Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Isis Boa Desmoulins does amazing landscapes that draw me in completely. I was curious about her process and asked if she was willing to share.
“I love dramatic skies,” she told me. “I almost hate to say how I do them. In RL photography you will sometimes take more than one picture for a picture. So sometimes I do this for highlights and shadow elements. But, often I do it for my skies. So I want this cloud and this horizon, but these shadows, and those highlights and just layer it all.
“Also, I use water settings as a whole other layer of atmosphere. So most of the sets I build I build under the SL waterline. You can just shut the water off if it's not working right. It gives a really nice haze and you still get shadows and sun settings colors. What already seemed like infinite settings for skies is then doubled in a way, it's great.
“I spent quite a while shooting and trying to shoot SL raw, but not have it look raw. That really forced me to learn a lot of tricks and tools in SL that have been super helpful. Skies can add a lot of tension or calm. I have always loved skies in moments before, during, and after storms. You get so much more emotional spectrum than just a blah blue sky.”
More great pictures and photo advice after the link.
I was moved by this photo that seems to capture the world as it is with a plague holding the world in its hands while fires rage. It unites the threats we face, pandemic and climactic, in one striking image.
“State of Things, was actually something I did for an online class assignment,” Isis told me about this one. “We were supposed to create a poster. Like a PSA poster, of our choosing. I took the assignment text off... It was last month when the whole west coast was on fire, and all the other things going on.”
Isis generally uses Firestorm, Photoshop, and Flickr edit. She likes Flickr’s filters. She uses BVH for her poses and LumiPRO for lighting. She also will use some in-world transparency filters between her camera and the subjects. “Travel - Fairhaven” (above) is an example of this. She only used Flickr tools. All her images come solely from SL, with no real life images added, not even for her complex skies.
“Summoned” is her current favorite. In this she uses the underwater method, taking three different versions of lighting, one for details, one for highlights, and one for the mode. Generally, she lists the WindLight and water settings, but sometimes she uses several and forgets to list them all.
“On how I do my work: Sometimes I have a theme for a project, but quite often it starts with one thing. So for example my recent piece ‘Summoned’ I bought the skirt and that led to the tattoo and then the whole set and shot came together a few hours later. I make my own poses about 98% of the time. I have a background in arts, graphic design, photo-editing, and restoration, and did some photo styling in the past in RL and picked up some photography skills here and there. I also love writing, telling stories, creating characters and worlds. I like to try to bring some of those ideas to life in pictures in SL. I try not to let myself get stuck in the habit of doing the same style over and over. I don't think it's bad to have a style, but I think it's good to wander out of your zone regularly. That way you can bring something new back.”
I think Isis Boa Desmoulins stream is a delight. Her landscapes are so beautiful and I love her skies. I am so intrigued by the idea of building underwater to get that hazy feeling.
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