The Big Fish : Playing Catchup!

For Genre's Belle Epoque round.

It has been a while since I've had the chance to sit down and write again. So whilst I will catch up on my flickr posts - I wanted to write about some of the things that I have been making for a few events around the Grid. The latest being for Genre, which just opened today and for which I have decided to launch my telescopic cigarette holders in two lengths "Maxi" which is 22cm and "Ultra" which is 44cm.

Both cigarettes come with a smoking animations hud with priority 3 animations.

A separate pack of 12 static smoking poses have also been created to go with this exclusive launch!

I had made this prop for my shoot of a few posts back :

Since then I have been developing this item into a more refined end product. I hope you will like the end results!

Your taxi to Genre is : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Analog%20Dog%20Hair/34/240/3120

You can read more about this event on : Genre @ Wordpress

Also out right now is my sculpture release for the latest hip event to hit the grid " Epicene"

Your taxi to Epicene is :http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Terre%20Des%20Mortes/106/95/1301 You can read more about this event on : http://secondlife.com/destination/epicene 

Last but not least! I have been busy with doing images for my own art exhibition which is being held at the Black Lux Gallery

 

I hope you will visit and tell me what you think!

The Art Fish : Spoilers

Peanuts on demand offered as prize...

What I enjoy about the Sl Flickr community is that there is usually always something challenging to participate in to spur your own creativity forward. Quite often all this effort is without gratis with the organiser being personally out of pocket.

I like [ContraptioN] though oddly, I missed the announcement of this contest, only catching it rather much later when I was pursuing the individual streams of persons on my Flickr contact list.

What's great about this particular contest is that it sets out to combine the aural with the visual and that is something which I find an interesting process in itself. 

A list of music is provided to choose from and I ended up always coming back to :

Being that it's the first time I'd ever heard of this tune (or Iron Sky for the matter), I'm quite grateful for the new experience! I have no idea just how the music (from Kaiti Kink Ensemble) relates to the film of the same title, save that the band had a lot of positive feedback from fans.

Iron Sky on the other hand, is a film that comes across as a spoof 

"The Nazis set up a secret base on the dark side of the moon in 1945 where they hide out and plan to return to power in 2018." - IMDB

What I do love is a good 'ole surreal sci fi flick and this seems to be ticking all of those boxes. The music certainly adds to the drama - with the huge orchestrations and sentimental lyrics; a good 'visual' choon to get into.

I love the really distinct pronunciation of the word " Iron" in the song - which differs greatly from my pedestrian experience of it which sounds more akin to this

Art and Music are quite a personal and subjective experience - influenced by the beholder and laden with derivative meanings. So whilst I may have had my own reasons and motivations of putting together the outfits and creating this composition, they don't really matter all that much in the end.

So here are a few production notes :

One of several RAW takes for the image which was later composited together
with a background I created from a view out of an airplane window and a starry sky

Cue Drama - My Final Image created specially for this challenge

Cue Drama Up Close -  This isn't the same image zoomed in , but rather an entirely different composition
meant to detail the relationship between the two figures. 

Photo Credits :

DA

[ContraptioN] *ocean* Maritime Division Uniform Sweater (from Steam Hunt 6 I think - yeah total SL ho-arder)

[ContraptioN] Wainright Glasses (from TMD current round)

Tee*fy Epoch Legend Unleash The beast Belt Body Suit (from Epoch - a while ago)

*LE* MattiePitt Steampunk Wings (from Genre)

CPD Prof Grieferschock's Auto Cauterizing Glove (from FutureWave)

AZE Voice Modulator (from FutureWave)

AZOURY Succubus Heels (Nougat) + JD My Feet Tip Toe

[INK] Hair - Against : Baige (from TMD previous round)

NJ

Zibska  - Dagmar Outfit ~ Vapour (From Future Wave)

ZIbska  - Asrid Headpiece (Version1 of 2)

ISD DarkNet F White Hair  (for L$1 demo and promo version from Future Wave)

DRD Mechanical Fairy Wings - Steam Wings Iron 

ieQED Hand Spike - (from The Surreal Complex - Art Section)

*Illusions* Sylph ears

Prop : 

Flat Iron Sculpty - From MP : 

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/RE-Old-Flat-Iron-One-Prim-Metal-Clothes-Iron-Decoration/3431453

Pose :
Del May - One part of Fair Weather Kiss
Posertry -  Sit help 1

Events LM's of current rounds ( These are time sensitive and only accurate at time of writing)

Futurewave (Feb 15th - 23rd)
Taxi : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cursed/37/171/968

Website : http://cursedfuturewave.wordpress.com/

Genre (Feb 15th - Mar 15th)
Taxi : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Analog%20Dog%20Hair/31/218/3072

Website : http://genreinsl.wordpress.com/

Fantasy Gacha Carnival (Feb 1st - 28th)

Taxi : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Acerbus%20Silva/46/66/53

Website: http://fantasygacha.wix.com/carnival

The Surreal Complex (Ends Mar 2nd) 

Taxi : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jack%20and%20Jones/207/115/1997

Website : http://havendalesl.wordpress.com/

The Men's Department 

Taxi : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Pea/126/64/23

Website : http://themensdeptsl.wordpress.com/

The Fish-Eye Lens : Arghs Tutorial IV - Puppet Warp Kungfu.

The Arghs Tutorials : Chapter IV - quick screen capture of the lost file 

The ARGHS tutorial is my way of restoring karmic balance and appeasing the techno-gods with a blog offering of a method byte. Other tutorials are here and this now continues with :

Dita's quick and dirty 

photo retouching/sculpting tutorial 

using Puppet Warp

This is a basic tutorial about my technique for retouching an image with Photoshop CS6 using 'Puppet Warp'

Geekery : I am using Photoshop CS6 extended on a Macbook Pro using a 2.6GHZ Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GT 650M (1GB Video RAM), Running OSX 10.8.5 with a 500GB M4 SSD (Solid State Disk) drive.

Finished Composition

Original Capture

Step 1: After selecting the area you wish to correct,
feather your selection and copy this to a new layer from which to work. Select Puppet Warp from the Edit menu.

Step 2: Puppet warp will convert the area into a mesh which can be manipulated by placing pins in areas you want to warp/pull/stretch/contract etc.
Start with laying down several anchoring points on your mesh and add more as you need

Step 3 : Using this method, it's possible to 'sculpt' areas and create cleaner perspectives and shading.
This illustration shows how you can clean up the 'arm pit' area of the original capture
with a more naturalistic 'join' between flesh bodies.

Step 4: Just a little has been done to illustrate the flexibility and power of this tool.
With one  process you are able to correct much of this area where the SL mesh is crude and refine it in post production.

And that is my ARGHS top tip. Hope you enjoyed it!

xxx

D

The Travelfish : A Bugs Life

D of Ourfish takes a snap while giant ants go about their business.

Second Life is, if you can suspend belief and immerse yourself into it, an amazing universe of worlds. It is a vehicle in which you can take a ride in the imaginations of others. As the plains of Second Life are not defined, they are vast and it's hard to navigate. 

Under The Sky - by Yooma Mayo at LEA17

If you are an intrepid traveller and have no fear of creepy crawlies - then one place you may just like to visit is the exhibition by Yooma Mayo in LEA17. Titled " Under The Sky".

Here,  'Giant' opalescent insects inhabit the surrounds of a stalk of lilly that grows in the center of a shallow pool. The bugs fight over what one can only guess at as a colony of ants to's and fros around the landscape of this epic battle. 

Some fall by the wayside whilst others soar into the sky ...

Visit Yooma Mayo's " Under the sky" exhibition at LEA17 

(Linden Endowment of the Arts)

The Artfish : Swan Lake

The nice thing about Second Life is that it is an instantly accessible medium for creating visual imagery. Today, D decided to interpret Swan Lake. Swan Lake as we know it, has its origins as a Russian composition (1875 - 1876 according to Wiki) by Pyotr Tchaicovsky for the Bolshoi Ballet.

It is a tragedy that centres around two women whose features are so alike, they are mistaken for the other. Princess Odette is enchanted by the evil Sorcerer,Von Rothbart - and cursed to live out her days as a swan. She inhabits a lake that was magically formed by the tears of her grief struck mother.
Together with her companions, who are also cursed alongside her, Odette is only able to regain her human form at night. The enchantment can only end with the power of a vow of true love; however if such a vow were alas to be broken, then Odette would be twice cursed to remain forever a swan.

Odile, the black swan, is the rival of Odette

One day, a young Prince Siegfried happens to venture deep within the forrest, coming across a beautiful swan that he first intends to shoot at with his new cross bow - when low and behold the swan transforms into the peerless Princess Odette. So moved by her beauty and story is he that he offers to take her for his queen - inviting her to the castle ball so that they may marry. They dance the night away together falling deeper in love till the dawn breaks and Odette is once more forced to resume her swan form.

The next night at the ball, Prince Siegfried anxiously awaits the arrival of Odette whom he tragically mistakes for Odile - the daughter of Von Rothbart who is herself enchanted by her father as a trick. The sorcerer's plan is to make the Prince break his vow so that Odette would be in his power forever. It is a plan that  succeeds as the Prince recants his love for Odette and declares himself in love with Odile. He fails to tell the difference between the two women. Nor does he notice the appearance of Odette at the castle window trying to warn him to be faithful to her. 

Odette was forced to live by a lake formed magically from her mother's tears

The only way left for the curse to be broken is with the death of Odette who has no desire to live without Siegfried. As dawn breaks, she throws herself into the lake - and Siegfried who now realises that he has been tricked, follows his true love. With their sacrifice, Odette's companions are freed and the magic broken as Odette and Siegfried rise up to the heavens together in spirit for all eternity.

Related Links : Yinka Shonibare MBE

Fashion Direction :
Body Suit and Feather Collar from " Behind the Mask" by Bare Rose
Tutu by Canimal
Hoodie by La Rosa (Midnight Angel)
Nails by Mandala
Necklace by Miamai
Lace Jumpsuit by Boudoir
Makeup by Niju

The Retrospectivefish : What Next?

Second life can be an amazing outlet for play and creativity

And so on this the first dawn of the new year, some might be nursing off the night before. Ourfish finds itself in retrospection - like a yearly renewed ritual; and thought to share a few loosed notions with you ...

What happens next is entirely up to you

2011 saw the close to some things you thought would be around a lot longer than they were* and yet everything within Second life is this fast paced and transient 'un-reality'. Landscapes and Landmarks come and go as quick as you can hit delete. So what is it about second life that continues to fascinate and enthral those of us who continue to take up residency within this state of constant pixel flux? D thinks that it; as in anything in life (real or otherwise), is just as much about what you put into it. It can be an amazing space for creativity. It's an interesting experiment socially - the impact and ramifications of which could possibly be far reaching, were one to truly contemplate the idea. But what next? Well D's resolution revolution continues with a notion about consistency and needing to get out of her hermit shell a bit more. Look out world! Watch this space!

Fashion Direction :
Grixdale - Wolf and I (High Waist Dress) - Now Closed
Abyss - [Opium] Cropped Bomber Jacket
L&B - "Dita Desire" Chocolate Suede
Pixel Dolls - Wool Plaid Gloves
Kosh - Multiplex Necklace (No Tag)
Oval - Leggings001-Brown
[Sauce] - peach blossom lipgloss

* Retrospective News Articles on Second life Closures :
The End of Second Life (2009)
No Sl is not closing in 2012
CNN Closing Down Second life location

The Artfish : Music

"Music"

D of Ourfish is still plodding on with her one art thing a day revolution. Having recently purchased some wacky things from Grim Bros, it was simply a must! We tried to capture the feel of this couture creation in a different sort of interpretation - Cue Madonna and 

 " Your Babylons look less big than they do on the telleh but I still definitely would…"

Madonna - Music by hushhush112

The Tech.

One of the original captures.
The polyhedron dress is quite difficult to photograph in any way that captures the way it actually behaves virtually.

Fashion Direction :
Parts from Polyhedron Dress by Grim Bros.
Zeus Hair
Kosh Makeup
Love Soul Nails

The Ourfish : Captured Moments

D, just about making it for the deadline Ourfish set on an arty thing a day. Here's two - portraits capturing an Ourfish moment…

"Tender"

"Chilling"

The Artfish: Drowned World Lenore

Drowned World Lenore

Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!
Let the bell toll! -a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river -
And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear? -weep now or never more!
See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore!
Come! let the burial rite be read -the funeral song be sung! -
An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young -
A dirge for her, the doubly dead in that she died so young ~ Edgar Allan Poe

The visit to Empyreal Dreams (ref blog 19/12) must have been more inspiring than Ourfish thought!

As we were fiddling around  with wind-light settings, poses and set design, the image started coming together to form this picture….

Original Capture

Fashion Direction :

By fortuitous accident Ladies Who Lunch had/are having a retirement sale where Ourfish picked up their !Faint LL OTS Tutu (white) for a song. We have a sneak peak at an amazing dress;part of which is the hat (Lenore Hat from ~EDC~) that is part of today's assemblage.

Hair : D!va

Feet : Abyss

Hands : Mandala Milky Way

Makeup : RMK Opening Gift by Niju.

The Fashionfish : Ornithology I, II, III

Ornithology (from Greek: ὄρνις, ὄρνιθος, ornis, ornithos, "bird"; and λόγος, logos, "rationale" or "explanation") is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. 

D part of Ourfish wanted to showcase this fabulously feathery creation from Empyreal Dreams which is up for grabs for the POE hunt. (mentioned in The Discoveryfish 17/12/2011) Glam aside, this place is well worth visiting on its own - 

To quote :

Empyreal Dreams is an ongoing collaborative art project between two Second Life residents - Ariel Wingtips and Remington Aries. It’s aim, to visualize famous poems and literature using Second Life as a canvas. When complete our anthology will contain 12 works. Despite living on opposite sides of the globe, Second Life has given us the power to quickly work together in real time to turn our dreams into virtual realities

Currently they have five of their collaborative efforts up to view and they are :

• The Owl and The Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear
• The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
• Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
• The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• The Bluebell by Emily Brontë

And so borrowing a leaf from their book - Ourfish presents Ornithology I,II, III, visually interpreting "Bird Song" by Florence & The Machine in  Virtual Haute Couture


Songwriters: Devente Hynes, Florence Welch

Ornithology I
Well, I didn't tell anyone but a bird flew by
Saw what I'd done
He set up a nest outside
And he sang about what I'd become
He sang so loud, sang so clear
I was afraid all the neighbors would hear
So I invited him in just to reason with him
I promised I wouldn't do it again

Ornithology II
But he sang louder and louder inside the house
And now I couldn't get him out
So I trapped him under a cardboard box
And stood on it to make him stop 
I picked up the bird and above the din I said
"That's the last song you'll ever sing"
Held him down, broke his neck
Taught him a lesson he wouldn't forget

But in my dreams began to creep
That old familiar tweet, tweet, tweet

Ornithology III
I opened my mouth to scream and shout
I waved my arms and flapped about
But I couldn't scream and I couldn't shout
Couldn't scream and I couldn't shout
I opened my mouth to scream and shout
I waved my arms and flapped about
But I couldn't scream I couldn't shout


The song was coming from my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth
From my mouth

Fashion Direction :

~ E.D.C~ Feather Dress (Ruby) - for POE. is complete and includes shoes.

by Empyreal Dreams

Candy Nail #P032 Feather Red

Twilight Muse Darkened - Feather Collar + Shoulder Pieces by Hollow Angel Designs

Visage : 

KOSH- WET LIPS -rose red-

-Glam Affair- CELEBRITY - Eyelashes 08 (Tintable)

!lamb. Unbirthday Redux - Blood Fruit (Hair)

Vintage :

:::SPLIT PEA:: little bird, come into my body - strings (Jun. 2010) by melatonin.hax

mika - Feather Hat With Veil 'Demimonde' (Black) (Mar. 2011) by mikaela.rasmuson

The Discoveryfish : [Burley] Groovy Love Child

Since discovering [Burley] hair, D part of ourfish has been inspired by hippy fashion and as kissmet would have it - recently acquired this coat of groovy colours ( Orage Creations *OC* Peace Dream Jacket) from the "Peace on Earth" hunt thus

Cue Music : Pizzicato Five - Baby Love Child

When I see you alone,
I see what's in your mind.
You love me yes you do,
you don't need to tell me.
I know you love me most,
no one else take my place.
You need me, yes you do.
Forever, and ever.

We are in bed at night,
I can see what you want.
You want me yes you do,
愛してます
I know how you feel,
you have all of my heart.
I give you myself.
Forever and ever

We are in love, baby love child
I take you so high, groovy love child
Give me a kiss, baby love child
Do it again

Fashion Direction :
Clothes
*OC* Peace Dream Jacket
*COCO* Tube Top (black)

Hair
[Burley] Noel Platinum 01 (Tint purple)

Baubles
*JD* Earrings Button Set
MTP Mens Luck and Faith beaded necklace
n-creation black beads
T&S beaded choker

The Travelfish : Virtual Tourism & Feeling Winter in Alirium Gardens

" Baby it's cold outside..."

Alirium Gardens

There are many magical places to visit inside Second Life. If Linden Labs (LL) had a forestry commission marking spaces on the grid to be preserved for posterity ; then one of those spots must surely be Alirium Gardens which truly deserves to be notated as a place of outstanding artificial beauty.

It helps to think of Alirium Gardens as a virtual plant centre as that is its primary business. The flora and fauna available for purchase from this shop are really unique pieces of fantasy shrubbery that have often been used in other montages and landscape creations for precisely their dreamlike, surreal quality.

The gardens are seasonal, reflecting in the virtual - the times and climes of the real.

Ourfish visited the gardens again for perhaps the ninehundredthandbillionth, time taking along our virtual hasselblad for some clicks.

Photo Title : Monarch Of The Glen

Photo Title : Manga Midwinter

Photo Title : That Cottage In The Distance

Photo Title : Walking in a Whiteout Wonderland

More from this photoshoot in Ourfish's Art Aquarium

The Discoveryfish : A strange new world of online photo contests

Of late, and on account of A. - ourfish has put a couple of photos up in contests. They mostly occur in flickr; but have been oddly quite satisfying to participate in. Here are the latest.

For Gabriel Photo Contest

Title : " Road Warrior"

For Gabriel Photo Contest

Title : " Gabriel - Fashion for Urban Angels"

For Fashion Teller :  Murder My Sweet Contest

Title : " The Killer Critique"