New World Notes

Cajsa’s Choices: The Second Life Art Nouveau of Jewel Appletor

"Friends" by Jewel Appletor

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

When I look at Jewel Appletor’s SL images of Flickr, I am reminded of illustrations you might find in turn of the last century’s books, fashion and fiction illustrations that are romantic and rich in Art Nouveau ornamentation. I mistakenly assumed she did a lot of post-processing, but when I interviewed her for New World Notes, I discovered she creates this assemblage in world and photographs it. To say I am blown away is an understatement.

Appletor’s aesthetic grew out her pleasure in the many beautiful pieces she has collected from Second Life creators over the years. She puts them together “to tell a story that comes deep within her heart and soul” as she describes it. Though she began her SL photography by taking photos of her explorations, memorializing the sims she visited, once it occurred to her that she could put together her own tableaux, there was no looking back.

"If I Had Wings"

Appletor is another of the many SL residents whose life was profoundly altered by joining Second Life. This is where she met the man who eventually became her husband and the reason she moved from Canada’s West Coast to the U.S. east coast. A creative in her first life, she is pursuing her dream of couture fashion and window design. As you browse her photostream, where her physical and virtual tableaux are arrayed together, you see the continuity of her vision. While it’s expressed very differently, there is the same richness in ornamentation and affection for the romance of lace, flowers, and sumptuous details.

After the break, Jewel talks with me about her artwork in SL -- and how it led to meeting her RL husband:

Meet Cajsa Lilliehook: SL Flickr Art Maven & New NWN Contributor!

Cajsa Lilliehook is a longtime SL blogger and Flickr maven whose ongoing series of posts, “What I Like”, are indispensable guides to Second Life screenshots as an art form on Flickr -- so I’m very proud to say she’ll also soon be contributing to New World Notes, delving deeper into this massive and consistently impressive genre of virtual world imagery. ("Cajsa", by the way, is pronounced "Cai" as in "Cairo" and "zha" as in "Asia".)

As you can tell by her smart analysis of SL images, Cajsa has a real life artistic background, competing in several national level contests and even winning a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the very best art colleges in the world.

She fell into critiquing SL images, however, thanks to an unfortunate accident:

“It was July 2007 and I was laid up with an injury to my leg,” as she puts it. “The doctor said I had to staff off my feet for a few weeks.” Randomly browsing games to play while she was recovering, she wound up trying Second Life. “[It] was completely unexpected and so different. I made friends right away. The first person I met in SL, a woman from Latvia, is still a friend, though she does not log on often.”

She estimates she browses through a few hundred SL images on Flickr a day, and cherishes the gems she comes across: “When I find something really new or a picture that evokes an emotional reaction. They are wonderful and make it worth paging through all the tits and d**s.”

Much more about Cajsa, the SL avatar and her RL owner, below:

Five Great Second Life Artists to Follow on Flickr This Friday

Thanks to some great recommendations from SL friends on Plurk, here's five great SL Flickr artists for following this Friday. Above, via Alicia Chenaux, is one from Ezra Locke.

Here's one from Cora Pomilio:

"Cora has such a unique way about doing her pics, has been a blogger for so many years and doesn't get enough love for her fantastic aesthetic," Sophia Harlow tells me. Agreed on all counts.

Three more below, some slightly NSFW:

Two SL Flickr Artists to Follow for Tuesday: Tank Holden & Lily Lovelace

Cajsa Lilliehook just told me about two SL Flickr artists to follow, and seeing as she's an undisputed expert in the genre, I listened. The first is featured above and below:

Lily Lovelace (whose corpus includes some artsy sexy NSFW images), who does some great work with focus, monochrome, and the perfect angle, as above. And as below, which is the one Cajsa selected that drew my eye, reminding me of a classic Hollywood film I've never seen:

Tank Holden is Cajsa's second pick I really like -- he only has 133 subscribers so far, and certainly deserves more. Great command of focus, shadow, and WindLight effects, as here:

Thursday SL Machinima: Exploring the Cyberpunk City of Moon Shine

Is Moon Shine the new Insilico? (Or is new Insilico the old Moon Shine?) Either way, this is a pretty fantastic travelogue though a suspiciously empty cyberpunk city from Dooozy, who was nice enough to bring a friend. Click here to visit Moon Shine for yourself.

SL Flickr of the Day: The Wizard of Oz Cosplay, Hipster Edition

Auntie Em, I was just in this wonderful kingdom called "Silverlake". Edited by Celeste "Jim" Forwzy, shot by Jake Vordun, this is pretty brilliant avatar cosplay of the Tin Man, Dorothy, Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion if they were goddamn hipsters. (Via Cajsa, of course.)

SL Flickr for Friday: The Menacing Black & White Photos of Aimee Cristole

With her fantastic use of unexpected angles, dramatic shadow, and black and white imagery, Aimee Cristole brings beauty and also dark menace to her avatar fashion photos. Here's another great one:

SL Flickr of the Day: The Dangerous Fashion Shots of Zib Scaggs

Zib Scaggs shoots SL fashion scenes with a difference, and the difference is danger -- dark, dreamy, erotic. (Along with make-up palette-type displays, which still have and edge.) Another breathtaking one below:

My, Ms. Lilliehook Likes the Best Second Life Photos on Flickr

Cajsa Lilliehook's latest "What I Like" compilation of the best in Second Life-based imagery and photographer is online. I love how she reviews each with an art critic's eye and applies where appropriate the Golden Ratio rule. Above is one of my own favorites from her favorites, Taleah Mcmahon's fashion photo from a unique angle with a really nice, life-like treatment of avatar hair.

Got an Active & Popular Virtual World-Themed Flickr Account? Try This Experiment With Avatar Skin Tone & Report the Results

My experiment with avatars and race assisted by Mandy Smith last week provoked some interesting and passionate reactions, many from people angrily denying this "proved" widespread racism exists against non-white avatars. As I've said before, an unconscious bias is not necessarily the same thing as racism, especially because everyone, no matter what race, carries our own set of unexamined biases. As I also wrote, the 2 or 3 examples a cited are hardly enough to definitively prove anything.

That's why I'm asking for your help: If you have an active Flickr account, please try this experiment -- and carefully follow these steps below to minimize the possibility of biasing the results.