Today's Second Life Flickr Pick: Emotionally Expressive Avatar Portraits from Fay Doobie

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

Fay Doobie takes highly emotional pictures and has an uncanny ability to portray her emotions with her avatar. Take “Restless Nights,” for example. She does look like someone who cried herself to sleep. Her eyes look tired and reddened, Her tears have caused her nose to run a bit. Her hair is disheveled. Her cheeks are stained with tears. 

She has thought this through far more thoroughly than adding a tear layer. A lot of the time, a person will add the tears and leave the pristing makeup and the clear whites of their eyes, remaining perfectly beautiful while a few tears fall. That’s not convincing. This is. Crying is messy business. 

For more emotionally convincing pics, click here:

“Yes, I’m a good girl, it’s true” is another picture that completely expresses an emotion. In this case, she is contemplating something and it’s not good. She’s sitting in the tub (see the bottles in the background) and thinking about something that vexes her. Her brow is slightly furrowed, her eyes unfocused. Her thoughts consume her so much she’s even chewing on a beautifully manicured nail. I would not want to be the subject of her thoughts right now.

“I’m ready for the worst” took me by surprise. It is certainly an effective metaphor for the implacable emotion she hopes to convey. Look at how calm she is face to face with the crocodile. Implacable doesn’t have to mean angry, but it does mean someone who cannot be appeased or pacified with false promises or pandering gifts. She knows her worth and expects others to know it, too. 

Fay Doobie’s photostream is gorgeous. It’s full of beautiful and frequently provocative pictures. You will want to use the Moderate filter if you’re on your lunch break at work. She succeeds in imbuing her pictures with emotion and goes beyond just adding a layer or using a facial expression. She expresses emotion with her whole body, the pose, her hands, her skin, as well as her face. It’s worth studying how she does it because she’s masterful at creating emotional impact. 

Thanks, Panster Moonshadow, for suggesting I take a look at Fay Doobie’s work. I’m glad I did. 

See all of Cajsa's Choices here. Follow Cajsa on Flickr, on Twitter, on her blog, and on her Ko-Fi.

All images copyright Fay Doobie

Suggest images and Flickr feeds to Cajsa: Cajsa’s Choices is devoted to unique, artistic, and innovative virtual world-based images and screenshots that showcase the medium as an art form and Second Life as a creative platform. (Generally not images that fit on this Bingo card.) To recommend the best in virtual world imagery, tag the picture with #CasjaNWN or tag Cajsa Lilliehook by adding her to the photo. Cajsa Lilliehook is a sixteen year resident of Second Life, where she owned a photo studio, spent several years as a DJ at The Velvet, and for her first SL job, cleaned up prim trash. She co-founded and runs the It’s Only Fashion blog with her best friend Gidge Uriza. She also has a book review blog, Tonstant Weader Reviews and a cooking blog, Single Serving Recipes. She spends a lot of time researching and reporting on Republican sexual predators. In her first life, she is a retired grassroots leader who has worked for economic and social justice issues most of her life. She is also the minion of a cat named Nora.

Comments

[Panster Moonshadow]

I'm delighted you found her as provocative and expressive as I did. - Panny Moonshadow