I felt like doing a pretty pic today. I feel like I haven’t done one of these for a while. I don’t often wear a lot of makeup, in RL or SL but once in a while I do like to get all dolled up and elymode knows how to do glitter! Of course I couldn’t resist the new mesh liners from Glam Affair either, totally delicious. All of this and more at Cosmetics Fair right now, so take the slurl and check it out.
I had a lot of fun with this in photoshop so make sure to click over to my profile to see the raw shot. Do you guys ever do before and after comparisons? I do that a lot after I process just to see how much I put into it. Sometimes I kind of regret all the processing and wonder if it’s better if I kept it at a minimum but then I guess I wouldn’t learn as much. Sometimes it’s fun to just press that shiny button and see what it can do!
Finally, one thing I wanted to mention that I noticed the other day. All of the major social networks I’m on seem to have adopted hashtags. So now I’m stalking all the SecondLifers everywhere. I think it’ll be interesting to see how this develops and how people use it on the other networks. I know I use hashtags like crazy on Twitter, I follow the SecondLife hashtags and certain other social media tags and such. I’ve learned a lot that way and have been introduced to many bloggers and informative sites. Here’s a link to the #SecondLife hashtags on different networks, in case you wanna stalk them with me:
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
-William Shakespeare
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1.1.231-2)
So today is day two of Avatar Blogger Month and I’m kind of patting myself on the back even though it’s only been two days but I’M SO PROUD I MADE IT THIS FAR! LOL I am going to see how long I can keep this up.
The first image you see in this post is a bit photoshopped but the second image is completely raw, I just cropped it. These days I noticed the only time I actually photoshop something is if I want to play with the colors a bit or just smooth something out or add a bit more flavor to the image. It’s just not as required like it was before.
In this post, both the floatie and the piggy in the teacup are made of mesh. My hair, bathing suit, ring, eyelids and hands are made of mesh. I’m using the Pink Fuel hand appliers for my SLink mesh hands so it was a perfect match. I’m super happy with the quality and creativity of the content these days and also with all the new features being added.
(raw shot from SL, just cropped)
The poses that you see in these pictures were actually part of the animation that is inside the floatie. However I did adjust them a bit using the Animare pose HUD. I wanted to move my hands around for the different shots and have them in different positions. You can see the original pose that came with the floatie at this link. I can’t tell you how many times the Animare HUD has helped me out. Sometimes poses just don’t fit because my hips are too big or my arms aren’t the right length, etc… so instead of editing my shape, I just pull out the HUD, adjust the position to make it fit and I’m good to go. Also, for only being L$299 it’s definitely a steal and a HUD I think that everyone should own.
On a final note, I know I said that tomorrow’s meme is going to be a hard one, well it’s turning out to be a bit difficult for me as well. :-/ If I don’t get it done in time then I might have to postpone it till next week and do something easy again tomorrow. But I haven’t given up today as of yet, so wish me luck!
Credits:
*Skin: [Pink Fuel] Harley – Arcade 10 (RARE) by Mochi Milena (@ Arcade June)
Mesh Eyelids: Slink Mesh eyelids (solid) by Siddean Munro
*Hair: /Wasabi Pills/ Lory Mesh Hair – Cinnamon by Missallsunday Lemon (@ Arcade June)
Swimsuit: [SS] Lana Banana Bikini S – polka dots by London Dailey (@ FaMESHed June)
*Ring: Cae :: Kasbah :: Ring (R) by Caelan Hancroft (@ FaMESHed June)
*Mesh Hands: Slink Mesh Hands (av) Casual by Siddean Munro
Slink Hands Appliers: [Pink Fuel] Applier – Slink Avatar Enhancement – Hands (Peach) by Mochi Milena
*Floatie: MIAMAI_TCS_Floatie Unicorn Purple RARE by Monica Outlander (@ Arcade June)
*Piggy: !O: Teacup Piglet Gatcha [Cupid] by Anya Ohmai (@ Arcade June)
Today I thought it would be a fun idea to do a meme where everyone can share a bit of their talents.
Meme instructions: Blog a tutorial and teach me something that you think I might not know about (even if I do, doesn’t matter, do it anyways). The tutorial can be something within Second Life (how to build, create tattoos or clothes, pick up guys at info hubs, tie your virtual shoelaces, whatever…) or something in Photoshop or on any social network (just focus on something sl-related somehow). Make it informative, make it hilarious, make it whatever you like! I’d just love to learn something from you that you may be good at and are willing to share. Remember to leave your link in this meme’s post so others can come by and learn too!
I decided to teach you guys how to create animated gifs using photoshop that you can use in your blog posts or on plurk.
I did a video tutorial, but you guys totally don’t have to do that for your tutorials, you can just write out the steps. I’m going to try and do that myself below as well. This is the link to the video: http://youtu.be/fQ_suHnRnWk
Steps to Creating Animated GIFs using Photoshop CS5
Create a new document and put each frame of the animation on a different layer.
Open the Animation window, by going to the Window menu and then choose Animation.
Modify each frame as desired, if needed.
Select the delay time for each frame.
Save your GIF. From the File menu, choose “Save for Web and Devices” and choose GIF from the drop-down menu. Select Preset GIF 128 Dithered and hit save.
Please note that animated gifs do not work on Flickr, so I had to upload this week’s picture to my blog itself, I usually host my blog pics on flickr. So that’s my meme and tutorial for today. You can find more of my tutorials on my Tutorials page.
Please remember that you can participate in any of the memes at any time. You’ll find them all under my Blog Challenges category along with other memes and challenges I’ve done over the years. If you do an image for your meme and put it on flickr, feel free to share it in the Blog Memes Flickr Group.
I’m a day early with this meme again as I’ll be in meetings on Monday. I might be posting the memes for the next several weeks a day early as my real life will be a bit hectic as the school year ends. Thanks for participating and I hope you guys have a productive Monday! <3
EDIT: A few people have messaged me asking what I used to record my screen as they would also like to do a video tutorial. I used Camtasia but there are a few other free options such as Camstudio, Fraps, Jing, etc… and people are sharing more in this plurk.
Credits:
*Skin: Glam Affair – Margot – India 02 – Dark brown (@ Collabor88 May)
Eyes: Mayfly – Deep Sky Mesh Eye (Desert Dawn, w4) by Arkesh Baral
Mesh Eyelids: Slink Mesh eyelids by Siddean Munro
*Hair: /Wasabi Pills/ Selene Mesh Hair – Chocolate by MissAllSunday Lemon
Top: Peqe – Crop Top (S) by Inex Hax (@ Catnip Carnival) (slurl)
Necklace: Cae :: Catnip :: Necklace by Caelan Hancroft (@ Catnip Carnival) (slurl)
Pose: Adorkable Poses: Zoo by Adorkable Peapod (@ Catnip Carnival) (slurl)
I think we all do things in our lives that we’re not incredibly proud of, but we still do them out of habit or just because it’s something we feel strongly about and don’t necessarily always want everyone to know about them. One of my real life guilty confessions is my obsessive love for Golden Girls reruns. I cannot resist them. If I know they will be on, I will drop everything and grab some munchies and just sit and enjoy them. Yes, I know, I need help.
Anyhow, I thought it would be fun to reveal some of our second life guilty confessions. I’m going to share five of mine, but I’m not putting a number on this meme as I know not everyone will want to admit many so just share whatever you like. However, you don’t need to go overboard on the sharing (like confession bear here), cuz you know, I don’t want anyone going to Second Life jail or anything after doing this meme! (Is there a Second Life jail?)
Meme instructions: Share 1 to 10 of your top second life guilty confessions. Remember to leave your link in this meme’s post so others can come by and read your answers as well!
My inventory number is over 100K (again) – If you are on my plurk timeline you may already know about this one, but for the past several weeks I have been struggling to get rid of some stuff from my inventory. My highest was at 128K and I slowly started to bring it down and I even got it under 100K about two weeks ago but now it’s over 100K again. :-/ I’m going to keep trying but it is just so difficult to keep up with everything and try to keep it low at the same time. I feel soooo guilty about it because I know how much smoother and faster SL runs with a lower inventory number so I’m going to keep trying but I know this will always be a continuous struggle for me.
I am naked or half-dressed most of the time – Because my inventory is such an incredible mess and I don’t have a lot of time to sort stuff out. I am usually naked or mostly naked or just really badly dressed anytime I am not blogging, in a photoshoot or have any other kind of appointment with someone. I also really wanted to do Magenta’s Basics Blog challenge but I couldn’t because I don’t really have any basics! I just remove/detach all and stand around with no AO. In fact (it never fails) I will be bald, shoe-less and probably won’t even have pants on and I’ll teleport over to a store real quick to pick up something I need for a look I’m planning to blog and I will run into someone, “OMG HI BERRY, SO NICE TO SEE YOU HERE.” And I’m all like, “OH HI SO WONDERFUL TO SEE YOU TOO” meanwhile in my head I’m thinking, “CAN I JUST DIE NOW?” Over 100K in my inventory and this is how I travel the grid. THIS IS MY SECOND LIFE!
I usually only wear things once – Because my inventory is the never ending abyss, once it’s lost in there, it’s gone forever. So unless I have saved the outfit right away or for some odd reason I actually opened the box in my objects folder and actually filed away the folder in the right clothing folder instead of leaving it in the root inventory folder like the thousands of other items, most probably I will never find it again. What does that mean? That means that most of the time, I usually only wear things once and then I forget about them. How do I remember them and wear them again? By looking them up in my blog posts. And that is why I make the extra effort of trying to write everything clearly and properly in my credits so I don’t have a problem of searching and looking it up in my inventory when I need to. THIS IS MY SECOND LIFE!
I have to buy all things Berry – It’s like an addiction. If it has a berry on it, I feel like I have to have it. Thankfully, a lot of people gift me strawberry items all the time so I have quite a huge collection of strawberry-themed things (which I rarely blog btw because of course, MY INVENTORY) but yeah if you put a strawberry on it, chances are I will hunt it down and buy it so it can be lost in my inventory with the thousands of other items.
I’m a silent boycotter – Ok this one’s pretty serious and might get me some hate mail but I’m a HUGE silent boycotter. If you are a designer or even a blogger and you are a total douchebag on plurk, any other social network, or to a close friend of mine, I will boycott you without hesitation, I am not even joking! But I do it silently, without telling anyone. I just remove you from every social network, delete any items I have (whatever helps my inventory, right?), never ever blog your store or read your blog (remove it from my reader) and then pretend that you don’t exist. So if you’re the kind of person that is a sore loser and throws tantrums if they don’t win a contest, or if you like to get drunk and spew racist slurs on voice in waterhead or if you like to be a snarky bitch about every little thing that doesn’t even concern you in every single plurk, than I probably no longer notice your existence. But I’m not totally heartless (sometimes). I’ve forgiven people if I’ve seen them do something nice and I’ll blog them again if they show me they are not really the douchebag I thought they were. But honestly, that has really only happened once or twice. So yeah, I may not be very vocal in expressing my dislike for people, but I do not promote them in any way. I just ignore them and go on with my day. I’ve added this as a guilty confession because it may be a bit of a petty thing on my part. I can be mature and not let people’s behaviors dictate how and what I blog or read. But I figure, it’s my Second Life and blog….and why should I? There are thousands of other designers and bloggers to promote and read. Also, it’s not like me not blogging them or reading their blog is really going to affect them any, it’s just for my own satisfaction.
So these are my guilty confessions. Pretty goofy and petty, aren’t I? Ah well, tis my second life. I’m not proud of all these things but at least now that they are out there, I’ll be more inclined to straighten myself up and work on improving them.
I wanted a cute guilty stamp tattoo to wear on my tummy for this post but I couldn’t find one on marketplace so I quickly made this one myself. It didn’t turn out as nicely as I would have liked, but I think it looks ok. I’m going to send it to my Berrylicious group inworld for free later today. If you’d like it, you can join and find it in the notices.
Please remember that you can participate in any of the memes at any time. You’ll find them all under my Blog Challenges category along with other memes and challenges I’ve done over the years. If you do an image for your meme and put it on flickr, feel free to share it in the Blog Memes Flickr Group.
Thank you for participating in my memes. Some of you have told me how much you’ve been enjoying them and it makes me happy to know people like them as much as I do, so thank you! <3
Credits:
*Skin: Glam Affair - Margot - India Clean - Dark brown by Aida Ewing (@ Collabor88 May)
*Hair: /Wasabi Pills/ Sunny Mesh Hair – Chocolate by MissAllSunday Lemon (@ FaMESHed May)
*Top: .: Somnia :. Moustache Top {Black} {S} by Sanura Snowpaw (@ The 100 Block)
*Jeans: :[Plastik]:-Militia Skinnies [S-Cuff]://Dark by Aikea Rieko
*Mesh Hands: Slink Mesh Hand Casual by Siddean Munro
Sunglasses: =DeLa*= Sunglasses “De1″ for Ladies on head by Kuranosuke Kamachi
Tattoo: StrawberrySingh.com – Guilty Tattoo by Strawberry Singh (Free in Berrylicious Group)
Pose: Pics n Poses-F-I Dunno by Sue Hunniton
People are always asking me how I add the highlights and shadows on my pictures. Of course, a lot of that are my windlight settings. But I also play around a little bit in photoshop. I do some dodge and burn, which I used on my hair in this picture. Using curves on adjustment layers is another thing I do sometimes, but it’s really not that obvious. It’s a very minor adjustment that I think adds a little more depth to an image. I’m not sure how useful you’ll find this technique, but here it is anyways.
I just did this image for fun because I’ve been dying to use the Shakti Face Jewelry by Eshi Otawara so I’ve decided to submit this into the Glam Affair Amberly contest. If you haven’t heard about the contest, click on over and check out the awesome linden prizes. It’s always fun to enter a contest, it really motivates me to work a bit harder. I hope you guys enter it too!
» You can view all of my current tutorials on my tutorials page.
Credits:
*Skin: Glam Affair – Amberly – Africa 11 D by Aida Ewing
*Hair: /Wasabi Pills/ Giselle Mesh Hair – Chocolate by MissAllSunday Lemon (@ FaMESHed March)
*Eyelashes: Miamai_Catwalk Lashes_Glitter 01 by Monica Outlander
Eyes: Mayfly – Liquid Light Mesh Eye (Midnight Hazel) by Arkesh Baral
Eye + Face Jewels: Shakti Face Jewelry by Eshi Otawara
