Hello, I am known as K-8 (aka "conscious_object"). Here I keep a fetish blog with a (skewed) sense of humor. Contained herein you will find my various random thoughts on my unique fetishes, and interesting finds culled from all over the intarweb, including art by my friends, and sometimes my own art.

Note: You do not need to have a Livejournal account in order to reply to an entry, as I have "anonymous posting" enabled. Just make sure to sign your name at the bottom, or I'll have no idea which comments are yours.

Those are not contact lenses in her eyes. Nor is it a Photoshop trick. Her eyes have actually been "painted" with the same silver liquid that's on her skin. (More here.)

Turns out this particular variety of silver "paint" is actually a powder that you mix with some sort of oil, and apparently if you get it in your eyes it doesn't even agitate them like other substances. The only side effect is that your eyes appear silver until the liquids in your eyes flush it out naturally. It seems you can even see through it, though it does possibly make your vision a little blurry.

But apparently not blurry enough to keep you from being able to play Mario Kart.



(Found by "Utsumi.")

I'm not sure what these were published in, but it appears to be possibly a catalogue of some sort? I found six from this particular set. Body paint by Guido Daniele, photos by Erico Conti.







The first one is hands-down my favorite. Part of it has to do with the interesting pattern, and how the ends just stop instead of fading out, making it look almost like she's wearing something rather than it being body paint. In my opinion, she's also the only one who doesn't look like she's posing. She makes it look like it's her own bed she's sitting on, rather than just posing on some sort of prop.

It appears images from this series were also used for a calendar, which you can view here. It includes several photos from this set, plus many new ones, though it doesn't include all of them. The most glaring omission being my favorite of the images.

Perhaps a model T-1001 in action?



(More info when I have a free moment.)

Amazing Giger-inspired (and Lang-inspired?) make-up by Tim Engle, entitled "Metropolis."



There's a video showing the process, though unfortunately it's been put through a "crap" filter, obscuring some of the nice details.

Metropolis from Tim Engle on Vimeo.

How does he keep those details on her eyelids from smearing?

For more images in a similar style, see his MySpace gallery and Flickr gallery.

(Found by Utsumi.)

I've been digging through an archive of old issues of Heavy Metal, to see if there might be something interesting to post in the blog. While looking, I came across this cover:



At first glance, I thought it was just some random model painted up in Giger-esque style, though I thought it weird that HM did a photo cover. Then I read the blurb at the top, and was very surprised: the model is Debbie Harry of Blondie, made nearly unrecognizable by H.R. Giger himself.

It seems when Debbie Harry recorded her first solo album, she asked H.R. Giger to do the artwork. I'd seen the album cover in record shops before, but for some reason never made the connection that it was Giger.

Most interesting of all, Giger was also asked to direct two music videos for the album, which is where this cover image comes from.

"Did Giger actually paint your face?" I ask, wanting to know about Debbie's experience being a live piece of Giger art.

"Yes," she says. "For some things he painted on photographs, but for the video he used different stencils and an airbrush and he painted my face. I wore a painted body suit. So, yes, I was airbrushed by Giger!"
(Romy Ashby via HRGiger.com)

(If you enlarge the cover image above, you can see the zipper on the suit.)

The unfortunate part is that the music of the album really does not remotely fit the tone of the artwork at all. "Dark" is the last word I think anyone would use to describe the songs, which results in the music videos being a fascinating trainwreck in the style of the Star Wars Holiday Special. To top it off, the first single released was called "Backfired," almost supplying critics with with a ready-made snarky comment.

( Under The Cut...More Photos, And The Music Videos )

"Giger's work has a subconscious effect: it engenders the fear of being turned into metal." -- Debbie Harry & Chris Stein

Maybe that's why I'm so drawn to it...? ;-)

I still haven't gotten around to reading The Umbrella Academy (though it caught me by surprise one day when I saw the cover with the violin girl sitting out on the new releases table at Barnes & Noble). I hear it's good, so I do plan on grabbing it eventually.

In case you haven't heard, it's also since been green-lighted to be made into a movie. Very curious how they will do the violin girl (who I've since discovered is actually called The White Violin, so I should probably start using that name). Will the strings still be just black lines painted on? Or will they try to create some sort of texture to them so they pop out (since adding texture has become the thing to do with comic characters in movies the last decade or so)?

Here are a few non-movie-related three dimensional takes on the character. Firstly, there are some PVC figures Dark Horse had on display during last summer's convention season:



There is also a special deluxe edition of the graphic novel that comes with a (slightly larger?) figurine of just violin gi-- The White Violin:





And lastly, a body paint photo shoot of a model who decided to dress up as the character (you can see the rest of her gallery here):



(Images found by "Bastian" and "Utsumi.")

She keeps saying it, but I'm not sure I believe her.

A static performance art installation by Tanja Ostojic called "Personal Space." Click on the image to go to a page with more photos, and a very short video. Sound warning: page has auto-playing music. (Found by "Dosman.")

An interesting find by "utsumi." Demi Moore is an avid collector of rare and hard to find dolls. Here she is as a mint-in-box original Barbie in 1995, photographed by Matthew Rolston with body painting by Joanne Gair.

A nice find by "DarkNS," this plastic mannequin isn't all what it seems...



It's actually a body painted live model (with her eyes closed)!



The work of bodypaint artist Nick Herrera, at the Face And Body Art Conference 2008.

Some random little thoughts and updates. The pic above was found by wyldemoon.

• I was curious about what was used to make those arm and leg pieces for the 80's version of that Twilight Zone mannequin episode, so I Googled the name of the makeup person listed in the credits and asked. It was such a long time ago that he probably doesn't remember a lot of the specifics of working on that series, but his answer was that it was most likely "a combination of vacuform pieces and urethane skin (smooth on)." I'm assuming the urethane skin may've been put over the vacuform pieces, to hold them together and hide the seams, though I could be wrong.

I'd never heard of vacuum forming, but reading up on it, it definitely has potential. Imagine making a full-body cast of someone, then creating a vacuum form from that in two pieces. You could create a little shell for the person to be temporarily sealed into, painted on the outside to look like an ordinary mannequin. Perhaps with holes for the eyes so that you can wheel the person in front of a mirror to get a look at themselves.


• If just thought I'd let you know that the scene that the photo of Charger Pony encased from head to toe comes from was also filmed, and is available on the video Rubber Ponies 2, if you have a little disposable income and would like to see more.


• Pepperfly_dreams alerts me that not only is actor Leonard Nimoy also a recording artist, but a photographer as well. Take a look at this very statue-esque photoset.


• On a completely random note, this discovery of relee's was too funny not to share:




• And finally, "Revenge Of..." (stolen from polylizzy).


It begs the question, what exactly is she so afraid of? Maybe a few seconds later there's suddenly a brand new little bear laying there... ;-)

Found by Utsumi:

Remember that "Pink" short that did the rounds some time back? Here's a music video that's kind of like that, but with silver:



From an artistic standpoint, I think it would've looked far more striking if only one of the band members had ended up silver, because you'd have that huge contrast. At least, that's my excuse for why I think the girl alone should've been silverized, and I'm sticking to it. ;-)

But before everyone silverized, the silver hand on the microphone and the silver lips looked quite striking, didn't they?

(There's also a bigger, higher quality version here for anyone who wants a better look.)

More finds from utsumi.

Two statues are wheeled out onto a fashion show runway on dollies, and lifted into place. The audience is taken by surprise when later in the show they step down from their pedestals and walk away:



And an Entertainment Tonight segment going "behind the scenes" talking with some of the models at another event:

Another Utsumi find. He tells me these are actually silver contact lenses she was wearing, not a digital post-production effect:



The guy who does these also has several short behind-the-scenes videos on YouTube, but sadly none with the awesome silver contacts. I thought this one was cute:



(The first time, I though she said "I look like an Oscar," but I guess she did say "monster." ;-P)

Thanks to Dosman for this find. Just last week there was an event called World Statues 2007, an annual competition held in Arnhem, Netherlands that deals with living statues. The winner this years was "American Icon," with very eye-catching makeup by Gregangelo & Velocity Circus of San Francisco:


From the press release:

"Audrey Rosales, a native San Franciscan and circus artist, created the gown for the “American Icon” and modeled for the entry. Her stamina as a circus artist allowed her to stand motionless with her eyes closed for hours as thousands of spectators milled around her excitedly speaking numerous foreign languages and photographing her. At one point the installation was causing such a commotion and stir on the streets of Arnhem that the organizer asked Joanne and Audrey to take a break to relieve the congestion."

A few more pics:





My favorite pic that I've come across is this in-studio one, but I haven't been able to find a larger version:



And if you want more, there's also a video on YouTube now. I found the music to be annoying, but there's an amusing interview somewhere in the middle that's entertaining to watch. Her "handler" does most of the talking, but at one point the interview directs the microphone at Barbie and asks a question. At first she doesn't answer, just remaining stone still...such a great job of remaining in-character, I thought. Until I remembered, oh yeah, she couldn't see it anyways, could she? Hehehe.



I was slightly disappointed that she did end up answering, only because it would've been so much more amusing if she didn't speak at all while in-character. But she only gives a two-word response anyways, and at least she did it in a ditzy Barbie voice, heh...and it did allow for the "handler" to go into an amusing off-the-cuff thing about her collecting dust, lol.

The thing about a vehicle transformation like Turbo Teen is that once the transformation is over, that's it...he's just a car. No fun at all. The key would be to have a transformation end somewhere in the middle...a humanoid car. Except cars don't really seem to lend themselves well to an in-between state, being all big and bulky and such. I mean, Transformers notwithstanding. But then, they don't look like humanoid vehicles either, just a vehicle or a robot.

A motorcycle, on the other hand, is just the right size for a humanoid-looking vehicle. In fact, sometimes the arrangement of the exhaust, bars, etc. already looks like it hints at a human form.

And then, of course, there's a little matter of having the character be a female instead of a male because...hey, I'm bias, and it's easier for me to imagine what taking that shape would be like when it's a female body. ;-P

So I've amassed a small collection of motorbike girl images. There aren't many out there on the web, but I thought I'd gather the best ones together in one place, for anyone else reading who similarly enjoys the idea.

(This is also a hint as to what my next DAZ creation will likely eventually be... ;-))


This one is so well done, I can't figure out if it's a photomanipulation or the real thing:




An absolutely hideous design, but the idea was there. The face at first looks like it has just random blue and red paint splotches, until you take a better look at the close-up and realize it's actually a clear material, likely to act as the headlight:




A couple of so-so photomanips (I really like the transition of the leg into the exhaust in the first one):




And this one is just pure shiny elegance:

<


And finally, an interesting attempt at a bodypaint-themed version...with a bike made up of *two* girls:

My vague hint about being covered in silver in the entry before last kind of backfired on me, people suddenly dreaming up all sorts of things like painting myself silver and such. Sorry, nothing quite that extravagent...what I was hinting at is a shiny silver zentai suit I'm waiting to arrive. I bought both it and a shiny black catsuit about five days apart. The catsuit arrived just a few days ago, so hopefully the zentai one will be here in just a few more!

So, what about the black catsuit? Well, it was listed as being black shiny lycra. I'm not sure if lycra is what it actually is -- it doesn't seem too different from the pleather ones I've tried on (and never found one that fit) -- but I guess I see no reason to believe it's not. I'm just not much of an expert on materials, heh.

Here's a few piccies. I apologize for the quality...I think I've mentioned before that my cam isn't the greatest.

Trying the catsuit on, I immediately noticed how it really brings out my silver nails, hehe. Though again, I apologize that you can't make it out too well here:




I'm also mostly happy about the fit...one of those things I was worried about ordering something like this online. But the height of everything is perfect. I'd rather it not compress my already rather petite chest as much as it does, but it makes up for it by also compressing my belly, heh.

The one thing that really bugs me about it is that the waist of the outfit ended up too baggy. Basically, instead of the pattern being cut so that the outfit is less wide at the waist, it's apparently cut just in a straight line...meaning the waist is just as wide as the chest and hips. The result, in this case, being that the outfit doesn't conform to the arch of my back, giving the appearance from a distance that I've suddenly gotten heavier, and have a stick-straight back:

( Continue Reading... )

And returning to the topic of "covered in silver," at least one cool thing came out of people misinterpreting my little hint, lol...one person in the comments section mentioned a blog called Kinky Gerlinky, and an entry they did on an episode of Mythbusters I can't believe I missed, wherein they see if they can create an android duplicate of Kari--


Painting a face onto the brand new Kari-bot.

--er, I mean, where Kari volunteers to be painted silver in a test related to the silver makeup the Tin Man wore in Wizard Of Oz.



( Continue Reading... )


And even after this big ole entry, I still have *more* to post about. Darn backlog...