Alice Kiss - Crux Legend

[bobinder]

A old manip

Thanks, Madi. Previously reviewed on page one of this thread - http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/alice-kiss-crux-legend.6168/post-321274

The 'mountain trip' picture features five Makar models. Koshka takes centre stage and Alice thrusts out on the far right. Kira hangs in the distance between them. The contemporary figure of the executioner, wearing a baseball cap, sits in the foreground, surveying his handiwork. He brings a disturbingly casual and modern tone to the proceedings. Other figures wander about the scene like souvenir hunters looking for rusty nails. The contrast between extensive suffering and vast scenic splendour is poignant.

And not a moose in sight. Thanks for reposting.

 

[Wragg]

This is an attempt to use Photomirage on a scene of Alice crucified, I think the Jury is still out on the value of this app on crux images, but Madi and I will be trying it out on you all!

 

[MahaShiva]

Just another entry to be added to Alice's impressive resume as a Crux legend.

 

[bobinder]

Just another entry to be added to Alice's impressive resume as a Crux legend.

Thanks for posting, Shiva!

Mahashiva's latest Alice crux manipulation marks her sixth appearance in his DeviantArt gallery. She remains the only Makar model he has employed in his manips to date.
Whilst 'Alice in Rome' continues the theme of her appearances in different parts of the world, this is Shiva's first essay in placing her in an ancient setting, his previous Alice manips all presenting modern crux concepts.



Shiva's caption on DeviantArt, whilst ironic in terms of the scene portrayed, is duly reverential towards the star who needs no introduction to seasoned crux fans -
'No tour of Rome would be complete without an audience with Alice, Goddess of the Cross.'

Shiva happily concedes that his latest picture is a swift composition, and indeed it employs the same cut out figure as his contemporary manips, 'Selfie' and 'Alice Faces the Mob'.



As ever, the success of the manipulation derives from the appropriate blending of an inserted figure, which matches the background effectively in terms of viewpoint and lighting.
Shiva makes the illusion convincing by adhering to his artistic philosophy of keeping it simple.

My own comment on DeviantArt, 'Makar meets Mel Gibson' refers to the use of the background from the notorious flagellation scene in 'The Passion of the Christ' (2004.)
It is remarkable to consider that the film has been around for fourteen years, and actually pre-dates the Makar source from 'Alice and Koshka in the Crux Forest' by three years!



If Alice watched 'The Passion' when it was released, could it ever have occurred to her that she would emulate a similar starring role on film, three years later - or even appear crucified in one of the film's most controversial scenes, courtesy of the magic of photo manipulation, fourteen years later?

Shiva's manip retains Makar's tree cross. One end of the patibulum and the overhead securing ropes are just visible in the top of the picture.
As before, he has straightened the inclined source image into a more appropriate, vertical alignment. Alice is cropped dramatically, from her head to her knees, providing the impression of close-up action, despite the fact that she occupies centre stage in the middle distance.
The original background image provides the defocused 'foreground' figures, over whose shoulders we are viewing a scene which is up close and personal.

The flagellator's fist, holding the beating rod, is 'duplicate-layered', threateningly, over Alice's right upper thigh and groin, effectively defining her position in the picture.
We focus on her as the subject, presented in a shallow depth of field, as she bisects the widescreen aspect of the picture, dividing it into legionaries seen from behind in close-up on the left, and legionaries facing us in long-shot on the right.
Thus is the composition evocative of its big screen origins, and perfectly balanced in visual terms.

Alice's skin tones have been carefully adjusted to match the other figures as well as the ambient lighting of the scene.
Shiva has developed the torso area from his previous picture ('Alice Faces the Mob') by adding the red lines of the beating on the breasts and abdomen. This has been done in a restrained manner, almost with a subtlety, which makes their appearance totally convincing.

Altogether very good work, Shiva!

 

[Jollyrei]

Anyways, the animal in the picture looks more like a caribou.

If we're talking about my picture, that's definitely a moose. Nothing like a caribou.
You did notice the crucified girl, did you? Not just the wildlife?

 

[bobinder]

This is an attempt to use Photomirage on a scene of Alice crucified, I think the Jury is still out on the value of this app on crux images, but Madi and I will be trying it out on you all!

Nice work, Wragg, and an interesting concept.

I believe this, together with your Alice 'Blue Sky' gif -
http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/attachments/bluesky-gif.647223/
constitutes the first moving image of Alice we have seen in eleven years.

Congratulations on a highly original first (and second!)

 

[MahaShiva]

Thanks for posting, Shiva!

Mahashiva's latest Alice crux manipulation marks her sixth appearance in his DeviantArt gallery. She remains the only Makar model he has employed in his manips to date.
Whilst 'Alice in Rome' continues the theme of her appearances in different parts of the world, this is Shiva's first essay in placing her in an ancient setting, his previous Alice manips all presenting modern crux concepts.

View attachment 647469

Shiva's caption on DeviantArt, whilst ironic in terms of the scene portrayed, is duly reverential towards the star who needs no introduction to seasoned crux fans -
'No tour of Rome would be complete without an audience with Alice, Goddess of the Cross.'

Shiva happily concedes that his latest picture is a swift composition, and indeed it employs the same cut out figure as his contemporary manips, 'Selfie' and 'Alice Faces the Mob'.

View attachment 647472View attachment 647471

As ever, the success of the manipulation derives from the appropriate blending of an inserted figure, which matches the background effectively in terms of viewpoint and lighting.
Shiva makes the illusion convincing by adhering to his artistic philosophy of keeping it simple.

My own comment on DeviantArt, 'Makar meets Mel Gibson' refers to the use of the background from the notorious flagellation scene in 'The Passion of the Christ' (2004.)
It is remarkable to consider that the film has been around for fourteen years, and actually pre-dates the Makar source from 'Alice and Koshka in the Crux Forest' by three years!

View attachment 647470

If Alice watched 'The Passion' when it was released, could it ever have occurred to her that she would emulate a similar starring role on film, three years later - or even appear crucified in one of the film's most controversial scenes, courtesy of the magic of photo manipulation, fourteen years later?

Shiva's manip retains Makar's tree cross. One end of the patibulum and the overhead securing ropes are just visible in the top of the picture.
As before, he has straightened the inclined source image into a more appropriate, vertical alignment. Alice is cropped dramatically, from her head to her knees, providing the impression of close-up action, despite the fact that she occupies centre stage in the middle distance.
The original background image provides the defocused 'foreground' figures, over whose shoulders we are viewing a scene which is up close and personal.

The flagellator's fist, holding the beating rod, is 'duplicate-layered', threateningly, over Alice's right upper thigh and groin, effectively defining her position in the picture.
We focus on her as the subject, presented in a shallow depth of field, as she bisects the widescreen aspect of the picture, dividing it into legionaries seen from behind in close-up on the left, and legionaries facing us in long-shot on the right.
Thus is the composition evocative of its big screen origins, and perfectly balanced in visual terms.

Alice's skin tones have been carefully adjusted to match the other figures as well as the ambient lighting of the scene.
Shiva has developed the torso area from his previous picture ('Alice Faces the Mob') by adding the red lines of the beating on the breasts and abdomen. This has been done in a restrained manner, almost with a subtlety, which makes their appearance totally convincing.

Altogether very good work, Shiva!

Thank you very, very much for the in-depth critique, Bob! Full review indeed... I feel greatly honored to get such a detailed treatise on a rather easy and quick manip job.

I was a little surprised to hear that I had presented Alice's charming image in my gallery only six times, but a quick reflection on the pieces I have posted so far confirmed that it was true. The reason that I felt I had done more than that is that I really did--except that most of them are still in that huge pile of WIPs waiting for final touches. There must be 10 or 15 of them in total, and at least half of those should be good enough to be posted on dA (and CF) when completed. I'm sure you like the sound of that, Bob!

 

[bobinder]

I was a little surprised to hear that I had presented Alice's charming image in my gallery only six times, but a quick reflection on the pieces I have posted so far confirmed that it was true. The reason that I felt I had done more than that is that I really did--except that most of them are still in that huge pile of WIPs waiting for final touches. There must be 10 or 15 of them in total, and at least half of those should be good enough to be posted on dA (and CF) when completed. I'm sure you like the sound of that, Bob!

Oh yes - thanks, Shiva!
I am already looking forward to reviewing your spectacular, forthcoming manipulations!

 

[bobinder]

News from Damian

Breaking news - the Damian collaboration, 'The Punishment of Alice' referred to in this thread last year -
http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/alice-kiss-crux-legend.6168/post-323576 - is now pending publication on Dofantasy.
Damian's announcement appears in his thread -
http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/damians-publications-on-dofantasy-com.4983/post-422049

A new, illustrated Alice crux tale is always an exciting prospect, and Damian has published the cover for the first series of illustrations (#1.)

The main picture showing Alice with outstretched arms in a crucified pose, is derived from the Femjoy series entitled, 'Freedom' (#2.)
This session was photographed by Valery Anzilov near the summit of Mount Ay Petri in the Crimea. The original Ay Petri background has been manipulated in the cover, to include the multiple domed-building on the skyline.

​

Collectors of Alice manips may be familiar with the pose since it was adapted for my 'Ivdaea Capta' series (#4 below) and subsequently remanipulated by Tree for his 'Olympic Crux' story (#3 above.)

'Ivdaea Capta 14z'​

 

[Jollyrei]

News from Damian

Breaking news - the Damian collaboration, 'The Punishment of Alice' referred to in this thread last year -
http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/alice-kiss-crux-legend.6168/post-323576 - is now pending publication on Dofantasy.
Damian's announcement appears in his thread -
http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/damians-publications-on-dofantasy-com.4983/post-422049

A new, illustrated Alice crux tale is always an exciting prospect, and Damian has published the cover for the first series of illustrations (#1.)

The main picture showing Alice with outstretched arms in a crucified pose, is derived from the Femjoy series entitled, 'Freedom' (#2.)
This session was photographed by Valery Anzilov near the summit of Mount Ay Petri in the Crimea. The original Ay Petri background has been manipulated in the cover, to include the multiple domed-building on the skyline.

View attachment 653496View attachment 653497View attachment 653499​

Collectors of Alice manips may be familiar with the pose since it was adapted for my 'Ivdaea Capta' series (#4 below) and subsequently remanipulated by Tree for his 'Olympic Crux' story (#3 above.)

'Ivdaea Capta 14z' (Hosted on DeviantArt) - https://www.deviantart.com/bobnearled/art/Ivdaea-Capta-14z-619112893​

Gorgeous work, Bob.

 

[bobinder]

'Escape' by cypher - Part 1​

Cypher has been publishing his pictures on thedarkspot as well as on the Crux Foundation, which was recommended to him in 2010 by Arcimboldo. Cypher's thread, 'Calm Pic' on the Foundation site, includes his manipulation entitled, 'Ruins, Alice Kiss, Crux, Ravens and Blood', which was previously examined in detail here - http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/alice-kiss-crux-legend.6168/post-321275

​

Arcimboldo remains highly acclaimed as a pioneering master of crux photo manipulation, who published his work over ten years between 1998 - 2008. Whilst this period includes Alice's modelling career, I have not identified her, or indeed any other Makar models, in his oeuvre. Arcimboldo settled down to enjoy a new life with his partner, and retired from the crux manipulation genre. He and Cypher were in regular contact until 2011, and Cypher has consistently acknowledged Arcimboldo's influence in his own work, which is of an equally high standard.

When Cypher joined Cruxforums last year, he kindly made available his series of four pictures, originally posted on thedarkspot, forming the sequence entitled, 'Escape'. Chronologically, they present a short story, showing Alice as a slave working on a building site, running away in a bid for freedom, recaptured by pursuing archers, and finally punished with a severe beating and extensive branding.

Escape 1 - 'Slavery Life Alice'


Escape 2 - 'Run Alice Run!'


Escape 3 - 'Alice Injured and Captured at last'


Escape 4 - 'Alice Punished'
​

Whilst 'Ruins, Alice Kiss, Crux, Ravens and Blood' might present a dramatic crucifixion finale to the story, it does not form part of the 'Escape' series. The fourth picture depicts wounds and branding marks which do not appear on the crux figure, and so it remains a separate image.

All five pictures include Alice's name in the titles, and Cypher has confirmed that all of the source images are from her outdoor sessions for Femjoy. Whilst the original Valery Anzilov pictures were presented using the model name, 'Ondine', Cypher's titles confirm that she is generally better known as Alice.

Cypher informs us that Alice, whom he describes as a 'charming actress', is one of a number of favourite models to appear in his manipulations. Anya from MPL Studios is another Cypher favourite, having appeared in at least one manip in his Foundation thread. He adds, 'I can understand that Alice is a wonderful muse for many artists... I’m very interested in the reason why Alice came to appear in that Cruxdreams film... I have never seen her in other scenes like that.'

Indeed it is remarkable that one of the best known crux stars was really not a BDSM model at all. She was a relatively new model when Makar met her, and evidently became so successful in a year of glamour modelling that she felt no inclination to exceed the boundaries of her soft porn comfort zone following the 'Crux Forest' session.

 

[bobinder]

'Escape' by cypher 2​

The first picture in Cypher's 'Escape' series shows Alice working on a building site, supervised by overseers in Medieval garb. The clerical presence suggests this might be an ecclesiastic project. The Femjoy source is taken from 'Freedom', with Alice surrounded by the brilliant mountain peonies on the Ay Petri plateau. The translation to manip has not required any adjustments to colour or lighting, and the loss of her cast shadow is not obvious.

Cypher has added the padlocked chain around her neck, and she looks up to witness the chastisement of Katrina, another well-known source figure from Orchid Studios, who suffers the worst effects of a vicious, plaited whip in the foreground.

​

Having witnessed the brutal treatment of her fellow slave, Alice makes her dramatic escape in the second picture, 'Run Alice Run!' Another slave also takes this opportunity, providing perspective scale and depth in the manipulation between Alice and the archway in the middle distance. But the archers are already in position, and arrows are falling dangerously close to their target.

This time, the Femjoy source is taken from 'Low Tide', with Alice emerging from the Black Sea at the foot of Swan's Rock near Simeiz. Cypher has flipped the figure rather than his background, since he prefers the visual effect of the subject running from right to left. Alice retains her distinctive navel jewel, and again the padlocked neck chain has been added, this time casting an appropriate shadow on her breast.

​

Cypher's background depicts the Porta Rosa in Salerno, Italy. The archway was initially excavated in 1964, but later excavations proved it to be part of an ancient aqueduct.

​

The third picture reveals that Alice has been stopped by an arrow in her left thigh. Two more arrows have evidently been near-misses. The abrasions on her right sole, left knee, upper arm, side and face, as well as the bloodstained rock on the far right, present silent testimony to the fall she has taken. Another 'Low Tide' source has been neatly translated to the manip without any lighting adjustments, and Cypher has taken care to create a highly convincing shadow on the rocks of the new background.

Again, the placement of a close-up foreground figure, together with those in the distance, gives an impressive sense of scale and depth to the picture. The title, 'Alice Injured and Captured at last' implies that this is the conclusion of a prolonged chase.

​

The final picture shows the aftermath - 'Alice Punished' - in which the slave brand 'S' has been applied five times over the front of her body. Cypher presents consistency with the preceding picture in the arrow wound, now developing a dark bruise, and the abrasions from the fall. Further wounding is evident in the marks of a severe beating which have been skilfully applied. The bloodstained stick stands beside her, ready for further applications in case these are deemed necessary.

The figure of Alice is a composite of two from another of her Crimean coastal series, 'Droplets on my Skin'. Thus she is presented in a raised arms pose with the addition of a lowered head from the second picture. The neck chain has been replaced by a rope noose, which requires her to remain standing to avoid strangling. Cypher has introduced a furrow to her brow in this and the preceding picture, which subtly transforms her expression into one of pained concern.

​

Cypher's comprehensively titled, 'Ruins, Alice Kiss, Crux, Ravens and Blood', whilst not part of the 'Escape' series, might easily be viewed as an alternative ending for it. The composite figure employs a subtle combination of numerous Femjoy sources which almost defy identification due to the number of individually blended components.

The head is the most identifiable part of Alice here. As far as I can tell, Cypher has relied on at least two Anzilov portraits which approximate to the required angle of view from below the jaw. 'Astronomy Class' (photographed between the Ay Petri plateau and the Simeiz Astrophysical Observatory) seems to yield the throat, jaw line and eye socket. The chin, mouth, nose and ear are more closely related to a source from the coastal session, 'Element'. Not only have the desired details been convincingly blended together, but the ensemble has been treated to selective darkening/highlighting and careful applications of 'dodge' and 'burn' (finely detailed methods of adjusting photographic tonality, provided by Photoshop and other similar programmes.) And so the shadows on Alice's face are now consistent with the low angle of lighting in this scene.

​

Many photo manipulators would studiously avoid source figures photographed in bright sunlight, in order to obviate the problems of matching directional light and shade in the backgrounds and all other components. But Cypher has succeeded in creating a series of powerfully atmospheric manipulations, exploiting bright sunlight in a consistent and dramatic way. The results have been achieved by taking considerable care over scale, composition and lighting. The fact that such considerations are not immediately obvious is the ultimate measure of his success.

I very much hope that Cypher will publish more of his remarkable pictures on Cruxforums, and I am confident that work of this quality will be very well received.

 

[Apostate]

The original caption of Arcimboldo's amazing manip.

[FONT=Times New Roman,Times]From the legend of Theresa of Avila:[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times]As a young girl, she had read all the ancient tales of female Christian martyrs like Eulalia and Leocadia, Barbara and Juliana... She had always been seeking for the details of their cruel tortures. She had learned about the flogging and the iron hooks that had torn their naked skin, and about the torches they had been burned with... The young girl was so impressed by these tales of martyrdom, that she began to fantasize about leaving her parents, going to the pagan Moors and sharing a similar fate of torment and violation...[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman,Times]I also finally compared the original with the revised 2002 version, and aside from an overall darkening, and the scene's relocation to the Southern Hemisphere, there’s not much difference. [/FONT]

We now resume our Alice Kiss programming, already in progress.
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times] [/FONT]

 

[Wragg]

I very much hope that Cypher will publish more of his remarkable pictures on Cruxforums, and I am confident that work of this quality will be very well received.

Me too!

Just as I thought I was getting the hang of manips! Man, that is quality work,,,, Respect!

 

[MahaShiva]

Very good stuff, Bob! These pix by Cypher are simply marvelous--he's very good at composing such large-scale manip jobs with many different elements!

 

[bobinder]

Just as I thought I was getting the hang of manips! Man, that is quality work,,,, Respect!

Very good stuff, Bob! These pix by Cypher are simply marvelous--he's very good at composing such large-scale manip jobs with many different elements!

On behalf of cypher, thanks very much for your comments.

Cypher displays remarkable modesty when it comes to discussing his work, but I was very interested to hear that his 'Escape' series is intended to emulate a moving picture narrative style, in the sense that the images from his story might appear to be screenshots from a movie.

He adds that Alice is particularly appealing for such a sequence of freeze-frames because she provides a very adaptable range of poses and expressions. From these, cypher has selected source images in which she is not looking directly at the camera, so that her attention appears constantly focused on the relevant action and key features of each manipulation.

Cypher has also confirmed that the stand-alone image, 'Ruins, Alice Kiss, Crux, Ravens and Blood' represents a combined celebration of Arcimboldo, Alice and his own personal artistic expression.

And he has hinted that more of his work may eventually appear on this site.

 

[Gibbs505]

On behalf of cypher, thanks very much for your comments.

Cypher displays remarkable modesty when it comes to discussing his work, but I was very interested to hear that his 'Escape' series is intended to emulate a moving picture narrative style, in the sense that the images from his story might appear to be screenshots from a movie.

He adds that Alice is particularly appealing for such a sequence of freeze-frames because she provides a very adaptable range of poses and expressions. From these, cypher has selected source images in which she is not looking directly at the camera, so that her attention appears constantly focused on the relevant action and key features of each manipulation.

Cypher has also confirmed that the stand-alone image, 'Ruins, Alice Kiss, Crux, Ravens and Blood' represents a combined celebration of Arcimboldo, Alice and his own personal artistic expression.

And he has hinted that more of his work may eventually appear on this site.

We await with bated breath!

 

[bobinder]

Just as I thought I was getting the hang of manips! Man, that is quality work,,,, Respect!

You are doing some highly original work with Alice, and in recognition of that, I shall provide a link here to your new thread of remarkable moving images - your 'Photomanimations' of Alice - http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/photomanimations.7225/

As I commented in your thread, 'When I originally congratulated you on ... presenting us with the first new moving images of Alice since 2007, I had no idea how far you would develop the concept.'

This is certainly impressive material, and definitely worthy of our attention.

 

[Wragg]

You are doing some highly original work with Alice, and in recognition of that, I shall provide a link here to your new thread of remarkable moving images - your 'Photomanimations' of Alice - http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/photomanimations.7225/

As I commented in your thread, 'When I originally congratulated you on ... presenting us with the first new moving images of Alice since 2007, I had no idea how far you would develop the concept.'

This is certainly impressive material, and definitely worthy of our attention.

Thanks Bob...

It certainly takes an impressively long time...

This a work in progress...

 

[Praefectus Praetorio]

Thanks Bob...

It certainly takes an impressively long time...

This a work in progress...

View attachment 664791

But I, for one, say it is more than worth the time. Thank You!