Yes, after three years of refusing to bother with making and selling shapes, I finally caved in. The main pressure came from customers asking for the male shape used in most of my ads, from Neko Skins to the Gothic skins and clothes in ~ broken ~, which I had originally made just as a stopgap shape until I could find something better. Oddly, people seem to actually like it, and I got IMs almost daily asking if it was for sale. Of course I have been getting requests for Zoe's shape too based on my ads for ages, but I refuse to sell my own shape, and will always stay firm on that. Mine! All mine! *mad look in eyes*
*cough* Sorry...
I have now released 6 new shapes at the ~ broken ~ store...3 male and 3 female. These shapes are only being offered as NO MODIFY / COPY / NO TRANSFER and can be found in a new side room at the store under the lava in the volcano. I am not taking any requests for custom shapes. Each shape does come with a notecard that details the skins, hair, and clothes worn in the advertising images so the "look" can be reproduced if you so wish, not just the shape. See Information and FAQ from the in world notecard tagged at the end of this post below for more info on my shapes and policies.
The shapes available so far include ::
Jiang Li - 5'5" tall Asian Girl -
Jiang Li is very loosely based on my own shape. She is however much taller, thinner, and has a newly redone face from scratch. The effect is nice I hope. Average height, and an A cup bust. She is the first of the "Kawaii" shapes. :3
Sasha - 5'6" tall European Girl - 
Sasha is kinda your normal college girl. Average height at 5'6", cute round face that gives her a youthful look, medium build with a B cup bust.
Kimberly - 5'0" tall European Girl - 
Kimberly is a little different than most of the shapes you see in SL. She is short for one at 5'0" tall, and in a sea of 7 foot amazons that is rare enough. But, I wanted a cute, but realistic look for Kimberly that was not model perfect. The girl next door sort. She has an adorable, innocent face and a slightly pudgy frame with wide hips and a bit of junk in her trunk. She has some belly to her and barely a B cup bust, but is not really overweight. Hopefully she will appeal to those who want something a bit different than the glut of supermodels.
Kiyoshi - 6'0" tall Asian Boi - 
Kiyoshi was the second of the Bishonen shapes I have done. he is a bit taller than Masakazu with a somewhat rounder face and longer legs. He has a very thin frame, willowy and youthful. I used the female model to achieve a prettier face and thinner build than you can get with the male base, and I am very pleased with it. This is the shape I sometimes wear myself when I go slumming it as a bishie boi with friends. >.>
Masakazu - 5'8" tall Asian Boi - 
Masakazu was my first Bishonen boi shape I made some time back. Based on the female model, he is a smaller version of Kiyoshi with average height and a slightly thinner and wider mouth and nose and somewhat shorter legs.
Jaquin - 6'2" tall European Boi - 
Jaquin is the male model based shape you see in many of my advertisements at Temenos. I have used him for the Neko Boi skins, the Whispers of Night male skins, and most all of the ~ broken ~ ads. he is the most requested shape other than Zoe's shape, and releasing him was kinda the catalyst for this whole shapes thing. At 6'2" he is tall...but not monster tall like the 7 foot insanity you see in SL so much. he has an average build, with none of that bulked up hulk craziness.
More shapes will surely follow, though I do not plan to mass produce shapes. I want these shapes to be unique and a little different from the stuff you see most places, so I plan to take my time with them and craft shapes that have personalities that say something to me. I hope you will find them interesting.
That's all for the moment, but more will be arriving soonish as I have a list to work through of stuff to get out for all my brands and labels over the next few weeks as I also work on the new store build on the Temenos sister sim. So, drop into the ~ broken ~ store under the lava at the bottom of the volcano @ Temenos and check these new items out!
- Broken :: Shapes Information and F.A.Q. - - Permissions -1. What are the Permissions? - All ~ broken ~ shapes are sold ONLY as NO MODIFY / COPY / NO TRANSFER.
2. Why No Transfer? - I personally feel that offering copyable as opposed to transferable items, including shapes, is a preferable business model. By offering my works as copyable but without transfer, I can replace lost, corrupted and deleted items without question...something that simply can not be done with Transfer items.
3. Why No Modify? - With shapes, this is a simple answer unfortunately, and the same one as offered by any scripter as well...if the shape were modifiable it would be easy for an unscrupulous person to copy the settings to a new shape and sell it as their own, undermining the hard work I put into creating these shapes for you and stealing business and money from my pocket in the process. As this is my living which supports my children, that would be an unwise risk.
- Custom Shapes - 1. Do you accept custom orders? - No, I do not and never have accepted custom orders for any of my work, brands, or products. I simply do not have the time to devote to custom work, as I am kept far more than busy with 5 brands to design for as is. If cloning ever becomes a viable option, I may reconsider this stance. Until then, please, no custom requests.
2. Will you just tweak this shape some for me? - No, I am sorry, but I do not have the time available for tweaking or changes to the shapes. these shapes are offered as you see them. If you like the shape, I would be delighted to have you purchase...but if you only maybe like the shape, or like part of it, or almost like it...it would honestly be best if you think a bit more before you buy. Shapes are a major purchase since along with skins they make up the foundation of how you present yourself in Second Life. I want you to be happy with any purchase you make and not later regret it. please be sure of your purchase before hand, as the shapes can not be altered afterwards.
- Other Shapes - 1. Are you planning to make X shape? - I honestly can not say what sorts of shapes I may or may not offer in the future. I try to put a lot of thought and effort into my shapes...most of which started as shapes done for myself or my models. But that also means I won't be cranking out masses of shapes. I do not do custom requests, but I am happy to hear of suggestions for future works...though making a suggestion is by no means a guarantee that idea will be made.
2. Will you sell me Zoe's Shape? - No, my own shape is not for sale now or ever. I crafted this shape on my first day in Second Life and it has changed very little in the past 3 years. It is unique to me and has never been shared, and never will be. I like it that way, and hope you can appreciate my attachment to my own shape. :3
3. Will you reproduce X's shape? - No. I will not even attempt to copy the shape of another Second Life avatar. I will, as mentioned above, happily accept suggestions from real life images as possible future shapes. But no requests or suggestions based on SL avatars or the works of other designers would ever even be looked at. Sorry, but I will not undermine anyone else's hard work.
- Miscellaneous - 1. Why are these shapes so expensive? - Honestly, I have two reasons for the prices I put on these shapes. The first and simplest reason is the amount of time and effort I put into crafting them. I don't want to churn out masses of shapes every other day. I would far rather spend more time on each shape and make shapes that have some real character than something done quickly that looks like everything else out there. The prices reflect that to a degree. The main reason however is rarity. I want the shapes I offer you to be something you enjoy and won't see every person you run into wearing. A 200L shape is cheap and anyone can have it. That makes it less distinct, less unique to you, and less special. I want to offer shapes that you can be proud to wear and that can help you define what is unique and special about you. To that end, keeping the price higher than most I hope to keep the shapes more rare and more special.
2. Hey! This guy shape looks kinda girlish! - Some shapes I offer are designed to be rather androgynous in look. The bishonen shapes in particular are supposed to reproduce a certain feminine style of male body and face as popularized in Japanese animation and pop culture and as such often use the female base model to design the shape...even though it is a male shape. This is a stylistic choice I make for some shapes as often the male sliders and base model are not capable of achieving the correct look. When worn with a male skin however, the effect can be very pleasing and while "pretty' remains very masculine. If you do not care for this sort of shape or do not want to use a shape that starts from a female base model, avoid the shapes labeled as "Bishonen" or "Androgynous" and you should be safe.
3. How come my skin looks bad on this shape? - It's just a fact that not all skins will look good on all shapes. A skin is simply a texture map laid over top of the 3D model that is the shape...if the skin you have was designed and painted to look best on a drastically different type of shape than you are wearing, then there is always a chance the skin won't look as good as it should. Different skins and shapes work well together or clash together and there is not real way to say which will be the case unless you try on a demo of the skin with that shape. The shapes I offer all come with a notecard of information that includes a listing of the skins, hair, clothes and other items shown in the shape advertisement so you can reproduce that exact or a similar look if you wish. But there is no way I can guarantee that any given skin will look its best with any specific one of my shapes.
4. Whoa! My eyebrows look funky! - The eyebrows on most Second Life avatars have two aspects. Neither actually is based on the shape, oddly enough. The skin you wear has eyebrows painted on it, and how they will appear on any given shape is hard to predict without trying on a demo first. This aspect is only controllable by the skin maker when they make the skin, and not adjustable in world. The second aspect that you CAN adjust is actually part of the hair base. I have included a bald basic hair base that is designed to work best with the shape and skin pictured to achieve nice eyebrows. However, a different skin may change how the eyebrows appear, and thus you may need to adjust the hair base included in the eyebrows section of the appearance tools to achieve the best look. The bald hair base offered in my shapes notecards is thus modifiable so you may change the shape and looks of the eyebrows as you wish.
5. I have a question not addressed here. - Any additional questions should be directed to Zoe Llewelyn in IM or notecard. My IMs may be capped most days, so if you do not receive a reply, please true again, I may not have received your IM at all. Notecards are more reliable, but please, if you send a notecard, put your name and something about the purpose of the card in the title. I get a lot of notecards in a day, please help me find yours quickly and easily. :3
Thank you so much for your consideration of one of my ~ broken ~ shapes. I hope you will be pleased with any purchase you decide to make.
- Zoe Lleweyn
