#a veilspun f one and a tundra m one

[clansnaphance]

it's been 8 days when is my accent returning from the accent queue wars

[ink-of-a-thousand-currents]

2023 Site Skin/Accent Census

Just a quick catalog of the current Site Skins/Accents before we kick off 2024 with the Gala

Aberrations

M - 13 (11A, 2S)

F - 13 (12A, 1S)

Aethers

M - 8 (6A, 2S)

F - 8 (5A, 3S)

Auraboas

M - 2 (1A, 1S)

F - 1 (1A, 0S)

Banescales

M - 13 (9A, 4S)

F - 24 (15A , 9S)

Bogsneak

M - 41 (20A, 21S)

F - 54 (35A, 19S)

Coatl

M - 84 (42A, 42S)

F - 61 (36A, 25S)

Fae

M - 60 (33A, 27S)

F - 57 (30A, 27S)

Gaoler

M - 36 (27A, 9S)

F - 32 (24A, 8S)

Guardian

M - 44 (17A, 27S)

F - 72 (34A, 38S)

Imperial

M - 95 (51A, 44S)

F - 80 (40A, 40S)

Mirror

M - 61 (24A, 37S)

F - 65 (30A, 35S)

Nocturne

M - 44 (18A, 26S)

F - 58 (38A, 20S)

Obelisk

M - 16 (13A, 3S)

F - 13 (11A, 2S)

Pearlcatcher

M - 56 (31A, 25S)

F - 75 (36A, 39S)

Ridgeback

M - 55 (28A, 27S)

F - 68 (33A, 35S)

Sandsurge

M - 4 (2A, 2S)

F - 1 (1A, 0S)

Skydancer

M - 77 (41A, 36S)

F - 87 (40A, 47S)

Snapper

M - 48 (23A, 25S)

F - 69 (39A, 30S)

Spiral

M - 64 (29A, 35S)

F - 48 (23A, 25S)

Tundra

M - 64 (28A, 36S)

F - 55 (23A, 32S)

Undertide

M - 7 (3A, 4S)

F - 8 (4A, 4S)

Veilspun

M - 18 (16A, 2S)

F - 14 (10A, 4S)

Wildclaw

M - 78 (37A, 41S)

F - 57 (30A, 27S)

Notes: Obviously the majority of the Ancients are behind the other breeds, as well as Obelisks. It's interesting to see some of the ratios nonetheless; you can tell which breeds are more popular.

With the recent expansion of how many skins/accents win per a Festival, this will hopefully help fill out some of these numbers.

I also particularly wanted to make this because part of the gap is due to how many breeds came out after the last Coliseum Skin Contest. Now that we're coming up on 4 years since that contest, I'm hoping we'll see the next one this year potentially. There's been an additional 70 Familiars added since the last one, and I think there's a few Familiars who didn't get skins last time.

And, less of a prediction, but another thing I would like to see would be skins/accents available through other methods, and therefore the opening of other Skin/Accent contests to fill those out. It used to be that there were a handful of skins/accents available via Swipp, and I thought those were fun. I just think it would be nice to see more ways of affordable skins being made, as well as the opening up of different design concepts outside some of the limits often found in the Festival and Coliseum skins.

In any case! Excited to see how things go this year!

[felidthing-fr]

my pose opinions:

both aberrations are great. the f pose is DELIGHTFUL it has so much personality and its somewhat unique in being forward facing. and i love the tails in the m pose

f aethers come off a teeeeny bit odd to me, i think they remind me of my strange anatomy/posing choices in my own art lol. i think the m pose is more solid/cohesive

i like both banescales! the f pose is more interesting but i still really like the m pose

i used to really dislike m pose bogsneaks but i dont mind them anymore. i dont have a lot of bogs or think to get them but both poses are nice

MUCH prefer m pose coatls to f. i like the shapes more

both faes are good! fun interesting poses and i like the amount of wing space

both gaolers are great! m pose has a very cool regal vibe and i loooove the wide stance in the f pose. its very Animal and i enjoy it

f guardians i LOVE. its weird 'cause they dont seem like a pose i would prefer but i just do. love f guardians

i think i like m imperials because theyre easier to dress. the f pose is pretty but in-game i dont use them much

i think i like both mirrors! theyre both just good fun poses with a lot of energy/personality. love the dogs

i like the shapes more in f pose nocturnes

LOVE the motion in m pose obelisks. i think f poses are underwhelming next to them which is unfortunate 'cause its not like theres anything wrong with them

pearlcatchers have kinda weird anatomy to me thats way more noticeable in m pose. and i think the pose itself for f pose is more interesting and SO pretty. love f pose pearlcatchers but i tend to avoid the breed because i dont like m pose

f ridgebacks are SO BEAUTIFUL. absolutely gorgeous. i dont care for m pose noseys sorry

once again love the energy in m pose sandsurges

ADORE f pose skydancers. i dont mind m pose but i just LOVE f pose so so much

only like f pose snappers sorry lol. its not just because i dislike m pose! i think f pose snappers are pretty!

both spirals are good. m is great i really love the forward facing for some reason. and f i always enjoy pretty profile shots

im a m tundra prefer-er sorry. i have one f pose tundra that i love dearly idk how she slipped through

im honestly not very interested in undertides. i dont dislike either of them but i just dont have any feelings either

i think m pose veilspuns are GORGEOUS. i love the angle on the head its such a nice little detail that none of the other breeds have! f pose is also pretty

wildclaw poses are very similar and i really like both of them :]

[dragonwysper]

LONG POST AHEAD!!!

I honestly think there are just so many threads that go by so fast, and those who sign up for GASP get pinged so often (I would know, I'm on the pinglist), that lots of skins/accents just go unnoticed. I do think nice looking and thought out posts is part of it though! My recommendations, as someone who's done art, made a skincent, and generally just been around for a while:

Keep your post title quick and to the point. Include the pose, the price, if it's a skin, accent or skincent, and whether it's a pre-order, limited/custom, AH listing, or auction. If you have room after, you can also add the name or a 1-3 word descriptor of your skin/accent, or the name of your shop if you have one (shop names typically go before). There are shorthand versions of a lot of these! For poses, F is Female and M is Male, and the gender marker goes after the breed marker. Breed markers are as follows:

Bogsneak - Bog

Guardian - Guar / Guard

Imperial - Imp

Mirror - Mir

Nocturne - Noc

Obelisk - Ob / Obe

Pearlcatcher - PC

Ridgeback - Ridge / RB

Skydancer - SD

Snapper - Snap

Tundra - Tun

Wildclaw - WC

Aberration - Aber / AB

Aether - Aet

Banescale - Bane

Gaoler - Gao

Undertide - UT

Veilspun - Veil / VS

There are none for Coatls, Faes, or Spirals afaik.

For auctions and sales of other people's skins/accents, there are tons of shorthand. I'll keep this list to two main ones to put at the very front of your post though, for simplicity. Use these when dealing with other people's skins/accents, or customs/retired ones you've made in the past. They're mainly for rare, retired, or custom skins/accents that have already been printed! You can of course use them for typical personal listings, but I would advise not doing that, because while there are no hard and fast rules, there are commonly accepted contexts.

Auction - [A] - tons of other terms, shorthand, and etiquette for this, but I'll leave those out of this post. I might make another post with all of that, if you want it!

Sales - [S] - use for flat sales. Typically you'll want to have a link to a listing on the AH for ease of use.

Put your skin/accent and sales info (price + link to any AH listings or pre-order sales list) at the very top of your post, so that if someone clicks on the thread, they will immediately see what it is. Keep anything extra below that. The format I see most successful/pretty posts use has the preview image centered at the top, and then has everything else directly below, formatted as desired.

ALWAYS ping GASP. Don't be anxious about pinging people (just in case you're worried about that), because we are always bombarded with them haha. We sign up specifically to be pinged! But!! Only ping GASP after you have a title that reflects what you're selling. When I see "wip - don't post!!" I don't know what kind of skin/accent it is, so a lot of times I'm less likely to take a look. Of course there are times I'm up for a wildcard and look specifically because of it, but I think most GASP users don't think like that. If you have to make a post and come back later to edit, make sure you finish your edits (plus title) first, and then make another edit to add GASP pings. After you add them, edit once again to snip those pings! Keep the GASP pinglist info they provide for you, but get rid of the wall of pings haha.

I was gonna suggest putting GASP info at the very bottom of your post under any personal pinglists, but honestly, I've seen people put it in all sorts of places. It's most commonly either at the bottom of the post or right under the skin/accent preview/info (to say at a glance what categories you tagged), which are the best options. It makes it easier to check the 'tags'!

Previews!! There's a site you can use for this!

Make an account, upload your skin/accent file, and it'll even tell you coverage and if there's any pixels outside your selected pose! At the end of the post creation, you get two links. One is an edit link (for if you DON'T make an account), and one is a share link.

Use this site for pre-orders so potential buyers can see how the skin looks on their dragons! It's an extra bit of effort to post in the thread asking for manual previews, and it can be a little anxiety inducing to ask for one and then have to tell the creator it doesn't fit how they wanted or they actually don't have the funds for it or whatever. Some people may want to and are able to buy it, but won't because they can't admire it on their dragons or check for any possible 'flaws'.

Beyond that, design and formatting choices are up to you! I know you're unsure about that though. If you want, I'm up for giving BBcode formatting suggestions based on what you want to do! I'll format your whole post for you if you want tbh haha. I find it fun! And I know just about all the codes off the top of my head. I will provide a couple image/icon codes you might find useful though!

Gem and Treasure icons! These are good to put in front of prices to catch the eye of your viewer! Alternatively, you can use emojis, but they tend to be formatted weird in posts. These images line up with your text better!

[Img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/icon_gems.png[/img]

[Img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/icon_treasure.png[/img]

And bonus Male/Female icons, for fancy pose indicators! There are also icons for different breeds, but I didn't feel like listing them all lmao. You can find the pngs for all of these in dragon bios!

[img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/lair/icons/male.png[/img]

[img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/lair/icons/female.png[/img]

Purchase button that links directly to your listing on the AH (or to a pre-order pinglist in a Google Sheets document, or wherever else you can buy/sign up to buy the skin/accent. Code (using listings for the Woodland Turkey skin as an example):

[url=https://www1.flightrising.com/auction-house/buy/realm/skins?itemname=Skin%3A+Woodland+Turkey&collapse=1][img]http://flightrising.com/images/layout/button_buyauction.png[/img][/url]

Basically, once your skin is on the AH, search for it directly in the AH search bar, then copy the URL for that page. Alternatively, directly copy the BBcode I added above and replace the purple text with the item name of your skin/accent! Replace the colon with %3A and replace spaces with +

Quotes! Good for a nicely formatted, eye-catching ping or pre-order list! This is best used in a [columns] setup!

[quote name=Slots]your text here!![/quote]

Put whatever you want your quote box title to be in the quote name section, put your text (nothing including additional BBcode) in between, and close it out!

If your skin has already been printed, include the item icon in your post! You can do this by going to the database page for your skin/accent and copy-pasting the code for the icon (found under the share button)! Or, use this code (code for Woodland Turkey used as an example):

[skin=11121]

This is a skin/accent specific code! The typical code for item icons is this:

[item=Skin: Woodland Turkey]

The skin/accent specific one is meant to solve the problem of multiple different skins and accents using the same name, because those do exist!! Typing those in this way just picks one of them and rolls with it. If your's has a unique name, you can get away with it! But if not, or just to be safe, you should use the skin/accent specific version.

At the end, a very basic layout would look something like this (using my old listing for the skin I made for this example):

I didn't snip GASP pings here like I should've done, but I did add a couple layers of [size=0] to them haha (which, by the way, you can do!). I have a simple [columns] layout, a layer of info clarifying how/when to buy, a personal pinglist (taken from people who expressed interest in a Discord server), and then the GASP info/pinglist.

I have used this specific formatting for other sales posts before, and it's served me well! I'll add the BBcode for it as a template for you to use if you want it!

[Center][columns][img]https://i.ibb.co/wCRXVQv/preview.png[/img][nextcol][br][center][item=skin blueprint][br][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/icon_gems.png[/img]750[br][url=https://frtools.nensec.com/skintester/preview/GIyZa]Previews[/url][br][quote name=Slots][left]

1. Me

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

[/left][/quote][/columns][/center]

Put a 350x350 version of the preview image (on a dragon!! Don't post the transparent skin/accent in there!!) in the image portion, and edit the length of the pre-order list depending on how many slots there are, how many copies you're keeping, etc!

Additional alternate version for printed skins/accents:

[center][columns][img]https://i.ibb.co/wCRXVQv/preview.png[/img][nextcol][center][br][br][br][skin=40543][br][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/lair/icons/male.png[/img] S K Y D A N C E R [br]------

------[br][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/icon_gems.png[/img][b][size=5][size=2]750[/size][/size][/b][br][br][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/auction-house/buy/realm/skins?itemname=Skin%3A+You+Thought+it+was+Butter&collapse=1][img]http://flightrising.com/images/layout/button_buyauction.png[/img][/url][br][/center][/columns]

A note on stacking [size]:

Basically, just put a bunch of the size codes together. It should look something like this depending on the exact size:

[size=0][size=0][size=0][size=0][size=0]Your text here![/size][/size][/size][/size][/size]

Make sure you remember to do the end code for every size code you added!!! If you only do one, or otherwise not enough, any text that comes after will be set to a different size based on that.

You can layer [size] codes to make text bigger, or to find in-between sizes too btw! I've used them to make large title text! The numbers you can use for the code have to be whole numbers between and including 0 and 7.

Bonus advice: always keep 1 or 2 copies of your skin/accent for yourself! I don't quite have the words to articulate the significance, but it's nice to have a personal copy of your work! And some people do sell their old personal copies, especially if they're customs or limited/retired and highly sought after.

That's about it for my knowledge of skin and accent sales. I hope this was helpful!! If not, I can always personally help you with your posts! That goes out to anyone btw, not just OP!

So I’ve been selling my accent I made on the AH since not many people looked at the thread- and it’s actually selling! Most of em are gone! and I was wondering, is that normal for accents/skins, or is it just because it’s an Aether skin?

Basically, if I just put a skin/accent on the AH, will it sell eventually even if it takes longer then threads? I’ve always avoided skin-making because I thought it was basically guaranteed never to sell unless the thread/shop did well, and I struggle with those kinda things.

[saltminerising]

Banescale M: straight.

Banescale F: queer and angry

Bogsneak M: messages attractive women on social media asking if they want a sugar daddy

Bogsneak F: Distinguished Fat Lesbian, dating me ridgeback F. theyre girlfriends <3

Coatl M: queer local drag queen 

Coatl F: homophobic

Fae M: generic high school whiteboy gay guy from every movie about a high school whiteboy gay guy that’s palatable for suburban parents on the fence about the whole ‘gay’ thing

Fae F: lesbian, high femme but like goth

Gaoler M: aro-ace

Gaoler F: distinguished home improvement lesbian

Guardian M: bisexual disaster

Guardian F: women want her, fish fear her

Imperial M: straight. 

Imperial F: lesbian secretly curating one of those lesbian cottagecore blogs who dreams of living in a farm cottage in the woods with her wife one day despite being afraid to touch dirt and having never done an hour of physically taxing work in her life

Mirror M: no sexuality just emo

Mirror F: leader of a college gay and straight alliance

Nocturne M: chad twink

Nocturne F: queer theater kid

Obelisk M: wildcard. discuss.

Obelisk F: soft butch, mom friend, superb cuddler

Pearlcatcher M: straight

Pearlcatcher F: straighter

Ridgeback M: this is so mean bc I love this pose but. straight guy who wants to watch lesbians make out 

Ridgeback F: Distinguished Buff Lesbian, dating me Bogsneak F. theyre girlfriends

Skydancer M: just a twink

Skydancer F: gay and homophobic

Snapper M: (nods) bear.

Snapper F: sweet 80 year old neighbor who loves her cats and her wife

Spiral M: queer teenager who just came out of the closet and is still experiencing the pure euphoria of putting rainbows everywhere

Spiral F: straight but calls people “so brave” on social media when they come out

Tundra M: bear, happily married for over a decade with two kids

Tundra F: bisexual lumberjack futch who Wishes she had what Gaoler F has going on

Veilspun M: the ‘gay best friend’ all the cishets want

Veilspun F: femme lesbian, but everyone thinks she’s straight, not because she’s femme but because she has horsegirl energy

WCM: cishet chad-wannabe

WCF: a straight girl on the high school soccer team you (a lesbian on the high school soccer team) have a huge crush on

if i called your favorite pose straight im sorry :(

[punkrising]

Saw someone do one of these and wanted to try it out :D tiermaker wouldn’t let me download it and i had to take screenshot, hence bad quality

Rambly explanations under the cut

S Tier (Absolute Favorites)

Obelisks -- Big, sturdy lions! I love the big beefy boys, what more can I say

Aberrations -- Only ancient I have in my lair. Love them. Gorgeous. Fabulous. Double the fun.

Mirrors -- 88V Love the slinky mutant weirdos. They were my favorites for most of my time on FR until Obes usurped them. now they’re tied with aberrations for 2nd

A Tier (Love them)

Bogsneaks -- Love the absolute bastard energy they give off

Fae -- Twinks of flight rising. Good for elf fandragons/ocs. NECKS.

Snappers -- Original beefy boys! They’re kind of meme-y and that’s why I love them. I don’t have as many as I’d like, though

Spirals -- Lots of genes look great on them, including my favorite one (ghost)

Ridgebacks-- Like bogsneaks, they have bastard energy. Very underrated

B Tier (Like them)

Coatls -- I love the male pose especially, but their breed changes are expensive so that knocked em down a tier

Skydancers -- Standard pretty dragons! Lots of good UMAs for the f pose

Imperials -- Love their lore, but I’m trying to be a mostly g1 lair so I only kept one of mine :’(

Tundras -- Muppets. Goofy looking but huggable

Pearlcatchers -- Love the F pose. The M pose is always funny to me bc I imagine them clunking the pearl on the ground when they walk 

C Tier (Neutral)

Banescales, Gaolers, Veilspun -- Dressing dragons is my favorite thing to do so they’re all a bit meh for me. I like their designs but not enough to cancel out the nakedness (unlike with Abbes) 

Nocturnes -- They’re cute but for some reason clothes look awkward on them, so I have a hard time dressing them. 

Guardians -- Had to edit to add them, because I forgot about them. They just don’t really stand out to me, but they’re definitely not the worst

D Tier (Dislike)

Wildclaws -- The only dragon breed I genuinely kind of dislike :’) They’re just a bit boring to me, their wings look flat. I do have one g1 wildlclaw and plans for two more, but only because I have cool UMAs for 2 of them and 1 is my nature rep

[felidthing-fr]

ridgeback

F - floating. not sure what else to say M - standing. mouth open.

sandsurge

F - sitting. pretty simple pose M - floating. high energy. mouth open

skydancer

F - standing on hind legs. similar to m coatl, this gives her an upright chest, and arms instead of forelegs. this pose overall has a lot of movement in the lines/shapes M - standing. pretty simple, and static compared to f pose. good flow in the tail and antennae.

snapper

F - standing. i dunno man thats all M - standing. looks bigger/taller than f pose but otherwise theyre both just standing.

spiral

F - floating. M - floating. head faces mostly forward/more than f pose. both of these poses have lots of movement and one round body silhouette disrupted by the tail breaking out and creating its own loop.

tundra

F - standing. simple pose M - sitting. simple pose. more closed shape/sillhouette

undertide

F - floating. head more or less faces viewer M - floating. head appears slightly farther away than f pose. open mouth these poses are similar to spirals by being virtually the same. lots of movement, and both of them even have the head low and the wings high

veilspun

F - sitting. line of body loops back and forth similar to auraboa and gaoler. M - standing. more energy with the wings and one leg up and the open mouth.

wildclaw

F - standing. M - standing. head looks back and tail is up, but otherwise incredibly similar.

okay lets do this thoroughly then. going over every breed's gender poses (part 1)

aberration

F - sitting. shape evoking symmetry and drawing attention to the split creating two heads two tails M - standing facing sideways. more movement. not sure what else to say. both poses have one open mouth and one closed

aether

F - floating pose. overall circular/round shape to pose. open mouth. M - floating pose. tail creates round shape but not as circular/curled as f pose. body/legs positioned more "stable," oriented how you'd expect to see it stand as opposed to the f pose's bent, weightless limbs

auraboa

F - "sitting?" lots of movement/flow to the shape. M - "sitting?" similar amount of movement/flow. facing sideways means less even/mirrored distribution of shapes

banescale

F - floating pose. lots of energy. open mouth. M - standing, wings closed. pretty static.

bogsneak

F - sitting/laying. M - standing. these poses are otherwise very similar in shape and energy. could argue leans toward open mouth

coatl

F - standing. somewhat static pose. M - floating. looks more "active" i think because it makes him resemble humans closer by appearing bipedal. looks like he's standing "up" whereas the f pose is low down

dusthide

F - standing. simple/plain posing. M - floating. more energy, mirrored wing shapes. open mouth.

fae

F - floating. mirrored wings. M - floating. asymmetrical and tail sticks out of silhouette.

gaoler

F - standing. line of the body goes down to the left and back to the right with the head position. tail up balances out the shape. M - standing. simple pose, head held high. wings are bigger.

guardian

F - standing. pose similar to f gaoler with body/head position. generally plain pose. M - standing. head down makes the shape rounder.

imperial

F - floating. VERY circular. open mouth. M - standing. pretty simple pose.

mirror

F - floating. very energetic. open mouth. M - standing. i can tell that something physical is happening but i cant tell how much "energy" or how dynamic the pose is. open mouth.

nocturne

F - floating. mirrored wing shapes. tail fills negative space M - floating. asymmetrical. not much else to say on him

obelisk

F - sitting. pretty plain pose. M - floating. high energy. open mouth.

pearlcatcher

F - sitting. looking up while holding her pearl in her arms makes this drawing interesting M - standing. dont know what else to say on him

gimme a few minutes to rb this for part 2