New World Notes

Today's SL Flickr Pick: Rikutojam's Virtual Photos Are Rich With Color & Emotion

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

Rikutojam [email protected]’s “The Summer Twilight” is the trippiest picture I have seen on Second Life Flickr. His most recent pic (see below) caught my eye and I started browsing his stream and BAM! Suddenly, my head swam and I had vertigo. I didn’t think I could get vertigo from a picture, but I have gone back and looked at this pic five times now and every time, my head swam and my eyes rolled in my head. It needs a warning label. Still, how cool is it that there is a picture that can do that? Perhaps it’s because it’s not just on an angle, but that he is looking up as well? I am curious. Have any of you had an involuntary physical reaction to a SL picture? 

For see what caught my eye, click here:

SL Image Creators Starting to Blend Midjourney Pics With the Virtual World

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

Loony Perl's “Daddio at PsyLounge” makes me want to go there, even though with a name PsyLounge, I can imagine they play techno and I want my music analog. But where else would you find a human-sized corvid working as a DJ. Real-life corvids are probably smart enough to be DJs if the only had the right-sized equipment. A crow has “adopted” a friend of mine and brings him presents of nuts and found objects such as a button and a rubber band. I love corvids, though I think in real life, corvids like jazz. 

Like other SLers, Loony's been experimenting with Midjourney and blending the virtual world with the AI image generator. Click here:

This Artist Turns Second Life Screenshots Into Powerful Pop Expressionist Surrealist Images

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

Natalia Seranade may begin with a Second Life screenshot but she ends up closer to Pop Expressionist Surrealism, a modern art form sometimes called Lowbrow. (Eric Drummond Smith wrote a primer on the form here.) One of the essential elements he discusses struck me as most closely describing Natalia’s work: “Emotion, improvisation, and immediacy are central ends and means of our work.” When you look at “Plenitude” (above) isn’t your first reaction emotional? A reaction based in part on her color story. Red, black, and white, such visceral colors.

For works that are more explicitly pop and pop art, click here:

Second Life Flickr User Posts Semi-Nude Protest Against Flickr's Coming Changes Blocking Nude Images from Unpaid Accounts

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

When I saw this pic from Sparklebottom Lasertits I laughed and knew exactly her point. Flickr has made some unpopular changes in the past year to encourage people to subscribe. As she writes in a long comment attached to this image: 

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Flickr will be making some changes to free accounts soon. Namely, free accounts will no longer be able to post moderate or restricted content. [I.E., images with nudity or porn. -WJA] That will now require a Flickr Pro subscription. There are other changes, but that is the biggest one driving Flickr’s business model from this point forward. This is the change I wish to address...

Flickr needs to make money. I get it. How? I don’t know. Will their current plan work? I very much doubt it. I’d like to see the data in a year or so from now to see the revenue they make from converted accounts compared to how much they lose from members quitting the platform completely. They may think that losing free accounts is not really a loss, but regardless of whether their customers pay or not, losing customers is never a good thing...

Read the whole thing here. I too hope Flickr finds a way to make money because it would really suck if they shut down. I think you can tell from her name that Sparklebottom is not shy. I love her stream but it took a while to find some Google-friendly pics. 

For more thought-provoking pics, click here:

Stunning Second Life Landscape Photos Teeming With Virtual Birds -- And Teleport Links to Visit in Person!

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

Willow Cute takes pictures of Second Life landscapes. They are more than a little cute, though. They are stunning. They make our world come alive with beauty. Take “Flying High.”  This is from The Trace [SLURL to teleport here]. I’ve been there. I’ve stood in the same spot, but did I see it like a “Wish You Were Here” postcard? You can almost feel the adiabatic breeze off the ocean, the squawking gulls. And smell that strange fresh, yet funky smell of salt water, ozone, fresh air, and dying kelp. 

For more stunning landscapes, click here:

Virtual Home Decor Ideas from an SL Blog Called... Clique This

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

Less Is More is a recent post on Clique This. The title caught my eye first because often less is more, but we seldom see less in a SL decor post. Some rooms are very beautiful but it feels like there is no room for people in them. Not this room. It’s spare without a dozen things on th floor to trip over and to collect dust. I love th art on the wall and clean and simple furnishings. If I were to ever put a television in the bedroom, I guess I would like it in a shelving unit like this on, but I don’t think I would ever want a TV in the bedroom. That’s where I read! 

• Bee Designs – Full Moon Bedroom
• InkMe – Aoki Living Room Set
• Mithral – Philodendron Melanochrysum
• Apple Fall – New York Studio Apartment

For something for the outdoors, click here:

Today's SL Flickr Pick: Arresting Avatar Images Inspired by Pearl Jam Songs

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

Krooked is not trying to make beautiful pictures. His pictures are arresting. They grab hold of you and don’t let go. Together with Pearl Jam lyrics, they have more to say than just look at how pretty I am. Take this picture “Just Breathe” She is bent over with her torso twisted and her hands contorted. The title is “Just Breathe” and the song so brilliantly balances different ideas, since it is played at both weddings and funerals. I think this picture captures the breathless passion in the lyrics and the equivocation between celebrating love and acknowledging mortality. 

For more striking pics, click here:

Get a Free Rainbow from Juicy Bomb, Now In Its 15th Year of SL Blogging!

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

Gogo over at JuicyBomb blog has one of her EEP sets for free. (I.E., Linden Lab’s Environmental Enhancement Project.) She writes about it in her post, Updated JuicyBomb Rainbow EEP settings. According to her post, the Lindens are using her Cheery Day EEP on the debug regions so she updated her set to include the cardinal directions. You can pick up your free EEP set at Aurelia’s Rainy Cafe. [SLurl here.] If you already have the set, you can get a free update on Marketplace. 

For a thorough review of Juicy Boobs (no relation), click here:

Fabulously Posed Avatars from Mya Audebarn Show What Fully Articulated Fingers & Limbs Can Do

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

Mya Audebarn’s “La Petife Fille De La Mer” made me think of Alberto Vargas. I had to check to make sure it was Second Life, it looks so much like a painting. I love it when I see someone paying homage to the great artists through Second Life and showing how very versatile Second Life artists are. There is such great variety in how people express their love for Second Life. 

For more striking portraits, click here:

Look at How Much Second Life Avatars Have Evolved Through Subtle But Once-Impossible Poses & Gestures

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

Dia’s pictures catch my eye with the excellent poses and her care in shooting them. Take this untitled picture. Both sneakers are on the floor, no slight hover or subtle sinking into the floor. Her fingers touch her hand, the elbow is behind but not in the leg. 

Using Bento and HUDs or third party viewers that let people fine tune poses, this kind of excellence is increasingly common. But for someone like me who fought with poses in 2007, it still is wondrous to see. Especially in such a striking picture. There’s something lonely about this pic, perhaps because the light is so dusty. I imagine her waiting for someone who is very, very late, wondering whether she should just give up and go home. 

For more, click here: