Art Corner: Warrior in Wait

This is a more artistic, singular take where I was trying to set a mood of stealthy watchfulness. The outfit started with the Cila armor style and got filled in with old standards, like my Rosal gloves and boots, and a new gift from Stockholm & Lima that a friend gave me. The final touch was a fairly severe updo from Wasabi Pills to fit the martial sense with it's orangey-pink highlights. I started with a fairly stark windlight, to capture the shadows being cast across the layers of leaves and my clothes and played around with the east angle and time of day until I got a sharp angle across everything - angles generate interest and keep the eye moving throughout the image. I tried to narrow everything down as far as I could - aiming for texture in the backdrop instead of any individual items, and struggled for some time with what I wanted in the background - the angles didn't work well to get the path or watermill in the background, but an errant hit on the side instead of back view gave me this fantastic angle slightly off to one side. I always struggle with cutting out the face, but in this case I felt like the Grafica pose offered a sense of the person waiting even if her face was out of view.

Once set and take, I opened the image in Gimp and cropped it down to it's present size. The bamboo down the center had a line of highlights along it which was very distracting, though, cutting the image in half and causing my eye to get "caught" on it repeatedly. Using colors I picked up from the background, I strengthened the cross cuts of the shadows across it and it receded into the background instead of messing up my composition. I had already set my figure off center; the other piece was to have int he background a sense of something she could be looking at without being too specific. Composition somewhat rescued, I brightened the image slightly and amped up the contrast to make everything more vivid and visible. The final touch was using "oilify" for the brush-like effect. On the strength I liked for the background the forefigure became uncomfortably indistinct and softened around the edges, so I made a cut out of the figure alone, erased around her edges, and then used a much lower "oilify" level. The overlay was effectively flawless, as the choppier style of the leaves made blending the two layers a breeze.

I'm really happy with the use of diagonals, but I'm not entirely pleased with my composition - though I'm not sure how I would want to improve it. In thumbnail it's a striking combination of lights and darks. I'm wondering if the pink being only along one side is an asset, as it makes it stand out, or a deficit, as it makes it really different from the mottled green backdrop. I really like the angle and cropping, though; I think it conveys the sense of anticipation and watchfulness well, and
is dark without being indistinct.I'm wondering if I might want to use less contrast in world if I anticipate editing my image in Gimp.

Worlds of Pink and Gray

I always set myself higher bars for Fantasy Faire... and I always fall short! This year was no different, but as always I had fun and really adored taking pictures. Towards the end, I managed to sneak in some shots of the outfit I build before the Faire began, and one I quite enjoyed wandering around in! It's very monotone, but I had fun layering blacks and grays, and was proud I managed a degree of body coverage which is nothing short of remarkable; despite this, the look - I flatter myself - still looks quite sexy.

It's the latest release from FATEplay and FATEstep which my whole look revolves around. There are five color options but I went with the lightest one, a soft gray with brown accents primarily in the wonderfully slung ammo belt. It may not be immediately obvious, but the outfit is four pieces - the long pants which are cut to fit into boots, the ammo belt which is slung low and rigged to stay on top of the pants, the half top with its cunning buttons, and the mask, which tucks up over the lower part of the face, and tucks into the loose cowl of the top. The mask is deceptively simple; it seems to be made of two pieces: one which is a loose hood that catches over the mouth, which quite realistic wrinkles, and the second which is a very long, narrow scarf wrapped around the neck with the long ends flying out behind.

The mask is rigged to the face, neck, and chest but the long ends remain static, and offer a nice hint of movement in an otherwise static world. The top is similarly well rigged, with wrinkles around the elbow and upper arm which make the fit seem much more natural and helps conceal the awkward elbow joint which is the bane of so many creators! My favorite part is the cowl and buttons combination, with the buckling between the buttons and the curves as the cowl falls against the top. The pants also sport these wonderful wrinkles around the calf, as if the fit wasn't quite right. I'm really struck by how the wrinkles add verisimilitude, bunching appropriately against skin and making it seem as if skin and muscle lurk right below the layers of cloth. And the ammo belt is one of the first I've seen that sits well on the hips and seamlessly rides over the hips as I move - fantastic rigging, and a whole lot of fun to wear!

The boots are also from FATE, FATEstep this time, and have the enormous wealth of options available in all of his shoes. They are fit perfectly over the bottom edge of the pants with a three-band style around most of it except for the smooth back. Like the clothes, his shoes have a wonderful attention to detail. The smooth back starts at the zipper and ends under the long three bands down the side; the bottom band makes a complete circle. The bottoms of the boots are rough textured perfect for hiking and riding across abandoned wastes, or marching around the Fantasy Faire tracking dirt through thirteen sims. The final touch are the spurs - although at a distance they look like they are built into the boots, up close you can see that they are actually built as a separate piece, with bands over the top of the foot and along the base of the heel, and the thicker metal of the spur itself.

Everything is color changeable via HUD, and the HUD also includes several pre-set slots - including the gray arrangement I'm showing in these pictures. They are also highly editable - in fact all of FATE's clothing is; you can select the entire item to tint or select faces to tint subsections of the outfit. I love the sheer versatility; this can be made into anything from the simple gray I'm showing here to the brightest combination of colors you could ever wish for.

I accented the FATEplay ensemble with a few touches form a dark future, or in one case a mechanical past. The corset around my waist is from Rosal and is steampunk in design, though I thought it really worked with the overall futuristic and mechanistic effect. I have to admit I splurged on almost the entire set, even though I only showed one piece of it here; there are two types of boots, gloves, and a neck corset in the same style. The combination of metal and matte was pleasing to me, as was the pinstrip effect of the fabric texture.  I also added my new wings from C L A Vv, which are my go-to choice for rough mechanical these days. The rope-dangles work particularly well, echoing the fall of the scarf if not it's ultimate angle. On my face I pulled out the Noctis bike goggles from a past Genre; the dark color of the frame matches up with the rest of my look while the lenses offer one of the little bits of color I wore. The other bit of color is my hair, a lovely, bushy style from Underscore (a store no longer in world, but one of it's creators, Syndel Daviau, has some wonderful releases under the brands Asset and Tribal Soul Designs) which looks pleasantly windblown and wild; I liked it for how thick it was, with lose and heavy curls.

Among the cherry blossoms, even an apocalypse looks beautiful.

Genre: Rebel Yell

This is a bit of a departure from my usual look.

The theme for Genre this month is Sons of Genre, and Bikers have taken over. This is the biggest break from my style that I've ever done; the Apocalypse and Dark Magic both brought out the power of Dark Deo, but I still managed something clean cut and even a little sweet or Medieval at times. This time... there is no sweet left. There is no cute, no giggle, not even the shine of gossamer wings outside of the flash of rainbow on my Noctis biker goggles. Available alone or combined with a wide variety of scary helmets (we'll see if I can work any of THEM into a look!) the rainbow lenses are only one of the five options, and the goggle section itself has three metal designs. The goggles are also editable, which means if you want to fit the strap to a finicky bald head, like I did, it's totally easy.

My spikes and eyeshadow (the latter a little concealed, I'll admit!) are both from The Stringer Mausoleum, whose style seems oddly perfect for this intersection of grimy reality and dangerous fantasy. The spiky head is also editable so I could make sure the flat part of each spike fit nicely to my skull, and the effect is striking - if distinctly non-Deoish. There are five other colors besides this metallic blue, for all of your "HEADPETTERS BEWARE!" needs. And finally, tucked over my Rosal corset neck (not available at Genre) is a thick chain necklace from Painfully Divine, which looks both divine and somewhat painful! I love how heavy it is, each link easily as wide as two fingers, and the curve around the neck is perfect - especially over a particularly thin neck. It's available in three dark and heavy colors, but I'd love to also see it shined up and in even more shades - it walks a line between decorative and substantial that I find quite appealing.

Continuing the theme of "not your average Deo," even my wings have been traded in by the cutest bit of my ensemble - this backpack from Distorted Dreams. I tremble to call it cute - I am a scary biker chick who eats glass for breakfast! - but it really is adorable, and would work as well on the back of a schoolgirl as it does as the wings of a terrifying creature like myself! It is also editable - I'm sensing a theme here! - which means the sometimes irritating shoulder pieces can be changed to fit an outfit or a pose; a blessing for backpacks! My final accessory in an outfit which seems to be more accessory than outfit is a pair of terrifying skull-wing rings from Eclectica. There are two color sets available, one the darker rough-and-tumble shades and the other slightly brighter, as if maybe there could be a happy ending once the enemies are put in the ground - or at least a hardcore drive off a cliff! The black outline on them gives an almost comic-book feel, the edges sharp enough to cut.

All of my accessories combine to support the jeans-and-chaps and tank top combo from The Annex. I'm used to seeing flowing dresses and ruffles from them, so this brief and somewhat hardcore offering is eye opening - and one of the reasons why Genre can be such fun. The tank is embellished with a loosely laced opening in the front and the sizes would fit a whole range of avatars on Second Life. I ended up combining the large top and the extra small pants to pull off my usual hourglass shape; one advantage to a two piece look like this is that it allows for a wider variety in body shapes. The Jeans and chaps are amazing, and one of my favorite bits of clothing available at this event. The hip fit is very low, which isn't even close to my usual style, but which works with this outfit, and the added layer of leather over the legs and bucked around the waist draws a lot of attention to some of my nicer features while still seeming realistic. The added large buckles down the sides, and the stud detailing of the belt, makes this seem like something a Scary Momma would wear when out on a ride - though I'll admit the white bodystocking from Reasonable Desires and all of the corsetry from Rosal (neither available at Genre) is a tad less realistic. Although this is a lot less skin than I often show, it feels like it's a lot more due to what skin is shown off and how - I think I pulled off dangerously sexy pretty well, even if I do say so myself!

Mannishly

Emboldened by the androgyny I was inspired to through Genre, I decided to give menswear a whirl with FATEwear's latest release - the Jordan jacket - and found it fit well and was a lot of fun, despite being rigged to the male instead of female frame! I was particularly pleased with the sleeve length, as it covered the wrist without clipping my hand, and the asymmetrical folds and wide spaced collar is wonderful. I very much like how thick the entire coat seems; the edges are all rounded and thick, even on the sleeve detailing. This gives a real sense of the weight and reality of the coat, making it's folds over my hips and gaping at the waist all the more realistic. I also like how the pocket is three dimensional instead of simply a texture on the fabric, and even the buttons are three dimensional - which makes some of the angled shots I took amazing. It's very well rigged through the body and to the legs, leading to an excellent fit even in more complicated pose. All of these are little details, but combined with the soft texture of the jacket - there are a variety of colors and event he option of a color-changing HUD with the fatpack - the jacket manages to straddle the border of Second Life and offline life beautifully.I have always loved FATEplay's female clothing, and FATEwear is equally impressive.

With the masculine quality of the jacket, I decided to go ultra-femme in the rest of my look. I began with this corset from Rosal, part of a complicated set but equally impressive on it's own. She just re-released it with updated colors and I highly recommend it both as a set and as an individual piece. I went with the narrowest waist - unrealistic offline, and gorgeously easy online. The fit of the jacket demanded a pair of pants, and I found those in a pair of jeans from Decoy that I picked up during one of the sale events and squirreled away in my inventory for just such an occasion. They are hip huggers, leaving that fascinating band of flesh between hips and belly exposed. I almost ended the look topless - the jacket actually covered enough to preserve modesty - but I ended up deciding that was a little more risque than I preferred and I used an old favorite, a texture-top from G Field - to finish my outfit. The flower for the halter-top was too voluminous for the narrow opening at the top of my FATEwear jacket, though, so I substituted in an old prim collar from Plastik that has the distinction of not only being modify-ok, but also set up so the different bands around the collar can be tinted separately. The close fit of the collar also maintained the illusion of layers that I was going for, as it fit beautifully into the gaps left by the jacket.

So far, my look was equal mixtures of casual masculine style with high fashion, ultra-femme touches, and I wanted to push the latter over the top with the remaining pieces of my style. First I went with an extravagant updo, the newest release from Ploom being released at The Kawaii Project. It is a whirl of braids and curls, editable mesh which meant I could shift the odd curl here or there out of my ears and make it a wonderful updo from every angle. I went with one of her candy hair textures, a wonderful blond with a fade of pink tips to echo the pink of my jacket. I also went with very dramatic cosmetics - a heavy, glamorous shadow around the eyes from .:Soul:. and dark black lips from MiaSnow. The goal was to maintain the predominance of black in my entire look, leaving the pink in only two places, and also to continue the thread of evening-wear despite my casual jeans. My nails were equally dramatic - a gorgeous pair from A:S:S on a black base with silvery sparkles set in a fade from the tips, like snow falling on a dark night and just barely catching the moonlight. The final touch, absolutely required to keep the styling over the top, are my sleek and delicate shoes from Lassitude & Ennui. One way to dress up jeans is through stylish shoes, and these do that job to perfection.

A Very Rainbow Deoridhe

I've been having a very rough month offline, and apparently a bunch of creators are psychic, because this week they all conspired to make me a very, very happy Deoridhe. It all started with katat0nik, who had made these adorable shirts with a tulle skirt ages ago, and then made me an incredibly happy Deoridhe by releasing them separately - and including a RAINBOW one. Yes, rainbow. I know, isn't she fantastic? And isn't it a gorgeous fade 'round the sides, smooth and clean without any of the colors becoming muddy. She released a shirt to go with it - with a pretty rainbow heart on it, and that isn't mesh so it can slide under just about any top; I'm seriously hanging on to it for ever and ever. With mesh separates, having some system layer bits to add on is incredibly important. Then, while I was still goggling over what katat0nik had made for me, I ended up taking a quick run around the Fantasy Gatcha Festival and... lets just say that I hit rainbow multiple times over.

At the top of my head is my incredibly lucky score from De La Soul in the form of a crown of thorns that I had loved the first time Charlie showed it to me, and which I'm so glad he released now. The Super Ultra version has a HUD in addition to the horns, and a gorgeous hanging gem. The glow makes it a little difficult to see the details - I'll have to do another show off of some of the other options - but they are delicately formed and gorgeously made, with tiny gems hanging down from each of the horns. You can modify simply everything on it, from glow and shine to texturing and they remain editable so you can also tint them. This is the Ultra rare, though; all of the colors are available in separate commons and rares, too, so if you're aiming for just one color combination, that's the way to go.

The final cherry on my rainbowgasm of a look is something you are likely to see several times again in the future - these amazing wings from Deviance. Now, very recently you all saw me wriggle around like an overly excitable puppy when I saw her last wings, and can I just say that these are even better? Delicate, curving, with a delicious ruffled edge and curving veins. They don't flap like her other wings do, which is understandable since they're a gatcha prize, but I am completely in love. The rainbow ones aren't even her rares, too; her rares are a gorgeous set with little butterflies settled along the edge. I cannot express enough how much I love these; I was in all-caps mental breakdown for the first five minutes. ICly, Deoridhe has always been a rainbow fairy, and one of my quiet pains has been that I didn't have non-glamoured wings for her which I felt really fit her. Now that has changed completely.

I rounded my look out with three things from my inventory, some of which I've owned for a while. All of the corseting is from Rosal and is part of the same set - Unmei. It comes with a HUD which lets you tint each part of the corseting separately, so while it was time consuming to render the corsets vaguely rainbow, I think it was really worth it. Tucked in among my horns is a hat from Split Pea which I picked up a long while ago and which spreads the rainbow love across several flowers. I also really liked the shadows it cast, though they were hard to capture in the pictures. And finally, this amazing Love-Love Justice wand from Curio Obscura, which makes me giggle every time I see it, or even it's name. It's like a world of Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailor Moon all wrapped up with a bow.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace Creamer
Hair: Fashionably Dead, Moon Pigtails
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Horns: De La Soul, Royal Crown of Thorns (Fantasy Gatcha Faire)
Hair Flowers: Split Pea, Your love is a stag int he white sand
Eyes: De La Soul, Mesh Eye Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Mock, Taste the Skittles
Lipstick: Mock, Lucir Lipcolor Frostbite
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings (Fantasy Gatcha Faire)
Wand: Curio Obscura, Magical Love-Love Justice Staff (Past Arcade Gatcha)
Lingerie: Adam n Eve, Ana Lace
Shirt: katat0nik, Rainbow Heart Shirt
Gloves: Rosal, Unmei
Corsets: Rosal, Unmei
Skirt: katat0nik, Tulle Skirt
Shoes: Rosal, Unmei

Pose: !bang,

Location: Ghostville
Light Settings: Phototools, Dead End
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

SL DisneyBound – Week Seven: Kuzco

Week seven of my quick, quick, catch up Disneybound challenge is Kuzco, the "Incan" emperor from The Emperors New Groove. He spends a lot of time as a llama, but I decided for something a lot less hairy for this look, drawing inspiration from French and Japanese cultural fashions for something imperial, and ended up with less a casual look and more a really striking, High Fashion look that would get me stared at on the street. I ended up really loving it, though - it's so impressive and over the top. I found this amazing sim named Luminarios Divide to take pictures in, which had a dreamy, haunted Japanese-style garden. One thing I think about with strongly culturally significant items, like the head-dress which is appropriate for a Japanese Oiran, is cultural appropriation - the taking, redefining, and in some cases gross lack of understanding about aspects of other cultures.

Oiran are rooted in the Edo period (1600–1868), the word becoming a general term for courtesan in the mid-1700s. They were restricted to walled districts by the Tokugawa Shogunate and only allowed out to visit dying relatives and for cherry blossom viewing. Japanese women also ended up being kidnapped or bought by Portuguese traders and their crews; the impression that Japan is more sexual, and the racists stereotypes of Japanese (and Asian) women as submissive and obedient likely has it's roots here. How much do I, a non-Japanese woman, play into these stereotypes when I wear artifacts of a foreign culture? It's difficult to say, and so while I am drawn to these symbols of complicated cultures and rarefied society, I also try to keep in mind the historical and modern implications inherent in them.

This gorgeous hair, complete with the enormous combs which indicate a wealthy Oiran, is from Tukinowaguma - an amazing hair store with a wide variety of well made, unique hairstyles. Whenever I want something that blows me away. When I saw Kuzco's hair, I knew right away I would have to go to Tukinowaguma in order to hope to match the glory of his sunburst-style crown. I added a chain bindi, a new release from Souzou Eien and a perfect fit for my brow; I love how simple and spare it is against the opulence of the rest of my look. My eyeshadow is a slightly naturalistic shadow from Elymode, in shades of red and gold to match the overall color theme, and I paired dark red lips from Heartsick wish a single stripe from La Petite Morte to loosely echo the distinctive red lower lip of the Oiran. Heartsick is currently having a sale to try to raise money for the creator to get a new computer - hers died a horrific death. Finally, the distinctive bright turquoise earrings he wears are more demurely represented by a pair of ring earrings from Earthstones.

My collar is from Rosal, and is my favorite of her many different corset styles - the Unmei - which is loosely based on the Obi, brocade fabric, and silky ties. She recently released gloves and ballet style boots to match, each with the distinctive band of brocade and stylish bow. I paired it with this simply amazing gown from Violent Seduction, based on the styles of 17th Century court gowns in France, with it's low-cute, square-necked top and the heavy, velvet overskirt and corset. My only wish from this outfit is that I could wear the corset part separately; I would love to pair it with a variety of tops and bottoms to enjoy it across the grid. The skirt is rigged to the legs, which means sometimes it's movement is a little odd, but overall it means that it remains puffed out no matter where one goes or how one moves. Finally, my boots are from G Field and come in two parts, so I was able to get the gold and black style of Kuzco's sandals. The top part are actually originally white, but since all of her shoes are modify-ok I was able to tint them to match the gold of the rest of my look.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Candace (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow (promotional item)
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Autumn red/gold
Lipstick: Heartsick, Morticia
Lipline: La Petite Morte, Red Stripe Lip
Hair: Tukinowaguma, Tokie
Bindi: Souzou Eien, Precious Bindi Gold/Red
Earrings: EarthStones, Bali Hoop Earrings
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Collar: Rosal, Unmei
Corset/Skirt: Violent Seduction, Versailles Dress (promotional item)
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Nails: Orc Inc, Glitterslash
Shoes: G Field, Open Boots "Vilda"

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Luminarios Divide
Light Settings: CB's Rouge 4
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Twisted Color Challenge: Week 10 - Wooley Cinnamon

This weeks color combination, Wooley Cinnamon, went in a very not wooley, not cinnamon sort of direction. I started with the basic idea that I wanted to show off something from The White Armory. She gives out a new group gift every week, so I've been collecting for a while, but my inventory backlog is such that I haven't pulled any of them out in ages. I was beginning to feel backlog guilt, so I opened up a ton of boxes and, well... things went a little sideways around the time I found this gorgeous tan dancing dress. I'm not wearing the included empire skirt or wings; instead I dressed it up with corset accessories from Rosal - specifically her Unmei set, with a little visit by her gloves (please release more gloves!). All of her sets come with an amazing tinting HUD which allows you to target each part of the included items and tint them into literally any color you want, which meant it was a cakewalk to set up the orange colorcheme to match up with the tan and accomplish Wooley Cinnamon in a very futuristic weird manner. Like I said... not very wooley, not very cinnamon. An over the top outfit requires an over the top hairstyle, which is how I ended up pulling out this style from Secrets Hair. I also wanted to pass on that the store is having a Fatpack Sale on the Marketplace until March 10th, so go check it out! Lots of styles, lots of colors, only 600$L each.

Further accentuating the over-the-top look I stumbled into, I ended up pulling out some of the stark, stylish, unique cosmetics from Nuuna. The combination of bright colors, stark lines, and both cutouts really makes her cosmetics unique, and I thought they suited the look. An old set of lipsticks from Skinthesis were the perfect balance - I don't think these are for sale anymore, but I still really love them. Finally, after playing with a few different hair accessories, I settled on an old Halloween release from Kouse's Sanctum as both matching the colors and matching the theme; I'm a sort of weird space princess... person... something! Finding a location was thankfully easy. I caught sight of Francesca's monochromatic style and headed off to tint it weirdly orange using windlight. The layering of trees, the isolated spots with little decorations, and the gorgeous castle which resolved into a lonely music hall up front all seemed to fit with this stylized, almost Visual Kei effect. This is not a style I often even approach, so I'm finding my headlong plunge into stark, stylized, over-dramatic effects rather bemusing!

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 04-A
Eyeshadow 1: Nuuna, Neuro Orange
Eyeshadow 2: Nuuna, Tiia orange
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Skinthesis, Liquid Heat Pipes
Hair: Secrets, Jupiter - Blonde (Promotional Item)
Crown: Kouse's Sanctum, Ambrosia Tiara - Halloween
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Collar: Rosal, Unmei Neck Corset
Gloves: Rosal, Viron-M
Dress: The White Armory, Blythe Dancing Gown (Group Gift)
Corset: Rosal, Unmei Corset
Boots: Rosal, Unmei Boots

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Francesca
Light Settings: Places Abracadabra
Water Settings: Phototools Ship Light

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

This is Not what you Think it Is

It is always amazing to be able to insinuate oneself into other peoples' visions - something which is most easily done in a virtual world where that art can be expanded bigger than an avatar. Gracie Kendal's Ce n'est pas une peinture at Linden Endowment for the Arts Sim 15 is an example of this with more brilliance than most - she literally transported her offline art into digital format and then bent and curved it, making it move all over an entire sim. You can fly through it, but I have to admit I found that distinctly overwhelming; Kendal's offline art is brightly colored and modern in style, and experiencing it all mixing and mingling in three dimensions was too much for me to try to capture in two - though I highly recommend you go for a flight. I found it much manageable where art meets water - or rather where art meets its own reflection.

I loved the combination of the clarity of these reflections, my own form, and my reflection was a lot of fun - I think it hints at the three dimensions without making them overwhelming.Adding in light sources from windlight and you could gain some amazing effects - like the spotlight above which I found by accident then struggled to immortalize in a picture. The blown out effect of any light source is something I find particularly pleasing, and to be able to bring it into Second Life always gives me little shivers of joy. Now and then I was also able to find ways to take advantage of the effect when the objects hit their own reflections - they were layered forward and back in three dimensions, so like a kaleidoscope where the objects hit the mirror at different places for different effects, the art simply seems to burst off of the screen.

I had originally thought to put myself together in shades of black, something simple and severe to stand out from the riotous shades, but then I couldn't get into the sim! Fearing the worst, I ended up contacting the illustrious artist and it turned out there had been a technical snafu; by then I had put back on my blush outfit from the recent Single Frame Story. Surprisingly, I really liked the effect against the colors - the slightly more neutral blush shades sometimes seem to fade into the background, other times to stand out distinctly, and with one windlight I tried I actually almost vanished into a peach and blush dream world.

The outfit is made up of combinations of many items, based on the Rosal corset and boots which I have absolutely fallen in love with. They are tintable and have several textures besides, making them hugely adaptable. The shirt is a very old purchase from G Field which I paired with a recent purchase from G Field in the form of her mesh shorts. I topped it off with a braid from elikatira which I fell in love with ages ago but only put on now. I crowned that with a gorgeous new group gift from World's End Garden to celebrate the newest remake of that amazing sim, a lovely band of flowers or around the brow. All in all, although it was a difficult look to accomplish, I was enormously pleased with the result!

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De la Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Eyelashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Elymode, Solstice - Moon
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Bella Vetro Gloss - Guardsman Red
Hair: elikatira, Wherever - Blonde 10
Coronet: Worlds End Garden, Le jardin de la fille hair wreath (group gift)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Jewelry: League, Pearls & Lace
Shirt: G Field, Floral Halter Top - peach
Corset: Rosal, Unmei Mesh Corset
Shorts: G Field, Frill Shorts - salmon
Boots: Rosal, Unmei Thigh Platform Boots

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Ce n'est pas une peinture
Light Settings: Various
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Color Challenge: Week 38 - Papaya Whip

I didn't even hunt for outfits for Papaya Whip. I've been wanting to show off this amazing corset set from Rosal since I bought it, and since I bought the fatpacks of each part, I knew I could manage it. It comes in black, red, and white - and the white is tintable if you edit it; I just have to take a second to say how much I adore being able to tint white things to match a given outfit. In any case - the second I saw this set from Rosal, I was completely in love. I'm actually missing the ballet style boots, going with the stiletto heels instead. There are gloves to match, however, fully mesh, along with the neck and waist corsets. Each has stripes on them along which a flicker of glow moves regularly from and to different diodes on the corsets. It's futuristic and sleek, and I want about ten million of these gloves in various colors please! She just released some gorgeous kimono-inspired styles; if you like corsets for the waist and neck, Rosal absolutely has to be on your list of places to go.

I really struggled with pairing the corset set with other clothing - it is a mid-hip line, which means a lot of skirts won't work smoothly with it. I literally began trying different skirts of different types, finally happening onto these pieces from Bare@Rose, from her Artemis set. The pairing is perfect - unbounded and wild yet still sleek and smooth; curving out from the narrowness of neck and waist and flowing out smoothly in lean lines. I really love it as a total look; it moves as well as it photographs. Choosing the hair was equally difficult, and dictated by the corset set, but this mesh style from Alice Project was absolutely perfect. Her new hair setup is called the "infinity" set; you buy one HUD for coloring it, and then you can color up any hairstyles you want. There's an uber fatpack which is very ingeniously programmed - you select subsets to make them show up, instead of being overwhelmed by a million colors on one page. I've found myself using more tipped hairs now that I bought the fatpack; this, for example, is the blond on blond tips.

The brilliant shininess of today's pictures combined with this weeks Depth Perception theme for Single Frame Stories got me thinking about how we perceive depth. Usually, deep people are morose and solitary, quiet, and what they see into is dark and deep, often murky and full of the crueler and more horrid sides of peoples' natures. There seems to be widespread acceptance that to be honest is to be cruel and harsh, and to be deep is to be solemn and dark and say things with three or more syllables. I do find my deepest thinking seems to be in stillness, but I have a strong desire to find the depth in the brilliant things, the honesty which leads us to be kinder, the depth which is of a brilliant and shining nature rather than something dark and murky. I want to find loving and noble basic truths to human nature, and when I use words of more than three syllable, I want them to resonate with power and meaning while lightening the load of all who hear them.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De la Soul, RooMee Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Seelie Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: White Widow, Dragonfly Silver
Lipstick 1: Mock, Micare LipGlimmer - Dusted Contessa
Lipstick 2: Mock, Lucir Lipcolor - Midas' Kiss
Hair: Alice Project, Momo II
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Corsets: Rosal, Viron-M White
Gloves: Rosal, Viron-M White
Top and Skirt: Bare Rose, Artemis
Boots: Rosal, Viron-M White

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Antennaria
Light Settings: Sim Default
Water Settings: TOR, Atomist

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
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