New World Notes

Cajsa’s Friday Fashion Choice: Second Life Blogger Sugarcoated Pixels

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

Sugarcoated Pixels is a fun and colorful blog from Sugarfairy88 Resident. This post, “Scientific Discovery” drew my attention with an excellent quote from Victor Hugo. I am a sucker for a good quote and this one seems perfect for the world we are in. And of course, I love the contraptions that make it the blend of what may seem magical and what is of science, creating an image that suits the quote. 

• Dual Magical Orbs (Volt) by egosumaii
• The Prototype Goggles *???* by Contraption
• Barn Owls by Maru Kado Set 1-5 & Set 6-10

Here's another favorite:

Cajsa’s Daily Flickr Pick: Second Life Artist Syn Beresford

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

Syn Beresford’s “BARMIE” is one of those pictures that don’t make sense at first glance, but then you look more closely and are glad you stopped to figure it out. As I scrolled down, I mistook this for a tree with ravens and some critters crawling around, maybe a spider. So I stopped, looked closer, saw the lips and then the whole of it and was enchanted in a creepy sort of way. But that is a hallmark of Syn Beresford’s work. It will be beautiful, but she often will add an element of the macabre to make it just slightly weird in the sense of Lovecraft’s weird.

Terr Jedda Makes Second Life Look Like Pre-Raphaelite Paintings

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

Terr Jedda has this picture on her Flickr with a different orientation but this one from her blog is better for the column. I love the pastoral quality of the picture. There is a pre-Raphaelite quality. It is not just the light, it is the woman and the sheep. And then the sheep is eating her hair. I love that. My cat sits behind me and eats my hair like that. It cracks me up.

Cajsa's Second Life Flickr Pick: Rita Glad

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

Rita Glad’s “Hey you, out there in the cold. Getting lonely, getting old. Can you feel me?” jumped right out at me. For some reason it made me think of Mary Cassatt’s self-portrait. There is the dappled light through trees we cannot see and the relaxed slouch of her body, and of course the impressionistic feeling that comes from a photo that has not been worked over to hyper-realistic perfection.

Cajsa's Friday Fashion Find: Hikaru Enimo

Hikaru Enimo’s self-titled blog has a clean, minimalist look that features a single photo for each post. As you can see from “I’m still learning to love myself…” the photos are striking and the primary attraction. This action shot with the skateboard is great. I love the chiaroscuro effect with the intensity of the color and shadow contrasted with the brightness of the light. For me, the stars in the picture are the active pose and the setting, a background you can purchase for your own photos.

• Pose & Skate: RK POSES – Skateboard M2 ,at mainstore.
• Building: MILK MOTION – Urban Scene , at Uber Event February 24th to March 22nd, 2020

Here's another stylish male fashion shot from Hikaru featuring a cat:

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick to Follow: KαTrΙn0 Heaven

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

KαTrΙn0 HεαvεN’s “Dreamers” is a powerfully emotional picture. It is shot at Khodovarikha, a sim by the creator of Furillen. See the creator’s news update here. Serene Footman’s sims are always have this feeling of isolation, but Katrino makes it even more isolating by obscuring the world beyond the window frame into a blur of night and fog. The couple are in sharp silhouette, alone in the world.

How Yoon Transforms Second Life Screenshots Into Striking Works of Art

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

“Hello, World” from Yoon caught my eye and just had to be featured. I sent her a note to ask her about her process and received a self-deprecating and generous reply. Working in Photoshop is mostly about experimenting and seeing what happens: 

“I work in a way you could call a mess,” as she told me. “I never really have a plan and just play with whatever comes to mind while working. I do like to use textures and mixing several layers so you could call that a basic approach for my work. I like the unexpected effect and try to avoid making it look the same all the time.” 

She acknowledges she has a recognizable style, though flounders with how to describe it. Her work is influenced by her mood and the surprise of experimenting, rather than a specific strategy: “The only time I will do things more or less the same is when it is part of a project needing a certain consistency. I never like that kind of work too much, because I feel restricted by it.” In this picture above, you can see she used a map layer, increased contrast, and went to black and white for the face. 

“Chaos”, below, is extraordinary and a wonderful use of color:

Cajsa's Second Life Flickr Choice: B:ia & Her Beautifully Composed Pics

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

B:ia’s photostream is full of beautifully composed photos with a strong emphasis on black and white photos. “What ties you to me?” is a color photo, those with a strictly limited palette. This photo is a gorgeous example of the Golden Ratio. I love the color discipline and the apparent simplicity that almost obscures the complex composition that unites a diagonal layout, the rule of threes, and the golden ratio all coming into play.

How Julliana Cane Turns Second Life Screenshots Into Imagery that Looks Like Classic Landscape Paintings

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

Julianna Cane’s photostream is largely a collection of beautiful landscapes reminiscent of John Constable, the English Romantic. “I wanted it to be like beautiful postcards from the past,” she explained when I asked about her creative process. 

But for her, the process is hard to define: “I do not even know what to say. If we talk about the technical side of the process, how I do it ... it's just Photoshop. This is a few hours of selection... color, correction, filter.” 

Whatever her process, the end result is beautiful:

Cajsa's Friday SL Fashion Blog Choice: Lizzy’s Grand Adventures

Lizzy’s Grand Adventures was my most exciting blog find this week. In particular, “Spring Cleaning”, Lizzy Austen’s tutorial on inventory organizing. I learned something I did not know and that excited me. Did you know you can hide system folders? I didn’t. I am thrilled because I find several of them annoying. They are empty and just mean I have to scroll more to find my stuff. Thank you, Lizzy. She also recommended two items to help with organizing. 

• CTS Wardrobe – a pictorial dashboard that lets you see items without rezzing.
• Go Frock Yourself Organizer in which she stores her boxes. 

Lizzy’s blog is well organized with items categorized by decor, fashion, Relay For Life, vlogging, and tutorials. I really like an innovative thing she did. The page is called “Blogging and Beyond” and in it she describes her work and other interests in SL and in real life. I would love to see more bloggers introduce themselves this way. 

Here’s another lovely one from Lizzy: