Alice Kiss - Crux Legend

[Helios]

I wanted to make a grid with faces of the crucified Alice. But it doesn't turned out the way I hoped. Maybe there is to less color, just the brown hair, the black and green background and the light skintones. Anyway, here it is in 4 different tastes. The original images are of course copyright ImageMaker and to find on Cruxdreams. An Alice addict can't do without them!

 

[Helios]

The original portrait is beautifull of course but I wanted to give it a more painterly look. Hope you like it too. The Roman picture is just a quick test to see how the cut-out image of Alice would do. The cut-out itself is posted in the construction kit.

 

[Madiosi]

The original portrait is beautifull of course but I wanted to give it a more painterly look. Hope you like it too. The Roman picture is just a quick test to see how the cut-out image of Alice would do. The cut-out itself is posted in the construction kit.

View attachment 583656View attachment 583657

Thank you for posting the cut out in the CMCK.
A little hint. You can use the menu Colour-ColourBalance for a better result and harmonic colours.
As example:

 

[Madiosi]

Thank you for posting the cut out in the CMCK.
A little hint. You can use the menu Colour-ColourBalance for a better result and harmonic colours.
As example:
View attachment 583659

Btw, I used and played only for you with Gimp.

 

[ShadowWolf]

I wanted to make a grid with faces of the crucified Alice. But it doesn't turned out the way I hoped. Maybe there is to less color, just the brown hair, the black and green background and the light skintones. Anyway, here it is in 4 different tastes. The original images are of course copyright ImageMaker and to find on Cruxdreams. An Alice addict can't do without them!

View attachment 583652View attachment 583653View attachment 583654View attachment 583655

I like the backgrounds in the first two. It does a nice job of enhancing the grid.

 

[bobinder]

I wanted to make a grid with faces of the crucified Alice. But it doesn't turned out the way I hoped. Maybe there is to less color, just the brown hair, the black and green background and the light skintones. Anyway, here it is in 4 different tastes. The original images are of course copyright ImageMaker and to find on Cruxdreams. An Alice addict can't do without them!

The original portrait is beautifull of course but I wanted to give it a more painterly look. Hope you like it too. The Roman picture is just a quick test to see how the cut-out image of Alice would do. The cut-out itself is posted in the construction kit.

Some highly original artistic interpretations of the Alice theme, including homage to the 'Crux Forest' in different seasons, a filtered portrait from 'Domain' and a historical scene evoking the content of Damian's 'Roman Decadence' series.

Your experiments in photo manipulation, inspired by Alice, are continuing to present considerable diversity.
Many thanks, Heliogabalus.

 

[Helios]

Thank you for posting the cut out in the CMCK.
A little hint. You can use the menu Colour-ColourBalance for a better result and harmonic colours.
As example:
View attachment 583659

Thank you Madiosi. Always nice to learn from more experienced users !

 

[bobinder]

I really love this pose of Alice. It looks as if she tries to run away from the cross. But of course that's impossible.
There is a lot of fringe around the upper part of the cross and the arms of Alice. In this case I like the effect, so let it be.
I will post the cut-out in the construction kit soon, but there is still a little work to do around the feet.

Alice at the Beach - Alice Springs from Anzac Hill

It seems that Heliogabalus and I have both used the same Makar source for manipulations with titles reminscent of Nevil Shute's, 'On the Beach' and 'A Town Like Alice'. Whilst this idea literally presents a novel theme, Alice has already been making regular appearances as a familiar character in our stories on Cruxforums.

I felt that it was only a matter of time before somebody produced an Alice pun, so I decided to make one myself - 'Alice Springs from Anzac Hill.'
The Australian town of Alice Springs is, of course, the one referenced in Nevil Shute's story about prisoners of the Japanese in World War Two.
The town provides the background of my picture, viewed from Anzac Hill, which is kind of appropriate, since members of the Anzac forces are portrayed in 'A Town Like Alice.'

The Nevil Shute paperback cover has been modified here, using a Rylsky portrait from the series 'Attitude' -

 

[bobinder]

Triple Alice: I messed up with the width of the left picture and when I corrected it Alice was even thinner than in the original. But I like the effect.

Thanks Heliogabalus, for such a variety of contributions to this thread. You are racing ahead of me with your artwork, and I need to produce several new posts to bring this thread up to date!

I recognise the centrepiece of your 'Triple Alice' as 'Alice at sunset 2' - a picture which you originally posted in 'CMCK Results'. This is an atmospheric scene, employing a 'Crux Forest' pose with a texture reminscent of watercolour paper. The sunset colours merge in the sky, evoking a watercolour painting and Alice's flesh tones reflect the soft colouring of the background very effectively.

In 'Triple Alice', the Makar-derived crux image is flanked by studio poses from Rigin's 'Red Velvet' on the left and Rylsky's 'Geffi' on the right. The triptych therefore combines work by three of her most memorable photographers. The 'Red Velvet' image has been softened and lightened to a consistency in which the reds and yellows complement the central sunset scene. And the 'Geffi' image has been filtered to create a warmer impression. Again the overall colouring combines with the pattern of the background carpet, evoking the effect of a cloudy sunset.

Ultimately three very different images have been juxtaposed in a sympathetic manner, and they make an attractive composition.

 

[bobinder]

Further work by Heliogabalus which appears in this thread for the first time - three more filtered manipulations using a 'Crux Forest' source image in a variety of interpretations.

#1. 'Alice in springtime' presents a colourful scene with brilliant sunshine highlighting the blossoming trees. The background evokes an oil painting with its woven canvas texture. Alice is placed appropriately in the foreground shadows, since she is not illuminated by direct sunlight.

#2. 'Alice in the dunes' portrays the same crucified figure, now dominated by a rising landscape in ambient lighting. There is something slightly supernatural in her appearance, surrounded by a misty aura. This device serves to highlight her form against the neutral colouring of the background, which would otherwise merge with the similar tones of her figure, risking a loss of definition. It has become characteristic of Heliogabalus' style to place Alice to one side of the picture, and in this scene her location is consistent with the practical considerations of carrying out a crucifixion on relatively level ground.

#3. 'Alice in the Forest' makes a direct reference to the Cruxdreams session both in terms of the title, and the fact that the filtered image is recognisably a Makar still from the 'Crux Forest', the original subject and background being preserved together. Heliogabalus has reversed the image and desaturated the background, leaving only occasional hints of beige colour, whilst treating Alice's flesh tones to a slightly warmer shade. Interestingly, this kind of selective colour highlighting in a predominantly monochrome image, is something with which Makar himself experimented.

The resulting picture evokes a winter scene after a moderate snowfall in the forest. The contrast with Alice's warmer colour temperature seems transient, as she cools in the apparently frozen surroundings.

 

[Jollyrei]

I wanted to make a grid with faces of the crucified Alice. But it doesn't turned out the way I hoped. Maybe there is to less color, just the brown hair, the black and green background and the light skintones. Anyway, here it is in 4 different tastes. The original images are of course copyright ImageMaker and to find on Cruxdreams. An Alice addict can't do without them!

View attachment 583652View attachment 583653View attachment 583654View attachment 583655

The head shot at the top of the cross is exquisite.

 

[Jollyrei]

Fantastic composition and effective use of colour. The shadow and contrast of the trees gives it a surreal quality.

 

[phlebas]

Alice at the Beach - Alice Springs from Anzac Hill

It seems that Heliogabalus and I have both used the same Makar source for manipulations with titles reminscent of Nevil Shute's, 'On the Beach' and 'A Town Like Alice'. Whilst this idea literally presents a novel theme, Alice has already been making regular appearances as a familiar character in our stories on Cruxforums.

I felt that it was only a matter of time before somebody produced an Alice pun, so I decided to make one myself - 'Alice Springs from Anzac Hill.'
The Australian town of Alice Springs is, of course, the one referenced in Nevil Shute's story about prisoners of the Japanese in World War Two.
The town provides the background of my picture, viewed from Anzac Hill, which is kind of appropriate, since members of the Anzac forces are portrayed in 'A Town Like Alice.'

The Nevil Shute paperback cover has been modified here, using a Rylsky portrait from the series 'Attitude' -

View attachment 583668View attachment 583669View attachment 583671View attachment 583672

Nice work Bob. But why oh why couldn't you have posted this last week - Wednesday was Anzac Day!
There's a lot of scope in that Alice story for POW/internee crux, too, those Japanese you know!

Anyone read On The Beach or seen the film? I can't see them making it the same way these days, it's a grim story with a very grim end, appropriate to the postwar fears of nuclear annihilation.

 

[Reed319]

Maha Shiva is a long standing, multi-talented creator of fantasy themes which are expressed in his writing, line drawings, and more recently in photomanipulations. As recently as 30 December 2016, he commented, 'As a relative newcomer to photo manipulation, I'm sure there are rough spots aplenty in these pix. Every time I re-visit a pic I made two or three years ago, I always have to fight the urge to re-work the whole thing all over again. The problem is that I'm so used to how I do things that oftentimes I'm not even aware of what might not be right until much later, when I learn a new thing or two.'

This is a field in which, despite his modesty, he has developed a high level of artistic and technical competence. His manipulations explore a variety of themes in original ways, and these include crux art in modern settings. Shiva's popular models are sourced from collections including Arkady, Orchid, Subspaceland and E-digital-fantasy. Interestingly, the only Makar model featured in his DeviantArt gallery is Alice, and she appears in two of his pictures.

'News from around the World (1)', submitted on 19 June 2016, illustrates, in the form of a web page, the penalty for ticket evasion at the Louvre. Referring to his model, Shiva commented, 'Yup...pretty Alice can travel the whole wide world without ever leaving her cross.' He does, of course, recognise that other manipulators have engaged Alice for non-crux projects, and concedes, 'I find pretty much every single picture I have ever seen of Alice totally irresistible.'

View attachment 496919View attachment 496920

'Promotional Posters (6)', submitted on 30 October 2016, presents a satirical image of a modern mass crucifixion. On the technical aspects, Shiva states, 'This is definitely one of my more elaborate projects - I don't think I have ever squeezed so many girls into one pic before.'

View attachment 496921View attachment 496922

Shiva and I exchange banter based on the premise that we both have contracts with Alice which allow us to compete for her attention and services in producing fresh crux work. Consequently he informed me, 'As for Alice, I'm pretty sure she has a lock on the MMMM Award. Don't worry, you can have her back safe and sound for further assignment--no nails were used in the production of this pic, so the recovery time required should be minimal.' Obviously Shiva retains Makar's crosses and bindings whereas I substitute alternative carpentry in my own manipulations.

Maha Shiva's manips are notable for their consistent scale and lighting as well as the convincing blending of elements. He has successfully eliminated the green skin tone relections which tend to affect models like Alice, originally posed in secluded, leafy woodland surroundings. Recently he explained with typical modesty, 'The main reason that I am usually able to blend the elements in the pix well enough to pass a casual inspection is that I'm a rather conservative manipulator - I generally don't attempt a piece until I have found the perfect raw materials to go together, and I don't actually alter the different images that much other than superimpose them on top of one another. And that stems mainly from the total lack of digital painting skills. I probably use about 0.5% of all the tools available in Photoshop, but I do have a lot of patience, which certainly helps with these.'

For original concepts and variety, I can recommend a visit to his gallery - http://mahashiva001.deviantart.com/

I really love Alicia on the cross : almost no scream, only pain on her face. Extrem pain. Her ribs almost transpercing her thorax skin so thin, the shape of her pubes. An attempt for less suffering by spreading her legs, showing her intimate vulva. And at the end, she surrenders, exhausted. Magnificient sufferings !

 

[bobinder]

Nice work Bob. But why oh why couldn't you have posted this last week - Wednesday was Anzac Day!
There's a lot of scope in that Alice story for POW/internee crux, too, those Japanese you know!

Anyone read On The Beach or seen the film? I can't see them making it the same way these days, it's a grim story with a very grim end, appropriate to the postwar fears of nuclear annihilation.

I wish I had known about Anzac Day, Phlebas - unfortunately it is just bad timing on my part, and I have been falling behind with updates for this thread.

Re 'On the Beach', I read it and saw the film many years ago. It is very much of its time, and as you say, grim indeed.

 

[bobinder]

For the Love of Alicia 1

If all is fair in love and war, then Wragg's account of Alicia and Scaevola combines both themes in a fast moving tale of adventure, which explores these passionate extremes of human nature. In 'For the Love of Alicia', Alice takes the title role in a reproduction of precisely the type of performance which originally claimed the attention of crux enthusiasts and elevated her to crux star status -
http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/for-the-love-of-alicia.6535/

This is a story concerning the crucifixion of Alice (Alicia) which could have been illustrated almost entirely by Makar's pictures from the 'Crux Forest' session. But remarkably, among the numerous images in the story thread, there is arguably only a single picture which derives from a Makar source. The character whose famous crux session provided a major part of the inspiration for this story, is authentically portrayed throughout by manipulations largely derived from her glamour shoots for Femjoy, Met Models and Rigin Studio.

Madiosi's cover, together with the two versions of the image from which it is cropped, presents our first sight of Alicia carrying her patibulum under escort to the execution site. Here, the curvaceous figure is provided by Welsh Webb's Shannon in an appropriate carrying pose, and only the face is Alice's. Ultimately Madi's manips for the story would rely on portraits from Vadim Rigin's 2008 publication, entitled 'Break'.



Co-incidentally, my first contribution to the story thread was also a Rigin portrait from 'Break', which I posted in response to Wragg's description:-

'She was elfin faced, with grey-green eyes that were like gazing into deep pools of water. And she looked at me in a kind of adoring way.'

My response reads, 'Who is the mysterious green-eyed, elfin face, who can win a hero's heart with a beam and a look?
Intriguing - I think Alicia has some explaining to do...'



My choice of picture was simply inspired by the text, since I was unaware of Madi's intentions at that stage.

 

[bobinder]

For the Love of Alicia 2

Wragg's story thread inspired a number of contributions from readers, notably Madiosi's manipulations, using Rigin Studio sources for Alice, to provide the narrative illustrations. Madi experimented with a number of variations of the scene showing the sexual encounter between Alicia and Scaevola. Consequently he has scored a 'first' in producing manips of Alice engaged in sex with a male, since I do not believe any photo manipulator has done this before - and all of the authentic co-stars in her original photo sessions were females.



My own contribution as a manipulator came in response to the realisation that I was personally included as a character in the story, after reading the following lines:-

'Alicia laughed. I realised, with a shock, that was the first time I’d ever heard her laugh. I rather liked it.
“Bobinder is my big brother!” she chortled.'

Alice's photo shoots tend to be characterised by her sober expressions. Occasionally she smiles for the camera, and it seems to me that those are moments of genuine delight and/or hilarity. Her 'Crush' series contains one such unrestrained, beaming smile, as Alice looks over her shoulder, grinning at Rylsky's camera. I find this portrait irresistible, and consequently I have used it in several manipulations to date.

My first essay with the Rylsky source image was for the meeting between Alicia and her brother, Bobinder. Having discovered that we were related in the story, I was faced with the challenge of depicting my own character. I must confess that I know next to nothing about 'Game of Thrones' although I am aware of the character of Tormund, who seems to possess suitable features. And so, I referred to the remarkable digital painting by Whitephoenix43 on DeviantArt, presenting my resulting manip with The Hollies' song title, 'He ain't heavy, he's my brother.'



The story seems to imply that this momentous meeting takes place late in the day, and so the choice of an evening sky provides an appropriate background, introducing some colour to a picture otherwise composed of neutral tones. Whilst Madi was celebrating his first manips of Alice in contact with a male, I believe this is probably my first, albeit without the same degree of intimacy.

Another thread contribution by xso includes a Damian manipulation, described as an 'Old pic showing Alicia on her cross.' The background is a screen shot from Martin Scorsese's 'Last Temptation of Christ'. The crux figure defies positive identification although the physical proportions, face and hair are broadly similar to Alice, notwithstanding the addition of pubic hair - and Damian has used her extensively in his 'Roman Decadence' series. Whilst I am not convinced that the figure is actually based on Alice, it is plausibly the only Makar-derived image to appear in Wragg's story thread.

 

[bobinder]

For the Love of Alicia 3

Wragg's appendix to his story makes extensive references to the artwork, and is worth quoting in full:-

Bob and Madi will tell you that I have agonised over whether to kill off Alicia or not. But in fact, if I had, it would have left us wondering about Jollyrei. Did the Romans get him anyway? Did he just sit and twiddle his thumbs, thanking his lucky stars that those nasty Romans had taken Scaevola and Alicia off his hands and left him in peace? That's not the Jollyrei I know, and, anyway, Bob would have split his gizzard....

And in any case, how could Scaevola tell us his story if he was dead?

Clearly, Bobinder was the inspiration behind this story, and, while I don't want this to sound like a pompous speech at the Academy Awards, I would like to thank him and Madiosi in particular and the crux artists in general for the way that they publish these incredible pictures which set my creative juices (among others) flowing!

This one



is a Crux Classic, and has received much well-deserved applause, but I don't believe that poor Alicia has ever featured in a story of her own (Madi will set me right if I'm wrong there....). Anyway, I've never written one.

But looking at that picture, which I have done an awful lot, it began to occur to me, who is looking at Alicia? The point of view is on a level with her and almost directly opposite. These days, the camera might be on a cherry picker, but I think those were thin on the ground in Roman times. So I think that the most probable scenario would be that the observer must be on a cross of his or her own.

Enter Scaevola. The next problem is that Alicia deserves so much more than a quick plod to her golgotha; bam, bam, sorry ma'am from the carnifex, and up she goes. But I didn't really want too much of the poor innocent condemned by the Romans kind of a line; at the point where we meet her she's already committed 'justifiable' murder, and been condemned, so we don't leave her worse than we found her, and then we spend a little while getting to know her before the wheels of Roman rule grind her and Scaevola down and we can finally get her to where Bob originally depicted her.

Anyhow, it was one of those stories that was a bee in my bonnet, I'm really pleased to have got it down on paper, and, if anyone else has enjoyed it, that's a bonus!



Thus Wragg generously acknowledges his source of inspiration as my Alicia pictures from the 'Ivdaea Capta' series, manipulated using composite figures derived from Alice's Femjoy sessions. I was delighted to see these interpreted by his creative writing. At the end of the story thread, my response reads:-

Thanks Wragg, for this incredible story - it has certainly been an enjoyable and exciting experience, especially for those of us featured therein!

Although you did indeed agonise over your treatment of Alice/Alicia, I think you may rest assured that she is held in such high esteem on CF precisely because she has been regularly crucified over the past decade, and that is a significant part of the reason for our admiration.

Whilst Alice features in an enormous quantity of crux artwork, some of which has previously illustrated stories here, she is generally used to portray a character other than herself. Recent stories by Tree and Jollyrei include Alice, illustrated as herself, as a character who is incidental to the plot. She inspired a couple of stories by Cycle, in one of which she is specifically identified as Alice from Cruxdreams, although these were not illustrated.

As Alicia, beyond an extended caption to 'Ivdaea Capta 9f' which Madi has published in the Cruxers' Digest, I believe yours is indeed the first full length story in which she is a leading character, and in which she is authentically illustrated.

Thank you also for the honourable mention as a source of your inspiration - that is very generous. But if Alice had not spent 20 June 2007 in a forest outside Moscow with Koshka, Makar and ImageMaker, things would be very different around here. It is entirely thanks to her achievements on that day that we have such a wealth of artwork, of which mine is only a small part.

Three years after the Cruxdreams session, Makar suggested, 'I don't think we'll see Alice anymore. So, why not enjoy what we have?' Well, we have enjoyed seeing Alice for over ten years now, and I have no doubt we will continue to do so. Apart from Cypher's 'Ruins, Alice Kiss, Crux, Ravens and Blood', all Alice manipulations had previously been based on Makar sources, and so I thought it would be appealing to create a totally new Alice crux series, using her Femjoy pictures.

I am delighted by how well these have been received, but credit for the inspiration must go to Alice.



And so my post concludes with a charming Valery Anzilov portrait from the Crimean series, 'Element' for Femjoy.

Alice is currently appearing in Wragg's latest story, 'Alice Barabbas', an illustrated crux tale which marks the author's debut in the field of illustrating his text with his own photo manipulations -
http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/alice-barabbas.6763/

The publication by a single author of two successive Alice crux stories within four months is an unprecedented feat. Congratulations are in order to Wragg on joining the ensemble of Alice crux manipulators whose work is featured in this thread, and of course I look forward to reviewing the illustrations from his new story.

 

[Wragg]

Well, Bob, what can I say? I'm all embarrassed!

It's true, though, cfs brings together artists and authors in a unique mix of creative energy. Add in an actress like Alice and you have crux TNT!

There isn't much to add to what you have so eloquently said, except that your Judea Capta series, featuring Alice, will always remain right up there with the greats, and it cannot help but set the little grey cells going. Once again, thank you for sharing her with us!

As for Alice Barabbas, well, we'll see. It's just a bit of an experiment, and I very much fear that my idle daubs do no justice to poor Alice!

 

[Madiosi]

Well, Bob, what can I say? I'm all embarrassed!

It's true, though, cfs brings together artists and authors in a unique mix of creative energy. Add in an actress like Alice and you have crux TNT!

There isn't much to add to what you have so eloquently said, except that your Judea Capta series, featuring Alice, will always remain right up there with the greats, and it cannot help but set the little grey cells going. Once again, thank you for sharing her with us!

As for Alice Barabbas, well, we'll see. It's just a bit of an experiment, and I very much fear that my idle daubs do no justice to poor Alice!

Bob know more as I self over my manips. Interesting to read that.
And Wragg, dont worry! Your results are good.