About Me

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Roleplaying the part of the much-maligned Duchess and favorite of Marie Antoinette in the Versailles community of Second Life. In "real life", I am a history geek with a love of 18th century aesthetics, a friend, a wife and a mother.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Creating "Little Po" in Second Life

As anyone who has ever been a "resident" of Second Life can attest, perhaps one of the most consuming aspects of existing in that "intangible" world is the personalisation of your avatar. I have been "in" SL for a little more than a year now, and I am no exception. I am, perhaps, more obsessed than most! I began my second life attempting to re-create my real life visage using only what God and Linden Labs gave me-my own creativity and the "edit appearance" sliders. Ugh! "Frankenoobie!!"
Venturing beyond "Help Island" and thinking myself quite the stunner, I was deflated completely by some other tottering noob coming up and saying "Ur ugly!! HAHA!" Undaunted, I set out to find those creators in SL that were the best of the best. I now fancy myself rather good at throwing together a look, though there is always improvement to be made! I am constantly readjusting myself *ahem* and tweaking facial features, buying new hair, etc. I never seem to be completely content with my avatar. (is it possible to suffer body-dysmorphic disorder in sl?) When I was given the role of Gabrielle (for which I feel humbly honoured, thank you Versailles) I wanted to make her exceptional, looking as much like the RL Gabrielle as possible without, of course, adding any flaws... hee hee. Anyone who has customised an avatar knows that there are certain limitations, and we must accept what is available to us out there on the grid. I think she turned out pretty good, but knowing me, don't be surprised if you see her change as time goes on and improvements are made in skin, hair, etc! Obviously (I hope?)I used the Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun portrait for inspiration. The clothes are by Mau Delarosa, one of the very best of the "historical" designers and the only one to make a chemise gown so far, to my knowledge anyway. The hair is "Spring" by House of Heart, and the skin is from the "Lovely II" line by Curio. I made the shape myself, trying to recreate the longish face, lower cheekbones and smaller mouth I noticed in all of the portraits of the Duchesse. As always, I am more than happy to share my favourite creators, and hopefully I will encounter no "Little Po" clones running around, lest they incur my (lukewarm) wrath. With so many different options available, though, it's much more fun being original! Feel free to tell me what you think! I accept all constructive criticism, but reserve the right to ignore it. :D

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