SPOOKTOBER DAY 12 – SPOOPY / PUMPKINCORE
OPTIONAL CHALLENGES: ROLE MODEL, CANDYLAND, HOME INVASION
TAROT INFLUENCE: THE SUN, INVERTED
TITLE: A SKELETON DANCE
Premise: My husband Joe Cubes challenged me this year to make stories less jokey, more actually horror / scary. Reflecting on this in the current genre, well, I gotta make somethin’ kid-ish but still out-to-getcha -styled. And resist the urge to do something about the Lollipop Guild…
The sleepy little town of Pwyllfudd is known for making candy (CANDYLAND) and not much else, decorating all the buildings and lampposts downtown with candy elements. But you know, there are spooky tales that the dead dance in the hills and you should never watch, because they might take you away to join them forevaaa.
The Villain: A band of skellingtons (SPOOPY) are glimpsed dancing in the fog. Absurd! Halloween nonsense. Their leader has a small crown on his skull, but they’re otherwise all the same in death – buncha white bones, right? Still, this doesn’t seem like some random haunting. They move with intelligence.
Keith looks up to his older brother Dafydd a lot (ROLE MODEL), and that faith is rewarded when their home is invaded (HOME INVASION) by the skeleton band. Dafydd starts busting up some bones.
Horror Element: Surprise. The monsters from this were the bloodthirsty slashedy revelers from The Merry Revel, but having their flesh burned off made them look like lighthearted halloween skellies. Is actually dark and terrible, да? The crown skeleton makes it clear that he’s going to take Dafydd away, to remove all his flesh and come back in another hundred six years for more. But Keith is given a choice, and because he’s too weak to allow the monsters to abscond with bro, they end up taking mom instead. Dafydd never forgives him and everyone is sad forever, the end. (SUN INVERTED)
–
–
This year I’m using AI tools from goog and openai plus photopea to make my covers. The tech feels close but still has some maddening irritations to it. Don’t look too closely at the anatomy on these skelly arms. Just kinda don’t look at all, heh.
–
I’m kinda surprised (maybe I shouldn’t be) at the similarities between your A. I. generated image and the one I had created for me a few months back, when I took a lyric from Looking Glass’ 1972 tune to see what the A. I. would produce. (I was celebrating turning eighteen for the fourth time at the time.)
Anyway, the setting, the houses, the thatch roofs, the chimneys, the lanterns, the slope, the moon and moonlight, the wet cobblestones, the color palette, the bay, the ships, the reflection and silhouettes rendered in both your image and mine — all so alike.
Goodness.
Just had to comment.
😉
there was a gen Y lady i used to know who was probably named after that song, heh. also a very fun singing style to ape at karaoke.
one thing i notice about openai’s generated images is that when you’re doing a painted style, it feels the need to make the whole image out of choppy and small brush strokes and details. you never see a style with long continuous strokes and areas filled with a wash, y’know? at least, that’s been my experience this month. i don’t think midjourney had this issue.
still, can’t beat the price. i ain’t payin’ jack at the moment.