots with disabled characters, but I definitely see people wanting to RP with "pretty" characters only.

 

When I get some time, I'd love to contribute to the PB directory here.

 

 

Edited by Uaithne
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I think while there is the obvious conventional standard for beauty, a lot of it is personal opinion, too. I've seen characters displayed by face claims I wouldn't go near, and not because they aren't conventionally attractive, but because I don't find them appealing, for whatever reason.

 

That said, I tend to use a wide range of characters, from well known individuals to lesser known, with great vary depending on what it is I am after. I have a preference for using lesser known faces, because I don't like having to use someone else if that face claim is already being used on a site I might be interested in joining.

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