Teacher Designer: Sana Minatozaki Model: Abby Description:had to put it in spoiler because it was longer than i anticipated, and i don't want you to suffer to scroll down on other entries with my long entry. ur welcome
For this challenge, I chose teacher for these reasons:
1. In the Philippines, our teachers here work at 7am to 5pm, and the first thing they do is to have a flag ceremony to honor our flag, along with the students before classes.
2. I chose teacher in honor of my mom, because my mom used to be a teacher in college, but years later, she switched her job to being a station chief at the Department of Agriculture because she loves agriculture so much, and in 2015, she decided to take her dedication to agriculture to the next level and applied for a job at DA, but she never originally applied for station chief. She got that position due to the fact my mom is huge in the industry for her infamous research that went international under the agriculture category, so she was offered to be the head officer on the regional office of DA at a city, but she insisted to be station chief on a branch near where we live because she can't stand being away from her family.
3. I chose teacher because I have teachers in elementary and high school that I'm particularly close to, and I also honor them along with my mom.
4. I chose teacher in honor of all teachers for all the work, time and effort they do to educate all children on all levels, and I respect them.
For the outfit, I had a little bit of a challenge finding the perfect items for the job I picked.
First off, the top piece. I've been searching keywords such as uniform vest, uniform, sweater, sweater vest, etc. in order to find that top piece that teachers usually wear at work, then I found this particular item that was a student top with a red necktie, but when I put it on Abby, it worked perfectly with the bottom piece.
For the bottom, I thought of miniskirts, so I looked it up, and found a black leather miniskirt, but when I put it on Abby, again, it worked perfectly despite the little design that you'll think is an oddball considering what I'm going for with my entry, besides that, it fitted in great.
For the legs, I had to go with this particular legmod with heels, and I can't tell you why, but it suited well with the miniskirt, and I'm living for it!
For the background, I used the same background from the one I used in the 2nd challenge of the 1st cycle where the challenge is indirectly connected to the challenge now. It's also where I won my first challenge.
For the accessories, I remember I have an item with this jacket, and thought it'll look good on Abby, and surprise, surprise, it did! Then I looked up glasses, and found this really cute glasses that really shookt me due to the fact Abby was slaying the glasses so good, optometrists are QUAKING!
But the challenging part of everything in my entry is the arms. With the jacket covering the default arms, I had to find a way to make Abby's arms come out, or else it'll look like she's missing an arm, or doesn't have arms at all, and there were a lot of arms that I tried on Abby to see if it helped. You can look at it on the 2nd spoiler.
In here, lies all the arms that I tried on Abby, but didn't made the cut, along with the reasons why.
I used Divine Arms for Abby here. This was supposed to be my original entry, but I didn't like how the arms came out of the jacket that Abby was only put around her shoulder, it stuck out very weird, so I went looking for another armmod to fit the entire outfit.
Here, I used Suggestion Arms. I was living for like a minute because it looked great, until I saw a hint of her arms peaking out in between the right sleeve and right part of the torso of the jacket, plus her other arm went missing, so I hated it, and I kept looking for more armmod.
Here, I used Shy Arms. At first, I thought her arms would appear at front of her, but when I tried it, her arms were at the back and I instantly hated it because her arms were gone, and you can't even see a tiny bit of it because the part where you can see part of her arms is covered by the jacket, so I looked again for more armmod until I found In Waiting Arms, and it looked amazing with the outfit!
Overall, Abby looks like a female version of a stereotypical teacher. With those sickening glasses, that simple top with the red necktie, paired with that jacket around her, and that bottom piece that is instead of slacks, she has a miniskirt, and that classic high heels. UGH! I am living for this look, and Abby is slaying, y'all! And she is serving you simple, yet sexy look that just screams "teacher" all around!
Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 9:23 pm
designer: sufjan stebens model: april
the rookie
april may be the youngest detective in her precinct, but she's not letting her age or lack of experience get in the way of doing a good job.
My first thought for this challenge was maybe.. teacher? I think it's because of April's sweet, childish face. She looks like she would get along great with kids. She'd be perfect for a job in early childhood education.
But I've done cute April already. What I haven't done is dressed April like a professional. This outfit is lowkey inspired by the kind of clothing you see the female detectives (Rollins and Liv) wearing on Law and Order: SVU. Trench coat, dress shoes without heels (in case you end up needing to chase down a perp), hair tied back, and a tie, though April's is mostly obscured by the scarf she's wearing. She's posed here leaning against her desk with her coat and scarf on, waiting for her partner. She's always eager to hit the pavement and get to work. She hasn't gotten to the point yet where the novelty of cracking a case has worn off.
Being a detective rather than a police officer means that April has left her days of wearing a uniform behind, and she can embrace a business casual look that incorporates her personal style. I thought about adding a pop of colour to her outfit, or even hairclips -- but then I thought that April would probably be leaning toward neutral colours and patterns on purpose. She would be trying to make herself look older so both her co-workers and the people she interviews -- not to mention the actual criminals -- would take her seriously. She probably gets treated as a kid often enough with her sweet face.
That said, this pose I've chosen, of waiting for her partner to catch up with her, was deliberate. She's excited about her job. She's ready for anything. My concept for April is a girl who's trying to make a positive difference in the world one day at a time, and who hasn't let the bad things she's seen people do get to her yet. She's not a cynical, jaded cop (at least, not yet). She still believes that with hard work and a strong sense of justice, she can be a hero. If not to everyone, then at least to a few people.
sufjan stebens
Wilderness of Hearts
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Pianette
Sarcastic Ally
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Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 12:31 am
Designer :: Pianette Model :: Jiang Li Weathercaster Grab your umbrellas everyone, because we're going to see scattered showers throughout the day~ Drive safe!
6 am sharp. The day is just beginning for many people and across the city their televisions are turning on, tuning into a classic set filled with familiar faces. These people are ready to start their day off right and what better way to prepare than by checking the weather for today!
The funny thing about this challenge is that I thought to again put Jiang Li in the career I ALMOST went for for the other casual theme-- but backed off for the, well, more casual idea-- and again passed on it for the more casual option. Maybe one day... ANYWAY, my second option was to follow the same career path from that same challenge but passed on that as well for how the description for the theme was worded. So we... ended up here! Somehow! lol Actually the somehow is I was running through my OCs to kinda run through what their jobs were and if any were a ""fit."" They were not. Then, while working on something I wasn't truly throwing my heart into, I got the song of the flavour text stuck in my head for... really unknown reasons and it just... it felt right. So I ran with it.
Googling "weather lady" is interesting because you will literally just get a bunch of Yanet Garcia and that was 100% not the direction of outfit I wanted to go. So I started trying on a bunch of different stuff. Little Friend and Wit and Wisdom came fairly early on, although it was truly my intention to find a skirt that DID cover her knees and was... also a skirt I liked.... which is a very small selection of skirts on gaia online dot com. Again, we're utilizing the darker skintone as hose, something a lot of weather ladies don't wear but something I felt was dearly missing from Jiang Li's legs (the stockings already on those legs unable to be used for other stabby reasons).
I wanted something not too formal for her top, but something that was still that brand of class and professionalism. This top worked out perfectly as it did give me the kind of pointing, presenting action I wanted in the outfit. I also wanted a tucked-in look which the second, lower-layer skirt provided me.
As for the background, I wanted something very simple. The green screen was instantly the way I wanted to go as I got to avoid gaia's amazing lack of wall maps (seriously what is that) and didn't end up building something "map-like" that would end up being too busy. A struggle for me was to include the play button or not, it added texture and filled up space, but technically its inclusion isn't the MOST correct. I asked for some second opinions and ended up going with it. The bubble of course was added due to my inspiration.
This career allows Jiang Li to still show off her professional side while still remaining light. And it still allows her enough time in the workweek for her tailoring and her modeling~
Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 9:52 pm
Red Velvet Delights
Designer: Darkerdemons Model: Rae Process: See Spoiler
I was initially nervous about the challenge theme. Working 9 to 5 seemed very similar to Casual Friday in that there's not a lot of room for me to use my favorite extravagant items and mods. I first tried to dress Rae as a yoga instructor; however, the avatar kept coming across as Casual Friday. I left that idea and moved on to barista. The outfit was cute. Unfortunately, it didn't look any different from my past avatars and blended with a lot of the suit-like entries already submitted. Also, it was cute. Just cute. No zest. I felt a key point to work on was 'dress your model in a way we haven't seen her dressed before'. The most significant way to deviate from my previous designs was to incorporate a more masculine look. The final design migrated from a barista serving cake to a pastry chef making a cake.
Even though black and white are the colors for the traditional chef's uniform, modern uniforms come in a wider variety of colors. With her pale features, a white uniform would turn Rae into a ghost. I chose a stronger color to prevent there being a specter in this particular kitchen. The red in Rae's bowl is not blood (don't panic!) - it's the batter for her signature dish: red velvet cake. Note: some red velvet cakes are bright red; it depends on the baker. This dish offers additional support for Rae's uniform colors and the colors are likely used by the place she works. Rae also has a red apron. Instead of finding a uniform leg mod that fit perfectly with the top, I used a more casual leg mod for Rae. If Rae's on her feet for hours working, typically behind kitchen doors, she would prefer to wear what she feels most comfortable in.
Adding touches of color to Rae's head has been a constant, but necessary, challenge. Most hats don't sit right on her head or cut her hair in such a way she looks like she's having a bad hair day. Headbands are easier to work with, but there's still the matter of whether or not the headband adds enough color, isn't too flashy, and sits on her hair in a realistic way. The forehead band I settled for is (or resembles) a Japanese hachimaki, which I deemed fitting, as Rae is very determined and passionate about her work and would need the headband to keep sweat off her face in the hot kitchen. The red circle is part of some variations of hachimaki and adds red to the top of the avatar.
I am frequently relying on backgrounds for avatars and kept looking for a chance to go background-free. I found the opportunity with Rae's current avatar. Backgrounds made the avatar too cluttered and frequently distracted from the real star of the kitchen. Having no background at all made me wince at all the negative space around Rae though. The dishes offered just the right amount of material behind Rae, but complimented her outfit by matching the bowl in her hands as well as her hair.
Despite my apprehensions about the theme at the start, Rae wears her current outfit much better than her Casual Friday outfit. I am also satisfied with the background-free entry. Double checked: her skin and arm mod are Body Type F. Overall, this feels like another strong, balanced, character-filled outfit for Rae.
The Fine Artist Designer: RENstrawberry Model: Robin Description:
This challenge had been the most difficult for me so far! I initially explored the idea of transforming Robin into an artist, but felt like I chose artist by default because that's along the lines of what I'd like to do some day. In an attempt to avoid the artist look I wanted to put Robin into a typically male dominated job or role, so I explored a Police Officer and several military jobs. Unfortunately, Gaia doesn't have a huge selection of items when it came to these jobs, so I eventually went full circle back to my original idea.
I began Robin's outfit with a denim jacket. The item was covered in paint because it was inspired from Bob Ross (lol, but rip). The "jacket" was originally only short sleeved, so I decided to add on some sleeves. The blue of the sleeves matched perfectly from the jacket and it came paired with a rainbow paintbrush! For the bottoms, I chose an item that seemed to be inspired by Nintendo's Splatoon. The bottoms came with paint splattered shorts, legs, and shoes which perfectly captures just how much paint gets everywhere, even if you're smart enough to wear an apron. Speaking of which, for the final part of Robin's clothes I added an artist's signature article of clothing, the apron! I attempted to make sure the paint splatters on Robin's clothes were consistent in their color palette.
Moving on to accessories, I wanted to add glasses to sophisticate Robin's look. I selected these type of glasses because they fit Robin's face the best without obstructing her eyebrows or other facial features (like many others did). The originals I chose were black, but I felt they blended in too much with Robin's dark hair and might have gotten lost in the look. I decided these colorful ones would be the best as they added the touch of sophistication I was hoping to give Robin while keeping the look lighthearted. Next for accessories, I decided to give Robin a beanie. I decided the white was best, to incorporate the white from the apron elsewhere (also a lot of people in the art department wear beanies indoors for some reason, maybe it's a part of being stylish...). Lastly, I added the hairpin to tie in the colors from the bottom of the look to the top, greatly because the top seemed to be lacking in color, but also because artists love to accessorize rofl (and keep their hair out of their face when working)
Finishing off the look, I decided to add an easel and canvas. I'm surprised there were a few options to choose from. I decided this easel would be best because it didn't cover Robin and went with the paint splatters used in the other items!
wish me good luck with finals i'm dying
Posted: Sun May 12, 2019 3:28 pm
Quiet on the Set! Designer: elphiethesane Model: Ophelia
Right off the bat, I really wanted to do something related to film. A big part of it is that it’s my career, so of course there’s a personal connection, but I also figured it wouldn’t be a career anyone else in the competition would do. And I always love to stand out with a unique take! Unfortunately I also knew going into it that a film related career would be hard to pull off, since as far as I’ve been able to tell there’s a big lack of items related to movies, and especially not much with actual filmmaking equipment. There’s a couple cameras, sure, but they either hide practically the whole body, or only part of it while also being very old fashioned. I figured neither would really be appropriate for the competition, so I had to figure out an approach that wouldn’t rely on special equipment to say “I make movies.”
Which is why I ended up going with a look for a Production Assistant. Of course, that’s more of an entry level position then the end goal of a career, but I figured it still fit well enough, and it didn’t require much in the way of special equipment. Just a headset, some pouches at her belt to carry whatever little things she might need, and she’s good to go. Add this particular set of arms, with it’s handful of papers (in my mind, the latest set of script changes which she’s passing out) and other hand to her headset, and she really looks like she’s working on a set.
Since she’s a PA, usually tasked with whatever little errands need to get done but don’t have anyone specific to do them, I designed her outfit around being comfortable and easy to run around in. Hence the pants and sneakers, and even the loosened collar. But the cut of the shirt’s not as casual as it could be... Part of that is just that’s what looked good in my very limited color choices (the real downside to those arms... I really wish there was a plainer recolor, or even just one without the tattoos), but I like the impression it gives. In my mind, it makes her feel like while she’s primarily concerned with practicality and comfort, she’s still wants to make a good impression on those she’s working with. Which considering any of them could advance her career, isn’t a bad move.
The last thing I finalized was the background, and I wasn’t even sure I was going to include one. I thought it would be great to make her look like she was on set, but... Well, I essentially ran into the “lack of film equipment” issue again. It was really hard to find something to make it look like she was on set, and not just that a random background had been slapped on. Then I came up with the idea of her being on a set with a greenscreen background, like she was working on some big fantasy movie where something fantastic would be seen out the window. Hence the background I came up with! Of course, I obviously ended up using blue rather than green, since this particular background washed out the green too much, but blue is the other most common color for the technique and this much green in the set would probably necessitate it anyway. And this foreground really looks like it could be the set for a fantasy movie to me, so I think it’s worth using the less iconic color.
Man! This theme turned out more challenging than I thought. I had my brain exploding with avi ideas but nothing that I could do well enough..I almost made a genderbent J.Jonah Jameson demanding pics of Spiderman emotion_awesome. I really wanted to do a magician one in the end, but could not do that one justice, so I went with one I wanted in real life.
Thing that shocked me was how head appearance was such a big part of job. Most of the jobs wont allow you to let your hair down much, they need you to smile more, or wear headgear that would obscure everything about Uma that makes her Uma. Like imagine Uma in astronaut suit on moon, however inside space-station/shuttle, its geared a lot more towards safety and comfort of the astronauts. I went for semi-formal look rather than just putting her in shorts and tank top as it felt more appropriate, and I chose the colors to match that mood. It also works well as Uma's hair seems to be floating. She is just having a good view while recording some data. She wears some goggles around just so she wont have to search for them when the job needs them. I wanted her to be doing something else with her left hand and am not entirely satisfied with it, specially as I wanted her to seem floating in space over leaning over something, but apparently when I put something in that hand, the right hand kept dropping (probably some avatar builder glitch). I sacrificed a bit of accuracy in favor of looks, but I believe I managed a good balance.
Posted: Sun May 12, 2019 11:16 pm
Designer:Toshi Yukiko
Title: Gather Round, Campers!
Model:Sienna
Description/ Process I wanted to do an unconventional career something that was very fun and kind of carefree. I actually went online and got a lot of inspiration from a list of Barbies careers and jobs that she’s had because I thought who is a better role model for a career person then Barbie because she’s had every type of career imaginable. I chose camp counselor not only because it was a job that I wanted to do when I was growing up but it is a very unconventional job that you don’t hear about very often anymore. I had a hard time trying to convey the camp-ness of it all. I did know that I wanted to do a campfire scene and I had a very difficult time finding the correct night sky background that didn’t completely overshadow the entire photo in a dark filter. I did go for a more simple outfit just because as a camp counselor you do need to be very active, especially when your campers are children, so she is wearing a simple combination of a T-shirt and shorts. You may notice that the legs on the shorts are a bit more muscular than what a traditional female legmod looks like but I wanted to go for a more athletic build for Sienna on this challenge. When I was selecting the outfit for SiennaI did try to find a shirt that matched with the campers at because the campers and counselors usually do have a coordinated T-shirts to show that they are from the same camp. In the end I feel like all of my design choices did come together to make a very cohesive story of a camp counselor with her campers.
Judging is gonna be a little different this week. Things aren't sorted into positive and negatives, they're just gonna be straight forward. There are also a few notes for everyone that the judges want to emphasize. From now on if there is an entry with no description? It will be an automatic elimination. They are required, even if it is just a sentence. Though that wouldn't be very good either.
We also feel like things have gotten a little stale, so in the next challenge everyone has completely different and randomly assigned models. After it we'll be using the model rankings again, this is just a way to mix it up. Go big with the next challenge and don't hold anything back.
1. Darkerdemons (Rae) The bowl doesn’t say red velvet cake, it looks like blood, and part of that sensation is the headband. The headband is entirely Japanese, and it just doesn’t make sense for a chef wearing that kind of traditional article to then be mixing a red batter. Should have been a different headband or a different food. This is also a look that would have been sooooo much better with a background. It would have helped set Rae off from the white background and plates. As pale as she is she kind of vanishes into the back as it is.
2. Pianette (Jiang Li) This is a very mature look, and the differing skin tone on the legs to serve as stockings was a very clever idea. Not all of the judges loved it, but everyone agreed it was clever. It was a very simple look though, maybe a different blouse would have brought it to the next level? The background was very well used.
4. Sana Minatozaki (Abby) Similar feedback to Dread, this is a decent look, but it is way too sexy for the profession. The jacket doesn’t layer well with the hair, and if it didn’t work with other arm mods should have scrapped it for another option. Judges also felt like we’ve seen this before because we’ve seen you use a lot of these items before? We’d just like to see you really push yourself and go out of your comfort zone a little bit more.
5. elphiethesane (Ophelia) You know how to work with your models, and how to work with decisions that might cripple other designers such as the intensely blue background. The arm mod was a little odd. This is a very solid look and submission though.
6. sufjan stebens (April) This was a very pleasantly surprising profession for your model, and you did a great job of working with the presets to sell the job rather than letting them over power things and detract from it. The thought behind the scarf was clear, but the application of it wasn’t the best. There was clearly a lot of thought put into this look though.
9. METTAT0N (Lucia) Hope you get feeling better soon!
10. Dangerous Tinfoil Shoes (Bryce) The lack of a description almost sent you home. The judges went back and forth on it before deciding that at the end of the day you had the stronger body of work than Toshi. I wanted to start your critique making that explicitly clear so you don’t forget a description again. This is a cute look though, we loved the idea. The hair and shirt are bother intensely red and everything else is pretty faded in color, there should have been some vibrance somewhere else.
11. RENstrawberry (Robin) This is simple and effective, balanced and colorful. It’s cute. Over all it’s almost too cute, Robin looks like a little kid in art class rather than someone working as an artist for their job. Which isn’t terrible by any means, it just leaves the look lacking a bit.
14. Toshi Yukiko (Sienna) It’s so hard to send people home at this stage, and the judges definitely debated before coming to the decision to send you home this week. This was simple and it was pretty refreshing to see a more original profession. The colors are good, we like the addition of the kids. It is so so simple though, and cutesy. And the arms/hands just look like clubs against everything else. Some kind of hand/arm mod would have made it a lot better.
15. Haji Demon (Uma) The thought to use her hair to sell that she’s in anti gravity is just amazing. The glasses are great, the goggles are great, but they do not work together. Needed to pick one or the other. The judges also wished there had been an arm mod of some kind used, the standard hands look clunky against everything else.
16. The Dread Wolf (Isabelle) This would be a great office to work in, love the concept behind this look. It’s well balanced and the colors are lovely, it’s a great look. But it isn’t the most realistic for a work place look. The lab coat is short and sexy, but they need to be protective. Just doesn’t super satisfy that aspect of the challenge.
Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 1:58 am
Earth: Mother Gaia Designer: RENstrawberry Model: Robin Description:
This week’s challenge really scared me. Planets are a huge design to live up to and I was honestly mortified to see I got Earth. It’s the planet we all call home, making me all the more anxious for this week’s challenge.
Despite my freak out, I was super excited I got to work with Amy this week. While not the most earth-like in color, her red toned hair was absolutely beautiful to work with this week, along with her blue-greenish eyes and tanned complexion.
I began Amy’s look with the background, which is where I would never start, but seeing as this challenege is unique, it was something I needed to address first in order to plan her clothing afterwards (to make sure they went together). I began the background with the tree stump and several layers of shrubbery. I wanted the forest floor to look dense and packed with life, seeing as Earth is the only planet (we know of lol) that contains life. Starting to work on Amy as I considered the background, I added her leg pose which came standing in some sparkly water. To properly pay tribute to planet earth I knew I had to incorporate water into the design.
As soon as I had an idea of what the background would look like including its colors, I eventually took a break from the background to work on what Amy is... “wearing”. At this point in the design I began to think of Amy as mother earth (aka Gaia, lol). I began to cover her in plant life, beginning with her “leaf bikini” (idk what to call it). I then moved on to add some more vegetation to give off the effect that life was literally sprouting from her. As soon as I was finished with Amy’s plant attire, I wanted to add other forms of life to evoke the sense of Earth.
I started off exploring gaia’s various cute creatures and decided a doe/deer would be perfect. This item this doe is from came in several different recolors, but I felt this was the best version for this challenge and look as it came off as the most naturalistic/realistic in color, and kept to the warm palette Amy exudes. I also couldn’t resist this doe because her eye shape looked so similar to Amy’s to me, haha. I love how this doe in particular was somewhat hid behind Amy. I like to believe this little doe thinks of Amy as her actual mother, and as children do, she’s hiding behind her, yet watching the viewer.
Next up, I wanted to add some sort of flying creature, I originally had in mind a bird would be the best bet, but decided against it later as it just drew too much attention away and it’s placement was a little awkward. (Yet another challenge where I struggled to find a bird that would fit, oof). I then came across some butterflies and that sparked the rest of the idea. So I was on the hunt for some beautiful butterflies. I went for the ones seen settled on her head because the colors were just too perfect for the look I was already making, and any butterflies I put flying in the background just took the attention away once again. These butterflies were perfect as they not only matched the warm tones of Amy and her dear deer friend, but also the blue of her eyes and some of the flowers! To finish up Amy I added in her arm pose. I decided a pose that was delicate in nature was key to work with her expression and the entire look. I’m also glad I found one that didn’t cover up too much of her clothing or her hair.
For the finishing touches on Amy’s look, I returned to the background (and apparently foreground) with a few different items. One added in the water at Amy’s feet which I was dying to add and the other the proper forest and lighting Amy deserved.
Note:
Yes I named the look Mother Gaia. Yes We’re using a website called Gaia Online. Yes the website’s mascot is named Gaia-tan. Yes Amy has red hair. Yes Gaia-tan also has red hair. Yes, it’s probably just a coincidence that I was provided with the theme Earth, and given a red haired model, BUT LET ME JUST BELIEVE IT WAS FATE, OK?
Designer: Darkerdemons Model: Uma Process: See Spoiler
I admire the outfits Haji Demon designs for Uma. Felt a bit more pressure, as I wanted to make an outfit as unique as her past outfits. Fortunately, the planet Venus provided ample ideas. Having already made a similar themed avatar (The World tarot card), I could draw on some of the ideas I'd tried for Rae's outfit. At the same time, I knew the two avatars still needed to be different.
Uma has gorgeous skin color, something I wanted to show off in this outfit. Venus is named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty; another reason to show off Uma's form in a seductive manner. I started off searching for inspiration in favorite avatars. Each avatar was given a keyword determined by the aspect I wanted to apply to Uma's outfit. The most common keywords were: Alluring, Floating, and Mist. Another keyword that wasn't common, but still influenced the outfit: Dangerous. Venus may be named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty, but it is still a very hostile planet. Hell hath no fury... I wanted the outfit to be beautiful and at the same time dangerous.
The outfit concept was finalized faster than my previous outfits, which surprised me. I had a clear notion of how I wanted the avatar to look. Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system. The intense heat and volcanoes inspired the use of fiery dragon horns and tail. The planet surface is reddish brown, which called for red and brown fabrics. The thick cloud cover of the planet is yellowish white, so I used this color in the clouds on the outfit. Uma's copper skin and fair hair color fit the colors of Venus beautifully. There were moments where the design centered around certain items and then those items got taken off. I found an amazing combination of fiery/desert background items, but the result looked too explosive even though Venus does have volcanoes. I got very attached to the Enticing Buck armmod. All recolors of the fur wrap seemed to stick out on the avatar in progress though. I wanted to use a halo at one point, but Venus doesn't have a ring system.
My initial design was mostly rust-colored; however, after checking with The Clot Thickens, it became clear first impressions of the avatar would likely lean towards Mars. The two planets have a lot in common. Even though Venus is a terrestrial planet like Mars, it is characterized by massive cloud cover. The cloudy hue is all that can be seen in visible light from space - this is why Uma is seated in the clouds instead of on solid ground. The dark brown fabrics also assist in making the planet more Venus inspired.
Note about the title: Inspired by the movie Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The members of the IMF team are given planet code names. At one point Jupiter says: "Venus, be Venus." Just like Venus is the only female member on the IMF team, Venus is the only planet in our solar system named after a goddess. To be Venus, Uma became a radiant celestial entity lounging in the heavens.
Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 11:19 pm
Designer :: Pianette Model :: Isabelle Small but Mighty Well, the sun's a hot star Mercury's hot too
Or well... sometimes. Mercury's a funny little planet. Funny as in, it doesn't retain a temperature because it's atmosphere won't allow it. Therefore. The planet closest to the sun.... is not always hot. Neat.
Mercury's... not my favorite planet I suppose. Though I guess I... really don't have one. Anyway. Like I just said, it's a funny little planet. It ranges in surface temperature between really cold and really hecking hot. It's a bit like our moon, heavily cratered, small and silver, orbits something without anything orbiting it; all very moon-like things. And to top it all off it moves relatively quickly and yet also at the same time kind of slowly. A bit like the postal service
So! Approaching this avatar. I started with the head wings because I knew if I didn't I would forget them since they're hidden away in some doll. Kinda left those alone in their natural state before fully forming the headpiece to be more... regal I guess? (I love that headband but it needed something more to truly fit Isabelle's personality ah ha). But why the head wings? In... space? ???? Mercury is named for none other than Mercury, messenger to the gods, who in all good appearances has wings on his helmet. A little later on in the build I tried to force some letters on her but none of them felt right or really fit with the rest of the avatar.
After the wings but before the extra detailing came the whole chest area. Silver was the main goal here and it was just a lot of throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what stuck. It's a combination of a fair number of items, all of which seemed almost made for each other which was a bit odd but I'll take it lol
For planet personality. I walked away from the avatar after the initial build and she sat very naked for some time even after I came back to it. I wanted to play off of the temperature difference which almost led me to keeping her very naked, but a quick trip through the fire tag got me off of that. Initially, I had her with even less color, opting for I think the GOT dress, but the flow of it was off. Then Future in Flames came up. Layered perfectly with the whole bodysuit thing, a real match made in heaven. After that I ran through a couple of leg mods, trying to decide if I would capitalize on Mercury's size or its duality of temperatures. I did eventually settle on the latter, which was just as subtle as the flames dress. Both the icicles attached to the legs and the flames on the dress represent the planet's surface temperature throughout a day-night cycle.
Finally, the craters. This was something I definitely wanted to incorporate but felt like maybe throwing holes all over her face and body wouldn't have been appreciated lol (also the face specifically would've required a fair bit of makeup). So I went for the most literal approach of just having the planet there ah. This also worked in having a nice stage against the background. It was also brought to my attention that it looked a bit like she was protecting her planet and I love that concept so much ' 3'
Did I say finally? I lied. Finally finally. Isabelle is a fantastic model. Barring a few issues that hair has with layering, she's very charming and very similar to Jiang Li in a way. So I feel like I did kind of luck out in the random model assignments ah ha.
Pianette
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iiiFlames Vice Captain
Fashionable Master
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Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2019 4:56 am
gaia_zurgMars: The Red Planetredface Model: Jiang Li Description: Before anything, can I just say I wasn't prepared for this sudden change, not only isn't my new model not my top 5, it all happened so fast, I can't even!
Anyway, onto the outfit!
To start things off, we'll start with the dress. The dress is not a one-item, but at the same time it is. What's happening here is that the one-piece dress is skirtless, so this is where the layering is happening. I never actually started off with the dress, I started off with the skirt, armmod, and accessories, but why?
The top piece was the hard part to find. There were tops that I tried on Jiang Li before the one in my submissions. and here's the reason why it didn't make the cut for me:
Here, I found a corset that matches the colors with the arm mod, and I thought it looked good, but the skirt along with the whirlpool felt left out and looked like a separate look with the same colors, so I had to change it with something else that'll blend in nicely with both the arm mod and skirt.
And here, I found a very VERY small bra with gold straps that surprisingly went well with the skirt, but the arm mod, this time, felt separate, and I had to find another top for the same reason as the first one.
Until I found this skirtless dress that I thought at first was one-piece, but I tried it anyways, and a happy accident happened. I kept the bra, because I had an idea to layer it with my dream top piece for this look, and I found the dress as my final one. But that's not the only happy accident, though.
The skirt alone was already looking sickening with the whirlpool, and looked it it was a two-in-one item, but the sides of the dress actually blended in well with the whirlpool just as well as the skirt only, so I kept it as it is.
My silhouette is always with accessories, so I had to find some to go well with everything that's going on. Then, I found a crooked halo that I tried on, and really blended in nicely with the theme, making Jiang Li look like a Mars angel.
But the jaw-dropping part of this outfit, though, is the whirlpool! Since Mars actually does have this sort of like a whirlpool cycling around the planet, I had a concept to have Jiang Li as the humanized version of that, then the rest is her-story.
For the background, I looked up keywords such as: planet(s) & Mars, then I found a background that is based on Mars with a rocketship on the back, and then the color matching happened.
It just so happened that I remembered my outfit-making thread that I should probably update since it's been gone for a minute that I featured poppy as an example of orange in my orange portion of the thread, then I looked it up, tried on the whirlpool that was questionably the first thing I tried on, and it matched kind of the colors of Mars, then everything above that I gave detail about happened after this part.
In conclusion, I don't mind working with Jiang Li again, since she actually looks good with my aesthetics.
Just give me back Abby, please.crying
disclaimers:
I actually had a better and longer description than this, but I played Mobile Legends, a very frustrating game that I always play. When I had a LONG losing streak on ranked matches, I raged so much, I smashed my laptop's screen with one of the corners of my phone, and the laptop was knocked out white, and my eyes went eek! I blamed myself for playing such a game everyday, and let out my rage on my defenseless laptop. But I've beaten my laptop so much before, but that was my laptop's breaking point literally, and now she passed away after she survived through my journey for almost 4 years. I will never forget you, Chromebook crying
Rest in peace, Chromebook Cause of Death: White screen Born: idk Died: June 9, 2019
Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2019 1:02 pm
Primordial God(dess) of the Sky
Designer: The Dread Wolf Model: Bryce Description:
When I saw that I was randomly assigned Bryce and the planet Uranus, I was rather concerned about her red hair. Bryce's red hair is lovely, but when googling Uranus...it was clear this would be my main challenge this round.This set me on my main objective: to make a Uranus-inspired look without Bryce's hair getting in the way.
When you search up images of Uranus, the color that shines through is a bluish green. This provided me the main color that I wanted to dress Bryce in. While searching about Uranus, I found that the planet was named after the Greek God of the sky. I wanted to take the aspect of Ouranos, the Greek God of the sky, and add it to Bryce's overall look. The bare feet, the arm pose, and the veil, are all aspects that were influenced by Uranus' Greek origins. The veil has another motive; I needed to tone-down Bryce's hair color. Under the veil, you can tell that her hair is red, but it is muted down to suit the planet that she is representing. The jewels and gems that fall from her arms, body, etc. represent the freezing cold temperature of Uranus. Lastly, to pay homage to Uranus' rings, I added the halo like ring behind Bryce's head.
Overall, while creating Bryce's look, I was trying to mesh the planet Uranus, with its namesake, the Greek God Ouranos. Bryce's outfit obtains the colors of the planet, while the style comes across as a Greek deity. I wanted to make Bryce look awe-inspiring! Prior to committing to this look, I had Bryce with a black background, but it made her face/legs/arms melt into the background rather than stand out. So, I opted to let her outfit stand on its own, with no background.
>But exceptional beasts like us cannot fall in love< Saturnian Nights Designer: Haji Demon Model: Robin
Description:
Ok, before I even start this, I shall admit that I dont have very discerning eye with colors.
Space related themes are one of my all time fav! There is just so much beautiful stuff to work with. I just had a hard time deciding what to do with it that wont mess it up and I am far from convinced that I didnt. In a theme that asked for larger than life, I went for surprisingly human entry.
I had a hard time picking gaia color schemes for planet, is it sunny? vintage? in the end I settled more for cream/brown version of Saturn, mixed with gold..something more like dust..sand! Which in turn inspired me to go for Arabian Nights theme. I didnt want to give her hula hoops, tons of jewelry or halos (I did make some avis along those lines too), but in the end felt like Saturn dancing elegantly in the sky is just a beautiful thought.
I managed to find a good arm mod with sash for that, but its just is too light in color, while rings are supposed to be its most prominent feature. I had to sacrifice some beautiful background items so that it would show up clearly, but to support the core concept, its acceptable sacrifice. Same for veil item. I am not completely satisfied with it, couldnt find a better version, but its necessary for the theme and it doesnt look that bad either. But other than that it was just browse through items and have all the fun you can! At times I had to cut back on some make up and skin items (like gold dust thing from zodiacal) cause I had to remind myself of the rules.
I am quite happy with few of the items I found like the headwrap, feels like its designed after the planet itself! Also because I went back and checked Robin's previous entries and noticed that Robin needs some accessories for head/hair. Not cause her hair needs help, but because its just the opposite, they are her best feature and Robin can rock any hair accessory like no other model, it would be a mistake to not to take advantage of that. My fav find might be the sash that wraps around Robin. Like how Saturn's rings have gaps in them and some parts are closer than other, in both color and wrapping pattern it represents that quite well! For background I wanted elements of both sky and Saturn's color scheme. Not to mention the sand like appearance for the Arabian Night theme, but as I said earlier, cause of sash I couldnt have light colors on the ground or it would hide it, so I chose dark colors of night to highlight the sash and sandy colors to light up the top. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise cause blackness of space would've hid Robin's pretty hair.
I did add a few ring like effects and halo in background cause its Saturn and something inside me nagged me to do it XD
