One of the most valuable resources available to you in Second Life is the people who surround you. A community, always willing to help and offer a guiding hand. Ryker Beck is one avatar who has first hand experience of this resource. A talented, and respected artist, Ryker is also a jewelry creator who recently released the first of an anticipated new line of Second Life skins. A featured (SL & RL) Avatrait artist who has had feedback on her photography through her Second Life journey. Ryker has recently used the very popular outlets of Flickr and Plurk to her benefit as she created Eden, her first skin.

I managed to grab Ryker for a chat in her busy schedule to discuss her progression in Second Life and how valuable the other residents of Second Life have been to her advance into the skin making world.

How, when and why did Ryker first come to Second Life?

I originally began playing Second Life around November 2006. Ryker was born on February 22, 2007 (after I decided I really hated my initial SL name). I began playing the game when a real life friend mentioned it to me in passing. It got what I can only assume as the usual answer of, "What's that?" That led to Googling, Googling led to account creation and well... you know the drill. :P I had no idea the amount of content creation and artistic possibility that was in store when I first rezzed onto the grid. Now, I'm glad to be able to look back and see the things I've done, how the metaverse has changed, and how much more evolved everything and everyone has become.

Can you tell us a little about your Second Life achievements?

My achievements, hahaha. Hmm. Let's see. Well, I am first and foremost an artist and photographer, having started photography in SL in April 2007. I've been featured in Vain Inc Magazine as artist of the month, took third place in the Stiletto Moody photography contest, had a very successful exhibition at the Avatrait Gallery, was a participating artist at the real life exhibition "Renascimento Virtual" at the National Museum of Anthropology in Florence Italy, and have had pieces published in a real life book, "Avatrait: From Second Life to
Florence", among other mentions and achievements.

I began crafting jewelry in January 2008, and launched my first store on January 1st (formerly known as Beck's Fine Jewelry). Eventually, real life took over a bit, and I stopped releasing new products for several months until October 2008 brought the Jewelry Exhibition. It was then that I really kicked back into high gear, and created 10 all-new pieces of jewelry, and a one-of-a-kind set for the silent auction at the expo. It was at the expo that the brand "Genesis" was truly born.

I followed, with great excitement on Plurk as you shared the concept, and initial drawing of Eden, your first Second Life skin, can you tell us a little about the process that brought us, Eden?

Eden was a two year dream in the making. Ever since first rezzing on the grid, it was my ultimate ambition to make skins. I always thought that when I did, I could finally say, "Veni, vidi, vici," and be truly happy with where I had landed in my content creation ambitions. I can't even explain the excitement when I finally found the inspiration to sit down and start creating my first skin. Long, long days of hard work and burying myself in Photoshop and neglecting pretty much anything and everything. It was a single-minded, bee-lined track to the finish marker. The name Eden came from the theme I am maintaining with Genesis. Eden sort of just... "fit" as the first name for a skin from my brand, however it didn't hit me until about a week before release that that's what she just had to be named.

How valuable was the feedback from Plurk and Flickr to your process with the skin model?

Oh, the feedback from Plurk especially was invaluable. I was able to get a substantial pool of beta testers, honest and on the spot feedback, and a plethora of pictures of people wearing the skin so that I could see it on other shapes and pinpoint trouble spots. I received around 30 notecards of feedback and photos, many with very useful tips and pointers of what could be better and what was fantastic about the skin. It was from that giant pool of feedback that I made enhancements and adjustments to the beta skin, and thus Eden was born. She was in no way a single-minded project, and despite having made her, I can't take complete credit for her final state. There are opinions from about 50 total people resting on that skin. And I wouldn't have had it any other way.

What's the future for Ryker Beck's skins?

I am currently working on a new skin, Candace. She is a much more detailed, very catwalk-y skin that I aim to market more at the glamour model industry than I did with Eden, which was a much softer, girly skin. Candace is currently in the beta testing stages and should be released, hopefully, in early to mid May. I already have a plan for a third skin which will also be in the works soon, along with ideas that have been bounced off of me by my lovely and talented sister, Vernice Burks, to make a child skin. And of course, a male skin is in the future too.

For any would-be skin creators out there, can you share any tips you learned along the way?

Don't rush it. Go with your gut. Get feedback! It is the best tool in your arsenal. Invest in a good resource photo website meant for skin creation and 3d texturing work, unless you intend to fully hand draw your skins (or in my case, do both). And above all, find your niche... the quality that will set you apart from the rest. Never stop learning, always keep growing, and never give up. As Napoleon Bonaparte said, "Victory belongs to the most persevering."

*All images reposted with the kind permission of Ryker Beck*