Friday 29 June 2007

Cherrie's Toys

Cherrie's little collection of Toys :) All fun to play with ^^



On the side, she has a crush on Shiro :)

Companion of the Kurzicks


My favourite title at the moment... because it seems so undecent to me :P

Anyone else here familiar with Firefly series? This is who Companions are there:
In the television series Firefly and its feature film sequel Serenity, a Companion is a skilled, well-educated and well-respected member of a guild of professional courtesans/entertainers, somewhat similar to oiran. While they do frequently engage in a form of state-sanctioned prostitution, they are nonetheless treated with a great deal of respect and deference from nearly everyone (as seen in several episodes, including "The Train Job"), though non-guild prostitutes (as seen in the Firefly episode "Heart of Gold") are generally treated in the reverse, even if they are former Guild members.
Inara Serra, one of the central protagonists of Firefly, is a licensed Companion, and Companions, the nature of the Companion profession, and the Guild, all feature prominently in the series.
Registered Companions are culturally well-educated with training in a number of areas, including psychology (as indicated by the exchange between Inara and Saffron, and comments from Inara later in the episode as well, in "Our Mrs. Reynolds"), music (as mentioned by Nandi in "Heart of Gold"), fencing (as seen in the episode "Shindig"), and languages, as well as unarmed martial arts (indicated in the film Serenity)
As revealed in material from the Serenity DVD and from the shooting script featured in Serenity: The Official Visual Companion, in the "core" planets they are typically trained from a very young age.


And because of that link, I think I ain't going to advance Kurzick track any further :X Cherrie is a Companion anyways :P

Guardian of Tyria and Cantha ^^

Well, the dragon went down... I told her and she wouldn't belive ^^


The sexiest guy in all GW went down also, w/o any fatality :) Gods, I love him ^^ I even have a little action figure of him ;)

The infamous Black Moa :)


Annother bonus: this is what happens if you take your Black Moa for a walk ;)

I see dead people!


A nice little bonus :)

Welcome to Domain of Anguish, baby! ^^

Chapter IX: Inspiration


The idea of the assignment was to make a shot similar to one made by previous TNTM cycle contestant's. The one i chosed - magnificent gogo dance by Xo katina Xo - wasn't actually an assignment but her random work, but - as I am a free shooter ;) - I decided i like it the most ^^ I wanted to do one like this since I saw the original.

Here's Katina's original work:

Chapter VIII: Seven Deadly Sins

I must say I loved that assignment! I really had fun with choosing how to shoot :)

Presented in canonical order, with descriptions from wikipedia:


Lust - Luxuria
Lust is usually thought of as involving obsessive or excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature. Unfulfilled lusts sometimes lead to sexual or sociological compulsions and/or transgressions including (but obviously not limited to) sexual addiction, adultery, bestiality, and rape.
Dante's criterion was "excessive love of others," which therefore rendered love and devotion to God as secondary. However, lust and love are two different things; while a genuine, selfless love can represent the highest degree of development and feeling of community with others in a human relationship, Lust can be described as the excessive desire for sexual release. The other person can be therefore seen as a "means to an end" for the fulfillment of the subject's desires, and becomes thus objectified in the process. In Purgatorio, the penitent walks within flames to purge himself of lustful/sexual thoughts.


Again, I needed a female co-model to shoot with :) I really think girls look better than guys ^^

I'm very fond of Vabbian NPC's clothes, and i think those dancers are hot... So here we are, having our private little moment :)


Gluttony - Gula
Modern views identify Gluttony with an overindulgence of food and drink, though in the past any form of thoughtless excess could fall within the definition of this sin. Marked by unreasonable or unnecessary excess of consumption, Gluttony could also include certain forms of destructive behavior, especially for sport, or for its own sake. Substance abuse or binge drinking can be seen as examples of gluttony therefore, so it could be safely said that Gluttony is the overindulgence in any one thing. The penitents in the Purgatorio were forced to stand between two trees, unable to reach or eat the fruit hanging from either, and were thus described as having a starved appearance.

Here is the sexy NPC again :) Using those vabbian dishes was quite obvious ^^

Gods, I want her dress....


Greed - Avaritia
Greed is, like Lust and Gluttony, a sin of excess. However, Greed (as seen by the Church) applied to the acquisition of wealth in particular. Thomas Aquinas wrote that Greed was "a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things." In Dante's Purgatory, the penitents were bound and laid face down on the ground for having concentrated too much on earthly thoughts. "Avarice" is more of a blanket term that can describe many other examples of sinful behavior. These include disloyalty, deliberate betrayal, or treason, especially for personal gain, for example through bribery. Scavenging and hoarding of materials or objects, theft and robbery, especially by means of violence, trickery, or manipulation of authority are all actions that may be inspired by greed. Such misdeeds can include Simony, where one profits from soliciting goods within the actual confines of a church.

Mine, all mine! Muahaha.

Cherrie does actually 'sleep on platinium' more or less... But she gotta start saving after the loot scaleing, snif.


Sloth - Acedia
More than other sins, the definition of Sloth has changed considerably since its original inclusion among the seven deadly sins. It had been in the early years of Christianity characterized by what modern writers would now describe as apathy, depression, and joylessness — the latter being viewed as being a refusal to enjoy the goodness of God and the world He created. Originally, its place was fulfilled by two other aspects, Acedia and Sadness. The former described a spiritual apathy that affected the faithful by discouraging them from their religious work. Sadness (tristitia in Latin) described a feeling of dissatisfaction or discontent, which caused unhappiness with one's current situation. When St. Thomas Aquinas selected Acedia for his list, he described it as an "uneasiness of the mind," being a progenitor for lesser sins such as restlessness and instability. Dante refined this definition further, describing Sloth as being the "failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind and all one's soul." He also described it as the middle sin, and as such was the only sin characterised by an absence or insufficiency of love. In his Purgatorio, the slothful penitents were made to run continuously at top speed.

The modern view of the vice, as highlighted by its contrary virtue zeal/diligence, is that it represents the failure to utilize one's talents and gifts. For example, a student who does not work beyond what is required (and thus fails to achieve his or her full potential) could be labelled 'slothful'.
Current interpretations are therefore much less stringent and comprehensive than they were in medieval times, and portray Sloth as being more simply a sin of laziness, of an unwillingness to act, an unwillingness to care (rather than a failure to love God and His works). For this reason Sloth is now often seen as being considerably less serious than the other sins.


Can't really call Cher lazy... She's quite buzy all the time actually, going for her titles, posing as a model etc etc :)


Anger (Wrath) - Ira
Wrath may be described as inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger. These feelings can manifest as vehement denial of the truth, both to others and in the form of self-denial, impatience with the procedure of law, and the desire to seek revenge outside of the workings of the justice system (such as engaging in vigilantism) and generally wishing to do evil or harm to others. The transgressions borne of Wrath are among the most serious, including murder, assault, and in extreme cases, genocide. (See Crimes against humanity.) Wrath is the only sin not necessarily associated with selfishness or self interest (although one can of course be wrathful for selfish reasons, such as jealousy). Dante described Wrath as "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite". The wrathful in his Purgatorio were enveloped in blinding smoke.

Wrath - Fire. Obvious link, thus a Fire Island chosen as a background, and nice Fire spell animation to 'anger up' the shoot. I'm really fond of thise one :) Tho I think I should have put her mask on...


Envy - Invidia
Like Greed, Envy is characterized by an insatiable desire; they differ, however, for two main reasons: First, Greed is largely associated with material goods, whereas Envy may apply more generally. Second, those who commit the sin of Envy desire something that someone else has which they perceive themselves as lacking. Dante defined this as "love of one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs." In Dante's Purgatory, the punishment for the envious is to have their eyes sewn shut with wire, because they have gained sinful pleasure from seeing others brought lowly.

'Green of envy', annother obvious link. She does look envious: 'Elementalists have such sexy dance, and bigger boobies than me, no matter what I do and what push-ups I wear! Argh!' ;)


Pride - Superbia
In almost every list Pride is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and indeed the ultimate source from which the others arise. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to give compliments to others though they may be deserving of them, and excessive love of self (especially holding self out of proper position toward God). Dante's definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbor." In Jacob Bidermann's medieval miracle play, Cenodoxus, Pride is the deadliest of all the sins and leads directly to the damnation of the famed Doctor of Paris, Cenodoxus. In perhaps the most famous example, the story of Lucifer, Pride was what caused his Fall from Heaven, and his resultant transformation into Satan. Vanity and Narcissism are prime examples of this Sin. In the Divine Comedy, the penitent were forced to walk with stone slabs bearing down on their backs in order to induce feelings of humility.

My personal favourite shot from the series, and defenetly a Cherrie-sin too. A mesmer-sin overall I guess... I got inspired by Narcissus falling in love with his reflection.

Canthan New Year!


Gathering food for the Celestial Pig was fun :)

I really don't undesrtand why people don't like the Pig Minipets.. they're cute ^^

Where's my rice wine..?

Chapter VII: Fashion Capital

This is the longest series I've done so far with Cherrie. Originally, there were fewer cities to shoot in and every contestant got assigned to one only. But as I do not participate in the contest and do it on my own and for myself only... I've decided to match outfits to most of the areas in game :) Here is what I came up with, in alphabetical order.


Arborstone, the capital of Kurzicks. Actually, House zu Heltzer is, but Arborstone is the main Cathedral there. Do i repeat myself often saying thats my favourite area in-game (excluding the pre-searing that Cherrie obviously can not go back to? :() ? And my favourite armor setoriginates from here, too (ahhh, the corsets... ;P) This was actually shot in Frenendale, better light there.



Ascalon, before the searing. Again, I should have actually titled it Rin. but.. who cares :) Capital of Ascalon is usually reffered to as Ascalon, not Rin. Yes, thats photoshoped again, but for me that's the dress that matches Ascalonian style the most (look at lady Althea).



Ascalon, after the searing. No PS used here; quite depressing site too. And the place was so lovely.. darn Charr >.>



Bone Palace, place where the bad - but cute, girls like powerful villains ^^ - Joko dwells. The set is actually Primeval with Ancient mask, but I didn't come up with my genious combo for Ancient attire back then yet. As a side note, I'm really fond of the Primeval set; it's design is so unique... and finally Cherrie has breasts to show off! ;)


Cavalon, capital of the nomadic Luxons. Actually shot in Luxon Guild Hall, couldn't find an appealing place to shot in the actual city as I was looking for something as much natural as possible, with thr japanease drawing feeling that I love about the Frozen Sea so much... I used the red dress as a contrast with the jade-frozzen surroundings .



Droknar's Forge. Why is it so cold there ._. And why won't my guild change the GH into the Kurzick one? ^^ I guess I'll have to bribe someone... Anyways, Rouge matches Shiverpeaks I guess :)


Gandara the Moon Fortress, the capital of Kourna province in Elona. I'm really fond of the Mediterrenian feeling of it's design and it's shape too. Maybe quite rought, but still beautiful. I chosed elonian started armor dyed red as it resambles Kournan soldiers' armors pretty well. I didnt shoot in the actual Gandara either as its unreachable from explorable area, you're dressed up during the second and when you're not there's too much mess to focus on shooting, like during the first mission - the session actually took place in a Guild Hall :)


Kaineng, the capital of Cantha. Cantha is very pretty... apart from all areas in Kaineng that ain't the palace... I hate the slums, argh... Btw, what amazed me while I was mapping and later on vanquishing the Raisu Palace was the fact that there are slums inside it... Jeez.... who designed that place...


Kamadan, Jewel of Istan. Didn't really have idea for this one... Apart from the fact taht I knew i wanna capture that Paragon guy and use Sunspear armor... which I quite despite, tbh... so I didnt want to dye it white as it really should be if I'm posing for a Sunspear... Anyway, I don't really like this pic, but i had to do it to maintain consistency of the series.


Kodash, capital of Elona province Vabbi. Rich place with a Near-East feeling to it. I didn't want to spend my money on Vabbian attire that is ridiculously expensive and not even that pretty - well I wouldn't wear it later on anyway. But i thought that Tyrian Collector's matches to Vabbi pretty well, especially dyed blue, thanks to it golder ornaments. Like this set LOTS btw. Pitty I dyed mine black btw, i gotta rethink that and choose some other color, Black Dye after the update sux.. too jet, ornaments get lost ;(


Lion's Arch, the capital of Kryta. Very popular city in Tyria. i knew I need to catch the lions in my shot... If i didn't it would be like shooting about Paris as a fasion capital and ommiting the Tower... Speaking of the towers, I knew I should catch the towers of Lion's Arch as well. I chose Enchantres dyed white to resamble the White Mantle a bi; besides it's a very, very light dress taht matches the hot krytian climate.


Augury Rock. I needed a shot from the Crystal Desert to maintain consistency... It might not really be a capital, Amnoon Oasis is more of it, but Augury has prettier architecture. I managed to catch the griffin arch and the mysterious praying figures on one shot, god for me :) /jump

Chapter VI: Who's the Boss?



Well, in the original assignment there were certain Cantha bosses to choose from, but I didnt like any of them... all were ugly... and no girls among them... So I myself chose Jin the Hornbow, because: primo, she's a woman and secundo, she's on starter island in a placeeasy to reach, which suited my lazy arse ;) Besides, I didn't have to worry about keeping myself alive during the session.

I'm quite pleased with the outcome, love Jin's pose, plus I got a chance to expose one of my favourite armor combo here!

Chapter VI Special Issue: My Preciousss!


Annother sheer luck photo :) Came across this Golden Bull while mapping Tyria and decided to press [PrtSc] button...

Mommy, he's holding to my leg T.T!

Well, he went down seconds after I 'stole his soul'. Nasty guy, tho, he doesn't drop a greenie ;(

Chapter V: Chemistry?


Idea: to pose with a male model. I didn't really want to bug others with my little side-project, especially since it usually takes me quite a while untill I get 'the' shot, so I used my hero Olias. And because of that, I had to break the major rule of TNTM and photoshop the screenie to remove Olias' marker.

Anyways, defenetly Chemistry, rite? ^^

Chapter IV: Rally the Gods


The idea of the assignment was quite straightforward: model and a statue of a god of her chosing. And I like to try thinking outside the box, so... I chose Abbadon. We actually did rallied and defeated him, didn't we (and I would have been a god by now if it was not for that biatch Kormir...)?

Chapter IV Special Issue: Lyss


As a true mesmer, I kinda felt I didn't pay enough tibute to my Goddess... I really wanted to capture Lyssa and her spirit... And the most perfect place to do so was, of course, the beautiful plain of pre-searing with her statue near the little open theater.

I love how I managed to capture Lyssas gentle influence on Cherrie in this one... of course, what Cher wears is very distant from perfect, but... well tahts pre-searing, and I was - shame to admit - too lazy to go and gather collector's armor and dyes for it... Still, it came out pretty well i think :)

Chapter III: Models serve it HOT



In short, underwear session to be done during 2006 Yuletude event. And since mesmers' violet underwear didnt really match for the occasion, I chose to dress up Cherrie in this pretty little night gown that used to be so popular among the mesmers when there were no inscriptions yet. Adding the cute little hat, she looks like female HOT Santa a bit, doesnt she? ^^ And I really liked this little funny scene in Kamadan; maybe its Cher that's too hot for the melted snowman? ;)

Winterday's challenge concludes...



Shot taken during Grenth vs Dwayna team battles :) Grenth won this year, which wasn't to anyone's suprise since he provided better-looking hats ;) The battles were fun themselves too, but - shame to admit - I focused more on gathering enough sweets for the whole year to come... Cherrie has 1k Wintergreen Candy Canes hidden somewhere ^^ Not for Sweettooth (tho I want her to get this one since she ain't gonna drink hence no Drunkard title), but for those nasty death penalties that occur so often when one visits DoA...

Chapter II Special Issue: beauty and the Beast


Annother approach to Models Gone Wild assingment; while I was mapping Tyria (why the heck did I do it at all? Now I have to go all over again with Vanquishing >.>) I found this guy somewhere in Southern Shiverpeaks. And thought "Yaks are cute, lets have a shot with one". Besides there was a dwarf near that told me a heart-moving story about how he takes care of them in the middle of Dwarf-Stone Summit conflict and I felt drawn to those beasts even more.

Chapter II: Models Gone Wild


This is defenetly my favourite photo of all I made so far. Managing to capture this combination was sheer luck, I was experimenting with poses while my Jin's Black Moa was crossing the bridge after I moved her. And... *ping*, here it is, this one special moment that would not repeat for a really long time, if ever... Almost like in real wild life photography ;)

Side notes:my favourite surroundings: Echovald Forrest + my favourite outfit: Kurzick set + my favourite pet (all my heroes have Black Moas tamed) : Black Moa = I really really love this shot

Thursday 28 June 2007

Chapter I: Origins


First chapter of the original TNTM; the idea of the assignment is quite obvious: show your character's origins.

Cherrie is Tyrian-born. My game mates all know well how I feel about pre-searing Ascalon (and I ain't the only one), in short: I love it, it's the most beautiful place in whole Tyria; when I left pre with Cher and saw post, I almost stopped playing as I couldn't stand hw ugly it was in comprasion... All my other characters (except my latest ele - made in pre because of her pretty face ;) ) were born on other continents so I wouldn't suffer post-searing Ascalon anymore...

Anyhow, as I already said, Cher is Tyrian-born, tho when I think of her, I think of her as of a Kurzick. But since I loved pre so muh, I decided to photograph her in Ascalon surroundings, so here she is: picking a grape at her parent's wineyard.

The Guiding Flame


Actually, TNTM never had such assignment... but... when GW:Nightfall came out, I felt in love with Paragon's skill animations and the wings taht appear... I had to use them on Cherrie! Unfortunatelly, mesmers' skill animation ain't as fancy as Elementalists' or Paragons', so I could not actually achieve a flying angel look as I planned to... but, using Fiery Dragon Sword alongside the glowing wings and placing Cherr in dark surroundings, I managed to show the 'Expell Darkness' idea of an angel... or at least I hope so :)

Note: Original notes on previos Cherrie blog had little stories written about my gal... But I don't like to repeat jobs once done and I don't really feel like writting them over... At least for now. So, until I get really bored or really inspired, they won't appear here.

Tyria's Next Top Model - Portofolio


Who is Cherrie?

Cherrie is my Guild Wars chracter, first and -almost*- only. I do identify with my characters a lot, so she gets a lot of attention and the sreenies you'll see here are the outcome of that. Most of them were inspired my guildwarsguru.com forum's contest Tyria's Next Top Model and it's assignments - tho I ommited some and bended the rules to my liking very often.

*I do have other chars, but they don't get a lot of attenton... Cherrie has 95% of my in-game time so far :)