-
Sign up or login, and you'll have full access to opportunities of forum.
Alice Kiss - Crux Legend
- Thread starter bobinder
- Start date
-
- Tags
- original art
Thank you very much for your interest in this video.
But I would not like to see it freely available.
This is due to the fact that we incur financial losses in the production of video. In addition, you probably noticed that the use of the forum is free. Have you ever wondered how this could be? Everything is very simple - we redistribute the income received from the financial profit of the site http://www.cruxdreams.com.
Part of the profit goes to create new photos and videos and the other part of the profit goes to support the forum.
Therefore, I do not want to see our videos freely available. Moreover, I would like for you, if there is such an opportunity, to subscribe to a http://www.cruxdreams.com, at least for one month, because This will help fund the forum and make it free for everyone.
Last edited:
Congratulations, l'bogo - you have created the first 3D character of Alice.I've done a Clone 3D of Alice...
I think she makes quite a convincing figure in 3D.
Very well done.
Alice in Saudi Arabia
(Image hosted on DeviantArt - https://www.deviantart.com/mahashiva001/art/Alice-in-Saudi-Arabia-784788497)
Mahashiva's latest Alice manipulation continues his theme of her appearances in different parts of the world, in contemporary settings. 'Alice in Saudi Arabia' is Shiva's seventh picture featuring Alice. As with his previous manips, the new picture employs a Makar source with the original cross and ropes. This is the first time he has used this particular image of the crucified Alice, hanging exhausted with arms fully extended, legs bent and knees splayed apart. This recognisable pose has been popularised over the years by manip artists including jolleyrei, saintjohny and many others.
(Image hosted on DeviantArt - https://www.deviantart.com/mahashiva001/art/Alice-in-Saudi-Arabia-784788497)
Shiva has added Alice to the scene, together with the pile of perforated bricks, supporting the base of the cross. The only modification to the figure is the addition of the sign attached to her bleeding nipples, a device he used previously in 'Alice returns to Paris'. The sign states, 'Whore' in Arabic, which Shiva dismisses as a, 'random accusation' for the purpose of the picture. The caption, 'See what happens to girls who don't listen to their mothers?' is presumably a comment made by the females in the foreground, whose all-enveloping attire makes a sharp contrast with Alice's nudity.
The remainder of the image is an authentic photograph, taken during a period of civil unrest in Saudi Arabia. It is a picture of contrasts. The women in traditional Muslim attire, one carrying a mobile phone, represent the continuation of normal life, whilst the police officers, armed with a baton gun and rifle, are indicative of state control during a series of heated demonstrations.
The background depicts a scene in Bahrain on 4 January 2016, in which riot police are looking out for protesters demonstrating against Saudi Arabia's execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, along with 46 other condemned persons, two days previously. The graffiti on the wall represents people killed in previous civil disturbances.
Shiva has created a particularly tense image by introducing the crucified Alice into a scene already redolent of the aftermath of an execution. The pile of bricks is located amongst the building debris, and the off-centre location of Alice, with the 'martyr graffiti' behind her, balances a composition in which the Muslim women, exchanging uncomfortable looks, take the centre foreground. They divide the picture into an image of state controlled police force on the left and the painful results of challenging the state on the right.
Shiva's technique relies on the accurate matching of lighting conditions, focal lengths and viewpoints, with minimal adjustments and appropriate scaling. The precision involved ensures visual consistency and convincing blending of the new components. His result is the creation of a powerful image, full of tension, both in visual terms and in social commentary.
Last edited:
MahaShiva
Magistrate
Thank you very much for the in-depth treatise of this rather simple little manip, Bob! It's very impressive that you not only found the original background photo but also figured out its own background--which I didn't even know. I did wonder about the police officers' uniforms that seem to differ from what I remember about the Saudi standard issue, but in the end the attires of the women in the foreground made Saudi Arabia a rather natural choice for me.Alice in Saudi ArabiaMahashiva's latest Alice manipulation continues his theme of her appearances in different parts of the world, in contemporary settings. 'Alice in Saudi Arabia' is Shiva's seventh picture featuring Alice. As with his previous manips, the new picture employs a Makar source with the original cross and ropes. This is the first time he has used this particular image of the crucified Alice, hanging exhausted with arms fully extended, legs bent and knees splayed apart. This recognisable pose has been popularised over the years by manip artists including jolleyrei, saintjohny and many others.
(Image hosted on DeviantArt - https://www.deviantart.com/mahashiva001/art/Alice-in-Saudi-Arabia-784788497)
Shiva has added Alice to the scene, together with the pile of perforated bricks, supporting the base of the cross. The only modification to the figure is the addition of the sign attached to her bleeding nipples, a device he used previously in 'Alice returns to Paris'. The sign states, 'Whore' in Arabic, which Shiva dismisses as a, 'random accusation' for the purpose of the picture. The caption, 'See what happens to girls who don't listen to their mothers?' is presumably a comment made by the females in the foreground, whose all-enveloping attire makes a sharp contrast with Alice's nudity.
The remainder of the image is an authentic photograph, taken during a period of civil unrest in Saudi Arabia. It is a picture of contrasts. The women in traditional Muslim attire, one carrying a mobile phone, represent the continuation of normal life, whilst the police officers, armed with a baton gun and rifle, are indicative of state control during a series of heated demonstrations.
The background depicts a scene in Bahrain on 4 January 2016, in which riot police are looking out for protesters demonstrating against Saudi Arabia's execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, along with 46 other condemned persons, two days previously. The graffiti on the wall represents people killed in previous civil disturbances.
Shiva has created a particularly tense image by introducing the crucified Alice into a scene already redolent of the aftermath of an execution. The pile of bricks is located amongst the building debris, and the off-centre location of Alice, with the 'martyr graffiti' behind her, balances a composition in which the Muslim women, exchanging uncomfortable looks, take the centre foreground. They divide the picture into an image of state controlled police force on the left and the painful results of challenging the state on the right.
Shiva's technique relies on the accurate matching of lighting conditions, focal lengths and viewpoints, with minimal adjustments and appropriate scaling. The precision involved ensures visual consistency and convincing blending of the new components. His result is the creation of a powerful image, full of tension, both in visual terms and in social commentary.
This one was actually made more than a month ago, but I've been tweaking it constantly since something always looked a little "off" about it--the last time after I posted it on dA, when it finally dawned on me what the problem was: It was those darned bricks, which looked way too sharp in comparison to the pavement and dirt around them even after I gave them a good blur to begin with!
I'm glad to report that Alice's world tour still continues as we speak, and that at the next stop, God willing, she will finally be liberated from Makar's makeshift tree cross (for the first time in my gallery, anyway) and onto something more formal- and permanent-looking.
Bob is nothing if not thorough!Thank you very much for the in-depth treatise of this rather simple little manip, Bob! It's very impressive that you not only found the original background photo but also figured out its own background--which I didn't even know. I did wonder about the police officers' uniforms that seem to differ from what I remember about the Saudi standard issue, but in the end the attires of the women in the foreground made Saudi Arabia a rather natural choice for me.
This one was actually made more than a month ago, but I've been tweaking it constantly since something always looked a little "off" about it--the last time after I posted it on dA, when it finally dawned on me what the problem was: It was those darned bricks, which looked way too sharp in comparison to the pavement and dirt around them even after I gave them a good blur to begin with!
I'm glad to report that Alice's world tour still continues as we speak, and that at the next stop, God willing, she will finally be liberated from Makar's makeshift tree cross (for the first time in my gallery, anyway) and onto something more formal- and permanent-looking.
Here Before
Presented as a short crux story on 23 September 2014, 'Here Before' is a downloadable, two-and-a-half minute video by Melissa and Julie, which features saintjohny's multiple Alice manipulation, 'The Endless Circle'. Saintjohny published his picture on 28 January 2010, together with the lines which provide the video's title -
'I have been here before
My agony at once, can recall
When eternal curse upons my fate
Again, I've been crucified and forsaked'
My agony at once, can recall
When eternal curse upons my fate
Again, I've been crucified and forsaked'
A second crux-carrying manip, by Julie and Melissa, is also featured, as well as a whipping scene with appropriate sound effects, blended with GoldenRuler's rhyming narrative and Clannad's haunting 'Theme from Harry's Game'. This atmospheric soundtrack is combined with creative rostrum camerawork to produce a powerful and visceral viewing experience.
Once downloaded, the MP4 video can be expanded to full screen format, although such enlargement of the small original images results in a predictable loss of resolution. Melissa has hosted the video on Google Drive, and provided the link -
Julie and Melissa are to be congratulated on their imaginative interpretation of the photo manipulated images with sound in their first video production, and this is a highly recommended 'must see' for Alice fans. Thank you, Julie and Melissa!
Col de la Croix
cruelone recently started a thread, entitled, 'Some Nice Tortures' -
http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/some-nice-tortures.7305/post-435450
This collection of manipulations includes an attractive crux image in mountain scenery, which caught my attention. The landscape is beautifully detailed - we look down into a valley full of conifers to see a settlement in the lower right corner. Clouds cast shadows on the hills with sunlight filtering between, and on the horizon, the dramatic cloudscape meets the mountains with ice on the peaks -
The picture focuses on the crucified Alice, and so the foreground figure, slightly blurred in close-up on the left, is almost subsidiary. But she provides a vital element in the composition. Apart from defining the depth of field, she is using a mobile phone, presumably to photograph the cross, imparting a contemporary sense of reality to the scene. Alice does not appear on the phone screen, leading us to wonder if she exists only in our imagination?
The use of a wayside cross for a crux manip is reminiscent of the style adopted by @messaline in her 'Anjou Calvaries' series, and other artists have also used this type of background to good effect. In fact Cruelone's avatar depicts Shannon in precisely this situation.
There is a unique quality involved in using a background which is familiar to the artist in terms of time and place. The recollection of being there brings a personal element to the work when the imagination is applied to a creative interpretation of the crux theme.
Madiosi identified the location in the Swiss mountains, whereupon the biblical inscription on the cross was deciphered as, 'Je leve les yeux vers les montagnes.' (I raise my eyes towards the mountains.)
Cruelone confirmed that the location was Col de la Croix in Switzerland, where he had obtained the background picture during his travels. He further explained that he had created the manipulation by inserting a crux figure which he found on the internet.
The fact that 'Ivdaea Capta' images are being re-manipulated brings a certain sense of satisfaction in the realisation that people consider them good enough to employ as sources for new work. It is not unlikely that Cruelone found the original 'Ivdaea Capta 7', which is a crux image for which Alice never posed in reality. She is presented here as a composite figure, employing Femjoy sources for which Valery Anzilov should take the initial credit.
It is curiously appropriate to Cruelone's vision that the main body source should be derived from another mountain scene. The 'Freedom' series was photographed on the Ay Petri plateau shortly after midday on 20 May 2007. The bright, overhead sunlight casts sharp, dense shadows, producing the chiaroscuro which has translated successfully in the oblique lighting of the manipulation. This dramatic play of highlights and dense shadows on Alice's pale skin is just one of the aspects of 'Freedom' which makes the series so appealing. It went straight to publication just two weeks later on 4 June 2007 - Femjoy's first release of a series featuring Alice.
Also derived from Anzilov's Crimean sessions, and blended to the 'Freedom' body source, is the manipulation's portrait, taken from the coastal series, 'Droplets on my Skin'. The sunlight in this series comes from a lower angle because it was photographed shortly after 8 am the following morning, 21 May 2007. Fortunately the sunlight is bright enough to cast similar deep shadows, albeit not in a consistent direction, and Alice's face is shaded by her hair.
Other compromises in the 'Ivdaea Capta' manip are largely the result of working entirely in Windows 'Paint' and Apache 'OpenOffice Draw'. 'Paint' will only provide rotations of 90 degrees, so the arms had to be rotated by trial and error in 'Draw', which produced the curious horizontal lines when the pixels shifted into a new alignment. But this is not obvious in Cruelone's picture, due to its lower resolution.
Cruelone's thread now contains a second version of his picture. In recognition of his use of my composite figure, I re-manipulated his picture. My interpretation shows Alice admiring Cruelone's crux image in acknowledgement of his contribution to the genre. Having inserted a source figure from Rylsky's 'Crush' series, I was faced with the task of reproducing the effects of oblique sunlight on the studio figure, more or less as they appear on the crux figure. This was achieved in eight visible layers in Photoshop, plus extensive 'dodge and burn' to accentuate the shadows. Not perfect, but hopefully heading in the right direction.
Following a discussion about biblical inscriptions and psalms, and generally avoiding Cruelone's main subject in 'Some Nice Tortures', I conceded that manip threads can become very confusing.
Last edited:
What is the line between pain and pleasure... lust and fear... or is there one at all???Col de la Croix
cruelone recently started a thread, entitled, 'Some Nice Tortures' -
http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/some-nice-tortures.7305/post-435450
This collection of manipulations includes an attractive crux image in mountain scenery, which caught my attention. The landscape is beautifully detailed - we look down into a valley full of conifers to see a settlement in the lower right corner. Clouds cast shadows on the hills with sunlight filtering between, and on the horizon, the dramatic cloudscape meets the mountains with ice on the peaks -
The picture focuses on the crucified Alice, and so the foreground figure, slightly blurred in close-up on the left, is almost subsidiary. But she provides a vital element in the composition. Apart from defining the depth of field, she is using a mobile phone, presumably to photograph the cross, imparting a contemporary sense of reality to the scene. Alice does not appear on the phone screen, leading us to wonder if she exists only in our imagination?
The use of a wayside cross for a crux manip is reminiscent of the style adopted by @messaline in her 'Anjou Calvaries' series, and other artists have also used this type of background to good effect. In fact Cruelone's avatar depicts Shannon in precisely this situation.
There is a unique quality involved in using a background which is familiar to the artist in terms of time and place. The recollection of being there brings a personal element to the work when the imagination is applied to a creative interpretation of the crux theme.
Madiosi identified the location in the Swiss mountains, whereupon the biblical inscription on the cross was deciphered as, 'Je leve les yeux vers les montagnes.' (I raise my eyes towards the mountains.)
Cruelone confirmed that the location was Col de la Croix in Switzerland, where he had obtained the background picture during his travels. He further explained that he had created the manipulation by inserting a crux figure which he found on the internet.
The fact that 'Ivdaea Capta' images are being re-manipulated brings a certain sense of satisfaction in the realisation that people consider them good enough to employ as sources for new work. It is not unlikely that Cruelone found the original 'Ivdaea Capta 7', which is a crux image for which Alice never posed in reality. She is presented here as a composite figure, employing Femjoy sources for which Valery Anzilov should take the initial credit.
It is curiously appropriate to Cruelone's vision that the main body source should be derived from another mountain scene. The 'Freedom' series was photographed on the Ay Petri plateau shortly after midday on 20 May 2007. The bright, overhead sunlight casts sharp, dense shadows, producing the chiaroscuro which has translated successfully in the oblique lighting of the manipulation. This dramatic play of highlights and dense shadows on Alice's pale skin is just one of the aspects of 'Freedom' which makes the series so appealing. It went straight to publication just two weeks later on 4 June 2007 - Femjoy's first release of a series featuring Alice.
Also derived from Anzilov's Crimean sessions, and blended to the 'Freedom' body source, is the manipulation's portrait, taken from the coastal series, 'Droplets on my Skin'. The sunlight in this series comes from a lower angle because it was photographed shortly after 8 am the following morning, 21 May 2007. Fortunately the sunlight is bright enough to cast similar deep shadows, albeit not in a consistent direction, and Alice's face is shaded by her hair.
Other compromises in the 'Ivdaea Capta' manip are largely the result of working entirely in Windows 'Paint' and Apache 'OpenOffice Draw'. 'Paint' will only provide rotations of 90 degrees, so the arms had to be rotated by trial and error in 'Draw', which produced the curious horizontal lines when the pixels shifted into a new alignment. But this is not obvious in Cruelone's picture, due to its lower resolution.
The open mouth and extra tension in Alice's face were produced by digital over-painting in Windows 'Paint', using the mouse to manipulate the pencil tool for soft blending with the original portrait.
Cruelone's thread now contains a second version of his picture. In recognition of his use of my composite figure, I re-manipulated his picture. My interpretation shows Alice admiring Cruelone's crux image in acknowledgement of his contribution to the genre. Having inserted a source figure from Rylsky's 'Crush' series, I was faced with the task of reproducing the effects of oblique sunlight on the studio figure, more or less as they appear on the crux figure. This was achieved in eight visible layers in Photoshop, plus extensive 'dodge and burn' to accentuate the shadows. Not perfect, but hopefully heading in the right direction.
Following a discussion about biblical inscriptions and psalms, and generally avoiding Cruelone's main subject in 'Some Nice Tortures', I conceded that manip threads can become very confusing.
Damian
Governor
Greetings all, I am attaching a few images from a collection I have ready for a new booklet, about 48 pics in total, based on material and a scenario sent to me by another member and reworked by me. I have already sent a pdf file of what is ready to him but have not yet had a reply, he had expressed a desire to write for this. If anyone is interested in taking part in writing a narrative based on this idea that Alice made a big mistake of stripping off all her clothes below a holy place, being arrested, her trials and tribulations in prison and then being crucified and whipped in front of a crowd of men. PM me or say so here and I will include them in a thread where I will post the whole thing, (still a work in progress). Best, Damian
Attachments
Last edited by a moderator:
messaline
Crucified Amazon
Damian, I’m a total, excessive fanboy of your Roman Crucifictions and Arabian Nightmares, but I’m just not into "ripped from the headlines" scenarios.
Of course, most CF attendees are.
I must say though, Alice doesn’t look like a flighty female infidel playing a thoughtless prank on the faithful. More like a terrified tourist who’s been forcibly stripped naked in public by radical fundamentalists, to frame her for blasphemy /heresy/apostasy/whatever, and make of her a highly publicized "example."
Just a thought.
Attachments
Last edited by a moderator:
Damian
Governor
Well whatever floats your boat, fact is there could be several different scenariosDamian, I’m a total, excessive fanboy of your Roman Crucifictions and Arabian Nightmares, but I’m just not into "ripped from the headlines" scenarios.
Of course, most CF attendees are.
I must say though, Alice doesn’t look like a flighty female infidel playing a thoughtless prank on the faithful. More like a terrified tourist who’s been forcibly stripped in public by radical fundamentalists, to frame her for blasphemy /heresy/apostasy/whatever, and make of her a highly publicized "example."
Just a thought.
Thanks Damian, for the preview of these remarkable pictures.
We rarely see images of Alice manipulated in contemporary settings, and the results are very effective in this respect.
Your first image contains a number of Femjoy sources, including the background, showing the Ay Petri plateau, from the series, 'Astronomy Class'. The Simeiz Astrophysical Observatory has been deleted and replaced by the mosque on the hilltop. Alice is a composite figure, employing further Anzilov sources from 'Freedom' (legs and lower body) and 'Low Tide' (arms and upper body) in which a modified face has been inserted.
The second and fourth manipulations use components from Rylsky's 'Presenting Alice' for MetArt, and the artwork succeeds in modifying the coloured lighting of this studio session to suit the new prison interior scenes.
The fifth sample in your post presents us with a clever adaptation of a Makar source - the original, well known, crux carrying image is almost unrecognisable after flipping the figure, changing the arms and placing her behind bars. The crux scenes also employ Makar images, which have been cleverly modified to produce composite figures in variations of the original poses. The backgrounds for these have been produced neatly, using source material from the original 'Crux Forest' scenes. Multiple figure insertions help to provide a sense of depth and perspective in these challenging compositions. As usual, the more successful the result, the less apparent is the sheer complexity of these manipulations.
These images present not only highly competent photo manipulation skills, but a consistently powerful and emotional theme in terms of the tension and atmosphere they convey. Congratulations are in order to both artists in this collaboration for developing this very ambitious visual story concept.
Attachments
Damian
Governor
Thank you for the nice words Bobinder, I enjoy doing these and can get quite engrossed working on them, you know enough to understand that these are only as good as the quality of the source material and off course finding stuff that has the correct perspective, lighting and pose. Many of the source images are lower resolution than I would prefer, also finding the suitable expressions to convey the required "tension and atmosphere" is essential in my opinion. I spend more time searching for good source material than on the actual images, one of the reasons I appreciate this forum and threads like the one Madosi started for Roman material and by many other images posted on threads like this one.
Cheers, Damian.
Last edited:
Damian
Governor
Here she is nearing the end of her ordeal...Just as long as said scenario ends with Alice back up on that cross where she belongs.
Attachments
morten sigurdson
Voivode of Wallachia
Great pic SirHere she is nearing the end of her ordeal...
wonderful depiction of her face expression, beautiful whip marks....