Monday, July 27, 2009

Hedera

Omfg.

Okay, it's finally done.


This project, which started out with something as innocent as a bracelet, has become a voracious vortex of vegetation, demanding I make piece after piece after piece until it has finally had its way with me. I've been working on this pretty much straight through the month, without really being able to focus on anything else until this was done. That's one of the reasons I've been so silent.



You may now adorn yourself with ivy. As my friend Selos joked, I've been out of world so much that my avatar has become overgrown.

This set is a big landmark for me, because it includes something I've never before done in an accessories set.... clothing.

The clothing textures took me more time than the rest of the sculpting and texturing combined. It's a huge jump for me to take, seeing as how textures have never been my strong suit, nor a very enjoyable task for me. My meager skills in that department needed some serious exercise and butt kickery to get them anywhere near the quality I demand from everything in my store. After more lindens spent in upload fees than I can count, as well as draft upon draft that never even were good enough to make it in world, I was finally able to rest and say "those seams are good enough, damnit".

Each prim piece is painstakingly made especially to the avatar mesh, so that they should be super easy to fit. Even the chest vines that curl around the breasts should be able to handle even the biggest girls with only minimal clipping. I also made sure to keep my prim sizes relatively large, so that every piece is able to be modded down to fit even my pixie shapes. The individual pieces vary in price based on complexity from 45L to 175L, with the complete set being a quite reasonable 950L.

The panties that go on under the loin cloth are only available in the complete set. There are other perks exclusive to buying it all in one, like multiple clothing layers for the bra and panties, a "bare foot" size for the foot vines, and multiple attachment points for the ear cuffs (yes there are ear cuffs) so that you can wear them with the earrings and get a multi layered effect :)


If you're more of a minimalist, or on a budget, the necklace and earrings will give you at least the impression of that dryad look without needing to be weeded. The necklace comes with delicately trailing vines which hang off your shoulder, and are completely optional (they have a separate attachment)

(By the way, the stunning black skin in that picture is from Blowpop's new skin series, called Maya. I love it to pieces and you'll probably be seeing a lot more of it from me)

You'll also just have to see the enormous wall of all of your options... happy shopping :)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

My work ethic is like soap. The harder I grab on to it, to try to make things, the faster it goes *squip!* out of my hands. However! I have some good news. As I have relaxed (through copious procrastination) I have made great progress on two projects which have been my sole focus for the past month, one of which is very close to being completed.

I might be too close to it to see it neutrally by now, but as much as I'd like to say it is epic and huge, it is probably not that epic, nor huge. I have managed to accomplish something that a majority of content creators do easily, and quickly, and it took me more time than the rest of my project put together. Hopefully, in the long run it will prove to be a learning experience, and what it adds to the project will be worth the time.

Now, I don't normally post teasers, but I also don't normally go silent for almost a month at a time!
Coming soon to a purple mask store near you...

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Today I received my first notice of copyright infringement from the DMCA department, which is something I was never expecting to see. After I swallowed that "wtf!?" moment, it actually wasn't so bad. Apparently even Frank Sinatra's name is licensed, and so my naming a fedora after him was in violation of Warner Music's copyright. So from now on the "Sinatra" fedora is going to be the "Corleone" fedora, something I'm updating even as I type this.

It's no biggie, so I won't bother making a fuss. What's in a name, after all? But I wanted to make a notice here so that there was no confusion, and also satisfy curiosities (maybe serve as a little warning to anyone else wanting to dedicate anything to the Chairman of the Board).


Also, update on current projects... I'm working on a few things that are ending up bigger than I initially thought, which makes me think I should release another smaller project while I'm working on these. Unfortunately, that's exactly how a few of these started, so I don't want to place myself in the way of temptation and end up with even more enormous projects O.o