13 Days of Krampus: ‘Twas the night before…
There is a faint ringing of bells in the distance. I’m sitting here staring blindly ahead.
Pay no attention to the agents in the black suits with the dark sunglasses. The light in your field of vision in the night sky is most assuredly the planet Venus, for it is the brightest object visible to the naked eye. Jolly old men in red velvet suits don’t ride around in unregistered metal aircraft identified by civilians as “sleighs” pulled by flying reindeer… Now just smile for the camera…
Wait, where was I going just now? Oh right, here I am, sitting at a traffic signal, on my way to the grocery store to buy a half-gallon of eggnog for the party tomorrow. The light turns green and I’m back on track. I turn left into the parking lot and pull through to a space cattywampus to the front entrance.
I park, get out of my car, and lock the door. The parking lot lights stare down at me like UFO search-beacons. A pair of overly amorous teenagers spins through the parking lot. They obviously have other things on their minds. They choose a dark, secluded spot where they can go more or less unnoticed.
Several shadowy figures in black suits with dark sunglasses approach the teenagers. The teens point to the UFO searchlight parking lot beacons and gesture wildly. The agents point to the night sky and flash a photo of the couple before they get in their car and drive away.
The store is nothing to write home about. It’s too late at night for bell ringers. There’s pumpkin spice everything everywhere, but that’s not at all unusual this time of year. I get my half-gallon of eggnog and stroll through the only remaining third shift checkout with its zombie-eyed cashier staring blankly ahead of time and space. I leave and return to my car.
Seriously, where are my keys?! The door is locked. I had them just a moment ago. I hope I didn’t drop them when I got out. It’s night and it’s foggy and it’s pitch black except for the glare of those spaced out parking lot spotlights. Oh wait, here they are, in my hand…
The faint glimmer of celestial objects twinkles at the periphery. A faint tintinnabulation of sleigh bells sounds softly as a brighter pinpoint of light becomes clearer, almost like a red reindeer nose… But it must certainly, most assuredly, be the planet Venus, for that is the brightest object in the night sky visible to the naked eye.
So here is our last installment of our AI journey exploring the idea of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad wolf being one and the same. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva. Feel free to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this exploration if you missed them.
A non sequitur I know, but I couldn’t resist. If you picked up where we left off you’ll get it.
Seriously?! Again with the cropped off head cop out…
Finally! That was a journey. And not even worth the result, in my opinion.
Anyway, here is a bonus montage I made out of a bunch of additional Red Riding Hood prompts for an article that never happened…
Prompts for Montage:
1.) What if Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf were one and the same being?
2.) Her wolf face peering out of her red cloak, fangs dripping with the blood of another victim, lost in the forest and never found.
3.) Little Red Riding Hood closes in for the kill, lunging from her red cloak, her wolf fangs dripping with blood.
4.) I am Little Red Riding Hood. I am the Big Bad Wolf. I am coming for you.
5.) Howling within, the rage sears forth from the red cloak, discarded in the deep woods. Red Riding Hood succumbs to the lycanthropy.
6.) Heaving breaths. Dripping blood. Red Riding Hood is not what she appears. She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
7.) Her red cloak masks the fangs hidden below the surface.
8.) It starts with a long sighing breath. Waiting. The wolf within stirs.
9.) Red Riding Hood trembles. She succumbs to the lycanthropy.
10.) The wolf bursts forth from within. It takes over Little Red Riding Hood’s mind, her body, her being.
11.) Red Riding Hood howls. She is ravenous with hunger for blood. The wolf within has taken over. Mind, spirit, body. She feasts on the blood of the moon.
12.) Big Bad Wolf Red Riding Hood ravenous blood moon feast
13.) Blood moon beckons. I. Little Red Big Bad Riding Hood Wolf. Freedom howling night curse.
14.) Beware. Bewolf. BeRedRidingHood. Betwixt. Beyond.
15.) I pad quietly as the forest dissolves around me. Red Riding Hood and Wolf, one and the same.
16.) Wolf within howling dark recesses of the mind, Red Riding Hood lost
17.) Red Riding Hood HOWL wolf bane true existence polymorph within-and-without.
18.) Red howl Riding Wolf dark existence brooding within
So thank you for joining us on another AI art journey. You can still catch the last AI art journey on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.
Continuing our AI journey from last time exploring Little Red Riding Hood herself as the Big Bad Wolf… All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.
How very… Phantom of the Opera predatory… this is definitely not what I had in mind. Maybe something more cutesy?
Ugh. Maybe not.
Wow, that seems like such a cop out, cropping off the head so you don’t have to depict it. And I don’t want to lose the Little Red Riding Hood reference completely.
So no surprise there, I knew that was too many references to work.
And we continued to devolve, join us again next week for the final installment to see how this ended… And again, if you want to catch the last AI art journey, you can find it on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.
And as promised in Big Bad Poetry, we shall embark on our next AI journey, this time looking at Little Red Riding Hood. I had wanted to depict her as the Big Bad Wolf one and the same, although maybe not so big nor bad. But it just wasn’t happening quite as planned. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.
So I actually like this even better than my original vision, it is playful and even a bit serene (especially given the Sinister style). The wolf is just being a wolf. It’s quite lovely, really. But it wasn’t what I had in mind, so I revisited the idea later to see if I could get that result…
Well, that’s not quite right…
Yeah more of the same…
And as you can see this is starting to devolve quickly. Join us again next week to see how this continued to develop… And if you want to catch the last AI art journey, you can find it on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.
Jennifer Weigel
December 18, 2020 at 9:14 am
I am really enjoying this series of the 13 Days of Krampus and hope to see more like this in the future.