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Alice Kiss - Crux Legend
- Thread starter bobinder
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Helios
Executioner
Thank you very much Bobinder and all the other artist for the beautiful crux pictures and the detailed information.
It is not so difficult to find (promotional low resolution) pictures of Alice posing alone or with another girl.
But the session with Makar is in my opinion still the best.
But hey, these pictures are still Alice.
And she is not only a legend, Alice is an angel !
It is not so difficult to find (promotional low resolution) pictures of Alice posing alone or with another girl.
But the session with Makar is in my opinion still the best.
But hey, these pictures are still Alice.
And she is not only a legend, Alice is an angel !
Damian
Governor
Very good!
Damian
Governor
Anonymously a poster sent me a whole series of images of a story that will involve Alice and based on a Middle Eastern theme, here is one where she is caught exposing herself stark naked in "a holy place" and the rest will involve her adventures after her arrest and conviction to be crucified naked in a public place. I will enjoy doing them and will share some here and it will make a great booklet or two. The image still needs work I can see but thought it would make a nice birthday present, Damian
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bobinder
ARTISAN
Just like yesterday's memories of the Crux Forrest inspired by Cruxdreams...
Great work Madi - Alice joins the Makar models from the Master and Slaves session in this roadside spectacle, and all five figures are united in their writhing agony. Good use of lighting, especially blending the left hand figure into the sunlight falling on the path.
Presumably this is now the most recent Alice manipulation to date. She is timeless.
bobinder
ARTISAN
Thanks for this excellent preview, Damian. The picture presents a highly successful blending of images from two separate series of the Anzilov Crimean location shoots made in the early summer of 2007.
Damian and I have been privileged to see this magnificent and extensive series of Alice manipulations, which represent years of dedicated work by a highly competent and prolific photo manipulator. It is really good to hear that the new collaboration will result in the publication of this picture series. It is ambitious in scale and contains many powerful individual images, which collectively present a highly emotive story of persecution and human suffering in a contemporary setting.
I am very impressed by the results I have seen and I am confident that the story will be well received.
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bobinder
ARTISAN
Thank you, Heliogabalus. As you say, Alice enjoys continued popularity on the internet, which is a measure of her success as a model, but her Cruxdreams session is unique in her oeuvre, and remains, in our eyes, her greatest performance. Thanks for posting these examples of Rylsky's pictures.
#1 - #3 are from 'Geffi' which Rylsky published under his own Rylskyart studio label on 25 September 2012. #6 - #8 are from a 'costume shoot' which saw late publication by Erotic Beauty as, 'Angel of Love', initially on 27 November 2012, with a further release of pictures on 2 March 2015.
#4 and #5 are interesting examples from the earliest shoot of which I am aware by Alice for MetArt, with the debut title, 'Presenting Alice', published on 28 March 2007, just one month after her MPL debut. This was a 'costume shoot' on a wet floor, probably made at Moscow's Aqua Studio, which had facilities for simulated rainfall and the kind of wet shooting we see here. She made quite an impact as a new model in the early months of 2007, and found herself much in demand with a growing reputation.
bobinder
ARTISAN
Thanks Madi - 'costume shoots' at Aqua Studio in Moscow -
I can almost imagine Alice looking back on those days - 'What was I thinking?!?!?!'
bobinder
ARTISAN
Thanks Madi. These pictures are all from Rylsky's session, entitled, 'Drops'. Alice was partially costumed in gold-trimmed sleeves, golden high-heeled shoes, and bright red lipstick, the whole ensemble being drenched in water. Rylsky became one of Alice's regular photographers and 'Drops' was swiftly released in a bumper edition of 151 pictures by MetArt on 9 April 2007. The model was presented in what became her best known name, 'Alice Kiss'.
'Drops' was MetArt's second series featuring Alice, and was published just twelve days after their first ('Presenting Alice' - also by Rylsky.) The two initial MetArt series appeared chronologically between the releases of MPL's first and second shoots featuring Alice as 'Lara'. Both of these MetArt sessions were wet shoots, dating approximately from the same period as Alice's third MPL session, 'Rain', which was also, predictably, a wet shoot. Alexander Lobanov shot this MPL session at Moscow's Aqua Studio (notably without any input from the costume or makeup departments) and I believe it is reasonable to assume that this was also the location for the MetArt wet shoots.
In a four month period between the end of February and the end of June 2007, Alice featured in eight published photo series - three by MPL, three by MetArt, and the first two of Valery Anzilov's outdoor sessions for Femjoy. In the same period, she also completed six further location shoots with Anzilov (which would be released throughout the following months) the Cruxdreams session and plausibly some of the other early shoots which were published later. She was evidently very active at this time.
bobinder
ARTISAN
Sometimes you just do whatever it takes to pay the rent.
Looking like a trapeze artiste who has lost her leotard in a thunderstorm, Alice endured the 'Drops' session as one among several wet shoots at the Aqua Studio. To Rylsky's credit, he included the potential out-takes as part of the main series, which at 151 pictures, is one of Alice's largest collections.
What was she thinking? - 'This is ridiculous - but sometimes you just have to laugh!'
bobinder
ARTISAN
Some further artwork by saintjohny.
Saintjohny's thread, photoshop crux dates back to 2008. It includes the saintjohny artwork reproduced in this thread, and his last post there was almost a year ago. I have informed him of my reviews of his work here, although he has not been seen since 16 May 2017. I am sure we all look forward to hearing from him soon.
Here are some further examples of his Alice manipulations, focusing on frontal views employing Makar sources. His work includes representations from ancient history and modern scenes, as well as those which are not specific to any period. Always conscious of lighting effects, saintjohny ensures convincing levels of colour hue and saturation to produce images with a high level of credibility. In many cases, he has reversed the figure of Alice to exploit a consistent direction of sunlight conforming with the background.
Saintjohny revisited the theme of defeat, with burning homes in the background, in 'Genocide' (#2). The girl crucified beside Alice is Makar's Sveta. Saintjohny provided an accompanying line of text:-
'Gaul was in turn defeated by the Romans by 101 BC. As many as a million people (probably 1 in 5 of the Gauls) died; another million were enslaved.'
'Last rite to be godess' (#4) is unusual in that, instead of saintjohny's signature, we read, 'Ljos Utlit I - By Thomas Jones'. This appears to be Spanish, but I cannot make sense of it - perhaps somebody else can? Saintjohny has provided Alice with a tiara, necklace and bracelet to distinguish her from the original Makar photograph. The woodland backgrounds in this and 'Witch ordeal' (#8) are so similar to the Cruxdreams 'Crux Forrest', and Alice is so recognisably a Makar model, that saintjohny's pictures are sometimes mistaken for Makar originals.
An exception to the sunlit scenes is the untitled BATS picture (#5) in which saintjohny has altered the colouring to represent the effect of torchlight at night. In this picture, Alice is about to be immolated by a group in contemporary clothing, on a bonfire of wooden pallets. Night-time BATS manipulations using source figures lit by direct sunlight are always challenging, since the light source is provided by the flames, below the level of the figure. Nevertheless, saintjohny has made a brave attempt at carrying off this image in a dramatic way.
Saintjohny's thread, photoshop crux dates back to 2008. It includes the saintjohny artwork reproduced in this thread, and his last post there was almost a year ago. I have informed him of my reviews of his work here, although he has not been seen since 16 May 2017. I am sure we all look forward to hearing from him soon.
Here are some further examples of his Alice manipulations, focusing on frontal views employing Makar sources. His work includes representations from ancient history and modern scenes, as well as those which are not specific to any period. Always conscious of lighting effects, saintjohny ensures convincing levels of colour hue and saturation to produce images with a high level of credibility. In many cases, he has reversed the figure of Alice to exploit a consistent direction of sunlight conforming with the background.
Saintjohny revisited the theme of defeat, with burning homes in the background, in 'Genocide' (#2). The girl crucified beside Alice is Makar's Sveta. Saintjohny provided an accompanying line of text:-
'Gaul was in turn defeated by the Romans by 101 BC. As many as a million people (probably 1 in 5 of the Gauls) died; another million were enslaved.'
'Last rite to be godess' (#4) is unusual in that, instead of saintjohny's signature, we read, 'Ljos Utlit I - By Thomas Jones'. This appears to be Spanish, but I cannot make sense of it - perhaps somebody else can? Saintjohny has provided Alice with a tiara, necklace and bracelet to distinguish her from the original Makar photograph. The woodland backgrounds in this and 'Witch ordeal' (#8) are so similar to the Cruxdreams 'Crux Forrest', and Alice is so recognisably a Makar model, that saintjohny's pictures are sometimes mistaken for Makar originals.
An exception to the sunlit scenes is the untitled BATS picture (#5) in which saintjohny has altered the colouring to represent the effect of torchlight at night. In this picture, Alice is about to be immolated by a group in contemporary clothing, on a bonfire of wooden pallets. Night-time BATS manipulations using source figures lit by direct sunlight are always challenging, since the light source is provided by the flames, below the level of the figure. Nevertheless, saintjohny has made a brave attempt at carrying off this image in a dramatic way.
bobinder
ARTISAN
And more manips by saintjohny.
In 'Wall Street' (#2) saintjohny presents a post-apocalyptic vision of an urban environment reverting to a jungle, overwhelmed by both natural and human forces. He preserves the green background colouring of the forest in this dark picture, which exploits a favourite device of sunlight filtering through trees. This highlights Alice on her tall cross at upper left, as well as the soldier diagonally opposite at lower right, contrasted with the foreground figure in deep shadow. The colouring and lighting make for a dramatic image, described by saintjohny as an 'At World End Project', which illustrates his accompanying text:-
"Oh my god .We found a girl sir."
"Go check her belonging."
"Nothing left sir ,she must be robbed. It has a signs of struggle here."
"Go check on her."
"She is unconscious and her pulse is very weak. she would have been crucified at least half a day."
"It's too late we can't take her back in this state before nightfall. We can't save her."
"Can she get some mercy?"
"Save your ammo soldier - we have to leave. Hopefully, she will be dead before they get her."
'The Crucifixion' (#5) is another manipulation noteworthy for its use of lighting, particularly in the shadows on the snow-covered ground in the middle distance. The foreground figures and scenery suggest the inspiration of a North American Indian setting, although the hatchet blade is engraved with a Celtic design. Alice balances the composition, crucified in profile at the extreme right, whilst the girl crucified in the centre of the picture is another Makar model from the 'Master and Slaves' session. Strong diagonal emphases abound, from the hatchet shaft, bisecting the picture in front of our noses, through the figure wearing feathers, the bent legs of the captured and crucified and the spear of the Amazon warrior. This visual theme is perpetuated in the zig-zag of tree lines, mountains and cloud formations
Saintjohny explores the effect of sunlight again in the atmospheric 'Sunset' (#7.) Low elevation back lighting throws the components into dark silhouettes, and credible shadows have been created on the reflective, rippled surface of the water. Alice's crucifixion has presented a challenge to her waterborne executioners (unless this is tidal water) and they have fixed her titulus to a separate post. The first line reads, 'Traitor', but I cannot make out the rest of the copperplate inscription. Saintjohny explained that 'Sunset' is an illustration to the poem, 'Suffer a new Day' by Christopher J Freeman:-
"And there to rest, covered in cotton fog,
The sun slips softly away,
Gone to resurrect beauty in another's eye.
While here I stand, open hand to clenched fist,
Grasping greedily after its wake
And closing only on night's shade and mist.
Let me not continue in this night,
This wanton waste of saccharine light.
For these shadows that flit and fly,
In contempt of light, reflect too well
The grace I slight, my sins, my hell.
Where once transfixed I gazed
The very colours of God's own eyes,
Now I stand in dark, suffering to see the rise
Of a new day."
'Landscape' (#8) combines many of the delightful saintjohny elements which we have explored previously - back-lighting with forcefully cast shadows, and a balanced composition of diagonal components in the mountains, trees and stream. The golden light suggests dawn to me rather than sunset, and infuses the picture with a commendable consistency. Brilliant highlights are provided by the flowers in the foreground, and the image evoked is an idyllic one. Alice harmonises with a beautiful landscape, as she turns away from us to face the dawn. She is a sacrifice, offered with the baskets below her feet, one of which contains fresh fruit. Saintjohny poses unanswered questions in this enigmatic picture, such as, is someone expected to feed her?
In 'Wall Street' (#2) saintjohny presents a post-apocalyptic vision of an urban environment reverting to a jungle, overwhelmed by both natural and human forces. He preserves the green background colouring of the forest in this dark picture, which exploits a favourite device of sunlight filtering through trees. This highlights Alice on her tall cross at upper left, as well as the soldier diagonally opposite at lower right, contrasted with the foreground figure in deep shadow. The colouring and lighting make for a dramatic image, described by saintjohny as an 'At World End Project', which illustrates his accompanying text:-
"Oh my god .We found a girl sir."
"Go check her belonging."
"Nothing left sir ,she must be robbed. It has a signs of struggle here."
"Go check on her."
"She is unconscious and her pulse is very weak. she would have been crucified at least half a day."
"It's too late we can't take her back in this state before nightfall. We can't save her."
"Can she get some mercy?"
"Save your ammo soldier - we have to leave. Hopefully, she will be dead before they get her."
'The Crucifixion' (#5) is another manipulation noteworthy for its use of lighting, particularly in the shadows on the snow-covered ground in the middle distance. The foreground figures and scenery suggest the inspiration of a North American Indian setting, although the hatchet blade is engraved with a Celtic design. Alice balances the composition, crucified in profile at the extreme right, whilst the girl crucified in the centre of the picture is another Makar model from the 'Master and Slaves' session. Strong diagonal emphases abound, from the hatchet shaft, bisecting the picture in front of our noses, through the figure wearing feathers, the bent legs of the captured and crucified and the spear of the Amazon warrior. This visual theme is perpetuated in the zig-zag of tree lines, mountains and cloud formations
Saintjohny explores the effect of sunlight again in the atmospheric 'Sunset' (#7.) Low elevation back lighting throws the components into dark silhouettes, and credible shadows have been created on the reflective, rippled surface of the water. Alice's crucifixion has presented a challenge to her waterborne executioners (unless this is tidal water) and they have fixed her titulus to a separate post. The first line reads, 'Traitor', but I cannot make out the rest of the copperplate inscription. Saintjohny explained that 'Sunset' is an illustration to the poem, 'Suffer a new Day' by Christopher J Freeman:-
"And there to rest, covered in cotton fog,
The sun slips softly away,
Gone to resurrect beauty in another's eye.
While here I stand, open hand to clenched fist,
Grasping greedily after its wake
And closing only on night's shade and mist.
Let me not continue in this night,
This wanton waste of saccharine light.
For these shadows that flit and fly,
In contempt of light, reflect too well
The grace I slight, my sins, my hell.
Where once transfixed I gazed
The very colours of God's own eyes,
Now I stand in dark, suffering to see the rise
Of a new day."
'Landscape' (#8) combines many of the delightful saintjohny elements which we have explored previously - back-lighting with forcefully cast shadows, and a balanced composition of diagonal components in the mountains, trees and stream. The golden light suggests dawn to me rather than sunset, and infuses the picture with a commendable consistency. Brilliant highlights are provided by the flowers in the foreground, and the image evoked is an idyllic one. Alice harmonises with a beautiful landscape, as she turns away from us to face the dawn. She is a sacrifice, offered with the baskets below her feet, one of which contains fresh fruit. Saintjohny poses unanswered questions in this enigmatic picture, such as, is someone expected to feed her?
Andie Freude
Spectator
I prefer not to judge at all. I have met many working girls over the years who have great personalities and ARE of good character: like anyone else, they have the right to be judged by how they behave towards others as people, not prejudged by how they choose to earn their living. Society's hypocrisy is society's problem, not just a problem for the working girls concerned.
bobinder
ARTISAN
Tales from The Hanging Tree 1 - 'Princess Laetitia And Palace Intrigue'
Alice's 'Bared Teeth' portrait by Alexander Lobanov (#1) is from her second MPL photoshoot, 'Basic Instinct', published the day after her nineteenth birthday on 14 May 2007. This plausibly accidental but wonderfully expressive portrait has inspired manipulations by thehangingtree and Vladimir Zapoved, as well as myself. Tree's interpretations are the most recent, and they appear in his story, Princess Laetitia And Palace Intrigue
Tree's manipulation (#2) illustrates Laetitia's last gesture of defiance before being hanged a second time, at the point when she hurls her last angry words at the character of Barbara Moore, who is witnessing the hanging. This manipulation employs the MPL image as a direct source.
The Tree picture illustrating Laetitia's first hanging (#4) uses the MPL portrait again, this time in a re-manipulation of the Zapoved picture entitled, 'Ook' (#3.) As noted in a previous post, this picture does not employ Alice's body. Tree's interpretation presents a convincing execution scene by pinioning the arms behind her back, taking her out of Zapoved's ruined building and placing her on an outdoor scaffold. The gallows rises ominously behind and above her.
Tree has lightened the upper surface of the breasts for this outdoor, daylight version, and tidied up some of Zapoved's minor cutting and pasting defects. Whereas Zapoved's dark environment evokes a sense of tragedy, Tree succeeds in producing a spectacle of visual irony - the contorted face and stretched body are suffering a painful death on a beautiful summer day with idyllic parkland and a blue sky filling the background.
Having experienced her fatal consecutive double hanging as Princess Laetitia, Alice reappears in an illustration later in the same story. This time Tree has employed her to represent the character of Barbara Moore, illustrating the moment when Barb is stripped naked pending an accusation of subversive activity (#6):-
I watch in disbelief as the minimal dress falls from my body. I cover my breasts and shriek “Are you crazy? What are you doing?”
I must confess to being rather excited on first seeing Tree's picture with the red curtain background. I have seen literally hundreds of pictures of Alice, but amongst them all, I had never seen this one! Tree kindly provided me with his source image (#5) which shows the distinctive turquoise navel jewel and shaved genital region, which identify her conclusively as Alice.
Additionally, the physical proportions, hairstyle, facial features and the creased frown of her brow are all consistent with the figure of Alice we know from the Cruxdreams shoot. Since the pale cream background appears authentic, this indicates an original photograph rather than a composite image.
As a photograph of Alice, it is probably unique in presenting such discomfort in a defensive pose. It is the only one I know in which she is covering her breasts with her arms. Perhaps it is a backstage picture in which she is feeling cold prior to a studio 'wet shoot'? If anybody can identify the picture or a series to which it belongs, I would be most grateful.
Alice's 'Bared Teeth' portrait by Alexander Lobanov (#1) is from her second MPL photoshoot, 'Basic Instinct', published the day after her nineteenth birthday on 14 May 2007. This plausibly accidental but wonderfully expressive portrait has inspired manipulations by thehangingtree and Vladimir Zapoved, as well as myself. Tree's interpretations are the most recent, and they appear in his story, Princess Laetitia And Palace Intrigue
Tree's manipulation (#2) illustrates Laetitia's last gesture of defiance before being hanged a second time, at the point when she hurls her last angry words at the character of Barbara Moore, who is witnessing the hanging. This manipulation employs the MPL image as a direct source.
The Tree picture illustrating Laetitia's first hanging (#4) uses the MPL portrait again, this time in a re-manipulation of the Zapoved picture entitled, 'Ook' (#3.) As noted in a previous post, this picture does not employ Alice's body. Tree's interpretation presents a convincing execution scene by pinioning the arms behind her back, taking her out of Zapoved's ruined building and placing her on an outdoor scaffold. The gallows rises ominously behind and above her.
Tree has lightened the upper surface of the breasts for this outdoor, daylight version, and tidied up some of Zapoved's minor cutting and pasting defects. Whereas Zapoved's dark environment evokes a sense of tragedy, Tree succeeds in producing a spectacle of visual irony - the contorted face and stretched body are suffering a painful death on a beautiful summer day with idyllic parkland and a blue sky filling the background.
Having experienced her fatal consecutive double hanging as Princess Laetitia, Alice reappears in an illustration later in the same story. This time Tree has employed her to represent the character of Barbara Moore, illustrating the moment when Barb is stripped naked pending an accusation of subversive activity (#6):-
I watch in disbelief as the minimal dress falls from my body. I cover my breasts and shriek “Are you crazy? What are you doing?”
I must confess to being rather excited on first seeing Tree's picture with the red curtain background. I have seen literally hundreds of pictures of Alice, but amongst them all, I had never seen this one! Tree kindly provided me with his source image (#5) which shows the distinctive turquoise navel jewel and shaved genital region, which identify her conclusively as Alice.
Additionally, the physical proportions, hairstyle, facial features and the creased frown of her brow are all consistent with the figure of Alice we know from the Cruxdreams shoot. Since the pale cream background appears authentic, this indicates an original photograph rather than a composite image.
As a photograph of Alice, it is probably unique in presenting such discomfort in a defensive pose. It is the only one I know in which she is covering her breasts with her arms. Perhaps it is a backstage picture in which she is feeling cold prior to a studio 'wet shoot'? If anybody can identify the picture or a series to which it belongs, I would be most grateful.
bobinder
ARTISAN
Tales from The Hanging Tree 2 - 'The Reparation Farm'
The character of Barbara Moore makes regular appearances in stories on Cruxforums, and those written and illustrated by Tree are no exception. The Reparation Farm begins with a scene in which Barb is offered the option of being crucified:-
In the office of Chancellor Despard Wragg III Professor Moore is offered two options. She can be the ‘decoration’ for the UVM commencement ceremony…
…or be sent to the Reparation Farm for five years. She asks why she is the only faculty member that gets such assignments. Chancellor Wragg answers honestly (with a touch of lust) “There is no staff that has a ‘tight little’ like yours, Professor Moore.”
Tree's illustration focuses on the figure of Alice, in the character of Barb, crucified on the neat joinery of Messaline's Premium French Crucifixion Wood, against a spectacularly colourful background of defocused flags and seated dignitaries. It is indeed a beautiful picture, but in the story, this is a fate which Barb hopes to avoid.
I am always interested to see my work reinterpreted, and of course, I recognised my figure of Alice from the 'Ivdaea Capta' series. In 'Ivdaea Capta' I have recreated Alice from her modelling photo shoots, and to date the series does not contain any Makar images. In 'Ivdaea Capta 13' (#2) I manipulated a composite figure using photos of Alice from the Crimean location shoots for Femjoy by Valery Anzilov. The major components of the head and lower body are recognisable from two series, entitled 'Droplets on my Skin' (#3) and 'Freedom' (#4.)
The head, arms, thorax, lower body, legs and feet. were all cut 'free-form' as individual components, and then pasted and blended in Windows Paint, since I didn't have Photoshop. The cross, titulus, ropes, nails and bloodstains were painted manually in Windows Paint, using the mouse as a brush. My background was chosen as a representation of the Qumran Hills in Judaea, with lighting appropriate to compliment the direct sunlight and shadows on the figure. There should be sunlight on the face, but I was pushing the limits of Paint and couldn't quite carry that off!
The character of Barbara Moore makes regular appearances in stories on Cruxforums, and those written and illustrated by Tree are no exception. The Reparation Farm begins with a scene in which Barb is offered the option of being crucified:-
In the office of Chancellor Despard Wragg III Professor Moore is offered two options. She can be the ‘decoration’ for the UVM commencement ceremony…
…or be sent to the Reparation Farm for five years. She asks why she is the only faculty member that gets such assignments. Chancellor Wragg answers honestly (with a touch of lust) “There is no staff that has a ‘tight little’ like yours, Professor Moore.”
Tree's illustration focuses on the figure of Alice, in the character of Barb, crucified on the neat joinery of Messaline's Premium French Crucifixion Wood, against a spectacularly colourful background of defocused flags and seated dignitaries. It is indeed a beautiful picture, but in the story, this is a fate which Barb hopes to avoid.
I am always interested to see my work reinterpreted, and of course, I recognised my figure of Alice from the 'Ivdaea Capta' series. In 'Ivdaea Capta' I have recreated Alice from her modelling photo shoots, and to date the series does not contain any Makar images. In 'Ivdaea Capta 13' (#2) I manipulated a composite figure using photos of Alice from the Crimean location shoots for Femjoy by Valery Anzilov. The major components of the head and lower body are recognisable from two series, entitled 'Droplets on my Skin' (#3) and 'Freedom' (#4.)
The head, arms, thorax, lower body, legs and feet. were all cut 'free-form' as individual components, and then pasted and blended in Windows Paint, since I didn't have Photoshop. The cross, titulus, ropes, nails and bloodstains were painted manually in Windows Paint, using the mouse as a brush. My background was chosen as a representation of the Qumran Hills in Judaea, with lighting appropriate to compliment the direct sunlight and shadows on the figure. There should be sunlight on the face, but I was pushing the limits of Paint and couldn't quite carry that off!