Don’t Break My Heart Designer: elphiethesane Model: Ophelia
I’m always excited when it comes to wide open challenges like this one, only to very quickly get overwhelmed with too many ideas. I went through tons over the course of this one! I won’t go into all of them, since that would take too much time, but I will say my major challenge with all of them was that... Ophelia just never looked happy to be on her date.
I tried a few different things to combat this, but nothing that didn’t cover most of her face seemed to be working. While I was trying a historical take, though (I thought that might work for a serious expression), I stumbled across this top/arm mod, and was immediately struck with a new take: instead of having her out on a date, enjoying herself, why not have her getting stood up? Sitting at home, all dressed up and waiting for her date to call, but when the phone rings... It’s definitely not what she wanted to hear.
Semi-inspired by the song Build Me Up Buttercup, I decided to keep the old fashioned vibe with her look, rather then try to find a different arm mod for a more modern version. The color scheme isn’t my first choice... After the criticism last time, I was attempting to avoid light colors, but there’s only a few possibilities with that particular armmod. At the very least I avoided the dominating white, which I think helps, and tried to break it up with the use of black.
I was also less sure on using that “heart broken” bubble, since it didn’t actually match, but I wanted to use something directly related to romance and nothing I found that matched layered in a way that looked good. I did attempt to work in some red, but it just kept making the outfit look worse. Ultimately I decided to just go with it because while it doesn’t match, the colors do go together nicely. And with the way the heart bends, it almost looks like it’s coming out of the phone!
Overall, I really enjoy how this look came out. It may not be the most straightforward interpretation of the challenge, but I think it still fits, and maybe it’s just because it suits my style but the result is really nice looking. In fact, I may modify it for my own use!
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:11 pm
Blind Date Designer: Dangerous Tinfoil Shoes Model: Bryce
Description: Whew this one was tougher than I thought it would be just because I had so many different ideas I wanted to try out; I started on this twice before I decided to wait a few days until I could make a decision. That worked out because a few of my ideas were too similar to previous entries, so it narrowed things down for me. I decided to go with something sleeker and more sophisticated this time for Bryce since last time she was covered in ruffles, and I wanted to go with a darker scheme, too.
I decided to do a scene with Bryce waiting on a blind date at fancy cafe, enjoying the sun on the terrace while she checks the menu. I think the toughest part of the outfit was deciding not to put anything on her head besides earrings; I tried on several hats but none of them were right. They unbalanced her, were too cutesy/busy, or were *great* but not for this specific look (the merry widow hat had me for a hot minute). Finally I decided she looked best without any of the hats or accessories I tried on her.
Overally I'm really happy with this look, she's very sleek and chic and she's ready to meet someone cute!
Dangerous Tinfoil Shoes
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bad wolf bae Captain
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Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2019 5:48 pm
1. Darkerdemons (Rae) Positive: The red color is good and helps sell the Valentine's date idea, and it was some nice creativity to be on the beach rather than a more seductive take on the challenge. Negative: Valentine's - for a large section of the Earth - takes place when it is cold. And so a beach look was a little..odd. The floating birds? Floating blue in the background weren't great.
2. Pianette (Jiang Li) Positive: One of the stronger looks this week, and one of the more creative ones. The idea of the wings, playing off of good and evil - light and dark - is just fantastic. Things are wonderfully balanced. Negative: All of the judges had a hard time seeing the wings and seeing that layer of the outfit. The pink color suits the challenge, but it does wash Jiang Li out, something to keep in mind for the future.
3. Edcy (Ginny) Positive: No entry. Negative: No entry.
4. Sana Minatozaki (Abby) Positive: This reads as school girl like you wanted it to, and feels like a romantic over all look that fits the challenge. Negative: The speech bubble was a terrible addition as it obstructed the companion, one or the other could have been used but not both. The colors also don't flatter Abby or her hair very well, and are strikingly different from her companion which is a little jarring despite the desire for opposites attracting. We don't like links, the emojis were a bit much - honestly the entire description was just a lot visually especially with the varying font sizes. Left it feeling scattered. Being more concise in the future will help your scores.
5. elphiethesane (Ophelia) Positive: This speech bubble was one of the better ones used, it added something to the look and set the tone for one of the more creative looks. This look is complete and properly balanced, very good. Negative: This color washes Ophelia out something awful, should avoid amaranth for her in the future as much as possible.
6. sufjan stebens (Robin) Positive: This is a date locale, and it's a cute look. Choosing a theme like rollerskating/rink when there are so few items that fit it sets yourself up for a challenge, and I think you rose to it. Negative: This doesn't feel like a date, feels like Robin is a loner trying to make the most of the day. Skirt and sweater create some weird proportions.
7. Destined Savior (Jessica) Positive: The colors work well together, though they're a little light and pale color for Jessica. Negative: Don't post every view, because seeing every view hurts your scores. The head piece is one of the worst combinations of things. Why the milk bottle? Also doesn't scream the theme to us.
8. Ultrabord (April) Positive: The pinks are well matched, and this says Valentine's enough to fit the challenge well! It's a very balanced design. Negative: Look says school girl, and that makes three which is frustrating. Feels like her boyfriend is ignoring her and she's trying to get his attention.
9. METTAT0N (Lucia) Positive: This whole look and dominatrix theme fits Lucia well, and this definitely screams of a very kinky Valentine's. Negative: Lucia needed a bra, not that little hint of added extra definition. The color pink you chose of that item is not invisible, and isn't used anywhere else which makes it stand out.
10. Dangerous Tinfoil Shoes (Bryce) Positive: This works as a Valentine's date outfit, and it's pretty well composed. This is simple but it isn't terribly so. Negative: The hair and dress are a little too matchy for most of the judges, and if the background was a little darker it would have worked a little better on the whole.
11. RENstrawberry (Tara) Positive: This look really won for it's creativity, and the near flawless execution of the idea. It can be hard to make a nearly nude model that doesn't come off as lazy or messy and you nailed it. Negative: We all appreciate why you chose the dove and the symbolism, but it is drawn in such a cartoony matter that it just doesn't match everything else.
12. DAVlD DUCHOVNY (Jen) Positive: This was the first school girl outfit, and it was well executed, Jen and the companion look like they go to the same school. Negative: This says delinquent school kids. Nothing about this says Valentine's or date. The outfit also makes Jen look incredibly frumpy.
14. Toshi Yukiko (Sienna) Positive: This says Valentines and is a pretty good and balanced look. Negative: These reds don't look the best on Sienna, making her hair especially clash. Balcony is exceedingly dark. Legs are very tiny and shaded differently than everything else, leaves her looking like she'll fall over any second.
15. Haji Demon (Uma) Positive: This is romantic and fits the theme pretty well. It also fits the idea of getting ready very well. Negative: The sari/robe/whatever extra sash you have on layers in a bad way and stands out oddly. Floating petals have also been used before this challenge which is bad.
16. The Dread Wolf (Isabelle) Positive: This is one of the best looks I've ever seen with this background, the arm and leg mods you chose fit it wonderfully. Wonderful look for the challenge. Negative: The black stands out a little, and so do the red petals which is something to keep an eye on in the future. Also you have to figure out how to save and post our submissions the right size. If you need help, let me know and I can make you a tutorial.
Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2019 8:24 pm
Hired Hitwoman. Designer: RENstrawberry Model: Robin Description:
I was super excited to work with this theme for this challenge! I love the cyberpunk aesthetic. I knew I wanted to place Robin as if she were a part of the “Ghost in The Shell” universe, so quite a bit of inspiration came from that series.
Planning for the idea, I was set on Robin either wearing a robotic suit or being a robot hybrid. I began by adding her bottoms, they were available in an orange color which I loved, but I was afraid the look might come off too “halloweeny”. I later opted for the red bottoms once I found the top part of her suit. I chose to use this arm pose paired with the top of the suit to give a confident “mission accomplished” vibe. Robin was starting to look like a bad a**, and to seal the deal I decided to give her a facial scar. Luckily this scar option didn’t cover or obstruct her facial features.
Next I added her sniper rifle, which I wanted to be a bit more subtle with in the look, I imaged Robin would typically fight in hand to hand combat and only use the weapon for special missions, like sniping on a roof top!
Then came the background. The foreground (black floor, wall, and wires) initially came with a scene different from the city, but to get a step closer for a futuristic cyberpunk feel, I added a cityscape which luckily layered over the other scene, but kept the black foreground.
Lastly, I felt Robin had too much visual weight towards the legs of her look because of the white, so I decided to add her goggles to balance the look.
Designer :: Pianette Model :: Jiang Li Tall-Eared Servitude "Finally robotic beings rule the world ♪" "Once again without emotion!"
This actually went a lot darker than I set out to make it thematically lol
Technically, I started with the top, but it wasn't... this top. Air Raider is a funny little item that I've seen very little use for outside of the shirt. It was however the first thing I put on, because, well, it's a good shirt. When that wasn't really going anywhere, I clicked through the other poses and there it was: my inspiration. The Air Raider Antennae look a bit like bunny ears, no? That's what I started to run with; a bit of a robot bunny commander kind of person. Someone that was leading the robo-bunny troops rather than ah... being led by them. It's a bit of an older item so I tried to match with them when I could (I actually spent probably too much time going back and forth between apatite and gunmetal in that regard).
Looking at the actual robot bits, I didn't want to go full robot-- no, that was left for the creations overlords-- but I still wanted to of course have enough where it was clear that "Hey, I'm not 100% human anymore." The bit on the chest came first although it was a different piece initially. The eye swiftly followed, and that covered a good chunk of the face, but not enough. I ran through a couple of different visors before landing on this one, and for some time I worked with a completely different one on (but there was too much of a color difference it was destined to not work). I added the cheek piece for that little extra oomph of robotness.
For the overall setting, the bunnies came first, the one in front very shortly after the headband. I ran through a couple different recolors of the other before deciding that was nicest. After all this talk of creations turning into overlords, you might be wondering when that came in. Well that came in here, at the tail end in the background stage. Instead of a bright and happy future I turned to a dark and post-apocalyptic one, then The Humans are Dead got stuck in my head and it was all over from there. Oh, and the bubble came in to show undying devotion to our not so furry robot overlords.
Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2019 10:41 pm
Big Mech Mechanic Designer: Dangerous Tinfoil Shoes Model: Bryce
Description: For this challenge I immediately knew I wanted to do bright colors, and I really love Demoncandy's pops of neon color with white. I knew from my initial audition with Bryce that she looks great in white, so I felt like the scheme was perfect for her. I also immediately had in my mind the idea of an engineer or mechanic, something like a futuristic Rosie the Riveter who maintains all the Giant Futuristic Robots. I went through the different tools/wrenches before I hit on the giant wrench from the Grumpy Gearhead item, which felt perfect to me. I really liked how it balanced out horizontally with Bryce's very simple vertical silhouette, if that makes any sense, and the pose felt really strong.
The tiny robot legs! I love the slim metal legs juxtaposed with the puffy pants and shoes, and I most of all loved that they were simple and no-nonsense. I felt like Bryce could definitely be a cyborg without having to be flashy, and I liked the idea that with just a different pair of pants it might not even be obvious that she has robot legs. (I'm a diabetic, I use an insulin pump which is basically an electronic pancreas, it's not an immediately noticeable device--sometimes I feel like a secret cyborg, and that can be fun!)
The one difficulty I ran into was with her head! I knew I wanted to put goggles on her because safety gear is important and it's sort of an iconic part of the "look" for mechanics in sci-fi things. The problem was that after I found a pair of goggles I really liked, I felt like the yellow in her outfit really needed to be carried to the top. I really wanted a bandanna, but the one I liked best didn't layer right with the goggles, so I looked for accessories instead like earrings. Nothing looked right. So I went back to looking for a different pair of goggles, and finally I found the Kakumei Soldier goggles in blue. Once I was able to get the bandanna on there I finally felt like she was done, and overall I'm happy with how the look came together.
Oh also, I know you might be thinking, "A mechanic? Wearing white?" but I figure, this is the future! She has robot legs! They probably have all sorts of high tech fabrics that are tear and stain resistant, flame proof, etc. so I think it's totally possible that she could wear a nice outfit of white clothes in a durable cloth that would easily wash if they got greasy and dirty.
Dangerous Tinfoil Shoes
Sparkly Comrade
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sufjan stebens
Wilderness of Hearts
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 12:10 pm
designer: sufjan stebens model: april
dystopia
April is a freedom fighter on a planet under the rule of a tyrant. Resource mining has made the planet into a wasteland with desert stretching as far as the eye can see. To keep the dust out of her mouth, she's wearing a bandana. When the wind picks up, she'll put her goggles on, too.
The tyrant ruler's army has better weapons than the rebels. They have more money. They have better tech. April's life has been difficult and full of danger. She lost her arm in a firefight. But she couldn't afford to just give up. She has a new cybernetic arm cobbled together with scrap metal and recycled wires. She needs both hands to hold her sniper rifle. One day she's going to put a bullet between the tyrant's eyes, and no injury is going to stop her.
Originally I had her wearing Prodigal Companion's prosthetic arm, but the gun dominated the avatar. This sniper rifle (Prototype Zero) is strapped onto her back so I have more room to show off her outfit. I also originally had her wearing a headset to broadcast messages to other rebels, but I replaced it with goggles after realizing how important it would be for a sniper to protect her eyes against dust storms.
With this look April looks both hot and cool at the same time. She's scrappy and determined. The bandana over her mouth really helps to diminish her naturally youthful and innocent appearance.
Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 12:48 pm
The Robotic Doll
Designer: Destined Soul Model:Jessica Description: Inspired by the mangas/animes Fullmetal Alchemist and Chobits, I decided to create an android girl trapped within a laboratory after she had barely survived an explosion that took out a large part of her neighborhood and her entire family. A scientist observing the scene found her mangled body in the wreckage and decided to give her a second chance at life by making her an android and helping her understand what had just happened.
While Chi was built by a husband and wife duo and Edward Elric sacrificed his limbs (one arm and one leg) to save his brother's soul, I decided to give Jessica here a mix because the two characters were both made out of mechanical parts (more Chi than Eddy) and have some similar structures that make them unique. The combination of the two made it possible for Jess here to represent not only Chi and Edward Elric but sort of a new version of the two animes and is apart of the challenge's theme. The wires attached to her body represent the power she needs constantly to survive like humans need food and water to survive; the ribbons are her covering (no nudity in the laboratory!); and the robotic kitty ears are what helps her ear and sense danger when it approaches. The blue tattoo features is the glowing radiating technology from her core (i.e. her heart) that is pumped with energy almost every two months (think like Tony Stark from Iron Man expect the core is inside not outside of the body). Hopefully this conveys what I'm telling; it's a fun project to do and I'd thoroughly enjoyed it. biggrin
This was a pretty difficult challenge for me. Going in I knew what pants/legs I wanted to use but I thought the colour scheme was just biohazard. It turned out the scheme was both biohazard and alleycat. They isnt much alleycat i could find that didnt cover up all the biohazard. After all the searching I found alleycat belts and bags that covered up only a portion of what was seen, making it perfect. Sci-Fi is my favourite genre so I hope i was able to give a good ode to it while keeping it fashionable with my charging "high-flyer"
Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2019 5:29 am
QTR-PRO-600 (Abby) Designer: Sana Minatozaki Model: Abby Description: Out of all the challenges I've ever faced, from the 1st cycle to the current one, this is the most difficult one. It took me two days to make this outfit for Abby, TWO! Usually I take only one day to make an entry, but noticeable that I wasn't being an early bird on submitting, so it may be bothering for you when you look at it on my point of view.
Now, about the outfit. Ah, yes! When I saw the challenge, I thought to myself "Hey! How about I make Abby a humanoid?", so I started my idea from there and started searching keywords like: robot, future, mecha, etc. and started clicking on items that looks robotic, and try to see if it looks good or not. And oh boy! All the items I made Abby wear are horrible, absolutely HORRIBLE! That's why I stopped making my entry and re-think things through on my entry. So I looked for color schemes that'll look very futuristic-looking, and I found two color schemes: checkmate and biohazard
I made a draft outfit with the checkmate scheme, but since I discovered checkmate is just a color, but not entirely a color scheme, all the items I found were so horrible, but I didn't let myself get that in the way, so I did my thing, but in the end, it's just as horrible as what I did in the first place, and I got so frustrated and mad, I can't even! So I stopped making my entry, and calmed myself down and relaxed for a bit, and thinking on how to do my outfit.
Then the next day, I retried making my entry, and found an armmod where your summoning lightning on your hands, then I started my outfit from there. I finally tried to search biohazard, then things are looking up for me, for I happen to find a corset with bottom pieces to match the lightning, and as a result, I made a bodysuit. For the accessories, I found these really cool-looking body lines that looked very futuristic and a semi-background to match my outfit. I also found these cute headphones with kitty ears to go along with everything.
Finally, I present to you my latest creation, QTR-PRO-600, but you can call her Abby
Nuclear Throne Model: Lucia Designer: METTAT0N Description: This was unfortunately incredibly difficult to work on, due mainly to the fact that the avatar builder kept resetting and I lost all my progress 3-4 times. Not to mention the transparency issues with the images! But I think the black sky creates an interesting effect, even with the risk of visual imbalance... please forgive me if I'm wrong. The technical difficulties were just too much by this point.
I love this model so much and it's been a joy to work with her. Her cool, stern expression really spoke to me in this challenge, and I wanted to create a heroic character like Samus Aran with this theme. The degree of technology integration changed rather rapidly as I edited the avatar. As it turns out, a lot of the sci-fi items on site are unlabeled!
The arm pose for Total Mayhem was a little difficult to work with paired with the Maid 4 U shoulder pads, but her silhouette seemed a little too skinny without the extra help. I like to think that her hand is grasping at her hood, and she's getting ready to pull it back and introduce herself as the protagonist of her story.
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 10:45 am
A High-Tech Ride Designer: Ultrabord Model: Ginny Description:
I absolutely love science fiction, so I was excited when I saw the futuristic cyborg theme. I started by looking for cybernetic accessories and found a fantastic prosthetic arm mod and a little robotic panel skin mod, then added the city background and hoverboard to add to the futuristic feel. The sunglasses/earrings and top completed the outfit. I made sure I stayed with the black/blue/gray technological color theme so the model wouldn't be too flashy or too plain. I was debating on whether I would use the armmod with the gun or the fist, but I believe that the stereotype of everyone carrying blaster guns in the future is overrated; why does the future need to be violent? This cyborg girl is just chilling and riding her hoverboard through the city, although she's more than equipped to defend herself or protect the innocent if needed.
Designer: Darkerdemons Model: Rae Process: See Spoiler
I was thrilled to find out the current challenge's theme: a distant future. I admire many futuristic avatars on Gaia and enjoy several films that are set in the future. The first idea to come to mind was a cybernetic fighter inspired by Ghost in the Shell media. Rae's features seemed to request a more sophisticated outfit. The final theme, a singer, was inspired by the film The Fifth Element ("The Diva Dance" opera performance).
Rae's pale skin and hair benefit the robotic look. I aimed to make her features stand out by surrounding her with dark colors - kind of like a bright star in the void of space. Rae has lines on her face where her form would've been pieced together and wires to transfer power. The benefit of being a robot: Rae can change her voice in many ways and has a vocal range not humanly possible. There is a line crossing Rae's hips; this is one of the wires, not a glitch or ill-fitting item. The butterfly headphones (inspired by Vocaloid virtual idols) and black dress were the first items equipped. They also set the main challenge: color matching. It was hard to find items with azure/black and minimal navy/purple. I changed colors several times, but the blue/black combination had a more futuristic feel and worked better with Rae than most other colors.
Even though the theme is futuristic, the background does not differ much from historical or present stages. This seems acceptable; technology changes over time, but the basic stage appearance does not necessarily have to change. Compare past/present stages or the stages from some futuristic films that have much in common with current stages. Avatar lighting was the last aspect addressed. It was also a point of discovery for me. I'd heard the order that items are equipped sometimes changes how they fit together, but hadn't experienced this phenomenon when making avatars. The light shines down on Rae in a narrow beam; however, if the item order is adjusted, the light broadly covers the top third of the avatar. I particularly like the wire in the light - it appears as if the wire is actually reflecting the light and is brighter than the wires outside the beam.
One of my priorities during this challenge was comparing the look after taking an item off. I did end up with less items. Similar to Glass of Bubbly from the first challenge, I feel this avatar is an improvement from most of my past avatars and am very happy with the result.
Note about the title: there is a song from the Opera Les contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) nicknamed "The Doll Song". "Les oiseaux dans la charmille" (The birds in the arbor) is performed by an automaton who has attracted the affections of a human character. Rae would do well performing a futuristic rendition of the aria - she has certainly captured my heart.
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:25 pm
Welcome to the Citadel!
Designer: The Dread Wolf Model: Isabelle Description: [3/24] I accidently deleted this. I am so sorry. sweatdrop
Designer: Toshi Yukiko Title: Mainstage Malfunction Model: Sienna Description/ Process: When you're a pop star, what's worse than a wardrobe malfunction in the middle of a show? How about a full body breakdown?
I wasn't sure how I was going to tackle this challenge because I'm not really into tech mods, but I knew I didn't want a typical war/ post-apocalypse theme. I started this outfit by finding which robotic piece I wanted to center it around, after going through a couple of options I settled on the Citrus Freedom Fighter legs because of the bright coloring and interesting composition. Then I needed to figure out exactly what theme I was going to go with, this actually took me a lot longer than I thought it would and I went through 3 or 4 options. The mechanical pop star theme really started to come together for me when I added the hat and arm pose, but I wanted to give more robot items than just the legs without adding facial prosthetics so added in the glitch and sparks elements.
Nuclear Throne
