Welcome to Gaia! ::

Coming up with a concept for Rae this week was fairly difficult. Starting out I knew I wanted to pair up Rae with a white animal, but deviate the look enough from the nearly full ivory look from a previous challenge. I started out with a white cat and a white bunny, but I wasn’t too confident in those looks, so I took a leap from the original small animal idea and went with a polar bear.

After pairing Rae with her companion, I’m glad I really focused on looking for an animal friend that shared a lot of physical traits with Rae. After deciding the polar bear was the best option, I had to give it a name LOL. I decided Palu (like PAL and then OOO) was a fun name that kind of sounds like a disney name where this challenge is inspired from. Palu was a great fit for Rae and for what I was looking for. Palu came in the “polaris” theme which rotates between a similar off white to Rae’s hair, a creamy yellow, an icy blue, and lastly a pale rosy pink.

Based on the colors of Palu, I began constructing Rae’s outfit. For whatever reason I started off with an accessory first which made choosing the main articles of clothing for Rae a bit tricky! The scarf fit too perfectly with Palu the polar bear, I just couldn’t abandon it. The fur and even little paws on the scarf were perfect for Rae and Palu. I knew I wanted Rae to be some what casual in streetwear to make this look believable and as close to the reference images for this challenge as possible.

So next up, was struggling to find a jacket that worked with the scarf! And an arm pose that wouldn’t cover up too much. The original arm pose/coat I chose for Rae covered too much of her face, but I really liked the look of her “blowing on her hands” as if she was cold. So instead of going for an obvious/explicitly cold pose that covered too much of her face, I opted for this one with the cream fur on the jacket that would imply her hands or cold (or even later on in the description, that she’s adjusting her glasses).

After adding her coat, I had to put the creamy yellow hue elsewhere. Searching for pants, I was convinced I had to find bottoms in the icy blue so they could match Palu’s icy blue limbs (and her coat from earlier). Luckily, I found some that were paired with her shoes that would help balance out the cream color and introduced the pink.

I took a break from clothing to attempt to find some pinkish flowers for Rae to wear that would match the ones Palu’s already adorned on his fur coat like a necklace. And I somehow easily found a subtle earring and “floating” flowers to match with Palu. Adding the extra layer of falling flowers just seemed to stitch the two characters into one cohesive space.

Lastly for Rae’s outfit, I felt the yellow creams Rae was bearing on her shoes and coat didn’t balance out correctly. To solve this I searched for a hat that luckily came in the same cream and even had some similar floral elements to it~ For the final touch, later on I noticed Palu the polar bear had very subtle rings around his eyes and the bridge of his nose seemed to connect them. I took this as the perfect opportunity for Rae to Wear some round glasses so the two could be cute together ;-;

To complete the look I searched through a lot of wintry backgrounds and found this one in another recolor. I was hoping and praying to find this background in a hue that would compliment the look, and Gaia came thruuuuuu. The yellows and whites of the background were similar enough to tie in with everything, but also dulled down enough to allow Rae and Palu to be pushed forward in perspective, and thus allow them to have most of the attention.

I’m satisfied with this pair of companions. I’m glad the look over all had this really subtle, pastel like feel. I’m definitely not used to dressing up avi’s in pastels as you can probably tell from most of my avi’s, oof. I do like the subtlety of the colors from this theme juxtaposed with the fair amount of textures within the outfit.

P.S. All of Rae’s “fur” clothing is FAUX FUR. Can’t have her wearing her best friend.

In this scene, Rae has returned to her old dance studio she practiced in as a child.

Rae had just come from her solo recital, up on the big stage, her first big real performance. She learned from an old classmate that attended the show to congratulate her that the lonely studio had finally been vacated and abandoned.

Still wearing her performance outfit, she wrapped up her goodbyes to everyone and hurried to see the familiar space.

The space was aged now. The vibrant paint of the studio’s walls turned pale. The small once cozy space, felt chilly. Rae wasn’t sure if it was because of the lack of students, or if it was the frail windows poorly insulating the space. The lights, half broken. The ceiling tiles, missing. The floor riddled with junk, yet strangely kept polished and shiny.

It was in the junk she saw it. The plush toy she begged to bring to class every day when she first began attending. The same toy she sat on her head to practice her balance after her instructor scolded her time and time again. She always practiced alone as a child, never in front of anyone. She laughed at how much she had changed.

Rae places the stuffed toy on her head once again. She breathes. Then begins. She soars across the small room, turning it into the large stage she danced on earlier in the night. She remembers the little girl she used to be, telling herself “practice makes perfect, balance is everything, balance is key, balance is beautiful” over and over again. This time the toy never slipped once. Not even when she bowed. She had mastered her art.

This water meat challenge knocked me HARD. Like yikes, I had no idea what to do. It’s such an old item I was so scared about the new and old pixel styles clashing. For Rae’s look, I combatted this fear by searching for water meat’s unique “white” color. I pulled from a couple schemes and items that literally had no scheme to give this final look. I began with her arms which came paired with the off the should sleeves. Choosing this started the entire story behind Rae’s look.

I was so scared I wouldn’t be able to find dancer’s legs that would fit with watermeat’s niche color palette. Luckily I did, and next up was the torso. I wanted a dress that looked like it could twirl, but many of the dresses that matched watermeat’s body all had terrible silhouettes on Rae. Luck struck once again when I was able to find her dress now, which helped to tie in the highlights, mid tones, and most importantly the shadows on watermeat.

The background consists of two layers. The first, the studio itself. I chose this background because it gave a somewhat aged feel. Next, was the wintry landscape in the windows. I really liked them empty (with the transparent background) but I was afraid out of context the transparency would ruin the scene. I chose this secondary background to keep the pale tone and not draw too much attention, like some of the other options.

For the finishing touches, I chose this lighting to really sell the idea that the studio was no longer properly lit. I also symbolically enjoyed it because it seemed like Rae is stepping into the light, just as she is beginning her professional career as a dancer. Lastly, were here earrings. I’m glad both sets of earrings I used layered awkwardly, because it allowed for her to wear two different earrings (to match watermeat of course!).