New World Notes

Today's Flickr Pick: Wry & Rousseau-Like Images Created by Bianca in Second Life

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

Bianca’s “Who’s Crying Now” is accompanied by Journey’s “Who’s Crying Now?” and she has the sassy, I-figured-it-out look that might ask that question. It’s a lovely pic with plants and a ladder shelf, and I like the bold, rich colors. 

For more great pics, click here:

This Artist Turns SL Screenshots Into Evocatively Conceptual Images

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

Aurelia von Troubles posted this sample from a recent exhibit of her work. The project is called My Seven and this particular picture is “Wrath”, one of the seven deadly sins. They occupy Dante’s Fifth Circle of Hell. Dante saw wrath as the desire for justice perverted to a desire for revenge. Her epaulets suggest her wrath began with justice or at least the approval of society. Her legs are scratched and covered in mud, fitting for those who eternally drown in the River Styx. She is Wrath embodied. 

For more thoughtful and emotionally evocative images, click here:

Diagonal Compositions Done Well Add Drama to Lishy's Charming SL Photos

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

Lishy’s untitled avatar pick looks ready for her action movie. She’s all dressed up and ready to save the world. She comes with an accompanying action-appropriate song called String Theory that is definitely not up my alley but difference is what makes the world exciting. I just know that she is a defender of truth and humanity. She looks like one of the good guys. I can’t wait to see the movie. 

For Lishy living her secret identity, click here:

SL Fashion Friday: Male Metaverse Style from Blogger Jakobat Bergan

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

The World That I Would is Jakobat Bergan’s fashion blog. I like his style. It’s relaxed and comfortable, but not sloppy. He looks like he thinks about what to wear, but not so much it distracts from more important things. I love this look with the shirt peeking out from the sweater, not tucked in and most importantly, with a straight hem. This tells you it’s not meant to be tucked in, it’s not sloppy, it’s style. This is all featured in his recent post 2560.

[ ERAUQS ] - Ben Sweater and Shirt @ACCESS (Jan 12 - Feb 8th) by Renan Mckeenan

There is so much to like about Jakobat’s blog, his consistency not just in blogging regularly, but he has a coherent style. You don’t see him looking out of character just to blog something. His blog is simple with few bells and whistles, maybe too few, because he doesn’t promote himself very much. There are no links to his social media or even his Flickr. But he has many sponsors and blogs for several events according to the Events and Sponsors pages that are listed in the footer, so perhaps he doesn’t need to promote himself more. 

For more great men’s style -- plus more of review of Bergan's blog -- click here:

Today's SL Flickr Pick: Iolande Weidman Turns Nude Avatar Photos Into Abstract Art

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

Iolande Weidman, aka Rania Adjani, shoots some of the most extraordinarily beautiful aesthetic nudes.

So when I saw “Naked” I snort-laughed, because it reveals such a great sense of humor behind the avatar. Ah, yes, when the notorious nipples are printed on a shirt, they are perfectly safe, unlike their appearance, however, subtly and carefully shot in her other pictures. 

For more stunning photos, click here:

Kai Wirsig Makes Second Life Screenshots Look Like Action Movie Stills

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

Kai Wirsig is wearing some serious body armor in this picture. I like the form of this picture, how it’s cropped and framed so the gun is pointing just past the viewer and the end of barrel is cropped out. ("I only changed the saturation," Kai notes in the image description. "No other photo processing,") He also makes great use of light and shadow. Bonus! In Second Life, he can wear his body armor without a shirt and there’s no chafing. 

Kai makes the diagonal frame work for him, see how here.

Cajsa's Choices: Stunning, Painstakingly Posed Action Images by Artemis Fate

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

Artemis Fate is excellent at capturing a moment. Take “Downhill Slide” for example. Her avatar is leaning as she skateboards down a hill, her hat falling off from the wind that blows her hair. It’s a magnificent picture. That little bit of bokeh doesn’t hurt either. 

Of course, there is nothing more difficult to shoot in Second Life than a shot that looks like it was captured spontaneously, in the moment. In her description she says it took several days to tweak the pose to her satisfaction: 

“This one ended up taking a lot longer than I expected it would as every part of it was hard to do. I had to work on it over multiple days with a few shoots, primarily because the pose was a real pain to make. I feel like I could have tweaked it endlessly though so had to draw the line somewhere. Action shots are just really hard to do.” They sure are, so let’s celebrate those who do them so well. 

For more skateboarding (because why not), click here:

Cajsa’s SL Blog of the Week: Friday Fashion for Furries

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

Caladreis' blog is called Cala’s Second Life Furry Fashion. Her recent post Cute Quicky is one that reveals her excitement about a new set on sale at Belle Epoque. She quickly got dressed, took a picture and posted it. She didn’t include any other credits because she was excited about this one thing, the set of a man and woman’s outfit just perfect for Bridgerton. 

• Belle Epoque Duchess of Devonshire Set - by Janire Coba

For a modern look, click here:

Today's Flickr Pick: Clifton Howlett Uses Depth of Field to Give His Second Life Screenshots Added Drama

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

Clifton Howlett captures me first thing every morning. I really cannot function without my coffee. I love the concentrated look on his face. It’s very “don’t bother me until I finish my coffee” which is good advice for everyone in the morning. All his pictures are black and white, giving them a classic feeling of power and permanence. He also uses Depth of Field beautifully.

For a look at one of his rare color pic, click here:

Today's SL Flickr Pick: Tokyo Revengers Avatar Cosplay & Other Coolness by Sam Wednesday

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

Sam Wednesday’s picture “the weekend be like” captures the reality of weekends being more the time to do your laundry, clean your apartment, and go shopping than partying all night long.  I love the quotidian honesty of the picture and its title. 

For some cosplay excellence, click here: