var avatar_layers = new Array('background', 'body', 'hair', 'shirt', 'arms', 'legs', 'feet', 'weapon')

​var array = [];

(function(){
    var elements = document.getElementsByTagName("h3");
    for (var i = 0; i < elements.length; i++) {
        array.push(elements[i].innerText);
    }
})();

​alert(array);​

$(function(){
    var array = [];

    $("h3.title").each(function() {
        array.push(this.innerText);
    });

    alert(array);
}​;​

var titles = document.querySelectorAll('.title'),
    avatar_layers = [];
for( var i=0; i<titles.length; i++ ) {
    avatar_layers.push( titles[i].innerHTML );
}

var avatar_layers = $('.title').map(function(){
    return $(this).html();
});

var headingEls = document.querySelectorAll("h3.title");
var avatar_layers = []; // empty array literal
for (var i=0; i<headingEls.length; i++)
    avatar_layers.push(headingEls[i].textContent);

<h3 class = 'title'>trtr</h3>
<h3 class = 'title'>tcrtr</h3>
<h3 class = 'title'>tdrtr</h3>
<h3 class = 'title'>trrtr</h3>
<h3>trgtr</h3>

var arrayDemo  = [];
$.each($('h3[class*=title]'), function () {
         arrayDemo.push(this.innerHTML);
});

alert(arrayDemo);

var h3s = document.getElementsByTagName("h3");

var arr = [].map.call(h3s, function(el) {
                              return el.textContent || el.innerText;
                           });

var titleArray = new Array();
$('h3.title').each(function(){
    titleArray.push($(this).text());
});

alert(titleArray);