New World Notes

Cajsa's Choices: Friday Fashion Finds for Furries of Second Life

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

Rainbow Pixelfarts’s [Hyzura Resident] blog is called “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and Twirl a Whirl caught my eye with the sheer joy it depicts. Do you remember how much fun a hula hoop is? If you forgot, this pic captures it. 

•  |Hazy Doll| (by Cynful Ghost) Blu's Neon Hooping Pose Set @ Abnormality (ends May 28th) 

For more furry fashion, click here:

Nadej Dae Turns Second Life Screenshots Into Otherworldly Imagery

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

Nadej Dae’s photostream is otherworldly. “Even trees have wings” is an excellent example. It’s a shot of a tree, a magnificent tree, but still just a tree. However by making this a duotone with bold light and shadow it seems foreboding and spooky, an alien tree from another planet perhaps. 

For more eerie pics, click here:

Today's SL Flickr Pick: Foxi McCalister's Cleverly Composed Avatar Portraits

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

Foxi McCalister has a way of presenting something completely incongruous as though it is the most ordinary thing and why did no one think of it before. Take “Numb….” for example. Of course someone can walk across the keys while the piano floats in the air, where else could it float? Her skin is dirty and scratched, as though she were still three and playing in mud puddles. Combine the roughhousing dirt and scratches with the genteel elegance of the ballet shoes and you get an illustration of the athleticism behind the dancer.

For more great pics, click here:

Friday Fashion Finds from SL Style Maven Gidge Uirza

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

The “Asian Pacific Heritage Festival” is a post from Gidge Uirza. If you didn’t know it by now, Gidge is my best and oldest friend in Second Life. We met when I got stuck underneath a stairway and couldn’t get out. She blogs at It’s Only Fashion, the blog we started back in 2008. She is still blogging strong. Old Guard, indeed. She went to the Asian-Pacific Heritage Festival today and wrote about. That’s what is so great about her blogging style. She does things and then writes about. It’s not just fashion, it’s lifestyle, SL lifestyle and it akes her blog great. 

Featured at the Asian Pacific Heritage Festival [teleport here]

• Snack: So Silly Japanese Dango Decor by Kiki Chaika
• Headpiece: =Zenith=Flower Headpiece by Miffyhoi Rosca

For more Gidgery, click here:

Tab Tatham Takes Interior Design Photos of Second Life Homes More Sumptuous & Detailed Than Real Life Photos in Dwell Magazine

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

Tab Tatham is a Flickr microblogger whose style is maximally appealing. Whiskey Monday pointed me her way with this comment, “I LOVE it so much. I'm a maximalist and this just makes me want to move in.”  

I’m not a maximalist and this makes me nervous, but that does not mean I don’t think it’s gorgeous. I admire the exuberance, the abundance of color, texture, and layers of elements to catch my eyes, but every item on the floor makes me think of Dorothy McHugh calling that she’s fallen and can’t get up. [Click here for hilarious compilation.] Thankfully, trips and falls in Second Life never leave a bruise. 

For more maximalist designs click here:

Today's Flickr Pick: Wren Alcyone Depicts SL Avatars Like Art Nouveau Paintings

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

Wren Alcyone has a lovely stream full of beautiful and fantastical portraits. Recently, she created a four-part series that reminds me of Art Nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha (if he could have worked with neon). With “Ducky” she uses his motif of a frame adorned with vegetation that reflects her outfit. I love it when someone does an homage to the artists of the past. I love it even more when it is a cheeky homage like a neon frame. So much fun! 

For more Muchaesquerie, click here:

Today's Flickr Pick: This SLer Turns Screenshots Into Clownishly Surreal Comics

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

Pete Clownie’s stream is hilarious. He is having fun. Here we see him in a competition Clown vs. Seal. My money’s on the seal. He asks what we think the bet was for. Add your ideas. 

For more fun, click here:

SL Fashion Friday: Sisch Firecaster's Store & Style Blog, The Puppeteer

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

The Puppeteer is Sisch Firecaster’s blog. It’s a dual purpose site that also features her store Kokolores. The home page, though, brings you to the blog, the store info requires a click on the store’s page. Her most recent post is this is not how I woke up

• Rosary. Eve . Pants Red Legacy on Marketplace by Kismet Chrome
• Rosary. Eve . Top Red Legacy on Marketplace
• Salvadori - Patent Leather 'Freya' Slingback Pumps at Cosmopolitan closes 5/14 by Salvadori Paris
• .: ryvolter :. Keva Triangle Shoulder Bag (lara) - Tan by Inna Bilavio on Marketplace

For a steaming hot dress, click here:

Today's Flickr Pick: Incredibly Dramatic Avatar Photos by Klint Kord

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

Klint Kord has the capacity to create very romantic and sensual images that are emotionally powerful while being perfectly safe viewing. I love this one. They aren’t even kissing, but there is such tender intimacy between this couple. Their bodies gravitate toward each other, their heads touch as they look down. It’s beautifully evocative. 

For more outstanding pics, click here:

We Love How This SL Artist Depicts Avatars in RPG-Style Trading Cards

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

Artemis Fate and her action photos were featured just a few months ago [click here] but yesterday’s column about magazine covers reminded me of her Avatar Trading Cards [for full album, click here.] She wrote about her project beneath this picture of some of her card collection.

This is a project I'd been working on for a bit now. Even though I don't RP much, I like creating characters and thinking through details that help make them come to life. I had been thinking of ways to show them off easily which was the idea behind the "Usual Suspects" photos, but they were a bit tough to deal with and didn't give much personality or info in themselves.

When I was a kid, I used to collect these sorts of Marvel Trading Cards that just highlighted a character's biography and stats. I realized it might be fun to replicate that with SL characters (especially since a lot of them were originally made for a superhero themed MMO), so I set up this series. Going to try and keep them up to date when I redo avatars or make new ones.

For examples of her cards, click here: