On faceclaims for applyfics

1. I am a big proponent of championing underused face claims. Pinterest is amazing for finding new faceclaims. I also use modelling agencies (you just go on their websites and scroll through the faces). If you have a new, unique and suitable faceclaim, you have already boosted your chances. I know some people like overused faceclaims, but I don't and in the following you'll see why.

2. Suitable faceclaims. Please stick to the age requirements. Don't pick Nina Dobrev to play a 15 year old. Also, I prefer natural images (without too much makeup and touching up)

Here are just a couple of images I found on a quick search that I would not accept as faceclaims. The left image is an Instagram model who has obviously had lots of work done on their face, and the image is very touched up and 'fake' looking. The middle one is a Tiktok star with low quality images and forced poses that don't look like natural photographs. The last one is a singer, which also doesn't look great for aesthetics (again, unless the character is specifically a singer, I'd advise you to stay away from these kinds of faceclaims).

Generally speaking, I would stick to actors and models. I would avoid Tik Tok stars, Instagram models and singers.

This is an example of a faceclaim that is generally suitable for aesthetic-making. The images are high quality, natural looking (no obvious filters etc) and diverse (there are lots of images to chose from with different vibes). If in doubt, always ask the admin if you are unsure. For example if your fc is a little-known musician who also has lots of aesthetic photos, they may be suitable.

Here is an example of a faceclaim that works well.

3. Gifs.
Everyone loves gifs, and they're super convenient, but I implore all creators to stop making them mandatory for faceclaims. There is nothing wrong with gifs in themselves, but by saying your face claim must have gifs, you are being exclusivist, colourist and arguably racist. Here's why.

The majority of faceclaims with good gifs are those already widely represented. Think Timothée Chalamet, Adelaide Kane, or Amandla Stenberg. They have been in lots of films, are well loved and so have lots of gifs. If it was possible to collect all the actors/models etc with gifs, I can guarantee you that the majority of them would be white, or light skinned PoC at best. There are hundreds of amazing PoC faceclaims of all ethnicities, but only a small handful that have gifs.

So when you ask for gifs, you are not only excluding general talent and new interesting faces, but are actually acting in a racist way. You are saying that you can only use faceclaims that already have mainstream representation. Most of whom are white.

Also, aren't you folks bored of seeing the same four face claims over and over again? I've personally had enough of people using Timothée Chalamet, or Holland Roden, or Dylan O'Brien or Amandla Stenberg. It's not their fault, but I think it's time we show some new faces.

Here are a bunch of male face claims I found on Pinterest. None of these have gifs. I have never seen them used before. Aren't they better faces, regardless?

From left to right, top row: Brandon Sharp, Ernest Klimko, Matthias El Koulali. Middle row: Julian Schneyder, Connor Newall, Jason Harderwijk. Bottom row: Sang Woo Kim, Yvesmark Chery, Casil McArthur (transmasc).

I have over 2000 pins in my male fc Pinterest board. That means that there are thousands of amazing faceclaims waiting to be discovered. I wish more people used faceclaims like these instead of recycling the same old faces over and over again.

4. Pinboards. I always try to make a pinboard for my character if the faceclaim is specific or there aren't many images, which I will send to the admin or link in the form.

That way, if the faceclaims has lots of images you can show which look you want to go for (some faceclaims look very different depending on the film/shoot etc).

Also, you can help admins with aesthetics. There's nothing worse than imagining a character with this kind of aesthetic

And then seeing this pop up instead...

If you create a pinboard with a few ideas, if the admin is planning on making aesthetics it should help them start.

5. Diversity.
This has already been mentioned and implied, but the more diverse your faceclaims, are the better. All white casts are no longer acceptable, and I will probably put a PoC application over a white one if I am short for spaces and that's that. Try to avoid tokenism though!

I hope that has helped! I will link my pinboard for male faceclaims in the comments.