(reposted from
catastrophix)
"Breaking the seal, she found a single photograph - of an unearthly, antlered creature with a light above its head..."
Link to the image on DeviantArt
"There were rumors from the earliest days of the town, in which miners who stayed out too late after dark would on their way home chance an encounter with an odd roving light - which some who saw it said had a strange and vaguely house-like symbol at its centre. Generally such visions were dismissed by those who had not seen such a thing themselves - putting the testimonies of such witnesses down to excesses of strong drink, or else a few too many days working under the sun.
As time went on, the sightings continued - rare but almost regular. Nearly always, the light was seen at night, and then usually in the small hours of the morning. Theories were swapped between believers and debated over bars & dining tables; some said it was a Min-Min light (this one was the most favoured at the beginning), others thought it was a ghost of this lost miner or that, later some also said it was an extratererestrial presence (this one became very popular after the 1950's), or else it had something to do with the army. Unusually for an outback town with such a persistently unexplained phenomena in its history, the locals never thought to give any quaintly special name to it - whenever mentioned, it was simply known as the 'Mine Light'.
Some rumored that a schoolteacher who had worked in the town during the Great Depression had been able to somehow, by chance take a photograph of this elusive light during the day, but he always denied it. Even his own family denied knowledge of such an image, though some said that was only to keep with the more respectable side of the town. The fact that he had suddenly decided to study theology soon after the rumor started - and put school teaching aside to train for the ministry when he left the town - was assumed to be the natural consequence of a restless and moralistic mind.
Eventually there came a day soon after the century next turned, where in a city far to the east of the town a young bus driver recieved some old boxes & tins containing photos, documents and other oddments that she'd inheriterd from her recently deceased great uncle. In one such tin, she found a book of matches, and a yellowed envelope containing a folded handkerchief, sewn carefully closed at the folds. Cutting the stitches, she found inside some wrapping tissue which had been folded and sealed with wax.
Breaking the seal, she discovered inside that a single photograph - of an unearthly, antlered creature with a light above its head. It seemed to be sitting in scrubland like that near the town where her great uncle's father once worked, with a dark mist around it (...or was that just a shadow in the bushes instead?). On the back of the photo, in longhand, was written: 'Behind the Northern quarry, November 28, 1935. Dissappeared after photo taken' - and below the date a sketch of an odd, house-like symbol.
Something about this symbol made the young woman take another look at the photo - and there it was, though she could barely make it out in the light over the creature's head; the same unfamiliar glyph... and she thought that maybe it was now time to begin asking more questions about her predecessors, and where they lived."
Done with Gimp from a TEF screenshot of my stag Catastrophix in one of his older pelt/antler sets, using one of my own photos for the background. Presumably he's been roaming through a few other dimensions after vanishing from his biorthplace one in those little puffs of purple smoke. He's a restless sort, I think
There's also a version of this on my Deviantart account
here, & a full colour/non-sepia version is
here
or
here.
This is really cool. It
It reminds me of the so-called "ghost lights" (like the Marfa lights) we are supposed to have in Texas. I wonder if all the ghost lights are really Forest deer coming out to play!
Ohwow..
❀❀❀
This is so awesome.
anjali - Thanks, and I like
darling & spyrre - Thanks
...Woah. It nearly seemed
-starestare-
If you don't mind some critic advices, maybe if you sharpened the deer he would look more realistic?
You see, the mist that contours and surrounds him gives a ghostly feeling, but it's so blurred it seems very misplaced once we take a closer look :c The blurriness contrasts alot with the rest of the picture. Specially regarding the picture is meant to be old and the focusing, as much as I know, used to render the details in the front plan and "shrink" the details of the background. The colorscheme hadn't many shades, so the light tones looked all nearly white and the dark ones were all nearly black (example)
The mist isn't very noticeable from the background and deer either, maybe if you darkened it or added swirling light shades?
You could sharpen or pixelate the mist and outlines so it'd fit the background better~
I'm no arts master, probably you know more of this than me. Apart from the details above, it still looks very good to my eyes! I love how you blended it overall, and the little plant and stone in front of him were perfectly cut and placed. Very realistic feeling there.
This is very cool. I love
I don't strive to be the best, but instead I strive to do my best, and always give it my all every time.
-faunet
Fffffffffffffffff this is
eternalwanderer - thanks for
eyestrain & bayleen - Thanks!