::Mirror Image - SL Portraiture::

Yes, Second Life Portraiture.

My passion is to draw. It's something I know that I am good at doing and something which I have no idea what life would be like without it. So, one day whilst I was creating a gift portrait of a very good friend of mine on Second Life, Electric Ibanez, I thought that if he likes it then maybe I should try and broaden the idea of digital painting in the meta verse of SL.

Sure enough, when I gave it to him in-game, he loved it totally :). And he even bought some of his friends around to see it; After he had hung it up on the wall of his shop, hehe. Everyone really liked it which I was chuffed to bit's about. Nothing like having your work appreciated!. It was then I decided to go ahead with the idea of SL Portraiture. I posted ad's in the Classified section of Second Life, and also some boards and posters in my Phoenix Rising Designs stalls (Click here for products!). Plus, I posted the 'Electric Ibanez' drawing on Flickr too, which is where I got a lot of positive responses.

If you want to see my Flickr photo stream, here's the link!.
Wynter's Flickr Album

I had already got a few requests and commission's from people after Electric's portrait had captured attention in world, and my ad's and posters had caught peoples eyes. But guess who would want a portrait but Torley Linden :D. He is an amazing friendly guy who works for Linden Labs and creates awesome video tutorial's to aid those of us in SL who can get a little lost or need helpful hints!. You can see them here; Torleys Vid Tuts.
I was honored to be able to do his Avatars Portrait and surely enough he adored the finished product!. He wrote a wonderful blog about the painting and surely aided me in getting so many requests afterwards!. Read the Blog here!. So, thanks Torley! You are a star! :).

I create the Portraits from reference with a snapshot of the persons Avatar in Art Rage 2. Then take it into good ol' Photoshop for the strenuous but fun task of colouring. Depending on what the customer wants, it can take only a few hours to do a portrait or up to a few days. Usually, with a detailed background it can take the longest. But I ALWAYS enjoy every one I do :).

Here are a few examples of the Portraits I do, PLUS the one which started it all taking the top spot...'Electric Ibanez':



Depending on what/who's in the picture also depends on the price (in Lindens), so if anyone would like a portrait done, IM me in-world; Wynter Bracken, and I will gladly give you a notecard with the prices and more infomation :).

Oh yes! Before I log out of here, I wonder now that I have been on World Of Warcraft for over a month, is it time for me to invest in Character portraits in that metaverse too!? ;). Who knows?.....

~ EB aka Wynter Bracken.

To Be or Not To Be!

Yes!, that is the question!. Especially in Second Life...you can be anything or you can be nothing!. (you can completely vanish using Invisprims :P..). Avatar creation is one the most powerful tools in this virtual world. They say looks arn't everything, but when you see what 'looks' are available to you, you will soon question that statement. As I mentioned in a previous post, you can be a mythical beast such as a dragon, you can be your favorite Anime character, you can be a great warrior or knight, or you can just be richer!. Thats not even scratching the surface of variety here.
Your basic Avatar is a simple humaniod (above pic) or as one of my friends calls them, " round ears ", (Because we are mostly fantasy avatars; elves and pixies etc...we have pointed ears and the rest have normal :)). And its up to you to totally customize your Avatar human into whatever you desire.

The truth of the matter is, it's FUN to create yourself into something you are not. So, for me, the above Avatar is well, not good at all. I spend a lot of time customizing, or "modding" as its refered too in SL, several Avatars for myself. Ok, so maybe I will only use one of them once, that don't matter because I can always rearrange the bits and bobs of it later into something better!. Its dead easy to customize your look. I suggest the very first thing you do is go to Freebie Places!. They are like heaven for modders and sometimes you can find decent quality items at the back of a box ;). I have two skins ( skins being what your skin looks like lol), that I found at freebie places and they are quite decently painted and detailed with muscles and tattoo's. I have'nt needed to spend 1000's of linden dollar's on a mega realistic skin as of yet. Yes, skins cost the earth! but thats because they are a pain in backside to make >.<'. Mostly, any skin that is decent will do, but if you are a SL model then it is handy to have a realistic skin; well, you have to look good ;).


This is a photo I took of one of my friends called Electric Ibanez. He is a freelance model of sorts as well as being a very talented Second Life Blacksmith, that is someone who makes Swords and weaponary. As you can see, his skin is pretty realistic . He, being in the public eye quite a lot, needs to look good most of the time. But...it's all about if you can afford a skin like Electric's :S. I didn't ask him how much it was but he assured me it was "enough" lol. Anyway, that is what Electric has chosen to make himself in Second Life. But this blog is supposed to be about moi :P. So, on to the freak show.....

My Avatars :)

A summary of my Avatars in Second Life ^.^. I write this so you can see the limitless possibilties of making and customizing Avatars for yourself!.



<------ This is my newest look!. I have two accounts on Second Life, this is " Wynter Bracken", a half elf/dragon or 'Kaesti'. I wanted to have a more 'tribal' feel; more like hunterish. I made her facial peircings, the dangles on her horns, the necklace and a few other things on her body that is out of this shot. I use her for Roleplays and such.

This is Wynter Bracken too, but in her "Fae" form. See the wings? doh lol. An older version really, when I didn't know how to make anything and so spent quite a lot of lindens on clothing :P. I use this version of her a lot for Roleplays too. -------->

Now we get to the weirder things ;). Or imaginative, whichever word you think suits :P....








<---------- Wynter in " Avian Drake" form. I bought the basic Magpie avatar from a place called Grendels Children. It is one of the best places to get all kinds of strange and wonderful avatars. Flea Bussy is the creator of many of the Avatars there and she works flat out to create new and interesting creatures almost every two weeks.
I just recoloured the chest/ head area and textured the beak and feet and added the horns and feathery crests on the back and shoulders. :). With this AV I just like to sit and watch people and fly around, call me crazy but its interesting to perch on high and observe. The good thing about Grendel's Children Avatars is that they are easy to modify. Thanks Flea!.



Yes, yes..it's a Satyr :). Or fawn, or whatever you see it as. This elegant AV was bought in Grendels Children and then heavily modded to make it look more interesting. This AV has a beautiful way of walking :D. Once again Roleplay and wandering through forests is what I use this form for :). I added new horns and re textured them, made some strings to add to the horns. Recoloured ALOT lol, redressed the body in more wild-type clothing, and bought a new 'dappled grey' skin from Grendels Children to make Wynter's " Azure Fawn" form. ------------>



<--------- I havn't used this form much, but I love it ^.^. Its a dark version of a mermaid. I love mermaid avatars; the way they move is so elegant and graceful. So, I bought one then heavily modded it. Retextured the tail, new skin from Grendels Children, horns etc... and tattoo's.










Also heavily modded is the basic Harpy Avatar from Grendels Children :). This is Wynters, " Goddess of Winter" form. It looks very extreme doesn't it? :D. Well, I wanted to try a bit more actual building and I made the feet and also the ears. She does have a tail too. Recolouring the feathers was an ultimate pain! >.<. I won't be doing that again lol. ------------->








<----- This one is Wynter's true form (in roleplay sense!). A beautiful, huge femme Dragon.You can get these Dragons from Grendels Children for such a cheap price for what this Avatar is. This one is the one I roleplay with a lot. Its quite hard to mod these things even though the white versions are specially made for such...but for some reason you cannot mod the back legs O.o...So I couldn't change them the teal colour which is a theme that runs through all my Avatars (incase you didn't notice ;)) .

But other than that its definetly one of the best fantasy Avatars out there :).

Anyway, I have a few others but.....I think you get the picture about diversity lol :P. In the next post I will show you the first Avatars I have made and perhaps give you a few pics of my other " Alt" account character ;). Ciao for now!

~EB

Into Fantasy! - Second Life

Thats right, wether you like it or not Linden Lab's Second Life is coming up trumps. Appearing on News Stations over America and Europe, people are starting to notice this virtual simulation of life. I got introduced to it by my dad who had read more about it in papers and heard interviews over radio stations. Second Life is exactly that - a Second life to your real one. Of course, in Second Life you -can- own that sports car, you -can- own that massive Mansion and yes, you can even be a Dragon!. (I'm the white Dragon on the pic ^^). Infact, there is no limit of what you can be on Second Life, or SL as it is refered to by users :). This and the fact that you can own certain items for a much, much cheaper price than in the real world, has made Second Life a popular place for virtual living.

But what is even more fascinating is that people actually make real money out of living here. You can buy and sell anything. Second Life even has a real estate, where you can rent, own or loan out plots of land, houses, apartments...or even underwater buildings!. You can even (If you have enough money :P ) buy your own island. Second Life has currency called Linden Dollar, SL$, and people can convert thier earnings into US dollars, or turn US dollar's into Lindens. You can be a world class fashion designer and sell your own clothing. Bearing in mind you have to 'create' the clothing first :P. Yes, you can build stuff in this virtual world. There are marvellous tutorials about making things in Second Life dotted all over the net but I recommend Natalia Zelmanov's Second Life Diary. I have used most of the tutorials on her Blog for my first few creations and they are fantastic!, so easy to follow and to read through :).

To own any sort of land, you need a premium account (that means dreaded monthly fee's!) but the good thing about that is that you actually get a Linden Dollar Salary per week to help you cope. Second Life is free to join and sign up, but you have to download the program before you can use it. At first I couldn't use it because they didn't have a version out for Windows Vista. But after a few weeks Linden Lab seemed to catch on to this problem and they bought out a version which could cope with Vista's interface ;).



Of course, my positive veiw on this new world is not shared by all and many people disagree with the fact Second Life is good for those who use it. With so much depth to an online program such as this, some say it is easy to get lost in the realm of fantastical things and that some even get so bad that they find it hard to 'log off' and spend time with their families or friends. To those really addicted, it IS real life. That is scarey to me. Perhaps their life is not what they thought (but hey, when is it ever? :P) and they can escape to this world where they -are- happy with what they have. For me, Second Life is a bit of fun :) and now a prospective buisness angle. I am learning how to create Animations for Avatars - Avatar's or AV's meaning what you look like in Second Life - and creating the Avatar's themselves such as fantasy and mythical creatures. The guy in the screenshot above in standing in an Animation pod which allows you to preview animations before buying. I just thought it was weird how he was slumped in there strangely :S.. he was in 'away' mode but still, weird to just come across a person slumped in a plastic chamber :P.






Talking of which...there are some very, very strange things in Second life. Some of which are quite disturbing to see and discover. I try and take as many screenshots of the more ' bizarre' things as possible, just because they are interesting and funny (One thing for SL, and that is you can get a lot of laughs :P). The most weirdest thing I have seen so far is the fact you can actually buy what is called 'Prim babies'. Yes, you can buy babies. Not real obviously lol, but made from prims ( Second Life's version of bricks or modelling clay chunks). Just very strange to me how Second Life couples want a virtual baby :P. If you find the perfect person for you, you can get married on SL strangely enough. I suppose it is a nice idea if, in real life, a couple cannot conceive a real baby. But still....*shiver*. There is also A LOT of sexual things; Things which I will spare from mentioning at the moment!.

Anyway, thats a quick introduction to Second life. I will be writting more on the places and my own avatars later on sooo if your interested, keep checking! :D. Now, into Fantasy!....

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Blog Newbie ^.^'

Yes, I am a newbie to blogging.....
(Thats not me pictured :P)

But then again I hate that word 'Newbie' :P. It's used as a negative endearment most of the time. So, I will just call myself a 'Blog Apprentice' lol. (Sounds more oldie-style). Anyway, I created this blog so I could write more freely, and don't forget complain when things don't go right!. You may find some weird stuff on here O.o, nothing offensive! *pokes Blogger's admin* and you may find some delightful things. More of the latter I hope.


Serious side?. Yes. The main point to this Blog is to try and get my artwork more recognised and be able to discuss my new found love for creating Avatars and Animations on Second Life. I have been drawing all my life and I even remember when my Horses looked like brooms with 6-10 legs -.-', Well we all start somewhere!. So, yes, I have several Online galleries. The main one being my Deviantart gallery ( Shamelessly plugs in a link there lol) of which I have prints for sale, and the one on the side bar - a portfolio sneak from Artwanted.com. I was very proud when one of my pics made the 'Featured Image' slot on the front page!. If you wonder which one, its called ' Catch of The Day'.

What else...hmmm..Oh yes!, I'm also quite an avid Online Roleplayer *hears them all shout geek*. Maybe, but writting descriptively is a passion. I mostly Roleplay on Forums and Chats and mainly as Medieval/Fantasy characters. I have had several comments that I should write books :P. And one guy who asked if I had already lol. Bah, well me and my sister have compiled a series of three, BUT they are extremely rough as they were written in Secondary School lol. Mostly about Vampires/Werewolves/Shapeshifters and us as the main characters. I will spare you the embarressment of posting them. Well, not untill they go through -thorough- editting. I have a fanfiction based on Dragonballz's Vegeta & Bulma called 'Primal Instincts', I'm not telling you what its about...you'll just have to go to my Deviantart gallery and find the first chapter! :P.

I am into games, *Hears some more geek taunts* and playing at the moment on PSP Monster Hunter Freedom 2. O.O...Fantastic game. Hard and frustrating at times, but incredibly fun. I am also into GuildWars and World of Warcraft to an extent....More to come on this evolution of MMORPG's (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) Phew...thats a mouth full :P. Well I think this is introduced me enough. Oh by the way, My name is Gemma and it's nice to write to you...:P...

p.s. My AKA is EB because of ' Ebony Phoenix' so y'all can call me that if ya want ;)...

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