New World Notes

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Alma Berta Creates Pics of Epic Kawaii Cuteness

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

Alma Berta’s “Clear Blue” is a great example of Second Life anime avatars and the Kawaii aesthetic. The pose is cute and the clothing, hair, and accessories exude the femininity and amplified romanticism of Kawaii culture. I also love the blue color story, a useful reminder to the kawaii world that blue is not just for boys.

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Sunset Theas Takes Beautifully Impressionistic Pics

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and style

Sunset Theas’ photostream is an exploratory journey of what you can do with WindLight and depth of field. The title of this shot, “they were on top, standing one in front the other, the moment before they realized there were no more floors to climb” is indicative of the way he works, integrating words with his pictures to create a deeper connection.

Cajsa's Friday Fashion Foto Choice: Male Style Blogger MattNight84

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and style

I love SL’s fashion blogs. I appreciate the ones that provide information and describe the clothing, but I also love the ones that are just photos -- like this one from MattNight84.

Matt blogs men’s fashion and his blog is LGBTQ friendly, not just Frankenfurter friendly. The blog post is called Insomnia and is a serious fashion photo, but it also reminded me of something that the true star of Rocky Horror Picture Show might wear. It features a single photo with a small song lyric that suits the photo. In this case, from “Insomnia” by Caroline Polachek: 

Dreams of dried fields

That once were green

Burnt by someone just like me

The credits include all items, but I wanted to highlight what might be on Frankenfurter’s shopping list. 

• Harness and Strap Briefs:  Wilder Set by Matova
• Ripped Fishnet Tights by Bossie
• Kinky Boots by L’Emporio & PL

Next up, a great double photo from Matt!

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Shika Chan Makes SL's Chibi Community Come Alive

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

Shika Chan has had a lot of fun with the Chitbit avatar. This is a fairly simple picture; a backdrop, a ladder, and some balloons are all there is to draw us in. That makes the avatars the focus and these avatars are particularly fun. The Chibit avatar is made by Guaran-Dou and has produced a small market of creators producing hair and accessories based on the Chibi characters first pioneered in Japan. There is a Chibit group in Flickr which is where I found Shika Chan.

Create Amazing SL Images? Share Your Creative Process With Cajsa!

This is an amazing image created in Second Life by a guy called The Friend Otter on Flickr. Was it completely taken "in camera" or does it have heavy post-processing? Is there a specific WindLight setting at play, or maybe an in-world projector? I have no idea but I'd love to know -- and I bet many readers will too!

Starting soon, Cajsa Lilliehook will start featuring more about the creative process behind the many amazing SL image makers she covers in her column. (Just like she did in yesterday's post about avatar smiles.) So if you create these images, or know someone who does, let her know! Post links in Comments or feel free to message her on Flickr.

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Luane Meo Makes Lovely Storybook-Worthy Images

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

Luane Meo produces beautifully romantic photos in Second Life that could illustrate contemporary book covers. Take “Cozy Evenings” for example, it could easily be the cover for a book about, I don’t know, a doctor settling in an inclement rural village, maybe to pay off her student loans. The furniture shows its age, but it is cozy inside despite the snow and cold outside. The candle illuminating the scene could be purely for romantic effect or a blizzard could have knocked out the power for the eleventy millionth time this month.

Second Life Avatar Smiles: Some Come From FaceApp, Others Are "Natural"

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

Last week in my column, I featured this photo above by Jarla Capalini. The naturalistic smile captivated me. I know mesh heads are doing wonders with improving expression in Second Life and made the mistake of assuming that was how this smile was created. However, when Hamlet posted it to the Second Life Friends group on Facebook, several people objected and insisted it had to have been done with FaceApp. I checked with Jarla Capalini in-world and she confirmed that she used FaceApp. 

So, there is an app that creates a beautiful smile, at least in this photo. However, the majority of the other FaceApp examples I’ve seen were not nearly so successful. When I talked to Capalini she explained she tried it with several photos that did not work. The original photo from her blog produced the best result -- comparison below:

Naturalistic SL facial expressions are hard to produce, but they have come a long way from the days when we would turn on talk and slow down animations to catch a smile by saying something other than cheese. If you follow that link, there is a little gif of me saying cheese with my old legacy avatar. 

But that is from SL’s Bronze Age. In the modern era, there is the Lelutka Axis HUD that allows you to move the many individual bones in the face and head to create individual facial expressions. Nastaya’s photo here (right) has a lovely natural smile.

Cassie Middles did a video that shows exactly how completely you can control facial expressions with even more control than FaceApp. She also made a video demonstrating how it works with other mesh heads. So while Jarla made her smile using FaceApp, she also could have used the Axis HUD.

Did you know there is a Flickr group for SL smiles?

That’s where I found this gorgeous smile by Peasant:

 

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Manis Lane's Utterly Charming Virtual World Images

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

I love reading, so “Hiding Behind” from Manis Lane drew my eye immediately. I get a kick out of how she was inspired by the polaroids hanging on the line to add a filter or texture layer to add the kinds of scratches and abuse a photo that is handled a lot might accrue. The photo is full of good humor and frankly, just looking at it made me smile and lifted my mood. 

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Jarla Capalini’s Fantastic Fashion Photostream

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

Wow! I love “Crimson” by Jarla Capalini. It’s very Richard Avedon. It’s a stunning fashion photo with a perfect pose highlighting the hat and bracelet. 

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: The Friendly Otter Turns Second Life Screenshots Into Beautifully Composed Black & White Imagery

“The Crows Watch” is an amazing image by The Friendly Otter and one that typifies his stream with high contrast black and white imagery that are all about form. I love the leading lines created by the roof and the row of crows. The composition is very much about contrast and empty space and uses the rule of thirds in situating the birds.