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.
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.
So considering my recent revival of a wolfwere and his Lucky Days and Nightmarish Nature’s hostile humanity, it seems we are due for a visit from Little Red Riding Hood, or perhaps even Big Bad himself… Here’s a poem on the subject by Jennifer Weigel.
Over the river and through the wood
flashed the fleet-footed Red Riding Hood
on her way to her “grandmother’s” house.
When running past, who should she see
but just one of the little pigs three
cowering like but a tiny mouse.
“But my dear piggy, what do you fear?”
Red Riding Hood asked as she slunk near,
teeth hidden under a sheepish smile.
The nervous small pig looked up in fright
and decided that Red was alright,
missing the subtle clues by a mile.
“The Big Bad Wolf, that horrible beast
upon the other wee pigs did feast!”
the last little pig said with a squeal.
Red Riding Hood laughed with a great growl
and threw back her heavy long-robed cowl,
in a vast terrifying reveal.
For she was really the wolf Big Bad
hidden beneath the cape that he had
stolen from Red Riding Hood at point.
“And now I’ve caught you too my pretty
and surely t’wouldn’t be a pity
if I gobbled you up in this joint.”
T’was then the wee pig leapt to his feet
And cried, “Big Bad Wolf, I shall defeat,
for I am no ordinary swine!”
The little pig also wore sheep’s clothes
spun in spells every woodland witch knows;
Old Granny herself was quite divine.
“Now give me back my granddaughter’s cape,
before I grab you by your ruffed nape
and send you pig-squealing down the road…”
The wolf dropped the cape and ran, that cur,
but Granny was swifter and hexed his fur
and the wolf she turned into a toad.
Thus the moral of this story goes,
when in the woods, no one really knows
what sheepish sheep’s clothing is a ruse
that big bad wolves and old witches use.
So this is actually an intro to my next AI art journey with NightCafe which developed from me not getting the results I wanted (Little Red Riding Hood herself as a wolf). Here’s a preview with Eric’s versions as he is much more literal in his prompting than I am, but where’s the fun in that? 😉
Prompts (from left to right) in Dark Fantasy style, executed Aug. 1, 2023:
Bipedal wolf in Red Riding Hood’s cloak
Bipedal wolf in Red Riding Hood’s cloak close up portrait
Bipedal wolf in red cloak close up portrait
Feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or on her writing, fine art, and conceptual projects websites.
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.