New World Notes

SL Fashion Friday: Male Metaverse Style from Blogger Jakobat Bergan

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

The World That I Would is Jakobat Bergan’s fashion blog. I like his style. It’s relaxed and comfortable, but not sloppy. He looks like he thinks about what to wear, but not so much it distracts from more important things. I love this look with the shirt peeking out from the sweater, not tucked in and most importantly, with a straight hem. This tells you it’s not meant to be tucked in, it’s not sloppy, it’s style. This is all featured in his recent post 2560.

[ ERAUQS ] - Ben Sweater and Shirt @ACCESS (Jan 12 - Feb 8th) by Renan Mckeenan

There is so much to like about Jakobat’s blog, his consistency not just in blogging regularly, but he has a coherent style. You don’t see him looking out of character just to blog something. His blog is simple with few bells and whistles, maybe too few, because he doesn’t promote himself very much. There are no links to his social media or even his Flickr. But he has many sponsors and blogs for several events according to the Events and Sponsors pages that are listed in the footer, so perhaps he doesn’t need to promote himself more. 

For more great men’s style -- plus more of review of Bergan's blog -- click here:

Today's SL Flickr Pick: Iolande Weidman Turns Nude Avatar Photos Into Abstract Art

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

Iolande Weidman, aka Rania Adjani, shoots some of the most extraordinarily beautiful aesthetic nudes.

So when I saw “Naked” I snort-laughed, because it reveals such a great sense of humor behind the avatar. Ah, yes, when the notorious nipples are printed on a shirt, they are perfectly safe, unlike their appearance, however, subtly and carefully shot in her other pictures. 

For more stunning photos, click here:

Kai Wirsig Makes Second Life Screenshots Look Like Action Movie Stills

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

Kai Wirsig is wearing some serious body armor in this picture. I like the form of this picture, how it’s cropped and framed so the gun is pointing just past the viewer and the end of barrel is cropped out. ("I only changed the saturation," Kai notes in the image description. "No other photo processing,") He also makes great use of light and shadow. Bonus! In Second Life, he can wear his body armor without a shirt and there’s no chafing. 

Kai makes the diagonal frame work for him, see how here.

Cajsa's Choices: Stunning, Painstakingly Posed Action Images by Artemis Fate

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

Artemis Fate is excellent at capturing a moment. Take “Downhill Slide” for example. Her avatar is leaning as she skateboards down a hill, her hat falling off from the wind that blows her hair. It’s a magnificent picture. That little bit of bokeh doesn’t hurt either. 

Of course, there is nothing more difficult to shoot in Second Life than a shot that looks like it was captured spontaneously, in the moment. In her description she says it took several days to tweak the pose to her satisfaction: 

“This one ended up taking a lot longer than I expected it would as every part of it was hard to do. I had to work on it over multiple days with a few shoots, primarily because the pose was a real pain to make. I feel like I could have tweaked it endlessly though so had to draw the line somewhere. Action shots are just really hard to do.” They sure are, so let’s celebrate those who do them so well. 

For more skateboarding (because why not), click here:

Cajsa’s SL Blog of the Week: Friday Fashion for Furries

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

Caladreis' blog is called Cala’s Second Life Furry Fashion. Her recent post Cute Quicky is one that reveals her excitement about a new set on sale at Belle Epoque. She quickly got dressed, took a picture and posted it. She didn’t include any other credits because she was excited about this one thing, the set of a man and woman’s outfit just perfect for Bridgerton. 

• Belle Epoque Duchess of Devonshire Set - by Janire Coba

For a modern look, click here:

Today's Flickr Pick: Clifton Howlett Uses Depth of Field to Give His Second Life Screenshots Added Drama

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

Clifton Howlett captures me first thing every morning. I really cannot function without my coffee. I love the concentrated look on his face. It’s very “don’t bother me until I finish my coffee” which is good advice for everyone in the morning. All his pictures are black and white, giving them a classic feeling of power and permanence. He also uses Depth of Field beautifully.

For a look at one of his rare color pic, click here:

Today's SL Flickr Pick: Tokyo Revengers Avatar Cosplay & Other Coolness by Sam Wednesday

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

Sam Wednesday’s picture “the weekend be like” captures the reality of weekends being more the time to do your laundry, clean your apartment, and go shopping than partying all night long.  I love the quotidian honesty of the picture and its title. 

For some cosplay excellence, click here:

Beautifully Composed Photos of Virtual World Landscapes

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

◕~ PɛȶֆɨҞ~◕, who I assume is PetSik, produces amazing images such as “No Escape” an eerily macabre playground picture. The teddy bear is placed right at the focal point of the Golden Ratio. In another great element of composition, you can see how a diagonal line from lower left to upper right connects the trike and the bear. The colors add to the eerie mood. It really succeeds at taking benign elements like playground toys and making them feel menacing. Of course, the hanging bear really is menacing, isn’t it? 

For more exquisite landscapes, click here:

Cajsa's Favorite SL Style Blogs from 2021 -- And Tips for Being Featured by Cajsa in 2022!

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

I thought I would end my column this year by telling you what I like in Second Life blog and am more likely to feature in 2022:

1. I like to see fresh, unique fashion styling. If you are wearing an outfit right out of the box, it is less interesting than if you mix and match from different designers. 
2. I like clothes. I am tired of the 50 Shades of Lingerie posts. I am tired of ass cheeks and nipple covers. If everybody is doing it, it’s not transgressive and brave. It’s boring. 
3. I like stories, if your picture tells a story, I will probably love it. 
4. I like text. I love blogs with narrative. If you love something, tell me why. If you want to share that you got an A in history, do it. Let us into your life. Show more of yourself than a picture. 
5. I like blogs that are simple. No sparkling banners, no music, no autoplay anything. 
6. I like blogs with small banners. If I have to page down to see your content, I might not see your content at all. 
7. I like unique avatars. Feel free to be a frowny-face or a cyborg or a furry. 
8. I like slice-of-life pictures that show you doing something. 
9. I like credits that include the creators’ names. There’s so much rebranding and the use of special characters in store names, so give us creator names so we can search for something that is less likely to change. 
10. I like originality. Perhaps because I am constantly browsing Flickr groups featuring bloggers but there are days when it feels like it’s all the same old stale woman laying on her bed in lingerie. I don’t know why there are twenty lingerie pics to one with clothing, but come on, can’t you see how banal it is when everybody is doing the same thing? 

Now here’s a look at my favorite bloggers of 2021:

Cajsa's Favorite Second Life-Based Images from 2021

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

One of my favorite posts from 2021 was this one that featured Nicholas Huntsman who recreated Saturday Evening Post covers with his own pictures. I love the wit and macabre sense of humor. Look at the treasure he posted on Monday. 

For more, click here: