Fantasy Art Focus: Tamzin Xigalia

Moonlight and Dragonflies

Tamzin Xigalia is extremely talented at taking all kinds of pictures in Second Life. However, her greatest love is fantasy pictures. I've featured quite a few of my favorites of hers here. Again, it was very hard to narrow down which ones I wanted to feature, as I could've posted them all!

Tamzin's love of picture-taking began when she was new to Second Life and explored the sim, Garden of Dreams. She was in awe of the beauty of the sim and it inspired her to want to capture it somehow for others to enjoy. While she was visiting, she met another photographer named, Naija, who is now a close friend of Tamzin's. Naija took a lovely snapshot of Tamzin by the river in Garden of Dreams and sent it to her, as she knew how much she loved the sim. Then Naija spent about 45 minutes showing Tamzin how to take snapshots in game. That's how it started and after that, Tamzin found she couldn't stop taking pictures. She loved taking pictures of others, and her number one "model" happened to be Voy Sands, creator of the lovely Elven Forest. She said Voy was the one who told her about Flickr and now you can find all of Tamzin's beautiful pictures in one place: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tamzinxigalia/

Tamzin's reputation as a good photographer is well-known, as she has had quite a few who have commissioned her services.

Tamzin said she she's found that most pictures she takes match her mood, thus she presents a variety when it comes to style. "Not all my pictures are what people may call nice, some have said some of my pictures scare them, but I find if i feel nothing, I can't take pictures," as stated by Tamzin. You can see this in her pictures, they all have depth and meaning and you can tell there's quite a bit of "feeling" involved. "I love fantasy, anything whimsical. I guess a lot of my pictures have that kind of feel to them, and I always come back to my roots, elves and fairies." I'm so glad she does, because fantasy is my favorite, too, and I love it every time Tamzin comes out with a new picture within this theme! She's truly amazing and everyone who loves fantasy needs to view her stream in Flickr (listed above) or you're really missing out!

No Sky, No Air...

Encounter (one of my faves)

We Got Tonight

Making Friends

HELLO!!

Not Just a Boat ...(unedited)

The Ladies Dragon

Winter is Magic

The Unicorn by Faery Sola of Studio Sidhe

Peace

Enchanted of Elven Realm's main icon is definitely the unicorn. After all, the sim houses a large unicorn sanctuary. I have always loved unicorns (all animals for that matter) since I was a child, so wanted the sim to focus on them, plus other forest animals. Then my thinking went even further, and I decided to take the percentage of donations given to the sim and in turn, give it to a national animal rights advocacy group called, Friends of Animals.

Originally, my good friend SeleneLily and I were searching for poseballs for the unicorns already on Enchanted, knowing how much most people enjoyed taking pictures. After much searching, we realized there really were no poses made specifically for this animal, unless it was a unicorn you could ride. Otherwise, we could use different model poses that looked close to what could be used with the unicorn. Then, Selene spoke with creator Faery Sola of Studio Sidhe to see if she could possibly make some poseballs just for the unicorn. Faery was intrigued with the idea and came to Enchanted to see what it was all about. Faery was suddenly inspired to make her own unicorn as a pose prop! She worked diligently on it and after it was finished, she sent me one before it was introduced. I can't tell you how excited and emotional I was when I tried it out! It was AMAZING!

Here's how the unicorn works: You bring it out of your inventory, then "sit" on it. Once you're sitting on it, touch the unicorn and a menu will pop up in the right corner of your screen. You have a choice of 5 poses with the unicorn! That's right, you heard me, 5 poses!! Each and every single pose was completely smooth and synchronized! The unicorn itself lays on the ground, stands, and rears up. Then the avie poses had to be coordinated with the unicorn's movements. Not an easy project, but done with love and care, as the finished product will attest! I think it's time to SHOW you what the poses look like! Please see the pictures below and one above. All are labeled with the pose name.

Promise

Rescue

Playful

First Encounter

Aren't they all absolutely gorgeous? I know Faery will do very well with them. She offered them at a fantastic introductory price of 600L during the Grand Opening, and now has decided to keep them at this unbelievable price! With all the time and work she put into making the unicorn, this is a fantastic deal! You may purchase them at Enchanted or Studio Sidhe, of course. Enjoy!

Clothes: Aventine by Evangeline Miles of Evie's Closet
Shoes: Esprit Pearl by Beauvoir Rousselot of Maitreya Gold
Skin: Eva by Aida Ewing of Glam Affair
Elf Ears: Wilted Elf Ears with Stars by Kioko Kumaki of Panda Express
Hair: Bella III in White Beach Blonde by mcgeeb Gupte of Jolie Femme Designs
Location: Enchanted of Elven Realm

An Enchanted GRAND OPENING Saturday, November 20!

This is the blog I just wrote on my sim, Enchanted's, site at http://enchantedelvenrealm.blogspot.com/:

I know I've rather neglected this blog since Enchanted opened! I've been busy working on other things, plus have been out of town off and on quite a bit. I have something very special I need to tell you about. Yes, we opened Enchanted a while back, but never had an "official" Grand Opening, so we plan to do that next Saturday the 20th of November. I hope everyone can come :) Our major event is the fact one of my favorite creators, Faery with Studio Sidhe, will launch her newest and most magical creation to date! If you're a fantasy buff like me and love beautiful and magical things, you can't miss this! Here is the slurl to the sim: slurl.com/secondlife/Elven%20Realm/160/154/22 We will also have a photo and poetry contest you can enter at the event. There will be first, second and third prizes for each contest given away. All photos need to be taken in Enchanted of Elven Realm, plus poems written should be original, fantasy themed, and use Enchanted as inspiration :) I can't wait to see all that creativity out there! You may submit pictures to the Enchanted group site on Flickr. Please just type "contest entry" as the caption and upload the picture. You will have to join the group first, it is open enrollment. Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/groups/enchantedelvenrealm/

As far as the poetry contest, please submit your poems on a notecard in Second Life to my avie, Natalie Montagne. You may also submit to my email at nataliemontagne@yahoo.com. Be sure to put your name on them! Both contests earliest entry must be on the day of the event or after. We will accept entries until December 5 and winners will be announced on December 7.

We are planning to have a DJ off and on the day of the event and possibly some other things in store. A percentage of all proceeds from the event will benefit the Friends of Animals fund. Hope to see you there!

Dreamy Faerie of Fall

Well, we're right smack in the middle of Fall right now, and I can't believe Thanksgiving is just around the corner!! I stumbled across a beautiful autumn faerie frock designed by Evangeline Miles of Evie's Closet the other day and just had to feature it. It's actually a gift for those joining the Evie's Closet group. If you are a true fantasy buff, you're already a member...if not, join! It's wonderful to receive the updates, plus the designer is a very generous gift giver if you're a member. This outfit is truly unique, magical and full of the typical Evie attention to detail. Check out her site listed on my blogroll for all kinds of information on her designs :)

Clothes: Evie's Closet Apple Fairy Group Gift

Skin: Pin up Starlet 1 in dark Acorn by Gala Phoenix of Curio
Hair: Bella III in Nearly Black by mcgeeb Gupte of Jolie Femme Designs
Location: Oubliette

Water Faerie in Roan: An Azure Wonderland

the sky above,
the Texas state flower,
the splashing sea,
a diving dolphin,
a stripe in the rainbow,
a pair of every day jeans,
September's birthstone.

a sad mood.
blue.

~poem written by Natalie in 11th grade advanced English~

Clean, refreshing, mellow, cool, water, ocean...blue. There are many words and phrases that describe this lovely color, which happens to be my all time favorite :) This being said, what better than to wear my new water fae outfit I purchased from Wishbox and then travel to Roan for some beautiful scenery and backdrop choices.

Clothes: Water Fae by Wisp Jinn of Wishbox
Skin: Eva in Natural Clean by Aida Ewing of Glam Affair
Elf Ears: Sad Elf Ears Thorned by Kioko Kumaki of Panda Express
Hair: Bella III in Ocean with Seagreen by Mcgeeb Gupte of JolieFemme Designs

Location: Roan, owned by Wildangel Swift

A view of Roan zoomed out

Roan is one of the most beautiful sims I've seen in Second Life. I was in awe of everything from the music to the architecture, from the prevalence of the color blue to the gorgeous gardens, and from the magical ambiance to the constant glow among all the displayed objects. The sounds within the sim are so pretty (not the music, but the sound you hear when the music is off) and is alot like meditational music. It's also placed just right and varies somewhat by the area of the sim you're in. The whole sim is similar to an underground city of Atlantis that has shifted up and out of the water. The gorgeous architecture, all with blue color tones, is very unique and definitely stands out in the crowd. Surrounding the architecture are small mountains with gardens and trees of their own. High above and over the sim, are little landings with gardens and poses for romantic meetings, all still with the same architecture as the others. The base of the build is all water with an abundance of beautiful bridges and glowing gardens of bright and colorful flowers. In the middle, among all the gardens, stands a majestic unicorn along with a couple poses...a perfect place for pictures!

The wings literally glow and are lovely when it's dark

Central area with the beautiful gardens that look like a Van Gogh work of art

Overall, Roan is a true work of art and no detail is left undone. I just love that blue is the prominent color. Many poseballs are scattered about the sim and are anywhere from romantic couples poses to dream dances or meditations. There is an area of the sim where dolphins and whales are in abundance and alot of fun to watch. Also, there are many glowing, sparkling and artistic type objects here and there. Even the flowers in the gardens glow! What's really neat is when you set your environment to midnight and watch the colors and glowing effects covering the region. So gorgeous! This sim and Lumera (underwater fantasy world) are both must-sees! Enjoy :)

Roan in the evening when everything is aglow