Description: I received July (which is my little brother's birth month incidentally) with the gemstone ruby, known as the royal stone. Across history its alluring red color has been associated with power both aristocratically and mythologically. Several cultures thought the ruby could bestow life-giving powers. Ancient Hindus believed if they offered rubies to their god Krishna they could be reborn as emperors.
With this I decided to go the royal route with Melissa's design. I tried to choose fabrics that reflected the shiny, smooth surface of cut rubies as well as the rippled, lumpy texture of raw ones. I also threw in flecks of gold to break up some of the red and white tights to balance Melissa's hair.
Rubies are often found nestled inside or against other precious stones and minerals like quartz, marble, and zoisite. So here we have the regal Melissa, awaiting to be discovered in the crystal mines.
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 2:36 am
Shine Bright, Like Diamonds in the Sky Designer: x_suicide_is_inevitable_x Model: Ella Description: When someone hears the word "diamond", they usually think of an engagement ring with a perfectly clear gem in a round brilliant cut with lots of sparkle, and the associated emotions are often love and devotion. My first thought was that it's the hardest material known to humans. The Mirriam-Webster online dictionary says "They [the Greeks] called the gemstone adamas, using the same word they used for any unbreakable or indestructible substance, such as the hardest metal, or for anything unmovable." Initially, I wanted use this information to show that, even though Ella is so beautiful, she's also strong and can hold her own against anything. As I was searching for items for this idea, the song "Diamonds" by Rihanna began playing in my head, and I remembered a bit of history of the stone. The Ancient Romans believed diamonds were parts of stars that had fallen to Earth, and the ancient Greeks thought that diamonds represented tears of the gods. (Cupid's arrows were also said to have diamond tips.) I had a hard time choosing which to go with - geology or mythology, science or lore. In the end, I took a risk and went for a more creative interpretation, though I tried to keep a hint of toughness as well. I did a little more research to gain more knowledge on diamonds and to aid in the design process, and came across a quote from the famous Persian poet Hafez, which read "a rainbow is confined in a diamond forever". This was the main reason I included the large gem behind Ella - to show the prismatic effect caused by the refraction and reflection of light through and off of the many facets, to show the beauty of each and every part of her personality - but also because diamonds come in a rainbow of colors. The wings are made of constellations, because she is a star among gods. Her hands are cupped to catch her adamantine tears and she keeps a smile on her face, as even in sorrow she maintains her strength and wishes to share love and beauty. No matter what troubles may befall her, Ella will continue to shine bright, so beautiful, like diamonds in the sky.
I love geology, and I once did a project on birthstones and found them fascinating (pun not intended). Put them together and you get me super excited for this challenge! (Being born in June, though, I noticed that the June birthstone in the list in incorrect. Smokey quartz is considered the birthstone for those born under the zodiac sign of Scorpio, which is in November, and June's are pearl, alexandrite, and moonstone. Some gem manufacturers will sell a green variety of smokey quartz because alexandrite with intense colouring are extremely rare and very expensive.) I did feel a little bit sad when I thought about the fact that diamond is the birthstone of April, because my (late) grandma's birthday was in April, but she also liked geology, so I put more effort into my research!
Ahh! I love black and white and high contrast outfits so much! >w< (As I edited this on March 29, the Shinedown song "Diamond Eyes" happened to start playing on YouTube, and when I finished, the song "I Will Not Bow" by Breaking Benjamin had just ended. Once I clicked "submit", Marina & The Diamonds' song "Primadonna" started up. YouTube is getting smarter.) I wanted to respond to the critique from the previous challenge. I know the blue bow looked very out of place, and I tried using Cafe Rosa, but the shade of pink was closer to peach and clashed way more than I thought the blue would. I realize now I should've used blue somewhere else in the outfit to help it fit better. (I want a recolor of that item in a new color scheme!)
Edit: I put the image and some of the more tangential description bits under spoiler tags so as to not stretch the page too much.
Challenge 4: Own Your Stone Designer Name: HCTotorro Model Name: Nicki Outfit Title: Smokey Heal Description: This was a tough one... The first thing I did was look up images of smokey quartz and there was a huge range of differently hued stones, from almost pitch black to pale brown. I noticed though, that a good portion of them transitioned between the shades. Some going from dark black to an almost navy blue, with hints of brown scattered in them. That's what I decided to go for in my design.
Sootberry seemed like it would be the best scheme to use for additional details because to me it looks like it can fit in with black and gray shades, as well as blue tones. I decided to use brown as the base color for Nicki's outfit because I thought the prettier smokey quartz stones were the lighter, paler brown ones. I did a little digging on the qualities of the stone and discovered that smokey quartz is sorta considered the aspirin of gemstones. So I decided to pair the outfit with similarly colored plants and put Nicki in a forest setting to mirror the healing property of natural materials such as stones and plants that often get overlooked. I wanted her to evoke a feeling of a "natural healer" and hopefully I was able to do that ^^
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 3:55 pm
Flight of the Frost Fairy Designer: elphiethesane Model: Chantal Description: To be honest, I struggled to come up with an idea that I liked for this one. I didn’t get any concrete ideas looking at the stones themselves (and I did take a look at multiple December birthstones), so I toyed around with just picking a theme at random that worked with the color scheme, or even focusing primarily on color combos again. However, eventually I thought that maybe I could instead pay some tribute to my mom with my design, as her birthday is in December. With that in mind, I played around with various things my mom likes, like dragonflies. I also started thinking about The Nutcracker at one point, which is something of a holiday tradition with the two of us. Those two things together, the dragonfly-like fairy wings and The Nutcracker, reminded me of the fairies from the Nutcracker Suite segment in Fantasia, which has long been a favorite of mine. With the blue color scheme, I was especially reminded of the frost fairies from the end of that segment, which I decided to take as my inspiration.
So I dressed Chantal as my own take on the frost fairies… A ballerina fairy with dragonfly wings and a crown of ice, who skims across the surface of the water, leaving patterns of frost in the wake of her dance. I chose the dress in part to resemble the more bell like shape of a romantic style tutu, which I preferred over trying to mimic the more traditional “pancake” style. The flowers added to her crown are partially to balance the colors, and partially a holdover when I was trying to work in roses, another of my mom’s favorite things. The splash at her feet, besides providing some balance, is meant to be the splashes you get when you skim the surface of water… It’s an additional break from the fairies of the movie, as they don’t create splashes, but I always forgot that when I was younger so I thought it would be a nice inclusion. It’s like when I used to skim my fingers through water and imagine they were those fairies dancing, and the sprays they sent up would become beautiful patterns of frost.
For an additional note, the particular color combo came from some of my early attempts to play with color exclusively. I did have an idea there, inspired by a certain birthstone chart I saw where three of December’s birthstones (tanzanite, blue zircon, and turquoise) were overlapping each other, creating this beautiful gradient. I thought maybe I could recreate that gradient of colors, but between having a hard time making the items work together and not wanting to do anything too similar to my last entry I ultimately abandoned the idea. But I did discover some nice color combos in the process, including this one, which I decided to use because I thought it captured some of the multicolored shine of a faceted gemstone. I should also probably note the color scheme is based more on blue zircon than blue topaz, which I swore the linked to chart pointed to when I started. Regardless it’s a common December birthstone and the colors are close, so I don’t think that should be a problem. I just don’t want there to be any confusion over why I picked those particular shades of blue.
elphiethesane
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AmberEmma
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 4:52 pm
The Forest Witch
Designer: AmberEmma
Model: Wanda
Description: Emeralds happen to be my favorite gemstone so I was ecstatic when I saw that I had received it. My username is often AmberEmerald but it was chosen on this site so I went with AmberEmma. Now for this theme, I choose to link emeralds to their connection to magic. Emeralds are often strongly linked to nature and are said to have healing properties. It is often said that they can help with a verity of things such as insomnia, eyesight, and are even said that help with mental health as well. When making this outfit I wanted to capture the essence of a witch who lives out in the forest and uses emeralds to help cure others. I found it difficult to incorporate certain shades of green and often found that when I added in the 'melon' color, it would take away from the image as a whole.
Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 8:48 pm
1. x_suicide_is_inevitable_x (Ella) Positives; It's a beautiful submission, there's no denying that. It's also a different take on the gemstone theme, which is nice. Really a good entry! Negatives; Maybe if there'd been a different leg mod, or if the wings and head dress had been white as well, it would have earned a few extra points.
2. milk cap (Sheenah) Positives; The judges liked your submission, and we liked the way it flowed and the how she blended into the water like a proper mermaid. Negatives; Would have been nice to see some blue-yellow hue to kind of tie in more to aquamarine, and it would have been nice if there had been some kind of head accessory - especially fin like or nautical - to help balance out the hair.
4. Princess of the Raindrops (Mariah) Positives; N/A Negatives; N/A
5. Tink_Bel (Helen) Positives; We all loved the colors you used and the balance of them, and we loved that you had a personal connection to the piece. It also looks like you're learning from your critiques! It was a great job. Negatives; The white item being held makes your model's hands look amputated, and all the judges wish we could see her hands.
6. iiiFlames (Chloe) Positives; It's a cute avatar, it's balanced and is definitely a fairy. Negatives; Just giving us a cute look isn't always going to cut it, and we wish you'd use some more saturated pink to reflect the pink tourmaline better as well as to really give a different look from the one you submitted in the pink challenge. The description also could have been stronger if you'd told us more about pink tourmaline and how you ended up on fairy. Connect some more of the dots.
7. elphiethesane (Chantal) Positives; This was one of the best descriptions, and it helped you a lot. The look definitely says December and ballerina, and we enjoyed it. Great creativity, and good job working with hair that could be difficult with the stone you had to work with. Negatives; The crown was a bit clunky, something softer would have worked out a lot better.
8. HCTotorro (Nicki) Positives; You had one of the harder stones and colors to work with, and you definitely made it work well. Your submissions are getting stronger, and you're working hard, it isn't going unnoticed. Keep up the good work! Negatives; The bow on the back of the head blends in to the back too much, and the floating stones might throw things off just a bit with the glow. Also might be nice if there'd been some gold or something to add a lighter note of brown?
10. AmberEmma (Wanda) Positives; The start is there, and we love the idea of a forest witch, and adding more volume at the bottom of the look to nicely balance the hair. Negatives; More green! The emeralds in the back feel more like an after thought than the focus, and it's the only true green in the look. We needed more green for emerald. Also would have liked if the submission said witch on it's own more.
11. Alesaan (Sarah) Positives; It's creative and it's great to draw on the pomegranate, a gorgeous avatar. Negatives; The description cost you some points, it would have been niced if you'd just mentioned Persephone outright since not everyone knows the story of her and a pomegranate. Would also have been nice if there was more of the dark red that comes to mind with garnets.
12. Ultrabord (Danielle) Positives; We liked this, thought it was cute and summery, and liked the color green you chose. Negatives; It didn't wow us, and we weren't crazy about the way the bubbles seemed to cut off one of her arms. The green eyeshadow also did nothing to help the look. Just need to push yourself more, we know you have the skills, even with the limited internet.
15. Dante Dolly (Melissa) Positives; We loved this look, and loved the way the white played off the red to really emphasize ruby versus garnet. It's a cut above the rest, and it's a gorgeous avatar. We all can't wait to see what you continue to deliver! Negatives; None really, not all the judges loved the way the color looked on Melissa, but there isn't really anything you can do about that.
bad wolf bae Captain
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iiiFlames Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 7:31 am
cheese_whineWhat is Lheartve?cheese_whine Designer: iiiFlames Model: Chloe Description:I'm really loving this theme, because it's within my forte, I can't resist being the first one posting my entry Aah! The 5th challenge, another one of my fortes on outfit-making; backgroundless outfits. At first sight of Chloe's outfit and the title of the outfit, you might think they do not connect whatsoever, but I was inspired by TWICE's (k-pop girl group) What is Love? (TWICE's latest MV that has just been released) photo trailers (try to look it up, and compare my outfit to their pictures). Each members are holding sweets and candies (eg; cupcake, marshmallows), so that inspired me so much, and had Chloe hold a cake, and made an outfit matching the color of her sleeves. The overall look just screams out "What Is Love?" for me
Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 10:54 am
Man-eater
Designer: milk cap Model: Sheenah Description: I've been waiting for this theme! I usually prefer no backgrounds or simplistic backgrounds for my avatars, so I was super excited! However, I had my doubts, like what if it looks too plain and I'm not actually that great at making avatars? I tried my best to dispel those thoughts and I think I did pretty well. Ever since my audition, I've been dying to put Sheenah in a punk ensemble again. I wondered if it'd end up too similar to my audition design, however, it helped by narrowing it down to "demon punk". I began my journey into the vast sea of items to dress Sheenah.
Initially, I planned to have horns, but the goggles I used had layering problems with the horns, so instead, I used pointed ears and a tail to convey that Sheenah is supposed to be a demon. The legs were perfect, a sassy stance that fit Sheenah to a T. Next came the jacket, that was complete with a studded bracelet and tattoo on the arm, plus spikes on the shoulders. I tacked on a nose piercing and one of those earrings that have a chain. Lastly, the corset, which came with a necklace that filled the negative space on Sheenah's collar.
EDIT: Oh no! I just realized that my image isn't working anymore. It'll be up again shortly! EDIT: Back up!
Paparazzi Designer: Dante Dolly Model: Melissa Description: Uh oh, it looks as though winning two challenges in a row has really gone to Melissa's head! She's been marching around the studio demanding someone sort her M&Ms so she only gets the green ones, and refuses to wear anything but evening gowns. I'm sure she'll come back to her senses soon, but until then NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY!
In all seriousness, I just wanted to do something pretty with Melissa that utilized under ten items (as a sort of additional challenge to fit with the essentials theme). I ran through some basic styles but settled on diva because I found it funny. Originally this outfit was all pinks but I felt like Melissa's been in lots of reds and pinks lately so I remade it with the demure green instead and I think it makes her eyes pop. I threw on some gold accents to break up all the green and white and bam! Starlet chic.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 4:41 pm
Simple Days Designer: AmberEmma Modle: Wanda
Description: I was really excited when I saw this challenge because it was a chance for me to finally be creative and choose to dress Wanda up in whatever. I didn't want to choose anything too out there instead, I wanted to go with a simple but cute look. I often like choosing blues when working with Wanda. There's just something about that soft look in her eyes that goes perfectly with the color blue. To me, Wanda is a simple girl, she doesn't want to stand out in the crowd but doesn't want to blend into the background either. I did find it a little difficult to call this outfit complete because of the lack of background so to help add to it, I found a leg mod that included a desk for her to sit on. I feel like this truly helps and add to the image.
Description: When it comes to avi competitions, I tend to stick to a "safe" rubric for my designs. This includes backgrounds, direct references to the challenge, and "pretty" designs. Since this challenge is all about breaking out of the mold of relying on backgrounds, I decided to break out of my usual competition mold, too.
This style is more like my own and fits Helen surprisingly well! More of a comfortable, rough and tumble, tomboy style. I chose the clothing based on a school uniform, like Helen is the tomboy in school always showing up dirty and bruised from playing in the dirt. I chose the Etoile/Graceful theme due to the color of Helen's presets, although Helen looks good in pink she looks REALLY good in light yellows and blues!
Overall, I attempted to make a non-typical avi for this competition that is still aesthetically pleasing and cute. This is definitely an outfit I would choose for my own collection!
Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:52 pm
Challenge 5: Essentials Designer Name: HCTotorro Model Name: Nicki Outfit Title: Armageddon Some Tonight Description: As I said earlier, I really hate backgrounds, I feel like they are very restricting because either subconsciously or actively, we tend to design to fit the background. Even choosing your own background doesn't change this, as they're premade and we honestly don't really have that many of them to begin with. I really never use backgrounds in my own avatars, if I do, I use a cutter to get rid of most of it.
Anyways, my motivation with this design was to dress Nicki in a style similar to my current avatar so that he can have a companion. I plan on changing his outfit soon, either tomorrow or the next day, since I just noticed that I've been wearing it for 100 days I wanted to commemorate the eventual change by giving him a partner in crime.
As for the design itself, I wanted to go with a sort of post-apocalyptic feel. He is a scavenger/harvester type of guy and has had to sneak around for the longest time to survive. He came across Nicki recently and he noticed right away how tough and amazing she was, so he asked her to be his protector and they've been together ever since
Ponderosa, once it came out, became one of my favorite color schemes as the tones of colors used contrast in a very strange but amazing way. I love that the deep burgundy and the dark teal work very well with sage and other shades of green as that is my favorite color. I had a lot of fun layering items to create her look. Her top consists of two separate harnesses and a dress that got cut down perfectly in my opinion to showcase very tiny details of the ponderosa colors to tie the top and bottom together.
Description: The queen of hearts made some tarts, all of a summer's day. The knave of hearts, stole the tarts, and stole her heart away.
That is what I always thought the rhyme should be anyway whee
Two confessions. Throw a dunce cap my way 'cuz I totally thought backgrounds were required. I've been totally focused on the scene (outfit, model, plus background) rather than focusing on the outfit creation first because of this.
And secondly, I've always been obsessed with this dress from Reine Magd, so I built my entire design around this item that was pretty friggin' complete to begin with. I wish we could have used eye shadow as there is one that makes this design perfect in my book, but c'est la vie.
I love how her tattoos peak through, and while the pose isn't an active one that comes with the item, I think the movement of the gown, the curves of it echoed in the veil, have a lot of life and energy to them. The lush jewel tones mixed with the delicate gold chains and embroidery makes me wish this outfit was something I could see in real life lol.
7:12am PST on 4/12/18
Gaia was down for at least three hours last night (the rest of my internet worked) so that killed me from being able to get a designer together before bed.
I created an outfit this morning but don't have time to post as I am rushing out the door for day care and work.
I will post it the second I am home from work tonight.
Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 8:07 pm
Vintage Trouble Designer: elphiethesane Model: Chantal Description: For this challenge, I’ve dressed Chantal in what I’d consider pretty close to the ultimate expression of my personal aesthetic. In real life, I dress in a very firmly “retro” style, and a friend of mine even dubbed me the “resident 50s pinup model” at one point. I’ve actually toyed with doing a retro inspired outfit for the last two challenges, but couldn’t get it right in the color schemes I was working with. Since there’s no such limit on this challenge, I thought it was a perfect time to try. I’m also a lover of contrasts... Like a soft and girly dress with a harder leather jacket and boots. Give it a lower neckline (I’ve got a thing for that) and a pair of glasses (since I wear them), and you’ve got an outfit I’d love to have in my own closet.
For the color, I toyed with a couple in the process of making this, as usual. Without the safety net of being able to balance the avatar with more background-y items, I didn’t want to try anything too crazy. But I didn’t want to do anything too standard, either. Which is why instead of trying to match her hair like I usually might, I decided to solely play off of her seabreeze eyes. I added the demon tail and horns last minute in order to balance the avatar a bit better... I was struggling to find items I liked that didn’t end with the avatar looking too top heavy. Tails are a good way to balance while still using an item that attaches to the avatar, so I figured... Why not add those devilish features? I like what they add to the outfit, giving an extra bad girl layer to contrast the soft and girly side. It was also what inspired me to pick the name (well, that and it’s the name of a band).
A Rose in Bluem Designer: x_suicide_is_inevitable_x Model: Ella Description: It is my personal belief that blue looks good on everyone, so I started looking for something in a darker shade to go with Ella's eyes. I didn't have a specific theme for the outfit until I found a blue and black dress that reminded me of senior pictures and her face looks like she's making a face for a selfie, but her hair made it so hard to do anything with her arms. I then found the blue and white wedding dress above, and it all started coming together in my mind. I wanted to find a bouquet of blue and/or white flowers, but there are not many bouquet items other than the ones you can make out of the flowers found in Gaia Towns, and none of those looked right. I still wanted some kind of floral presence, and I found it while searching for a veil. Even without a background, this outfit is complete, and that thought actually made me laugh, because everyone has a different mental image of the location for a perfect wedding, so a background that I might have chosen would not be the same as one another would've picked. There's an old tradition that the bride should have something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue, and, though Ella would not normally call herself traditional, she went along with the superstition just in case. The veil she's wearing was her mother's at her own wedding, but the roses attached are brand new (and freshly grown), she borrowed the gloves from her friend who works at a theatre, and her pendant is a deep navy to match her dress.
I swear I'm doing my best with trying to resize images. The info says it's less than 500 x 500, but then it shows up huge. Imgur isn't helping and the resizing sites I've used aren't exporting them properly. I decided to use the avibuilder image because it looks just as good and is smaller. (And it looks like the veil is layered oddly with the hair, but her hair is just pulled out onto her shoulder.)
