New World Notes

Today's Flickr Pick: Stylish & Intriguing Avatar Images from Evalyn Wunderlich

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

Evalyn Wunderlich’s “EverDream” is a hauntingly beautiful picture. There are fantastical elements with the brilliant sun and parhelia at the same time as stars in the sky. Sun dogs happen when the sun is refracted by ice crystals in the atmosphere. Nonetheless, the avatar is slightly dressed with a beautiful sheer scarf blowing in the wind. The scarf is what caught my eye and the most intriguing element. I love it. 

In the next picture she uses a sheer scarf equally well, click here:

Maka Orion Makes Metaverse Images Matched to Inspirational Quotes

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

Maka Orion lives an adventurous Second Life. If “You Learn the Most When You’re On the Edge” is true, he’s got a Doctorate in SLiving. By putting this pic on the diagonal, he makes it so much more interesting. I like that the avatar is moving toward us rather than away. I think it increases our connection to the avatar and our hopes for his success. 

Oh, wow, he’s doing it again -- click here:

Perfectly Composed Virtual World Landscapes & Seascapes by Zanya

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

Zanya’s photostream is full of extraordinary landscapes and seascapes such as this gorgeous image, “Fly On.” She has a fascination with birds and they often sneak into her pictures. Or, as in this picture, they become the focus of the picture, as shown by its placement at the intersection of two diagonal lines that are drawn 45 degrees from each right corner. (See thumbnail pic I've annotated here.) As a result, her picture is beautiful and the composition is exquisite. 

For something more surreal, click here:

Real Life Photographer Takes Virtual World Screencaps That Make You Wonder If They Were Really Shot in Second Life

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

Azaria is a photographer in both her first and Second Life. She is skilled in taking pics in both worlds so sometimes it’s hard to know what world a picture came from. For example, “Hunted” is realistic enough, I had to check to confirm it was from Second Life. In her About section, she wrote, “Shadows, light, emotions, depth, and movement are the things that make any image good!” You can see that in play in this great picture. (I also confirmed that she placed it in a few SL groups on Flickr to be certain.)

For more, click here:

This Artist Beautifully Photographs Virtual Lines in Second Life

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

Blip Mumfuzz has a thing for lines. You can see it in the leading lines that draw us into “Path.” She illustrates a couple of facts about leading lines, they don’t have to be straight so long as they take us somewhere and although they usually go off into the horizon, they are allowed to veer left if they do so as subtly as this path does. The turn is so close to the edge of the frame, it is only perceptible with your second look. On one level this picture is very simple but there is real thought in how it was framed. There are six pictures in this series and they should be considered as a single body of work. They are all so good I thought about featuring just this series, but then you would be missing out on so much more. 

For the side of a house and a window like you’ve not seen before, click here:

Cajsa's Choices: Beautifully Moody Virtual Landscape Photos by Lola Ghost

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

Lola Ghost posted this picture on Facebook with the title, “Sometimes there is beauty in something broken.” It really spoke to me because I, too, see beauty in what others see as broken. The flowers reclaiming the broken road and overpass, adding color to the gray of the concrete are beautiful, but so is the rust that adds traces of color to the metal. There is also something admirable in the will to survive that keeps the houseless getting up to face each new day. I wish their lives were easier, but they do not succumb to despair and carry stones into the water. 

This also spoke to me of my city. Portland, Oregon is beautiful and lately it has been characterized as broken due to an ever-growing number of houseless people and months of sustained violent confrontations between police and protesters. But when you look out the window of the bus and see a tarp stretched among trees in a greenway, with a painting hung on a hanger from the rope, the struggle from those who are in extremis to still hold beauty in their lives gives me hope, more hope than a home in “Architectural Digest.” Clearly, we need better answers for people without housing, but there is an indomitable spirit among the houseless that is admirable and beautiful. 

If you have ever seen something in a picture and you can’t unsee it, click here:

SL Flickr Pick: Bento Avatar Fingers Impressively Used for Dramatic Effect

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

Chiaki Xue, recently posted a fabulous picture with a pose he created that really demonstrates the power of Bento avatar skeletons. This is an amazing picture that tells a story. It’s like a movie in one snap. We can imagine these young lovers separated by all sorts of oppressive reasons that would divide them. Technically, they could be on the inside and outside of a football field, but their desperate fingers touching through the fence suggests something more cruel. 

For the best picture with a ventriloquist’s dummy ever, click here:

Second Life Landscape Photos More Detailed Than Most RL Pics

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

Sandi Benelli’s photostream is a stunning exploration of Second Life landscapes. She reminds me of one of my high school classmates who is a small organic dairy farmer who also takes amazing photographs. She loves to find beauty in the mundane like a crack in a fence post or in farm equipment, as in this gorgeous photo above, “Pic Taken at Perpetuity.” I love that you can see every blade of grass in gorgeous detail. She adds a judicious bit of blur heightens the reality of the picture. 

For something that’s better in SL than RL, click here:

This Artist Adds Dramatic Blurring Effects to Second Life Screenshots

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

Folgen’s photostream is at once varied and consistent. His subjects are exciting and different but his style is a consistent use of black and white with small pops of color and wild horizontal blurring. This is a great example, with the sunshine backlighting everything so it’s black with hints of gold from the sun and groundcover. There is the suggestion of speed from the blurring -- a hint of jeopardy. 

I admit I am not sure what I am seeing below, but if that’s okay, click here:

Today's Flickr Pick: Sapa's Striking Avatar Images With an Edge

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

Sapa’s stream features striking cyber-pop ads her pose store and haunting portraits and other photos. This headshot is beautiful, but with the traces of tears and of life that has not been easy. There is a grim underbelly in the world and Sapa wants us not to look away. For those who like to see how much is raw shot and what is editing, she gives us a link to the raw photo.

Well, we can’t really move like that, can we? Click here: