Showing posts with label fantasy art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fantasy art. Show all posts

Friday, January 20, 2012

Fantasy Art Focus: Patricie Sapphire


"For myself the picture will always start with the pose, something I feel a connection to at the moment. It becomes the root for the look and the setting."...Patricie Sapphire


A beautiful girl wearing a pretty pink skirt with flowers and .....red boxing gloves....in a thunderstorm. Another lovely girl, who is a mime, sitting on a stool in shallow water with stilts and a parasol. A giant clock sitting in water while a winged girl with antlers and high heels looks on. These are descriptions of three works of art each with their own unique style, details and meaning. Works of art produced by one of the most creative talents in Second Life and Flickr.



left to right: Time Warps All, Baby Gunna Knock You Out, Mime of Hearts

Patricie Sapphire is this amazing, unique, and detail-oriented artist. Each and every piece she produces is very special with an all too obvious amount of love and care put into each one. By this I mean Patricie takes her time with every picture until it turns out exactly like she wants it. She puts her all into them and you can tell by looking at the beautiful color and intricate details once the picture is enlarged. This includes lighting and background detail, not to mention her talent for all kinds of effects, like water reflections and splashes. Her pictures tend to be eccentric, eclectic, and whimsical...with a touch of fantasy. Patricie also only produces pictures with some sort of special meaning to them, something that relates to herself.

Just who is she? Who is this outstanding talent? It is not surprising Patricie loved art in one form or another beginning at a very young age. She's always loved drawing by using charcoal and most drawing mediums, painting, wood works, lathe work, hand carving, and scroll saw. Because of this passion for all forms of art and because she was good at all she pursued, Patricie's Dad sent her away to an Arts school where she was "semi-schooled". What do I mean by semi-schooled? Well, halfway through her schooling, Patricie ran off and got engaged. To this day, her Dad still gives her a hard time about that!



Oh, Someone Let Her Out




A Few Clowns Short of a Circus


At some point, Patricie began playing Second Life and after the newness of the game wore off, she found herself looking for ways to enjoy it more. She began reading tutorials and blogs regularly in which she discovered the magic of photography within Second Life, just by noticing all the great pictures within what she was reading. This motivated her to begin using her creative background to produce amazing pictures in game. She started out just taking random snapshots and then later graduated to blogging along with it, also a way to justify all her spending in game :P She blogged about fashion by using simple poses that were less intimidating. However, because of a very traumatic and emotional hurt Patricie experienced within Second Life, things totally changed. She immersed herself into her artwork and began challenging herself to go beyond what she thought she could do. Intimidation had all but disappeared and out came Patricie, artist extraordinaire! She had begun to use her emotions and what she was feeling at any given moment as the motivator in her work. Because of this, a new level of art developed, and even her fashion pictures now always have a piece of what she's feeling at the time. She says once she finishes a picture, she feels a cathartic release!

Patricie continues to be just as passionate as she ever was regarding digital art within Second Life. She says, "I find Second Life to be such a creatively stimulating environment with heaps of talented people who have made and continue to make Second Life the great canvas it is. They have even left some blank spaces for us to create in as well."

Patricie uses Photoshop, Corel, numerous plugins, and a tablet for digital art as her mediums. Using all of these continues to be a learning experience full of new discoveries.

Patricie's Flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/patricie/




What Side of the Mirror Do You Live In?




Thoughts of Holiday Baking




Matador of Death




Chasing Your Youth




Catch Your Dreams

Monday, April 18, 2011

Official Fantasy Kaleidoscope Gallery Opening!


ka·lei·do·scope [kuh-lahy-duh-skohp] A continually changing pattern of shapes and colors.

First, I'd like to apologize for being rather quiet for a while! There's been alot of excitement going on at Enchanted and the new sim, Bewitched, as you can imagine. Along with the addition of the new haunted sim, and with the help of Andrek Lowell, I was also working on a gallery exhibiting Second Life artists' work above Enchanted. I had mentioned this in a past blog, but have never officially introduced it as being open. Well, this is the official announcement of the opening of the Fantasy Kaleidoscope Gallery above Enchanted! Andrek has done a beautiful job seeing that it blends well with the forest below, all the way from the scenery to the frames around the pictures. In keeping with its purpose, the gallery is truly its own piece of art! It is something that will always be in the works and continuously updated, as we have new art we want to recognize all the time. That is the main purpose of the gallery, to show off/exhibit fantasy art created within game and to give it the recognition it deserves. For a while I was recognizing a piece of art from Enchanted and a piece from the Finest of Fantasy Art group in Flickr each week. After I left it on the sim for that week, I'd move and place it in the gallery. I still plan to do something similar, but instead of just two pieces of work each time, it will be a variety each time and go along with a particular theme. For example, this week I will recognize art having to do with the theme, "Light and Dark". We are having a photo contest with this theme, so thought it would be perfect. I will display the artwork within the theme at the entrance to the gallery each time and depending on the event or what is going on, it could be displayed for a while, not necessarily just a week. In order to visit the gallery, please use the tp door at the landing point entrance to Enchanted.

There will be a post following this one explaining a photo contest meant to kick off the gallery opening, so please be sure and watch for this and enter the contest! I've posted some pictures from within the gallery in keeping with the light and dark theme, but please come by and visit, you'll be glad you did!

Teleport landing point


Nat standing in front of one of the gallery sections


Closeup of the frames used for this natural setting


Beautiful bridges and walkways to each section of the gallery


One of the four sections of the gallery, each with its own central fantasy statue


Another gallery area


Gallery lit up at night

Friday, March 25, 2011

Fantasy Art Focus: Wistful Mactavish

And Magic Happens


"God gives us creativity, and I don't intend to waste my share of it." ... Wistful Mactavish

Wistful definitely doesn't waste her share of creativity! She uses that God given talent to produce amazingly beautiful and unique pictures for all of us to enjoy. Her stream contains some of my all time favorites from Flickr and Second Life. She specializes in pictures full of magic and fantasy, elves and fairies, and quite a few landscapes. Although Wistful tends to produce fantasy art for the most part, every single picture is very unique and special in its own right. She doesn't have a particular style like many artists, instead she has the ability to create pictures with each and every one affording a style of its own. This is what makes Wistful's artwork so interesting! I always look forward to a new picture and when I see her name coming through the Flickr stream, it's almost always chosen as an automatic favorite.

Wistful became interested in photography within Second Life after entering a contest in game and placing Second. She remembers being so elated and realized how much she loved taking pictures in the game, so that's what she started doing on a more regular basis. Wistful is not happy with the quality of her computer graphics card, thus relies on post processing of her photos. After being highly intimidated by advanced editing software in the beginning, she has finally come to a point where she's comfortable with it and continues to learn something new every picture she takes. Wistful uses a variety of settings and backgrounds for her pictures. Most all of them use an avie from within Second Life, but sometimes she uses backdrops and textures (composites) found outside of the game. She always has an idea in mind of what she wants to accomplish with each picture and persists toward this goal until it is met. She would be able to tell someone a story about every single picture she's done, as they all have meaning and a reason behind why they were done.

With great encouragement from friends, Wistful opened her own gallery in Second Life. She sells the pictures she creates and says she receives great pleasure in the fact that she can share her love of art with others. She makes enough money to pay her rent in game, but most of all, she is grateful she can do something she is very passionate about for pure enjoyment, plus, make others happy by doing it!



The Faerie's Elf


Rainbow Fairy


A Fairy Playground


Catch a Dancing Fairy


Home


Looking for the Great Pumpkin


The Fairy Field


Drink of Magic


Loss


A Source of Magic


Autumn Wistful


Please be sure to visit Wistful's photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wistfulmactavish/






Friday, November 26, 2010

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

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Fantasy Art Focus: Aida Ewing

Elf

I thought it was time to do a new feature focusing on another very talented artist within Second Life. I've been spending more time on Flickr lately just enjoying all the wonderful beauty and creativity so many put into their work, each with their own style. It's amazing what someone can do with a snapshot taken in Second Life! Aida Ewing is definitely one of these wonderful artists who has a gift. I chose some of her elven shots, but she takes many different varieties, focusing on fashion, friends, and romance, too. Every picture of hers I've seen is perfectly smooth and soft, plus she tends to use more muted color tones rather than bright colors. She makes a bold statement with a simple, classy style in every picture and each of those pictures may have a touch of urban chic, glamour, magic, or goth depending on the look. Aida is not only talented with pictures, but also creates beautiful fashions and skins for her store, Glam Affair, within Second Life. She has such creative vision in all areas. There's something to be said about being multitalented!


Gray Elves


Free



Sleep


FreeStyle


Yess!


Hide You


You can enjoy more of Aida's pictures in Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/people/aidaewing/
Her store blog: http://glamaffairupdates.blogspot.com/


Thursday, September 2, 2010

Fantasy Art Focus: Ruriko Bracken


Sparkles, twinkles and interesting textures are a few of the many reasons I adore Ruriko Bracken's pictures. So many of them look like a real picture, a photograph, because of all the detailed editing involved. She's very good about choosing wonderful locations and backdrops for her shoots, making her pictures that much more spectacular. For example, she has taken some in Arabia in front of some beautiful Arabian architecture. There are some artists who stay with portraits and people only in their pictures, while others excel in landscapes. Well, Ruriko is exceptionally talented in both of these equally! Really quite amazing. She's just very well-rounded in every way and this shows in each and every one of her pictures. Alot of artists do pictures that are all the same style, but Ruriko varies hers quite often. For example, she has done some that portray a model in a beautiful gown in some exotic location, another that shows vintage Audrey Hepburn in all her glory, and then she might do a winged fairy with magic dust all about. She has won many contests and awards and uses her talent within her own venues. Along with taking her pictures, she also finds time to model and write in three blogs! Ruriko Bracken has definitely made her mark on Second Life photography and style!



Elfin Dream series (three above)


In Pink


Fairy


Sunny Day


Bloom (I love the unicorn colt in this one!)


Audrey (I know this isn't fantasy, but I love this one!)


You can find many more of Ruriko's beautiful pictures in:
http://www.flickr.com/people/21619951@N07/

Her personal blog:
http://rurikostyle.slmame.com/

Blogs she writes in:
http://mamijewell.wordpress.com/
http://timelessagency.wordpress.com/