December 30, 2007 An interview with Dyna Diller of Body Perfect
Are you new to Second Life and don’t have a lot of time to spend tweaking and perfecting your avies’s shape? Are you a veteran player who simply wants to go in a direction you would never consider going with your avies look and style? If you’re looking for a beautiful shape or need a consultant who will assist you with every aspect of your beautification needs then we have the perfect resource for you. In this Feature Article we will highlight the efforts of Dyna Diller and her store Body Perfect. Dyna and her store can be found in her shopping center called Sexy Mall in a lag-free shopping experience accompanied by many other well-known retail stores such as The Sweetest Sin, Alyssa Bijoux, Vitamin C and Beckenbauer Productions. One look at Dyna’s shapes will tell you that she takes her work personally and works to produce and sell an attractive and believable product. Dyna is often approached by skin designers asking her to build them a custom shape for the release of their new skin so her shape and the skin are often complementary of each other and she provides this information to you making your makeover process easier still. With Dyna, you do not have to worry about your questions and inquiries going unanswered. I IM’d her and she responded very quickly and was a tremendous help to me in preparing for this interview. So let’s toss a few questions Dyna’s way and say what our friend from the UK has to say.
SLS: You’ve seen her in-game and here on SLS, you’ve seen her work adorning some of the most famous avies in SL, you know what she does, so let’s bring her out, the one, the only … Dyna Diller! *loud applause and roar* Hiya Dyna! Welcome, and thank you for agreeing to sit in our hot seat today. I suppose a good first question would be to ask how you first got your start in SL back on 3/27/2005.
DD: Hellooooooo! Well I came from another game called Seducity, all my friends buggered off to SL and left me :( My PC wouldn’t run SL at that time so I stayed In SC but as soon as I got a better PC I stalked my friends and ended up here in the fab (addictive) SL.
SLS: What/who was it that influenced you to specialize in avie shapes and appearances?
DD: A friend noticed that I always seemed to be making shapes for peeps or tweaking faces/body parts, she suggested that I actually sell my shapes instead of spending most days doing it for free, I did and they started to sell, I thought I was rich on my 1st sale and ran to buy myself the latest fart gadget.
SLS: You are very good at what you do. How much of what you do can you say comes from your innate skill at creating each new shape, or from a proven routine which you’ve worked hard to develop over time?
DD: They developed over time, if I’m honest my 1st shapes were awful, I dunno what ppl were thinking when they bought them! LOL... few weeks ago I tried one of my older shapes and wow, I looked like the hulk on crack ( and that was a woman’s shape :/ ) its taken me 2 years to get to where I am now, I can make anything, petite, tall, thick, thin, ethnic, male and female shapes. I work with the skin, that way you get the best result; the face really needs to work with the skin.
SLS: When shaping an avie, is there a formula of numbers that a person can usually follow to achieve good results, or is it wildly different every time?
DD: Different every time, depending on height, for example, you take a shape, you cant just increase height because you want it taller, you then need to change bod thickness, muscle, torso, arm and leg length, I make a lot of ethnic shapes and they tend to have a curvier derrière, I try to cater for all, I even have a huge boobs shape :O
SLS: Now it’s true that you do more than sell shapes, you actually consult on a person’s entire look. For this we can refer to you as an Image Consultant, because you can recommend good skins, hair, eyes and clothing. And incredibly some of Second Life’s best skin and hair designers come to you for your shapes. Why don’t you tell us more about your services?
DD: LOL they don’t come to me, well ok a couple have and demanded to know why don’t u use my skins on yr shapes! Lol, I thought ooo I will do use this to my advantage and I started making shapes to work with most skins in SL, Id then name the shape after the skin creator (with permission of course) I have shapes at pixel deep skin store, TSS and Shyone's. I do get asked to custom work, like a RL pic or famous person, I can do it but they need to wear the skin, hair, eyes n such I recommend.
SLS: You’ve mentioned that you have had skins given to you by well known skin designers, TSS, Shyones and Pixel Deep to name a few, because they wish to have you create a shape that goes uniquely with their skins. Are you often requested to do such high profile work? Whom else have you done similar work for?
DD: AJa I asked her if I could name a shape after her, she was lovely (she wears my eye sparkles! ) and sent My Model a skin to wear obviously she’s not going to do that for every shape maker who asks her, so I guess she’s heard of me and knows its not a scam to get free skin's, plus id already bought a few of her skins for myself, they r fab!
But yes, I am asked and its a bloody honor when a skin creator asks me, I’m like wowow they know me? My work? It works like this.....customer comes along, sees a shape they like and 9 times out of 10 they want the complete look in the pic, so whatever skin I’m wearing, hair, eyes, they want all that 2, that’s why I have all the info on the box and lm's inside, so a good skin helps me sell my shape and vice versa, a really beautiful skin can b ruined by an ugly shape and again vice versa.
SLS: You’ve managed to capture very realistic shapes, believable shapes, a shape and look that you can look at and say “yeah, that’s possible”. So by this it’s apparent that you also strive to achieve a stable balance of believability. Such as, in some of your shapes, you provide a larger than normal bottom. Please tell us more about how, if only theoretical due to an element of fantasy, you view shape building.
DD: Okies I have had peeps IM me and ask could I please make a realistic black lady shape, with a nice curvy bum and hips (not everyone wants to be stick thin) and I’ve also been asked to try and make ethnic faces, male and female, that’s how all that started and they sell really well, lol i had a woman come in the store the other day and say I dunno wot id do without your shapes in sl, you make the best sista shapes I’ve seen! I was so bloody happy. I also make very slim shapes suitable for runway work or neko's, its possible to make slim shapes and keep a little curve, I’ve noticed alotta guys like the very slim emo look, I’ve just finished a shape for that kinda look and will have it for sale soon.
SLS: Your mall which has managed to collect some impressive names is like a one-stop shopping place for people who wish to do a complete make-over. What plans do you have for your mall, if any, to expand and add on to it?
DD: Yes, some of those renters have been with me a year now bless em! I gotta b honest, its hard running a mall, trying to keep a good mix of stores and good traffic, Im competing with other mall owners who use bots for traffic, I remember when I had studio 54 on my sim and my shapes store was number 1 in search, it really depends on your traffic and lots of places have fake traffic.
SLS: Since it doesn’t appear that you limit yourself to what you’re currently doing, what plans do you have for the future? Your own line of clothing, hair, skins?
DD: If I ever get a decent PC then yes, mine just broke and I'm back on my old one, its very slow :(
SLS: To the disappointment of any would-be suitors, Dyna is taken =) The lucky guy being Victor Cinquetti. Now, with as much as you’ve accomplished lately, how much does your partner Victor Cinquetti aid you in your efforts? Is he a REALLY patient man standing by as you work each night, or is he actively aiding you in your business?
DD: He’s amazing, he puts up with so much poop from me (poor guy) he can stand next to me for hours as I work on shapes, eyes and such and now that I’m on this old pc and cant move around as easy as I used to Vic runs the mall for me, plus he looks hot as hell so that’s gotta help me sell shapes right? He let me create his av, just lets me take over and tweak, I’ve tweaked him for almost a year now and now we are both happy with his look *drools*
SLS: What is your take on the whole “child avie” issue which seems to be making headlines these days? Unfortunately there has been some abuse of that element of SL and many people are taking a stand either way. Are you ever approached to make a child shape? What is your view on the whole subject?
DD: No comment, I don’t want to offend any child shape makers as I’m sure it’s just a business to them but personally I don’t make them and have no plans to.
SLS: I am sure that people will want to know if your shapes are modifiable. Do you make them modifiable, and if so, does their editing the shape that they’ve purchased void any warranty that you offer?
DD: Yes they are all mod and I also have demo shapes so they can try b4 they buy and if they find they want to change a certain thing on the shape but are not sure how to do it then I will tweak it for them as they stand and watch. I advise them to make copies of the shape just incase they mess up.
SLS: I would like to point out now that I was very impressed with how accessible you were to speak with me despite the fact that you and I had never spoken before I approached you about this article. Despite the expected delay due to our time zone differences, you were very fast to respond and offered your time generously so I wish to thank you for that. What hours can your customers and potential clients expect to be able to contact you? And what are your preferred methods of doing so?
DD: Anytime is fine, if my IM is capped (when not online) then an NC is good and I will respond ASAP.
SLS: So when you’re not consulting and managing your mall, what about SL do you enjoy? Do you have any favorite builds where you like to visit and spend time?
DD: I have lotssssssss of friends old and new and I just love to hang with them, so whatever they are doing I’m up for it, so long as its not shagging cause Vic would kick my arse.
SLS: You are involved with a core group of close friends who have all become fairly successful in SL in one form or another. How have you been able to help each other in accomplishing your goals? And, will you adopt me? Lol.
DD: God you're so right, I was thinking about that the other day, its like all my friends have made a name for themselves in SL , Im so proud of them even if they are a buncha maniacs on crack. We always im each other and ask for an opinion on current projects (not that they ever listen to my advice) we stay close because we all stay true and remember our roots, I’m prolly the least successful of them all but they love me anyway. Will I adopt u? Are You sure you want Ciera Bergman as you sister? You must be mental! I guess that means you're in the family then Son! come to momma.
SLS: Thank you Dyna, on behalf of Society I would like to thank you for your time in speaking with us today. I encourage anyone wishing to make a change to their avie to look up Dyna. She can most definitely assist you and you will be all the better for it!
A few notes regarding Dyna’s business:
Business hours: any time
Email: trinitydynamyte20022002@yahoo.com
Available for customs: YES
GIFT CERTIFICATES available (Y/N): No, but I will send out an item as a gift.
REFUND policy (Y/N): Depends, please inquire.
As mentioned, I will be doing a series of articles focusing on content creators in Second Life. If you have input in regards to good subjects for these articles please email me here for consideration. Thank you =)
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