Let's face it. In the real world most of us do not have the looks or body to go into the modeling industry but in Second Life the problem of genetics doesn't exist and opens new doors for new and exciting experiences so why not take the bull by the horns and ride hard?! Being a model in Second Life is relatively easy although it does take a lot of work and commitment on your part if you want to reach fame and Second Life fortune.

What you need to get started:

Quality Hair
Quality Clothes
Quality Skin
Quality Shape
The right Accessories
Committed attitude
The willingness to work and put forth the effort
An outgoing and friendly personality
Professionalism
Punctuality
Fashion know-how

Looking at the list, you can tell that everything is something that can be acquired through hard work or with the right resources. Search around Second Life and take your time in finding the right look for your avatar. Don't be in such a hurry to rush through the process of glamming up your avatar because this will be who your clients and employers see and you want to make the best impression possible. You want them to see that you put time, money, and effort into your look and didn't throw the first few acceptable pieces together to start modeling. I list a few great quality stores later in this post. When shopping for clothes you want to make sure that you have plenty of every variety that you can find: Casual Dresses, Pant outfits, Jeans, Cocktail Dress, formal gowns, heels, boots, flats, jackets, hair of all styles and colors that suit your avatar, jewelery, bathing suits, lingerie, etc. But you also want to make sure that they express your personality and personal fashion style as well.

Here are a list of places in second life that are affordable and high quality. Be sure to check them out!

Clothing

• Grasp
  
• Armidi
• Beauty Avatar Couture
• Bitch Tail
• Hot Brands
• Dangerous Isle
• Spikey Steps
• Hip Hop Mainstore Hoodgirlz (great clothing and entire outfits under 300L!)
• Lapointe & Bastchild
• Bare Rose HQ
• Hugo's Designs-Latex clothing
• Alasia's Favorites
• Samahi Couture
• UK Couture Island
• Detour Skins/Hair/Eyes/Clothing
• Uptown Square Mall
• NYC 2 Cali
• GothicCatz
• Redgrave Women's Fashions
• Redgrave Men's Fashions

Skins & Shapes

• Dlicious Skins & Shapes
• Platiunum
• Redgrave
• Indulgence
• Escala
• Skin Oasis
• Belleza Skins (men)
  
• Emporio Caproni
• Chaisuki
• Soul Special Skin & Shape
  

Hairstyles

• Magicka
• Analog Dog Hair
• Calico Creations
• Goldie Locks

After you have gotten a sufficient amount of clothing stocked up in your inventory it's time to organize it because I'm pretty sure that it's a mess by now since you forgot to organize in the midst of your shopping spree. You want to be able to access all your clothes easily and without very little fuss. So making a folder for Clothing, Jewelery, Shoes, Accessories and then making sub folders for the several varieties of those pieces is a good way to keep organized and make sure that every outfit is handy.

Now we've addressed the list and the look. Now that you have those things down it's time to get down to business. As a model, you have to be willing to invest money into your avatar as well as time and work. Being a model is not just having a nice looking avatar because there are so many out there that you have to compete with. One thing you should have is a portfolio of professionally made photos of your avatar. Whatever skin you apply for a job with make sure it is the skin that is displayed in the photographs. An adequate portfolio consists of about 5-10 photos and making them varied in styles helps your cause because it shows your avatar diversity for different products and clients. As you go along through the industry and gain more experience and work you'll continually add to your bulging portfolio. I will be sure to add a list of great and affordable photographers that you can use for your portraits and photos later so keep a look out. Also be sure that your photos are organized into a folder of their own and labeled with your name and maybe a short little description of the photo like "Bikini".

Here are some places you should check out that may be helpful. I've also listed some Photographers that I've found are talented and awesome in what they do.

Poses

• Strike A Pose
• Free Model Training
• MC Animations
• Essential Soul Studio & Poses
  

Photographers

• Marvelous Photography
• MastermindD x Mall
• RHP- Red Hot Pixels Photography

After getting those things it's time to go on a search for an agency. Now, having an agency is not a requirement to get the job with a client but they are savvy and have tremendous resources to help you look for clients. They also help to make sure that you are getting paid what you are worth and not a cent less. This is your business and Second Life livliehood so you have to be willing to be a go-getter and working your ass of to get the job.

Now there will be places that say that they offer training for new models for a "small" fee and I have to say that these are usually scams because it is not all that hard to become a model in second life. You dont really need to know how to walk on the runway as long as you have an attractive AO and know how to reduce lag during a runway show. Taking photos is not a huge daunting task that you need to have a full course on it worth 2000L. Most agencies are willing to give you tips for free to get you going and help you out because it takes about 30 minutes to impart their all important knowledge.

Another thing is you should be aware of Second Life fashion and it's designers. Just as in real life you would study up on your clients and possible employers you should be willing to do the same here. The designers work hard on their products and designs and put a lot of effort into their advertisements so the least one can do is make a note of their name and specialties. Also, something that may help your cause is putting your information in your profile such as your position, your agency, and things of that nature so that a designer would see you and then may decide to ask for your services on the spot. You have to be meticulous and ready to get out there. During a photo shoot, it is important to have positive energy and to follow directions of your photographer. Making them feel at ease makes the shoot go by a lot faster, smoother and with very little problems and that, in the end, is what you are looking for- a satisfied customer!

So there is your simple crash course in the world of modeling. The main thing you should always remember is to be yourself and it will shine through to your avatar!


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Labels: Careers in Second Life, Modeling, second life

Now that you've gotten through the basics here are some more useful videos for many things you may want to know or learn! check them out and hope they help! If you need to know something feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you on it to help out. ^.~

Adding/Divorcing a Second Life Partner

Advanced Movement Controls

Boost performance with Graphics Preferences

Building Materials Explained

Land: Buying Parcels as a Basic Account

Land: Buying Parcels as a Premium Account

Change Text & Effect Colors

Changing the Time of Day

Driving a Vehicle

Friends Permissions

Voice: Getting Started

Give Inventory through Instant Message sessions

Give stuff to somebody nearby

Give stuff to somebody Remote

Hiding Groups you belong to

Muting Jerks and Objects

Open a Box

Open Edit tools

Rebake Textures to fix clothing glitches

Retrieving Lost Attachments

Take a snapshot

Wearing attachments

What are "particles"?

What does "rez" mean?

What is a prim?

What is a sandbox?

What is that white dot over my head??

If none of these answered your question or solved a dilemma you have then check out this page to see if it's HERE. I just added the FAQ questions and tutorials.

Labels: second life, Tutorials

One of the most popular career areas in second life is the life of an exotic dancers or stripper at various clubs. It's a simple job once you get the hang of things in second life and can earn you a pretty decent salary if you learn to do your job well. I will be giving a few tips to those that may need help, just joined, or looking for a refresher course!

Firstly, you have to make sure that you have the beginnings of becoming a great Dancer, for men and women of SL! The main requirements that will get you through the business are Good Quality Skin, Quality Hair, Quality Shape, Quality clothing, An Outgoing and Friendly personality, Emoting abilities (this can be learned), and a mind to seduce!

All of these requirements can be taught, bought, or perfected through experience so have no fear! Quality skin is not so hard to find if you look in the right areas but they can be expensive! Redgrave and Emporio are two good companies for skins. There are tons of shapes around SL if you shop around and find a modifiable one. You could even get a freebie shape or very cheap shape and modify it to your liking. It takes time and patience but if you have those two things then your avatar shape will come out looking great and unique! There are several Hair shops that sell very high quality hair for low prices such as Magicka and Goldie Locks! They have areas that display discounted hair and also goldie locks has a freebie area for new members to grab some nice selections to get started. Clothing, again is not so hard to find if you are willing to do the work to search for it. A lot of freebie clothing are of low quality but sometimes if you go to high end stores and look around you can find discounted clothes and freebies of good quality. A great store with low prices is "Hoodgirlz & Hoodboyz" (later on I will add a surl to get you to these stores) where you can find an entire outfit (clothes, accessories, shoes) in an entire package for under 300L!!!! If you're new I will tell you that THAT is a steal right there! So be sure to pop that into your search engine!

Now if you're a quiet and wilting butterfly that feels like they are about to pass out at the mere thought of trying to talk to other people first then you will have to get over that. As a dancer in second life, you have to be willing to go for it and greet others, get to know them and make them feel comfortable and at ease in the club. You want to build a rapport with them so that they will feel a friendly connection and want to come back for more. Also, friends are more likely to tip you than a complete stranger. Do you want to seduce them? Yes. But you also want to get to know them!

Emoting in second life is basically the writing of actions in the chat dialog box. If you have ever emoted in chat rooms then you know what I am referring to. I do not mean smilies or gestures that your avatar performs. I mean the describing of actions in detailed ways to show your readers and audience.

Here is an example:

/me smiles softly, her lips turning up slightly in the corners, causing a small dimple to appear in each cheek as she views the children running with abandon in the park.

When emoting in second life you want to type /me and then your action. There is no space between the slash and the me but there is between the me and your string of action. I would suggest that to get into the habit and practice of it, emote all your feelings or actions. Instead of saying "lol" emote a laugh; instead of a smiley face emote yourself smiling. (i.e. /me smiles, /me laughs)

I tail all the dancers that I train to look at it like this: Picture a blind man/woman and you want to describe a particular action. In second life you cannot "feel" an action being done to you so description is the next best thing. It brings the image of you to life in their minds eye. It invokes the senses to put them to work. Basically, you are becoming a writer of your own story. You want to affect your audience with your words and actions. And it is entirely possible! So do not dispair. Just remember to use as much description as possible. Say how you are doing it, where, when, to whom, etc. Be detailed in your posts. Not to say write an entire huge ass paragraph that everyone will have to scroll up and down to see in their chat box. A good rule of thumb is at least 2 full sentences, 3 is good as well.

Now that you have the tools needed to become a dancer it's time to look out in the world and find yourself a job...

The first thing you want to do is search in the classifieds section of the Search Engine under Employment for Dancers or Strippers. These are the best keywords to use when looking. Then just go down the list to see which place may suit you best. Teleport by the location and follow the directions they have in the descriptions box under their parcel image in the classified ad. Fill out the application and turn it in as they direct. Some clubs or areas do not allow you to work there if you're rez date (sl start date) is too young. Most believe that you do not have the knowledge or resources yet to become an adequate dancer in their club. Some, however, do not care and will interview and look at your skills and not your age. Also at most clubs now, you must be an age verified adult or have payment information used. This is pretty simple to set up in the second life website under your account information. At the left hand side you see a option to Update billing information. Click on that and go through that process of setting up your credit card information. Do not worry, This does not mean you are paying for anything whatsoever and there will be no charge made to your account by doing this. There are no hidden fees whatsoever to it. This is basically just another way to check your birthdate since very few minors are able to have credit cards. This is not a full proof system, true, since most teenagers have the ability to get their hands on their parents credit cards nowadays but it is the only ways they have at the moment to do this.

But if you ever decide to buy Lindens, your information will be set up and ready to go. You are able to buy lindens in world by clicking the small blue and white button at the top right hand corner next to the time display. A dialog box will appear and the default buying amount will be 1000 Lindens. The exchange rate is usually 4.16 USD for 1000 Lindens (L) just fyi. Again, you do NOT have to buy anything when setting up your credit card information so do not worry.

Later I will update this post with some stores that you may find good cheap quality clothing, skins, shapes, hair, etc. So stay tuned!

Labels: Careers in Second Life

There are a variety of careers that you can choose from in second life- just as much variety as there is in second life. You can manage a business, become a dancer, escort, business owner, Host, Model, photographer, web specialist, and so much more! I will just be giving a few tips on the careers that I am familiar and comfortable with. The ones that I have gained extensive knowledge in that may help you in your journey through second life. I have trained Exotic Dancers and Escorts in second life for my clubs. I have also been a host and manage and run my own club in the second life world. So check out my posts to help you get started and learn new tricks of the trade for your budding career to start earning those Lindens!

Labels: Careers in Second Life

Here are a bunch load of links to help you get started in second life....

Basics
Video Tutorial for Chatting in Second Life
Learning how to use the chat interface and getting familiar with local chat in Private Messages/Instant Messages (IMs).

Tutorial for Friendships in SL
How to add friends and manage your friends list.

Tutorial for Moving & Flying in SL
Navigating your way through the SL skies.

Tutorial For Searching
Learn how to utilize the resourceful searching tool.

Tutorial For Editing Appearance
Learn how to modify your avatar and make it your own!

Tutorial For filling out your profile
How to introduce yourself through your profile!

Tutorial for Creating/Joining a group
Maintaining your second life groups.

Tutorial for Looking around with camera controls
Utilizing your camera.

Tutorial for Buying linden dollars
How to buy Second Life Currency.

Tutorial For shopping
How to buy clothing and outfit your avatar!

Tutorial For sending a postcard
How to send notecards to your friends or other second life members.

Tutorial for Landmarks and Teleporting
How to get around second life instantly

Tutorial for using the pie menu
The Shortcuts through your pie menu

I really hope that these videos help you in your journey through second life!!!

Labels: second life, Tutorials

If you've decided to go ahead and join second life there are a few things you'll have to do...

1. Go to the website www.secondlife.com and sign up. You will have to fill in some information about yourself -just bare facts to have you on file so don't worry that it will ask you for your credit card information. I meant it when I said it was free to sign up and download. You will have go choose a name for your in-world Character- Your first name is your own, in this life you get to choose your own name from birth. *laughs* For your last name they have some computer generated names on file for you to choose from. You will also be asked to choose your character. It doesn't really matter what character you choose. I would suggest to choose one of the gender you are so you won't be walking around as the opposite sex. *giggles* The characters you choose from are very basic and you will get to modify and customize them later on in second life after you gain some knowledge on where to look. Also please put in a valid email address. This is so that when you get an offline IM from someone it will show up in your emails so you won't miss anything. This is not so they can spam you with repeated offers of various kinds. You will be directed to download and install the second life program. I would suggest you take a look at the system requirements to confirm that your computer will be able to run second life. It is a very high graphic program and takes up space, RAM, and processing space. Do NOT try to run several programs with while you are using this. You may be able to get yahoo but even then it will slow your computer down unless you have a super high speed computer (not internet but computer). You'll also be asked if you would like to join a community. This really doesn't matter; it is just a place where you will log into. Some communities have helping areas and nearly all of them have mentors on hand to help and guide you if you ever need assistance.
2. After you have finished downloading the program and went to your email to verify you account information you are ready to sign into second life! Just load up the program and type in your first and last Second Life name and password and hit login. It will take a few minutes to load but when it does you will be in an area and viewing your second life character from behind. You may also get a tutorial guide at the top to help you out and show you around the controls a bit. But here I will give you some guidance....

• To move around in-world use your arrow keys

• Up-forward

• Back-backward

• Left/Right- Turning your avatar to face in that direction.

• B. On your screen you will see a few items of importance so I will go over them with you. Let's go left to right, bottom to top to make it easier.

1. At the very most bottom to the left you will see a little chat icon bubble which will toggle the local chat bar above it to visible or invisible.

1. You will also see a button labeled Communication with an arrow to the right of it. If you click the large communication button (not the arrow next to it) you will bring up the contacts list. In this menu you will see a Friends and Groups Tab at the top and to the right you will have the Im/Call, Profile, Teleport, Pay, Remove, and Add options. Let's quickly go over each of these to get familiar....

• The IM/call button allows you to open a chat dialog box and start IMing a person in your friends list. At the moment you are new so you have no one to test this out with. But what you would do is highlight their name in the contacts list and then press the IM/call button.

• The Profile button allows you to open and view the profiles of those in your friends list or whoever you have highlighted in the list. (We'll go over the profile later on in this tutorial...)

• The teleport option allows you to select an person in your contacts list and offer them to bring them to your location, hence the name "teleport" being that it is instantaneous but only if they accept your request. Others may teleport you to their locations and you will be asked to accept or deny it.

• The pay option allows you to select a name and pay that person Lindens or Second Life dollars (again..we will go over this later in the tutorial)

• Remove allows you to select the name and remove that person from your friends list.

• when clicking the Add button, you will bring up another dialog box labeled "choose resident" and underneath it you will have a text box where you may click the person's name in and hit the find button. When you highlight their name, you click select and then add. It will send them a request to add them to your friends list. Once they accept you will get a dialog box at the lower right hand corner saying they are online and now will be able to see when they are online or offline. If they are bold then they are online.

1. Now if you click the groups tab at the top of your contacts box you will see a blank box where the groups you join will be added. Every time you join a group their name will be added to the list. Everyone can join a maximum of 25 groups. In the right side you have another serious of buttons similar to the other set in your friends list with a few variations. You still have the IM/call button which allows you to IM the entire group. the Info will bring up the group information box, activate will activate the tag over your head to a certain title, Leave allows you to leave the highlighted group, Create allows you to create your own group for 100L and search brings up the SL (Second Life) search engine to search groups of the keyword you enter.

1. now that we've gone over your contacts lets have a look at the tab at the bottom labeled "Local Chat". Local chat allows you to type and talk to others near you up to a distance of 20 meters. Beyond that they will not be able to hear you and you will have to shout. To do this you just type in what you want to say and click the arrow next to "say" to the right and select shout. To just type and say you can just hit enter on your keyboard or to shout a shortcut used is control + Enter. Shouting allows people over the entire Sim/Island to hear you. Be careful of shouting too much because it can be seen as grief or harassment and you could be banned or reprimanded for it by the owner of that location.

Now close out that dialog box by clicking the small X in the right hand corner or your small dialog box. It will disappear, leaving you with the image you had before.

At the bottom next to the communications button you have the fly button which allows you to fly and move around easily. The controls are basically the same but the down arrow makes you fly down instead of backwards.

The snapshot button lets you take screen shots and whatnot but costs 10L to upload in-world.

clicking the search button will bring up the SL search engine. This will be your best friend in second life and your greatest resource. You can search anything in here. Clicking it will bring the main page and some ads of shops in SL. at the top you can type in any word you want to search such as "clothes", "hair", "mall", "park", etc. and it will bring up several options and pages to browse through. You will see small icons next to your links, (a green crossroad sign=location, person icon=a person's name, two people icons= a group, and calendar=event).

I will go into more depth on each of these in another blog...

close out of that box and you will see next to search a build button which you do not have to worry about at the moment since you will probably not have the ability to build on the land you are at. The map allows you to see where you are and navigate through second life. Will go into more detail in another blog.

Your inventory...Now clicking on this will bring up another dialog box labeled inventory. This is basically where everything you collect in second life will be stored including clothes, hair, skin, shapes, shoes, furniture, etc. You have two main folders "My inventory" and "my Library". The my inventory already has folders in it for later use when you gain items but they are empty at the moment. The library contains some default items that you can get familiar with later on...

Close out of that box and let's move up...

You see a button labeled local chat above the talk bubble that we first discussed. and next to it you will see a text box where you can type in things that you would like to say and press enter to talk more easily with people than bring up the dialog box. The chat box is handy when you want to go back to see what someone has said earlier but it makes it more difficult when you want to move faster. Next to the text box, you see the gestures menu and a little arrow pointing down. Clicking on it will bring up a list of gestures that your avatar can perform with animations and text as well as audio. You also have a little musical button and if you click play you will be able to hear parcel music that is playing. You have a volume control next to that to lower or raise your volume settings. The talk button next to it allows you to chat on microphone with others. You can see how will be able to hear you by a little white dot over their head. Although some people have it activated but cannot hear due to having volume off or other problems.

Now you are familiar with the basics of your second life user interface. In my blogs I will also give links to Linden video tutorials that may prove helpful and useful to you as well...