"Evan" hits the shops!

Howdy, folks!



We've had another crazy weekend with the opening of the Cherry Park and Emerald locations (we managed to crash the sim at Emerald with 80 people!), but on Sunday I managed to get some time to myself and get our latest shape out to the shops. "Evan" is something a little bit new for me. He's another in the "Signature Series", using a "Vain" skin and hair from a new creator I discovered by accident. In case anyone's wondering, Evan is wearing a unisex top from Fishy Strawberry and Armidi jeans. Yes, I fought the crippling lag with Zann to go and pick these up one evening.







The focus this time was on making him as 'real' looking as I could rather than making him 'pretty' or giving him a GQ face. I tried to give him a body that a real guy would have rather than an idealized SL body that you see around the Grid so often. Hopefully I've succeeded in this. Only time will tell for sure. Traffic in the shops has been up lately and a number of guys have already picked up the Demo version.














So yes, if you've been waiting for a fresh, realistic boyish look this is the time to head on down to your favorite Agape location and pick up a Demo. If you already have a "Vain" skin from Signature skins in your inventory you're all set to be a dude-magnet (or a Chick-magnet) in no time ::winks::



Till next time!

-Zim

"Trevor (Gen II)"

The whirlwind of activity has finally subsided. Last Saturday's grand re-opening of our new Mainstore was a fantastic success (and it was a whole lot of fun!!), the grand opening of the Shops at Jake's Club Resort turned out fantastic, and our newest location out at the Cherry Park mall went into 'soft opening' mode without a hitch. Once things had quieted down a bit, I took a look at my Workshop folder in inventoryand noticed that another shape was sitting there unfinished, so I went into 'busy mode' for a while and finished packaging up old "Trevor II".



"Why 'Trevor II'?" you ask? Well the original 'Trevor' shape was one of the first sold in our shop. At that point in time I was still rushing to get things done so I could get them out on the sales floor, and in all honesty I don't think I did poor old Trevor justice. What has changed since then? Well, we now have the fantastic line of Signature skins to work with and the 'Rage' skin looked like it would be perfect for giving old Trev a makeover. Here's a pic of the new and improved "Trevor"...





So just what did I do to him? A number of things actually... I made him just a wee bit beefier and taller - not too much, though. I still wanted him to have a lean, lanky look, but this time I wanted to give him a bit of a bad boy edge. Once I had his body sorted I went on to re-scuplt his head and face. Again, I didn't want to make him into something completely new - I just wanted to improve on what I'd already started. To tell the truth, the original Trevor was looking a little bit Muppety and I wanted to make him look more 'real'.





Once he had the 'Rage' skin on I gave him fuller lips and sculpted them a bit more to give a bit of a pout to them and shifted his mouth upwards a bit. Also, I refined his nose so that the nostrils were better placed and narrowed his eyes just a tad. Trevor's jaw and nose were also fined down considerably and his face made slightly longer to accentuate the new cheekbones I'd given him.


I know it sounds like I did quite a bit to him, but really all I did was use the Signature skin as a guide in making him more natural-looking. He's currently out in all the shops except the Romeo store, so head on down and try on a wearable demo. I'm very pleased with the way he's turned out and he's certain to give you a unique, sexy look.




Until next time!

-Zim

"Miles to go before I sleep..."

That about sums it up, folks. February was a wild and interesting month, Agape-wise. We moved our HnH store over to the new Sim, opened our new store at Jake's Club Resort (more on that later), and began work on our new "Mainstore" at Gaytown Mall. The Gaytown Mall store is really going to be something to see once it's done. John and Gully were kind enough to offer us a bigger home, and even though I was nervous about being able to fill up a space that large, I accepted, took the plunge, and ordered more prims (lol).



We've also been given a new, larger space over at Warehouse Plaza and that location is coming along quite nicely. Not as large or elaborate as the Gaytown Mall 'Mainstore' will end up being, but it's still something to see. This isn't what this blog post is about, however. Not really. Today I'm announcing the release of our two first "Signature Series Shapes", Ian and Nikita...

I'm very proud of how these guys turned out. "Ian" was designed around the "Rage" skin and Nikita around my personal fave, the "Blaze" skin. Some of you are probably wondering what it means to design a shape around a skin. 'Aren't all skins the same?' you are probably asking yourselves. "Not really," would be the answer. Sure, all skins are based on a Linden template, but that where the similarities end. Each skin creator has their own personal style which dictates placement of the eyes, fullness and shading of the lips, and things like how strong or subtle the shading and highlights are among other things.

The "Ian" and "Nikita" shapes were designed to take advantage of the particular strengths of Skins found at Signature Skins as well as the placement of facial features, etc. The end result is a set of shapes that offer a level of realism missing from the body shapes of many other creators. I honestly don't think you'll find other guys wearing shapes that look as "real" as these do anywhere on the Grid. Be sure to stop by one of our shops and pick up a wearable demo, then hop on over to Signature Skins and pick up a demo skin and put them both on. I think you are going to be very pleasantly surprised at how you look and that you'll be back to pick up the full versions soon afterward.

We do have more shapes in this series coming out soon, so be sure to check the blog or visit us in-world so as not to miss out on any of them...

http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Highlander/90/85/578

Ciao!

-Zim