Avian Design Guide
Once you've picked up an egg... it's time to hatch it!
In order to be usable in-game, you must design your avian on the appropriate import and submit it for approval. Using the information that came with your avian's egg, and the guides on this page, you will color in the template to create your character and send them in to be uploaded to the masterlist. To start, you'll need the import template that corresponds with your avian's subspecies. |
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Import Templates:
Psittacine Avians
Picine Avians
As a note; these are .psd files that should work with most image editing software. If you need alternative filetypes, please ask a game mod for assistance!
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Base Colors:
Next, you will apply your avian's base color to the import.
Your avian's egg info (geno) will correspond with one of these color sliders. Whichever color is listed in their genotype is the one you will use. Each color (except for the mutations) has two sliders; one for males and one for females. You will need to use whichever slider corresponds with your avian's gender (as listed in their geno). This may be changed later with the use of color augment items! It's important to note that unless your avian has the leucism or melanism mutation, their base color will need to be picked from the middle part of the slider. The top part should be used if your avian has the active leucistic mutation, and the bottom part if they have the active melanistic mutation. Similarly, if your avian has the russet or albino mutation in their active forms, you will be using the russet or albino slider instead of the color that is listed in their genotype. Hidden mutations do not show on an avian's body; and therefore will not affect your avian's coloration! |
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Quick Tip: For a base color that has a bit more depth; you may add subtle nuances to your avian's base for a more interesting look. Keep in mind that nuances need to be subtle; to avoid resembling markings your avian may not have!
An example of a nuanced coat can be seen here. |
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Markings and Mutations:
With your avian's base color down, you can move on to applying their markings and mutations.
Similarly to the base coat, your avian's egg info (geno) will indicate which markings and mutations are present on their body. Using what is listed there, you will find each marking and mutation in the list below and apply them to your avian's design. It's worth noting that each marking has its own set of rules and allowances that need to be followed- otherwise your avian's design will not be approved! Please follow each guide carefully when applying markings and mutations to your avian's import. |
Free Markings
These may be applied to your avian's import, even if they are not listed in the geno!
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A few important things to note:
- Be sure to follow the guides for each marking and mutation; they'll tell you everything you need to know about where things should be placed and what they should look like. Some creative liberties are allowed, just make sure you're not breaking any of the guidelines! - Markings should never fully cover the base color- meaning that mods should be able to pick your avian's base color directly from their design and match it with the appropriate color slider. - Colors for the base, markings, and mutations should be coming directly from the appropriate sliders (except in the case of dual/tri-tone and mimic). - Finally, mods should be able to tell what colors, markings, and mutations your avian has at a glance. If something doesn't look right; your avian's design may be declined in the design approval process. A good way to avoid this is to use the sliders, follow the marking guides, and try your best to not have things that look like other things they shouldn't be! |
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Coloring Extras:
Your avian's design is nearly complete!
Once you have your markings and mutations down, it's time to move onto coloring in the extras; those being the eyes, skin, beak, and claws. Once again, this part allows for some creative liberty- but there are a few rules that need to be followed and do count as part of the design approval process. Eyes can be any color; but must be made to be one color with no mottling or multicolor gradients present in the eyes. Heterochromia may be present on piebald avians; or on those with minimal white/black around one of the eyes. You may not change the shape of the pupil; but you may color it so long as it remains noticeably darker than the rest of the eye. The skin, or the areas around the eye/nostrils (or the face of an ara), may be almost any color that is natural for extant birds; so black, grey, white, yellow, or dull blue; for example. Do note that brighter colors may not be approved; even if they appear on a living animal that was used for reference- this is subject to mod discernment. Beaks, like the skin, must be a color that is found naturally on extant bird species. Simple patterns such as patches, streaks, and gradients are allowed on beaks- however they cannot be made to be too intricate (such as mimicking the beak of a toucan; for example). This rule does not apply to picine avians, specifically! Finally, the claws of an avian will be either match the main color of the avian's beak, or be black, grey, brown, pink, or white in almost all cases. All of your avian's claws should be the same color, unless some are being affected by a marking or mutation that can discolor them; such as piebald, for example. |
Simple shading may be applied to the eyes, skin, beak, and claws on your avian's import; but remember to keep it modest! Harsh shading may give the appearance of markings that should not be affecting these parts of your avian's body and may result in their design being declined during the approval process.
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Optional Clean-Up:
If you're wanting to fancy-up your avian's import; here are a few optional things you can do to make their design stand out! Do note that none of these are mandatory and will not count for or against your avian's design in the approval process, but they will make your import look nicer!
As mentioned, you may apply shading to the extras to give these parts a little more pop. Again, shading should be kept fairly simple to avoid resembling markings. Next, you can add some definition to your avian's scutes if you have them visible! Scutes are optional bits of line art on the hands and feet of the import, so if you have them visible on your avian, you can give the scutes a slightly lighter or darker color; and even add some subtle shine to them to make them stand out, if you like! Alternatively (or additionally), you may color the hands and feet with the color of the skin! This can add an extra bit of color- but should be kept somewhat modest; and be kept blended in and within the appropriate areas. As for the line art, you may opt to color the line art, or add effects to the line art such as chromatic aberration, or subtle glow/shadow effects. You may also apply these to the outside of the line art; along with halos or subtle stroke effects to make your design stand out against the background. Finally, you may add some slight blurring or texture to your avian's design for a softer/more natural appearance. This can be done to affect only certain areas or the design as a whole- as long as it is cleaned up and borders between certain areas like the eyes and face, or the wing and body stay defined. Of course, there are other ways to personalize your avian's import; like repositioning your avian on the import (horizontally only; and you cannot flip, stretch, or resize the character), or including a designer credit/owner logo on the import (so long as it does not cover any part of the character); so long as your avian's design is unobstructed and still clear to mods! |
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Design Approval:
Now that your avian's design is finished, it's time to save the import and submit it for approval!
The design approval process is a sort-of quality check where we make sure that the designs players are making follow the guidelines and look nice. While we do not base this process on the skill of a designer; do note that designs that are messy or extremely low quality may be declined! It's recommended that players keep a workable .psd file in case their design does not pass in the approval process; so that it's easier to make adjustments as needed. If your avian's design is approved, they will be added to the masterlist and can then be used in-game! If your design is declined, however, a mod will contact you to let you know why it was declined and how you can correct whatever needs to be corrected. From there, you simply make the corrections and re-submit your design for approval. This usually only needs to be done once; but it may take up to several tries if there's a lot that needs to be corrected! |
Import Checklist
To avoid being declined in the approval process for your import image; please double check the following:
- You have saved your avian's import as a .png file.
- Your avian's import was saved at the original import size/resolution (2800x1668).
- Your avian's import does not appear stretched, skewed, blurry, or pixellated.
- Both the character and background layers are visible, unaltered, and at 100% opacity.
- Any layers that are not a part of the character or background are hidden.
- Any added credits or logos are not obstructing the character/design.
- Your avian has only been moved horizontally on the import, if they have been moved at all, and has all parts of their design visible on the import.
- The character has not been flipped, stretched, skewed, rotated, or resized.
- The background has not been flipped, stretched, skewed, rotated, or rezised.
- Your avian's import was saved at the original import size/resolution (2800x1668).
- Your avian's import does not appear stretched, skewed, blurry, or pixellated.
- Both the character and background layers are visible, unaltered, and at 100% opacity.
- Any layers that are not a part of the character or background are hidden.
- Any added credits or logos are not obstructing the character/design.
- Your avian has only been moved horizontally on the import, if they have been moved at all, and has all parts of their design visible on the import.
- The character has not been flipped, stretched, skewed, rotated, or resized.
- The background has not been flipped, stretched, skewed, rotated, or rezised.
Submit your avian for approval
Ready to submit your avian for approval?
Upload your avian's import to something like sta.sh, fill out the import information, and grab your inventory; then click the button below to be taken to the design approval form. Fill that out, submit the form, and await a response! That's it! |