Wow. You're way ahead of me. I certainly appreciate your work.
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Alice Kiss - Crux Legend
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That is absolutely amazing, Wragg!Thanks Bob...
It certainly takes an impressively long time...
This a work in progress...
I can well believe it takes a lot of time and effort.
Adapting 'Crux Forest' material, for a scene which Cruxdreams never filmed, is simply sensational!
I never imagined I would see anything like this.
The work in progress is fantastic, and your impending achievement will surely be phenomenal!
Thank you for sharing this. Very well done indeed!
jimsac
Tribune
Wow! VERY Impressive!!!
Some Crux Forest Carrying Manipulations
The widely reproduced image of Alice carrying her patibulum through the Crux Forest is one which has proved very popular with photo manipulators, especially those who digitally repaint the feet and lower legs where they are obscured by ferns. Her chained shackles are just visible through the undergrowth. Some manips employ this source figure from the knees upwards in order to avoid recreating the feet and ankles.
In a cursory glance, none of this is particularly obvious, and the image remains a servicable source for further manips. The wide lasso cut referred to above has preserved a small part of the original source image, which shows both Alice and Koshka together in the same picture.
It seems that a manip artist has separated the girls into two individual images, since there is a corresponding solo image of Koshka, which contains rather more obvious digital overpainting to recreate a missing left elbow and rope bindings. The background has a copied section of the tree trunk patched over the area below the patibulum -
In the original picture, the repainted area is concealed by the right end of Alice's patibulum, since Alice was walking ahead of Koshka in this scene. The excess material in the wide cut around Alice's hand is from the left end of Koshka's patibulum.
Obviously both figures are derived from a single picture, and they can almost be joined side by side, since the original image size remains constant for both. But the details deleted by the anonymous manipulator would need to be reproduced to form the complete picture.
Other manipulations do preserve the original, combined image of Alice and Koshka, but they are in low resolution, and they contain some very minor patching and pasting defects -
The third version, with just three figures, is in even higher resolution, although not as high and clear as the two solo images of Alice and Koshka, shown above. The lower edge of this last group manip is all original material, so it seems to preserve the aspect ratio of the original 'Crux Forest' picture of Alice and Koshka, minus Lena.
Having speculated on its appearance, I concluded that I had enough material from other people's manipulations to reconstruct about two thirds of the original picture. I enlarged everything to the same scale, and pasted all the hi-res material over the lo-res manipulation, ensuring that all components were located with absolute precision -
Now that I've done that, perhaps somebody will test my theory by posting the original image.
A portrait detail of Alice from this source image was proposed by Melissa for Eulalia's first avatar, back in January 2011 -
As Eul's current avatar also depicts Alice, it would be interesting to know if she initially used the one proposed by Melissa, which was before my time on the forum.
The most recent version of the 'Alice carrying' picture appeared in celebration of Ducans' birthday, a couple of weeks ago. I enlarged a detail of the source image by 300%, correcting the wide cut around the hand. After converting to greyscale monochrome, the figure and patibulum were cut out and repasted whilst the background received reduced contrast.
The Photoshop filter gallery provided smudge-stick and film grain effects prior to a colour adjustment to sepiatone. I was hoping to emulate the style of a Ducans sketch, but any further attempts at sketch effects simply caused distortions which spoiled the image, so I saved the sepia version as described -
Wragg, you have taken this new field of crux animation and really run with it. There is so much potential, and your efforts grow increasingly impressive, this work in progress is quite remarkable. Better you than me though, I think!
MahaShiva
Magistrate
Wow! This is great, Wragg! Very impressive work. I can't even imagine the amount of time and work that went into this one GIF. A wonderful tribute to the work that Makar and Alice did so many years ago--and to that historic day to the Crux community!
MahaShiva
Magistrate
Another solid piece of Crux scholarship from the world's leading Aliceologist!Some Crux Forest Carrying Manipulations
The widely reproduced image of Alice carrying her patibulum through the Crux Forest is one which has proved very popular with photo manipulators, especially those who digitally repaint the feet and lower legs where they are obscured by ferns. Her chained shackles are just visible through the undergrowth. Some manips employ this source figure from the knees upwards in order to avoid recreating the feet and ankles.
Manipulators need to be aware that this image is a partial manipulation in its own right, and includes a wide lasso cut around the right hand. There is a rectangular section pasted over the background above the right hand, which has been hastily blended with green overpainting on its right edge.
In a cursory glance, none of this is particularly obvious, and the image remains a servicable source for further manips. The wide lasso cut referred to above has preserved a small part of the original source image, which shows both Alice and Koshka together in the same picture.
It seems that a manip artist has separated the girls into two individual images, since there is a corresponding solo image of Koshka, which contains rather more obvious digital overpainting to recreate a missing left elbow and rope bindings. The background has a copied section of the tree trunk patched over the area below the patibulum -
In the original picture, the repainted area is concealed by the right end of Alice's patibulum, since Alice was walking ahead of Koshka in this scene. The excess material in the wide cut around Alice's hand is from the left end of Koshka's patibulum.
Obviously both figures are derived from a single picture, and they can almost be joined side by side, since the original image size remains constant for both. But the details deleted by the anonymous manipulator would need to be reproduced to form the complete picture.
Other manipulations do preserve the original, combined image of Alice and Koshka, but they are in low resolution, and they contain some very minor patching and pasting defects -
In the first multi-figure scene, five Makar models have been manipulated by joining four original Cruxdreams pictures together. The joins are concealed by tree trunks and over-pasted ground cover. Left to right, the models are Jenia, Oxana, Koshka, Alice and Lena. The second scene is in somewhat higher resolution, Jenia is cropped out and the Cruxdreams logo inserted.
The third version, with just three figures, is in even higher resolution, although not as high and clear as the two solo images of Alice and Koshka, shown above. The lower edge of this last group manip is all original material, so it seems to preserve the aspect ratio of the original 'Crux Forest' picture of Alice and Koshka, minus Lena.
Having speculated on its appearance, I concluded that I had enough material from other people's manipulations to reconstruct about two thirds of the original picture. I enlarged everything to the same scale, and pasted all the hi-res material over the lo-res manipulation, ensuring that all components were located with absolute precision -
Now that I've done that, perhaps somebody will test my theory by posting the original image.
A portrait detail of Alice from this source image was proposed by Melissa for Eulalia's first avatar, back in January 2011 -
As Eul's current avatar also depicts Alice, it would be interesting to know if she initially used the one proposed by Melissa, which was before my time on the forum.
The most recent version of the 'Alice carrying' picture appeared in celebration of Ducans' birthday, a couple of weeks ago. I enlarged a detail of the source image by 300%, correcting the wide cut around the hand. After converting to greyscale monochrome, the figure and patibulum were cut out and repasted whilst the background received reduced contrast.
The Photoshop filter gallery provided smudge-stick and film grain effects prior to a colour adjustment to sepiatone. I was hoping to emulate the style of a Ducans sketch, but any further attempts at sketch effects simply caused distortions which spoiled the image, so I saved the sepia version as described -
Well, that's kind of you to say so, Maha Shiva! I'm grateful for all your comments, which have revived my interest, which was flagging slightly! Ten manips per second of gif!
Rest assured that your efforts are appreciated, Wragg.
Such original material makes a fine addition to the collections of dedicated fans, and I am glad you are feeling inspired.
Thanks for your response, Shiva.Another solid piece of Crux scholarship from the world's leading Aliceologist!
After studying a few thousand pictures of Alice, you start to become aware of the small details.
For example, in Peter Chupurov's (Amour Angels) 'Calmness' series, Alice wears a floral print blouse. I recognised the same blouse draped over the sofa in Vadim Rigin's 'Hostel'. She wore it to two sessions by different photographers for separate studios, so it was not a prop, it was her own blouse
The 'Hostel' and 'Olga' series both have backgrounds consisting of yellow walls and vertical blinds, suggesting that Rigin shot both series in the same location. Alice wears a blue nightgown in 'Olga', and this same nightgown can be seen lying on the sofa in 'Hostel', confirming that both series were in fact photographed during the same session -
Admittedly not crux scholarship - just a little 'Aliceology' trivia for the fans.
Bob is starting again with his "Alicemania" ...
Thanks Messa - there is no cure
for the defining Alice Kiss
Mmmchwah!
for the defining Alice Kiss
Mmmchwah!
Thank you Messa, for this charming picture.... And why not ? Mmmmmmmmmmmm !
... and like I know that Bob likes sepia ...
You have appeared with Alice in a number of your previous crux pictures, but I think this is only the second non-crux manipulation of yours, in which you both appear together. The first one, which you kindly posted in this thread last October, depicted the two of you in approximately the same location as your latest manip - http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/alice-kiss-crux-legend.6168/post-411269
Both of these Femjoy sources were photographed on the same day by Valery Anzilov, on the rocks overlooking the Black Sea, although they were presented in separate series - 'Element' and 'Low Tide', respectively. Taken together, the manipulations present good consistency, using the same characters, carefully overlayed in sensitive, intimate poses.
The sepia version is equally appealing, and has a different ambience, with its softened contrast. The bright lighting and intense heat of the colour pictures make me wish for the start of summer! Considerable care has been taken over the figure scaling and colour adjustment of the flesh tones, to produce an attractive, complimentary pair of images. I wonder if they are the start of a series of 'Messa and Alice' manips?
I think Bob is a Professor of Aliceology...Thank you Messa, for this charming picture.
You have appeared with Alice in a number of your previous crux pictures, but I think this is only the second non-crux manipulation of yours, in which you both appear together. The first one, which you kindly posted in this thread last October, depicted the two of you in approximately the same location as your latest manip - http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/alice-kiss-crux-legend.6168/post-411269
Both of these Femjoy sources were photographed on the same day by Valery Anzilov, on the rocks overlooking the Black Sea, although they were presented in separate series - 'Element' and 'Low Tide', respectively. Taken together, the manipulations present good consistency, using the same characters, carefully overlayed in sensitive, intimate poses.
The sepia version is equally appealing, and has a different ambience, with its softened contrast. The bright lighting and intense heat of the colour pictures make me wish for the start of summer! Considerable care has been taken over the figure scaling and colour adjustment of the flesh tones, to produce an attractive, complimentary pair of images. I wonder if they are the start of a series of 'Messa and Alice' manips?
messaline
Crucified Amazon
Oh, not a series but from time to time, I could do some manip ...
A Birthday Prezzie for Mali Hussain
The latest Alice manip has been posted by Melissa in her thread, 'Sex Slaves', with the accompanying text -
The latest Alice manip has been posted by Melissa in her thread, 'Sex Slaves', with the accompanying text -
Mali Hussain is 80 today and his wife, possibly with an eye on his considerable estate and his heart problem, has taken him to the local slave market to buy him a sexy young slave for his birthday. Now isn’t that considerate of her. She’s even arranged for her very Westernised sister to come along and take a few photographs to remember the day by. The lady on the far left was a little shocked to see her not wearing a hijab but this is Khabadami 2019 after all! So here we are. Mali is posing with his little prezzie and his loving wife.
There are very few manips depicting Alice as a slave, the best known being those by Kamerijk which have been reviewed previously. Julie and Melissa's source is taken from the series, 'Emerald World', photographed by Alexey Bessarab and published by Amour Angels on 5 August 2010. As far as I am aware, this is the first occasion on which this series has yielded a complete figure of Alice for a manipulation. Julie and Melissa have transposed the entire figure as she appears in the original photo, and are to be congratulated on their creative interpretation of an attractive source image from this previously neglected series.
Alice stands with her arms raised, elbows out, pushing her hair behind her shoulders. The motif provided by her own hands is reflected in those of Mali Hussain, 'weighing' Alice's breasts. The visual rythm continues with a fifth hand further down, belonging to Mali's wife who is pulling down Alice's panties to expose her assets for the camera. This is a very neatly applied detail.
The placing of the central figures ensures that Alice takes centre stage for her photo call (a meta concept since both source and manip represent photo sessions.) And so the picture acquires a sense of depth from the physical engagement of the characters in contact with her - located behind her on either side whilst their hands are placed in front of her. The resulting immersion makes for a convincing scene, and this central group is framed by the female on the left and the photographer on the right, in a nicely balanced composition.
The hands theme is repeated in those of the photographer (holding what appears to be an indestructible 35mm SLR) and in the second slave, also with raised arms, hands behind her head, who looks a bit like Janina. I trust Melissa will correct me if I am wrong about these details.
At least six new characters have been manipulated into the foreground of this multi-figure composition. Such manipulations present greater challenges to the artist, in terms of consistent scale and lighting, the more figures are introduced. Having said that, Julie and Melissa are highly proficient manipulation artists with considerable experience of multi-figure themes. Despite the bright sunlight on the background figures, they have successfully resolved the lighting, colour and contrast issues in the foreground.
Melissa draws our attention to the contrasting themes within her picture - traditional Muslim attire and Western fashion, youth and old age, ancient and modern. Mali Hussain appears understandably delighted with his 80th birthday present. We note that his 80th celebration is referred to in the same sentence as his heart condition, and so we suspect his wife's motives in purchasing Alice, notwithstanding the fact that she makes an excellent choice, all things considered.
Well done, Julie and Melissa!
Many thanks, Shiva - that's wonderful!My latest tribute to Alice Our Beloved Goddess on the Cross.
"See what happens to girls who don't listen to their mothers?"
Faved on DA, and the appropriate review is pending, of course.
MahaShiva
Magistrate
Thank you, Bob! Always good to see a new paper from you in Aliceology.Many thanks, Shiva - that's wonderful!
Faved on DA, and the appropriate review is pending, of course.