Article by

Efemera Bisiani

Since opening it's doors in June 2007, SLink has grown to occupy it's own sim, providing a one-stop shop for the fashionable avatar. Creator Siddean Munro has turned her hand to all aspects of avatar accessorising, from skins, shapes, hair and eyes to clothing, shoes and jewelry.

With formal training in sculpture, her primwork is superb, and when paired with rich, hand-drawn textures, creates a selection of high quality products ranging from casual, through formal, and now even fetishwear. Perhaps most interest has been generated by the three recent skin releases - Isabelle, Bijou and Asian-inspired Miyu - with favourable reviews thronging the fashion feeds.

A long time gamer, Australian Siddean first learned of Second Life back in 2003 when her brother told her about a new game in which real life money could be made. She created an account and logged in, experienced a lot of lag and watched her avatar disappear off into the ocean. "I decided it wasn't for me. The character creation thing was very cool to me though, but I couldn't make a really nice looking character, and that was a big turn off." Another visit in early 2005 again failed to convince. "I really think I still didn't see the point of it. I was playing EverQuest every night for hours at a time, and was heavily involved in my guild and raiding, and SL seemed the exact opposite to what I was looking for in a virtual world."

However, Siddean began to dabble in character art for EQ and other games. "When I finally created Siddean, I had been developing my digital art skills for [a year], and my focus had changed. I wanted to learn how to create for SL. I'd been seeing a lot of media hype about it and I wanted to see if I could do it. SL really is the perfect mix of game and art, but I do miss gaming. I think I've grown past spending hours logged in to grind exp and make virtual gold though." So Siddean Munro was born, primarily as an artist, but also as a businesswoman.

Rezzed in mid-April, Siddean opened SLink just two months later. "I was pretty dedicated. I read a heck of a lot of tutorials in that time. I played around with prims and started learning how to make skins, since I didn't have the money to buy one, nor the faintest idea of even where to buy one. Once I figured out the steps of skin-making, I started on hair. I had a particular style in mind for this lady, and I couldn't find it anywhere, so decided to make it. My first attempts were woeful!! I should thank [blogger] Amelia Book, she had a few things to say about my textures - liked the style, hated the textures, so I went back to the drawing board."

Her inspiration comes from many sources. "It's partly about doing what I can't find [in SL], partly about recreating something I've seen in RL with my own twist to it, and partly about wanting to create my own designs. I love to look through the fashion magazines, and even the tabloids, to see what people are wearing. I really admire Angelina Jolie not only because she's beautiful and talented. I think she's brave to take on the family she has, even with her status in life, and she has a great sense of style. Not many women look as good as she did eight months preggers with twins! I also admire my sister. She knows what to wear to suit her shape, and she always looks polished and groomed." Another style icon is Victoria Beckham. SLink's unique heelless latex boots were created after seeing the pop star turned designer wearing a similar design.

{Siddean herself created the merfolk statue that is the centrepiece to her store}

The design process tends to be an ongoing one. "Often it's something I've sketched out or spent a lot of time thinking about whilst doing other things. If I am washing dishes, chances are I will be thinking about what I am going to create next and designing it in my head. I tried that formal designers sketch thing but it's not me, so I have done sketches that never evolved into designs. Mostly I will think 'Slink needs a...' or 'I want to try my hand at...' and go from there." This explains the huge variety of different products available at SLink, as Siddean experiments with different techniques just as she does with her RL art. "The art in my little gallery is watercolour and ink, and the portraits are graphite and charcoal. Most of the other work up in the store is digital. I like to dabble in as many mediums as I can, I love going to art stores and drooling over cool pencils and I own a million sketchbooks!"

One of her latest projects is learning to create animations. "Poses are something I can do, and will add in the future. I am learning animation at the moment, and hopefully will be able to add some nice animations and AO's to my collection. I have searched and searched for the right AO. My problem with a lot of animated poses is that they are too busy! I am looking at my avvie 99% of the time and I can't see her if she's bouncing around. So yes, nice animated poses that don't move around a lot, that's what I want!"

Currently on leave from her management day job in technical support, Siddean is focused on her art skills and portfolio. Speaking of the future for SLink, Siddean says, "I never thought I would get to this point in little over a year. I hope just to keep growing and keep up with it. I'd like to move to a higher prim piece of land and expand my store, but I'm not ready to do that yet. In my RL, I've taken on a little bit of work in character modelling so I will be able to apply those skills to SL. I am learning so much that I can bring back here. SL has really shown me a very clear idea of what I want to do in my RL career. I've totally changed my focus in the last 18 months. I have a little voice in the back of my head steering me in future career directions. One is modeller/texture artist/animator, and the other is fashion designer which has been something I've always wanted to do, though I think I will have more success in the former. Fashion designer might just be my SL career."

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Image one (Siddean):
Dress - SLink - Heartbreaker Gown
Boots - SLink - Paige Ankle Boots - Black
Jewelry - SLink - Diamond Solitaire Pendant and Studs
Skin - SLink - Bijou Fair - Matte Red
Hair - SLink - Holly - Black (Unreleased)

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Image two (Efemera):
Shirt - SLink - Tie Front Shirt - White
Pants - SLink - Leather Pants - Black
Shoes - SLink - Paige Tstrap Sandals - Red
Jewelry - SLink - Red Stone
Skin - SLink - Miyu Olive - Dancer

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Image three (Efemera):
Coat - SLink - Reloaded Leather Coat - Brown
Boots - SLink - PVC Thigh Boots - Heeled Gold
Earrings - SLink - Diamond Solitaire Studs
Skin - SLink - Isabelle Sunkissed - Makeup 4

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Image four (Efemera):
Catsuit - SLink - Sexy Catsuit - Red
Boots - SLink - PVC Thigh Boots - Heelless Red
Skin - SLink - Bijou Fair - Red Liner

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Images two, three and four:
Hair - SLink - Suzie Ponytail
Lashes - Cake - Flutter Lashes
Eyes - Tuli - Luminous Eyes - Steel