[2/22/21] The Children of the Monsters - Snow hike

Very nice update. Interesting location (stay safe!), so well used. I'm particularly impressed by your ability to keep the difference in scale virtually invisible.

Cool pictures and great abandoned place.

What an incredible location -- I am envious. Would love to explore it. Though as others have said, hope you and your cute lil forest-kid stay safe.  

He truly is adorable, much in the feral way a wolf pup is adorable. Delightful creation. So much life to him. By the lakeside, I almost expect him to have brought some food and be eating some snack. And he seems so pleased to have 'found' the Lost Place. :'D

Great shots. Kamiko wishes she had a place like that nearby also, but she doesn't

I like the visible teeth through the mask's mouth hole, that's very effectively creepy. lol

Very atmospheric scenery, too. I love old abandoned treasures like this. It actually reminds me of a place I visited in TN with some friends a few years back, called The Minister's Treehouse (considered the largest treehouse in the world), which I recently discovered went up in flames at the end of last year, unfortunately. I really wish I had visited again, even though the structural integrity was questionable, each floor was filled with interesting objects and wood sculptures. Eerily magical even though it was dangerous at such heights. Here are some photos of what once was:

What a cool place, AlkelAstra91. That’s tragic that it burned down. So many cool and interesting places get lost with time. I’m always bummed when cool old buildings in metropolitan areas get bulldozed to put up some ugly-@$$ glass skyscraper.

A very unique place indeed, such a shame it was lost to the fire. It reminds me of the sort of strange roadside attraction that would have been in the novel American Gods. Also brings to mind the aesthetic of an old Scandinavian stave church.

It does look very cool, AlkelAstra, and I second what Stryker and Sky said. It also reminds me a little bit of Reverend Spooky's interiors. Would have been a nice place for some shots. Failing that, I suppose there's always photoshop. Or some enterprising diorama.

Stryker2011 wrote:What a great location. I’m shocked they don’t have that fenced off — be careful out there. Love the shots, but they may not be worth getting accidentally hurt (or worse) while on location.

Thanks! Well, it is actually supposed to be fenced off. But the fence is becoming an abandoned ruin itself now, many gaps.

GubernatorFan wrote:Very nice update. Interesting location (stay safe!), so well used. I'm particularly impressed by your ability to keep the difference in scale virtually invisible.

Thanks a lot! Yes, I think it helps that the backgrounds are blurry and broken and the foreground is elevated.

Theboo-bomb wrote:Cool pictures and great abandoned place.

Thanks!

skywalkersaga wrote:What an incredible location -- I am envious. Would love to explore it. Though as others have said, hope you and your cute lil forest-kid stay safe.  

He truly is adorable, much in the feral way a wolf pup is adorable. Delightful creation. So much life to him. By the lakeside, I almost expect him to have brought some food and be eating some snack. And he seems so pleased to have 'found' the Lost Place. :'D

Thanks a lot. And yeah,  he is quite happy and proud. He looks alive and enthusiastic, I really like this headsculpt now.

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:Great shots. Kamiko wishes she had a place like that nearby also, but she doesn't

Thanks. Well, who knows what's around the corner! 

AlKelAstra91 wrote:I like the visible teeth through the mask's mouth hole, that's very effectively creepy. lol

Very atmospheric scenery, too. I love old abandoned treasures like this. It actually reminds me of a place I visited in TN with some friends a few years back, called The Minister's Treehouse (considered the largest treehouse in the world), which I recently discovered went up in flames at the end of last year, unfortunately. I really wish I had visited again, even though the structural integrity was questionable, each floor was filled with interesting objects and wood sculptures. Eerily magical even though it was dangerous at such heights. Here are some photos of what once was: 

Stryker2011 wrote:What a cool place, AlkelAstra91. That’s tragic that it burned down. So many cool and interesting places get lost with time. I’m always bummed when cool old buildings in metropolitan areas get bulldozed to put up some ugly-@$$ glass skyscraper.

Wow, great place there AlKel, thanks for sharing. It looks so 'alternative', it could be something handcrafted in a post industrial society.
Maybe built on the foundations of a skyscraper ruin.

skywalkersaga wrote:A very unique place indeed, such a shame it was lost to the fire. It reminds me of the sort of strange roadside attraction that would have been in the novel American Gods. Also brings to mind the aesthetic of an old Scandinavian stave church.

Yes, I also found it had a stave church vibe.

GubernatorFan wrote:It does look very cool, AlkelAstra, and I second what Stryker and Sky said. It also reminds me a little bit of Reverend Spooky's interiors. Would have been a nice place for some shots. Failing that, I suppose there's always photoshop. Or some enterprising diorama.

It looks like a great coffee stir stick diorama project!


That's how the building looked maybe 70 years ago.


A nature society built it in '25. In the thirties, the Nazis took over the building and built the tower and everything left to it.
After the war, the New Nature society took over again, but it got too expensive because of the upgrades. The labor welfare took over for a youth home. It changed purpose and owner multiple times.

In the 90s, a Mr. Khan bought the building, his enemies started two fires and it's abandoned since. It was planned to build another hall, that's what the crane was for. The crane is still there, the materials too, but now surrounded by young trees.

But our boy doesn't care. He doesn't know what the ancestors did with these machines, only that they failed.






Don't tell his mom!






An old railroad bridge, maybe?









Life is good.



That construct is a pile of rusted table skeletons.



Found a power generator, but it was dark in that room, my only light source the flashlight of the phone.



So I tried black and white.



Reminds me of that new Blade Runner movie.



Not Bad.



They have similar teeth!



Preparing to leave.









The roots dangling from the ceiling look like little witches or demons.



And back in his forest.

More cool photos. I don’t know if I would have even gone into that generator room without a lantern and a rifle.

I agree, great additional photos. And really such a great site for this sort of thing.

Stunning photos, Ovy! You found the perfect spots and angles to give just the right impression. That rusted structure he's on looks like a 1:1 railway bridge, almost.

I really love this lil guy and looking forward to further photoshoots of him and the rest of the forest tribe. :')

Holy crap, these photos are incredible!!!!! What an amazing place to shoot. I am so freakin envious. All of the forced perspective shots work beautifully, and this little guy is such a great character to see going exploring the ruins of the old world. Those crane shots may be my favorite too. Just love this whole photoshoot so much.

Stryker2011 wrote:More cool photos. I don’t know if I would have even gone into that generator room without a lantern and a rifle.

Haha, I am pretty sure you are great company when exploring lost places!  And thanks.

GubernatorFan wrote:I agree, great additional photos. And really such a great site for this sort of thing.

Thanks a lot!

skywalkersaga wrote:Stunning photos, Ovy! You found the perfect spots and angles to give just the right impression. That rusted structure he's on looks like a 1:1 railway bridge, almost.

I really love this lil guy and looking forward to further photoshoots of him and the rest of the forest tribe. :')

Thanks! Yeah was very happy about that old crane with that beautiful yellowish railway vibe. Yellow paint and rust is my favourite combination. It's normal to have a favourite color+rust combination, right?

I am working on the last accessories for an actual character- and dialogue driven picture story for a while now, maybe I can shoot it this or next week. I may have found the right spot for it.

ReverendSpooky wrote:Holy crap, these photos are incredible!!!!!  What an amazing place to shoot.  I am so freakin envious.  All of the forced perspective shots work beautifully, and this little guy is such a great character to see going exploring the ruins of the old world.  Those crane shots may be my favorite too.  Just love this whole photoshoot so much.

Thanks a lot, means so much! And it's no harm that you are the one who is envious, for a change. xD But I am pretty sure there are quite some beautiful rusty places in your area?


I have some bonus 'canyon' pics, before it goes back to work..in progress.

















I sculpted a lot of random stuff, not always knowing what I will do with it in the end. Maybe you can find some totems that hint to the old world?


What was planned was a wolf fang/claw necklace. I have quite some pearls and used brown ones for a forest necklace, but...they looked too Mediterran. So I cut a polymer clay rod into irregular littles pearls which remind me of something neolithic I saw in a museum.


I weathered it, but no photos yet.

The "canyon" photos work beautifully. So realistic and atmospheric. Again, very impressive how you manage to keep the scale disparity from interfering with your images.

I love the little bits and pieces you sculpted. Such tiny, precise, clean, yet organic cuts. I'm sure they will look great wherever in you post-apocalyptic world you end up deploying them.

Ahh, yet more awesomeness! I spy a little guy with a mask on amongst the totems? ;'D

More delightful photos of this fellow. I'm truly charmed! And that absolutely perfect location you found with him walking between the rocks...sort of reminded me of a scene from that one Maul fan film. ;p 

And ahhhhh, those 'teeth' and beads! I'm amazed by how you work so small. I was actually thinking about how to do 1/6 bone carvings and/or teeth like that for an eventual mini-me figure based on a pendant I carved out of horse bone at a Viking village in Norway. Didn't think it could be done so convincingly at that scale, but you proved me wrong.  Just really excellent work. :')

Great shots. I really dig that one from below with his ask on — with the light diffusing him from the back. Great job.

GubernatorFan wrote:The "canyon" photos work beautifully. So realistic and atmospheric. Again, very impressive how you manage to keep the scale disparity from interfering with your images.

I love the little bits and pieces you sculpted. Such tiny, precise, clean, yet organic cuts. I'm sure they will look great wherever in you post-apocalyptic world you end up deploying them.

Thanks a lot, the rocks were kind enough to not let any giant leaves land there.
Glad you like the tiny stuff, I have the whole collection at the end of this post.

skywalkersaga wrote:Ahh, yet more awesomeness! I spy a little guy with a mask on amongst the totems? ;'D

More delightful photos of this fellow. I'm truly charmed! And that absolutely perfect location you found with him walking between the rocks...sort of reminded me of a scene from that one Maul fan film. ;p 

And ahhhhh, those 'teeth' and beads! I'm amazed by how you work so small. I was actually thinking about how to do 1/6 bone carvings and/or teeth like that for an eventual mini-me figure based on a pendant I carved out of horse bone at a Viking village in Norway. Didn't think it could be done so convincingly at that scale, but you proved me wrong.  Just really excellent work. :')

Thanks a lot! Funny you have to think of the Maul film. The little canyon also reminded me of my hiking tour in Luxembourg last year, which had a lot of 'Luxemburg sandstone' there.  There I had a lot of thoughts about the first costume and character designs for the forest people. The Teufelsschlucht from the Maul film
is just some kilometers away from the area where we hiked, same alien sandstone. The bearded Jedi actor played a Catholic Kung Fu monk in a weird TV series some years ago, btw. xD

Interesting story about that Viking carving, just try it with Polymere clay - cutting and sanding is very easy with that material after it has cured in the oven.
That village wasn't Borg on the Lofoten by any chance?

Stryker2011 wrote:Great shots. I really dig that one from below with his ask on — with the light diffusing him from the back. Great job.

Thanks a lot! Among outsiders, glimpses of a masked creature like him spawn legends of spirits and forest guardians.


It rained today and was cloudy all day, so I delayed my planned forest shooting.

Here is an owl pendant with bone feathers. Had to drill a hole in every one of them, some broke but I calculated that and for enough ready for assembly. Had to choose between three designs I made.



It is for Shryett. Although many think she wears the owl for it's wisdom, she claims it is because the owl is a cunning f**ng badass predator.
The pendant above is her personal mask, which is not finished yet.


I tried some of that beard wax I never use for her hair.






Here my weathered totem pendant collection, excluding the teeth and fangs and tusks etc.

The weathered "totem pendant" collection is glorious! I love the tiny detail and all the weathering. It looked promising already before, but the drilling and painting has made it truly excel. And Shryett is coming along very nicely too.

Re: the Viking village -- it was actually Gudvangen Viking Valley in Sogn og Fjordane. I stayed there for a summer, was incredible.   And thanks for the tips on the material to use, will bear it in mind! 

These owl designs are awesome! Owls always remind me of my sister, they are her favourite. 

And ahh, wow, Shryett is looking like a real galdrakona now!

ETA: your little carvings remind me of the kodama from Princess Mononoke!

These are fantastic. That owl pendant necklace is inspired. I get such a heavy Celtic vibe from this group — almost pre-Celtic, actually — almost Neolithic. So cool.

Stryker2011 wrote:These are fantastic. That owl pendant necklace is inspired. I get such a heavy Celtic vibe from this group — almost pre-Celtic, actually — almost Neolithic. So cool.

That's good, because I think this was Ovy's intent -- Stone Age.

Ahhhh that owl necklace is inspired! I love the weathering on all the towns too, they really look like bone!

GubernatorFan wrote:The weathered "totem pendant" collection is glorious! I love the tiny detail and all the weathering. It looked promising already before, but the drilling and painting has made it truly excel. And Shryett is coming along very nicely too.

Thank you very much!

skywalkersaga wrote:Re: the Viking village -- it was actually Gudvangen Viking Valley in Sogn og Fjordane. I stayed there for a summer, was incredible.   And thanks for the tips on the material to use, will bear it in mind! 

These owl designs are awesome! Owls always remind me of my sister, they are her favourite. 

And ahh, wow, Shryett is looking like a real galdrakona now!

ETA: your little carvings remind me of the kodama from Princess Mononoke!

Ah thanks, that's right around Jotunheimen ye? A whole summer sounds amazing, was it vacation or strictly academic leisure research?

 When hitchhiking through Norway, me and my friend were picked up by a Viking on his way to a Viking event in Borg, Lofoten some years ago. He wore Viking sunglasses and we ate Viking soup and drank Viking Coffee and Viking water from Viking plastic cups. Their chief wore a Viking watch.

And yes that forest spirit design thing really took over many totems. I think it started with Trikki's mask. It was actually more intended for the rainbow people, but I think it makes sense they share the design, with their 'deformed' ancestry and all. I looked at quite some tribal native ancient masks during my academic research (Google pictures), many look cute with little round mouths. Also creepy.

Stryker2011 wrote:These are fantastic. That owl pendant necklace is inspired. I get such a heavy Celtic vibe from this group — almost pre-Celtic, actually — almost Neolithic. So cool.

Wow thanks so much. Yes, they even share many areas where the Celts lived. It's a mix.

GubernatorFan wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:These are fantastic. That owl pendant necklace is inspired. I get such a heavy Celtic vibe from this group — almost pre-Celtic, actually — almost Neolithic. So cool.

That's good, because I think this was Ovy's intent -- Stone Age.

Ha, yeah. Maybe the word almost should be focused on. It borrows a bit from everything, nice to see you get the right vibes.

Lynkhart wrote:Ahhhh that owl necklace is inspired! I love the weathering on all the towns too, they really look like bone!

Thanks a lot! It's basically just ivory colored Fimo with one unthinned layer of games workshops 'Agrax Earthshade'. There is a glossy and a non glossy version.

Let's focus on Shryett's mask. She is a skilled medicine woman, the mask is important for healing rituals.

Here the regular standard version.



That hole is for breathing and looks like an adorable little mouth.



But a bit boring.



From the 'upper' part of a failed mask I made this feather crown. Only the elders  wear fancy upgrades like that, the masks of the young ones are more practical.



Of course they have to be combined.



It looks almost Aztec? Almost. Also almost Native American. Almost is the magic word.






The holes are for breathing, but for healing rituals,  filters can be added. They contain herbs that help focus and keep spiteful ill spirits from entering your body.



You can see many of these filtermasks worn by the first ancestors on early paintings.






And here in full gear.



I made the filters just as a little experiment , but now I think it's my favourite look.












Here is how I make the feathers. Found a battleground in the forest with many feathers there. With a round roller knife you cut off the tip. Then, remove the excess...thiniges on the end by pulling and shape the details.



The filters and upper feathers don't have to be glued, they stick very well in the little holes I pierced into the leather. I glued the 'earring' feathers, they fell out often.



Here a photo taken by our mysterious anthropologist.

Great mask. To be honest I like the more simplistic (feathers and no filters) look myself. But either way is pretty cool. Neat stuff, my friend.

That place sounds interesting and it has a history to it, I like buildings like that. I still remember the imposing Puerto Rico distillers building to the right of "la 2", the entry doors had rusted, it's windows busted by people and hurricanes but it still was such a sight to see.

Well let's not think too much about that, I like your little dude, the collars are amazing, specially the little owls.

It's great to see more of Shryett and the the headgear looks very cool without being too over the top, both with and without the mask. Like Mark, however, I'm personally not loving the filters, which I think distract from the more basic and utilitarian "almost Neolithic" look.

Very creative process with making the feathers, Ovy, I admire that a lot. Thank you for sharing how you did it! Her headdress is indeed very unique while still feeling just 'familiar enough.' The mask is also excellent. Like the others, I do prefer it with just the holes -- mainly cause it looks more prehistoric like that. But I can see what you are going for with the filters... after all.... this group is not *actually* prehistoric, but more like... post-historic.  

Wanted to mention earlier that I really like how you did the sleeves on her undertunic, I think how you gathered them like that is just brilliant. 

My favourite look for her is probably without the mask altogether, as that red face paint is just sooo awesome. Honestly, I would happily dress like that all the time if I could.  

Re: Gudvangen -- Gudvangen Viking Valley is the location of annual Viking market/festival, and I was there as a volunteer that year. The village itself is situated at the end of a very deep fjord...  



But yes, it is close to Jotunheimen area. I was able to go up above the fjords into the mountains during some free time.

[Image removed for personal privacy reasons]

Did our very own, skywalkersaga just make a personal appearance in this thread...?