Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Burning Life

As our continuing coverage of Burning Life continues this week I bring you Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Burning Life. This is an excellent group to join and add your memories from this year's event and also to browse and get a good look of all there is going on. With 218 works in this grouping posted by 41 members it's a really impressive collection.

There are only a few more days left to such a great event, so I also wanted to provide you a few links on what's going on out on the Burning Life sims so you can time your visit: http://burninglife.secondlife.com/eventsbrowse. Here's your link to the front gate: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Burning%20Life-%20Hualapai/253/3/24%C2%A0. I recommend if you are going with friends grab a tie dyed cart just inside the gate and travel in style.

Machinima by: RockerFaerie

RockerFaerie takes us on a really fantastic journey around a few of the exhibits at this year's event. It's really well shot and put together. If you don't think you have time to make it....at least watch the vid, you'll change your mind. This piece highlights works from Snowy Hoobinoo, Donpatchy Dagostino, Kazuhiro Aridian, and Poid Mahovlich.

Photo by: TaliaTokugawa

TaliaTokugawa's BL Berlin09 is a fantastic shot of one of the many stages out at the Burning Life sims. This particular stage was made by Kazuhiro Aridian...who is the fabulous creator of Europa.

Photo by: LoquaciaLoon

LoquaciaLoon's piece named Moon was shot at Burning Life-12 Mile and is just one of the many freebies available for you this year. Grapho Fullstop, of alpha-tribe, not only includes five marvelous avatars but some corresponding animations and some fabulous fun. Grab the notecard and enjoy this site.

Next week we return to our regular columns so please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Virtual Worlds Untouched

So last week I took you on a tour to see some heavily post processed works of art. This week I bring you Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of Virtual Worlds Untouched. This group was created to showcase virtually raw shots that were not just mundane in nature but superior snaps made by composing and lighting the shot just right in game.

The 33 members of this group use the tools in game as well as using their creative eye or classic photography rules to compose beautiful shots that just makes our jaw drop. For some great ways to spruce up your raw photos while shooting try some of these resources:

• Secondlife sky/water settings - http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/WindLight_settings
• Classic Photography Rules - http://tinyurl.com/ygavqmu or this one is a bit more funny but it emphasizes the point http://tinyurl.com/rxpmzc
  

Photo by: Musique

Musique has done a fabulous job composing and lighting this shot called Immerse Yourself in Fashion. The backdrop in game perfectly accents the model. And I really love the butterflies in the contrasting color.

Photo by: TheaMaiman

Thea Maiman has picked the popular sim of Bitterblue where it's always raining. The choice in place and the overall composition of this shot makes it a real winner. I really like how the lights look.

Photo by: Crystalship-Rehula

I love Crystalship-Rehula's entire collection of work. Here she shows off Memories of Blue. What a fabulous in game effect that makes it more ethereal looking.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Heavy Image Treatments

Today on Koinup's Cream of the Crop I bring you the group called Heavy Image Treatments. This fab group of individuals are more than photographers. They use the screen capture as a jumping off point then manipulate it with a photo editing program making the picture into a wonderful work of art.

The Admin, SysperiaPoppy, writes "What interests me is not the shot itself, but what the artist wishes to do with that moment: How they feel, what they want to communicate and what means they use to do that." This group has 59 wildly creative members who have submitted over 650 works to the collection. For those of you who haven't tried your hand at such things, like me, there are tons of tutorials on the web about manipulating photos. I know after seeing some of these I'm gonna give it a try! Here are a few sites I found that may help you try your hand at it: Layering SL Snapshops in Photoshop, 30+ Most Wanted Photo Manipulation Tutorials and 75+ Huge Compilation of Stunning Photo Manipulation Tutorials.

Photo by: Tessybaby

Tessybaby's Time and Space is a great example of layering a texture on top of a photo and really dramatically changing the piece. It is a really fabulously composed original photo or a nicely composed collage; either way this piece really pops.

Photo by: NeveryLorakeet

NeveryLorakeet's Dreaming the Sky is just fantastic! I can't tell where the photo starts nor ends. This is one of those pieces that just embodies photo manipulation techniques. I love it!

Photo by: Photoliv42

Photoliv42's Flight of Icarus is another really brilliant piece. It looks more painted than photographed. Really lovely use of layering and filtering.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Summer

As summer just closes for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere and the feeds fill up with more sweaters, I bring to you a group filled with summer memories. Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Summer brings us pictures full of bikini clad girls, surfer boys, sunshine, green grass, sandy beaches, pool parties, picnics, and backyard barbecues.

I love this repository of nearly 460 photos. It's like looking through tons of vacation photos and reminiscing about all the good times. It can be a real challenge to capture the essence of season but Summer’s 136 group have done it fabulously. For those of you missing summer already….the beauty of our virtual worlds are that it can always be in season. Don your beach clothes and add your fun photos to this great collection!

Photo by: Dimitri

Dimitri's Rosana & Lin is just one in many summertime themed works in his collection. Dimitri does a fantastic job of capturing the fun of the season. His Sims avis are seen doing everything from pool parties to picnics.

Photo by: rubyOkelly

Ruby's entry for the PureAngel contest is one that really captures the summertime feeling. Items like the sunlight on her face and water and the shadow of the palm makes this a really stellar piece.

Photo by: Kleinfeld

Kleinfeld is another artist whose works really revolve around summertime activities in Secondlife. I particularly liked this piece as you could see the sunlight effect on the subjects body.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Secondlife Sculptures

Anyone who really knows me...knows I'm in love with sculptures. These virtual 3D pieces of art line my mantle, cover some floor space, and even serve as a fountain on the grounds near my home. I even covered sculptures as part of my Home and Garden column on Phantom's Republic awhile back. So needless to say this week's Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Secondlife Sculpture is one that made me squeal with delight. YAY...a whole repository of pictures of these incredible works.

I'm so pleased to see so many great snaps of not only some of the established sculptors like Light Waves/Starax and Bryn Oh, but some of the up and comers like Amael Juran and Mo Ames. The collection contains 216 works submitted by 44 members and are totally worth the time to flip through them all.

2D pictures of a 3D object on a 2D screen is a bit like a mirror looking into another mirror infinitely as I think about it. So I took the time and visited these pieces "in person" as they were meant to be seen via our SL viewer. Thanks to those of you that added place links! I encourage all others posting to this group to do the same and allow us to visit these jaw dropping pieces.

Photo by: toxicmenges

Toxicmenges' snapshot features a bevy of beauties from the ever talented Amael Juran. Amael's sculptures are not only stunning but they are flawlessly smooth, highly versatile, and amazingly low prim. Each piece has a ton of options and is even modifiable for more customization.

Photo by: LookatmyBack

Lookatmy Back's Alpha and Omega is a beautiful shot of Light Waves / Starax piece. Light Waves or his earlier incarnation Starax is the big daddy of sculpture on the grid. He's been producing sculptures long before sculpties and has just gotten better since those were introduced.

Machinima by: kyota

Kyota's lovely vid not only shows off Joy's sculptures at the Mermaid Temple sim, but also cuts in a bit of the process that goes into making such a lovely work of 3D art. The film takes us in and out of the 3D program as it shows off the piece in game.

If your group is having a contest or an event, please PM me on Koinup and let me know. I'd love to cover all the fun to be had in joining such expressive groups of people from all over.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Black and White Works

On today’s Koinup’s Cream of the Crop I choose an art form I just have had a love affair with since high school – Black and White Works. Just over a 100 years after the first color photograph was produced, we still hold a torch for monochromatic images. Black and white images are powerful, elegant, special, and romantic. They can create beauty out of otherwise mundane images. Black and White photography requires that the photographer concentrate on different elements of a photograph like contrast, shapes, negative space and lighting.

Black and White Works celebrates this beautiful art form with a multiple world group. Since we cannot produce raw black and white images from in game, the screen captures need to be converted in a photo editor for a bit of post production prior to publication. This talented group currently has 90 members and 290 fab images in its collection and serves as homage to the humble beginnings of photography and how beautiful our virtual world can be in only one color.

Photo by: brickhousefrog

Brickhousefrog's Don't Mess w a Brick highlights the subject in a way a color photograph never could have done. The contrast of this piece displays it's real power.

Photo by: novadyszel

Novadyszel's Railroad Track shows how making a photograph black and white can make it from something fairly mundane into a thing of beauty.

Photo by: MaggyWorld

MaggyWorld's Black & White Shadow plays with shapes and negative/positive space in a peice. Really nicely done!

Please feel free to PM fiona_haworth on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. I'd love to feature your group on Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup Cream of the Crop - Dystopian Society

While I very much view my virtual life as some attempt to find my own private idaho (utopia or paradise in other words)....this week's Koinup Cream of the Crop - Dystopian Society highlights the very opposite. Dystopia portrays themes like cyber-tech, poverty, oppression, violence, societal chaos, dehumanization, totalitarian government, rampant disease, and post-apocalypse.

Dystopia allows us to explore fears of future states or different directions humanity can take if not careful in its decisions. These themes are prevalent in tons of science fiction books and movies. The Dystopian Society group contains tons of pieces along the same lines. The group guides the participants to think of movies/books/ideas like 1984, Blade Runner, Gulliver's Travels, Brave New World, Logan's Run, Pink Floyd's The Wall, cyperpunk, steampunk, etc .

Currently, the Dystopian Society group only has about 39 members and 125 works, but I think SL, SIMS and WoW all have some great places where this theme could easily be explored and more content contributed to this small fantastic collection.

Photo By: LookatmyBack

LookatmyBack's Running towards the end! is a fabulous example of what this group is all about. It features a pretty common element of human oppression. I love Look's comment "No avatars have been harmed to take this snapshot! They're just scripted dolls and statues! Any blood stain is a fake! It's virtual tomato sauce! ^_^" LOL!

Photo by: Doubledown Tandino

Doubledown Tandino's peice was taken at Poetik and features Bryn Oh's robot. It rather reminded me of the film A.I. Artifical Intelligence and the world of rouge mechas.

Photo by: Arowhena

Arowhena's Arthas is a fab piece from World of Warcraft and leaves one thinking of an alternate reality.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup’s Cream of the Crop - Not Possible IRL

Today on Koinup’s Cream of the Crop I’d like to feature a group that not only do I belong to on Koinup but one I am also a member of in SL. Not Possible IRL first gained my attention as a blog about virtual art, architecture, and products that one could never see in real life. Bettina Tizzy’s blog, in game group, and Koinup group all follow through on that very theme. The one thing I’ve always enjoyed about being a part of this group of individuals is the promotion of art for art’s sake.

Koinup's NPIRL group has 72 members and 372 amazing pieces of art. It's a great repository to peruse when you have some time. Additionally, I suggest reading Bettina's blog. It's at great way to spend a few hours or more and you'll find out about a ton of things to do in game. The Not Possible IRL group is open enrollment and has a 500L join fee. Bettina sends out a weekly notice with tons going on.

Photo by: LeaSupermarine

I love the mixed reality used in LeaSupermarine's Just Hold Me (Precious Treasure). Additionally the subject matter is just wonderfully fanciful.

Photo by: Bettinatizzy

Bettinatizzy's Kazuhiro's Seadryke and Dravyn was a pic for one of Bettina's blogs. The seadryke is SO SO SO fab. Check out Bettina's write up here.

Photo by: ariel_brearly

I've become a real fan of Ariel's from flipping through all these pics for this gig. Think Tank is just one of the many in Ariel's collection. I love the surrealism of all her art.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup’s Cream of the Crop - Hiperia3D’s Machinima Selections

Not only does Koinup have some fabulously talented photographers and still artists but we have an unbelievable pool of machinimagraphers as well. These folks stage everything from the most simple of how-tos to elaborate music videos. They take up gigs and gigs of space on their hard drives filming in 3D game platforms, then edit, cut, set them to a sound track of voice or music, and release them into the wild for our viewing pleasure. The results are amazing short films where the machinimists is entire team (director, cameraman, editor, sound engineer...).

Koinup’s Cream of the Crop this week I’ve picked Hiperia3D’s Machinima Selections. This group was founded in April of 2008. Its aim is to promote the works of machinima directors. It’s open to works from all 3D worlds and currently contains 192 wonderfully entertaining pieces. Make sure to turn up your sound as each of the following have fantastic soundtracks.

Machinima by: toxicmenges

Toxicmenges' LoveLife could easily be a vid to get people interested in SL. In 4 short minutes, Toxic takes us on a journey from orientation island down the rabbithole into some of SL's big activites and landmarks while illustrating not only how incredibly beautiful Secondlife is but how complex it is as well.

Machinima by: RockerFaerie

This piece by RockerFaerie is named Art is Hard. Perhaps it is commentary on the challenges that artists in 3D worlds encounter while trying to create in this bold new medium or perhaps is it just a music vid showcasing Cursive's song Art is Hard which is the soundtrack. Either way it's pretty brilliant and worth the watch.

Machinima by: BrynOh

BrynOh's Self is a thing of true beauty. I particularly love the after effects Bryn uses in presenting this piece for our viewing pleasure. Shot on location at Immersiva sim that was designed and built by Bryn.

If your group is having a contest or an event, please PM me on Koinup and let me know. I'd love to cover all the fun to be had in joining such expressive groups of people from all over.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Historical Works

Humans by and large learn and retain greatly via visuals. History is one of those things without media becomes a mundane fact memorizing exercise. Creative individuals can be inspired by a study of history to use recorded facts along with a few graphic inputs to develop a picture of how things may have been.

Koinup's Historical Works Group is for pieces set in historical, ancient and times past. From Victorian to Stoneage, real or fantasy. These pieces provide a fantastic window into the perceived past. This small group of 22 members has over 200 posts and is looking for another moderator to ensure pieces stay within the theme. Additionally, they have started a discussion topic. Not bad for a group that just got started a few months ago. Looks like they are off to a running start on fostering a lovely community full of historical themes.

Photo by: Link

Link's Dreaming, Just Try Dreaming... is a tribute to WWII. Link composed a really lovely piece complete with appropriate attire and surroundings. Definitely has a nostalgic feeling to it.

Photo by: MedeAthena

MedeAthena's The Mirror expresses days gone by not only a very victorian themed subject matter but also with the monochromatic tones of the piece.

Photo by: Jasper

Jasper's Malick Gay I shows some wonderful past era expression and beautiful depth of field. This work also contains a snippet of a story that Jasper illustrates both visually and textually.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Fantasy Art

Koinup’s Cream of the Crop for this week is the Fantasy Art group. Loosely defined, fantasy art depicts creatures and themes that are magical or supernatural in overall subject matter. Over the years, I’ve spent numerous hours looking at fantasy art on sites like Epilogue, Deviant Art and Elfwood. In my humble opinion, nothing more has changed the face of this genre than than works being produced with elements directly from 3D games like Sims, WoW, and Secondlife.

The Fantasy Art group on Koinup is a wildly creative bunch that holds their own in terms of inventiveness in this school of work. Most of them are true works of art done with some photoshop magic and other art tools to accomplish the end result. The 54 members of this group have submitted 501 aweinspiring pieces well worth browsing through.

Photo by: Magggg

Magggg is one of the finest contributors to Koinup in regards to fantasy art. On numerous occasions I see Magggg’s work upon logging into Koinup. In Magggg's And blue will come for you... she mixes both the SIMS and SL to achieve the desired outcome.

Photo by: Trixibelle

Trixibelle's Give Praise to the Goddess of Stormy Seas is the epitome of the fantasy art genre. A supernatural deity complete with the power to rule the skies and seas in order to upset the mere mortals. Trixibelle used elements from secondlife and renderosity to complete this fantastic piece.

Photo by: _MiraGe_

_MiraGe_'s Fairytale displays a very common theme among within the fantasy art genre; beauty and the beast. Tastefully done with an angelic beauty and a potentially menacing dragon as the beast. Her piece contains elements from the Sims and deviant art.

If your group is having a contest or an event, please PM me on Koinup and let me know. I'd love to cover all the fun to be had in joining such expressive groups of people from all over.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Portraits

Since the inception of photography and even much further back via paintings and sculptures, people have commissioned portraits. The purpose was to capture an essence of the subject; a mood, an expression, a likeness. Immortalization via art. Portraits became important remembrances of the affections for the subject of the work.

Koinup's Portraits is a fabulous repository of these affections for our avatars. Spanning multiple worlds from IMVU to SIMS to SL, the works contained within run the gamut from really raw to extremely digitally enhanced. However it maintains the overall theme of portrait expressionism throughout. This group is super active with well over 2700 works and 250 members. It serves as a reminder as to how popular portrait photography still is today.

Photo by: Kady

Kady's Per dire cos'hai fatto di me, non ho la voce translated means "What to say that me, I do not know the voice" Well in this case the picture speaks for her and no amount of words could say it better.

Photo by: Mira

Mira's piece simply called Mira Piano1 shows us that portrait photography can be much more than shots of the subjects face. This work shows us some real insight into the subject it captures that expression I was talking about above.

Photo by: B_Rodrigues

Here is another fabulous example of non-traditional portraiture. B_Rodrigues' Breno Rodrigues really captivates the viewer and draws them in to explore all this subject has to offer. Although I get a bit lost in his blue eyes. ;-)

There are so many more in this huge group it's well worth a look. Take a few snaps of your own and add them. Show everyone your affection for your avatar. I've added mine! :D

If your group is having a contest or an event, please PM me on Koinup and let me know. I'd love to cover all the fun to be had in joining such expressive groups of people from all over. -Fi

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - SL Italian Community

Buona giornata! Koinup's Cream of the Crop column will be featuring fabulous communities and events within Koinup every week. Groups are really great places to connect other users with similar interests, share and view works with a theme, run contests, garner more exposure for your piece, or foster a community with a discussion board. There are a great number of groups on Koinup now, but there is always room for more so feel free to start your own.

For the premier column, I've chosen SL Italian Community. It's not a surprise that a country so rich in art provides a talented community of artists. With 444 works and 61 members at the time of this writing this group has really shown enormous talent. I grabbed a few highlights to show you what this group is up to.

Photo By: SLnnItaly

Tempura- Autumn by SLnnItaly is very impressionist looking. I love the artist's perspective and also talent in enhancing this piece to make it appear more as a painting. You can almost feel the oils on a canvas.

Photo By: Marty86

Marty86’s U2 - Magnicent shown here is really pleasing on the eye as well and expresses strong romantic emotions. In particular, I love the perspective of this piece and the manipulation to give it a more ethereal feeling.

Photo By: Ilary

This last piece I wanted to feature is named Silence by Ilary. It is a bit more macabre than the others. I love Ilary’s sense of negative and positive space and the juxtaposition of the headstone with the sun sends the viewer a really unique message.

Ok...that is my group of the week. Click here and check SL Italian Community further. There is a ton of really quality work.

If you have an event going on inside your groups, please feel free to PM fiona_haworth on Koinup...you never know you might be picked for Koinup's Cream of the Crop.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth