Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The Cruel Mistress .. and an Anime question!


Sometimes the cruel Mistress in me comes out more than usual. I tend to be more of a playful taunting minx than strict and dominating. Honestly it is much more fun AND closer to my real personality. However, the true bitch comes out in grand style when need be, and I can usually keep it under control. If not, my manipulative side comes out big time!


Its truly a mindset though, and this somewhat early caption set tapped into it well. For me, the pictures exposed too much that I didn't want shown, so I took the unique step (for me at least) of using ovals to only show what I thought was necessarily to move the story along. Unfortunately, I didn't have a good enough picture to leave "Mistress Dee" out of the frame in the ending caption, but it fit in well with the plot conclusion so I bit my tongue and used it.


The captions were made about 2.5 years ago, and I'm surprised I haven't done more like this design-wise, where its almost like a peek-hole show for the viewer/reader. I will have to keep this in mind when making future captions, and think about using certain masks over the picture to present a certain perspective, like a keyhole shot.

FORMSPRING QUESTION from anonymous:
Love your caps! Do you think you could do some with anime? Thanx!
This is an easy question to answer! First off, thanks for the affirmation that you enjoy/love my caps. The main reason why I don't usually do anime captions is .. I don't read anime, so I tend not to look at source material (pictures) of anime. I realize that 85 percent of my captions are magical, and tend not to be realistic, but I can still think of them as being real. I don't picture myself as a cartoon version of myself, male or female, so its hard to relate to that in caption form. I've made some for people that enjoy anime pictures, so I don't begrudge them, but I probably SUCK at making captions with that sort of image.


Looking over the entire collection of Dementia caption creations, I only found 2 where I used a strictly anime picture. All the rest were old pin-ups, old advertisements, or other bits of art not considered to be anime. So there is the one above this paragraph, and the one (which was part 2 of a 2 part caption .. so I won't post the first part) below!


IF someone posts some good anime pictures to their folder on the Haven, and I can make a story with it, I would certainly give it a shot. I tend not to go out of my way to find those pictures though.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: When you look at captions with anime picture sources, what do you expect from them? Should the plot line revolve around the source's original story? Should it be just like a regular photo caption and people will look at it like its the real world but animated? I'm not really sure what I would do with it, so I am definitely opening up the floor for comments to help me understand!

7 comments:

  1. First off! I depict you as an interesting mixture between Maleficent and a pop culture goth class sage :D

    Nevermind...

    As for anime, well there is a huge percent that posted that pic because they want to appear in that pre set universe. Fear the otakus and their incommensurable knowledge about their preferred anime ;D

    So short answer is yes, you should follow not to a T but at least to a D(ee) the original source. It's not like for example Sailor Moon will have realism on it... I mean just look at the series!!! *giggle*

    But there are some anime created images that don't specifically relates to an anime base or are rare. So with those go and do whatever you want. Probably the best idea is to stick to cosplay if you don't find a good anime image.

    Hugs and Kisses Alectra

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  2. I like the idea of using a "frame" around the image to alter the mood of the caption. I think it worked really well in the series above.

    As for anime captions, I have no trouble suspending disbelief and accepting the image as real as a photograph would be. Unless it's a particularly well known character, I likely would have no idea what the storyline is in the first place. If it is a character I recognize, hints to the source material can enhance the caption almost like an inside joke. However deviating from the source material doesn't irritate me. The exception being if they get a major detail of the series wrong. For example if someone was changed into princess peach and then had sex with "Mario and his brother Sam" I might feel a bit of nerd rage.

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    1. Seeeeeeee! My point ;) Now I'll talk about the various brothers and sisters Mario really has xD

      Hugs and Kisses Alectra

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  3. When you look at captions with anime picture sources, what do you expect from them? Should the plot line revolve around the source's original story? Should it be just like a regular photo caption and people will look at it like its the real world but animated? I'm not really sure what I would do with it, so I am definitely opening up the floor for comments to help me understand!

    First off nice cap series! I think having Mistress Dee in the last panel feels very natural to the story. A final tease to both Cory and Staci. The first anime cap has that great Deelicious use of word play that we all know and love, and the last one is good as well.

    When I look at anime caps, I try to find something other than just suspending belief and considering it 'real'. For example, Candy's use of the 'Henti' universe where people are pulled into various henti games and movies. To me, that is a satisfactory reason for there to be an anime picture.

    I love watching some Anime, but don't watch nearly enough to be 'aware' of the source's original story. So like with celebrity pictures, if I recognize the anime character, then it takes me out of the cap and I find it hard to enjoy it. It's one of the reasons I'm hesitant to use them myself.

    I've made 4 'anime' caps. The first was a very early one, and the subject had it in their folder. I treated it just as a normal every day 'live' photo. But afterward I just wasn't that happy with it. But the other three caps, I made the story so that the person was being drawn AS an anime character. So the cap wasn't showing what was going on, but instead showed the anime version of what was going on. I kind of like that, as you get to not only see the image in the cap, but try to picture the subject in real life being in a similar position.

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  4. Hmmm, these responses confirm what I was worried about.

    I vaguely know of the Sailor Moon universe and what they look like, and the Powerpuff Girls. Other than that, I have NO clue who/what any characters are and who/what comics they belong to, so I would be at a huge disadvantage when using any sort of anime picture. What is "well-known" in the anime genre would be unknown to me, and I would probably use them entirely wrong for whatever their official backstory is as it relates to the comic book or cartoon.

    The last thing I want to do is upset people that like the weird fish ponani fans or those who like that floating house movie (the one that ISN'T UP). Anime fans can be quite vehement about their undying love! Weird thing is Japan has a huge boner for most American Pop Culture. Its weird that we've been returning the favor over the last 10 years or so!

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    1. I hope my post didn't discourage you from using anime images. Looking back I see its a bit of a jumbled mess, so I'd like to clarify.

      If you decide you would like o use an anime image, don't feel the need to align the story with the source material. Just make whatever story you feel fits the image best.

      However, if you do decide to include the source material, please make sure you are accurate to it.

      So if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't worry about the source if the image and treat it as a stand alone picture. Don't discount anime images altogether, because they frankly offer possibilities photos don't. How many photos have you seen of a catgirl, or of a guy's shirt popping buttons as he rapidly grows a pair of breasts?

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    2. It didn't discourage me .. I sort of already had a certain opinion and the comments here were entirely consistent with what I had thought.

      I've used artwork before, whether someone's free hand art, or pinup stuff, or old time style illustrations. If I see an anime piece I like and can make a decent caption of, I don't think I'll be put off. More likely, I'd probably use a cosplay photo instead of art.

      The ironic thing about context of art/photos and not knowing where they came from isn't lost on me. A while back, I had a picture of a girl with a pipe .. I ended up making a Sherlock Holmes type caption of it .. and it turns out most people knew the picture to be from the movie "Juno". If I had known it came from there, I'd probably not have DONE the caption,

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