n its struggle to survive and evolve on this restless planet, the human race has faced, over the centuries, the natural terrors of volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and famine, with sudden death or mutilation a fact of everyday life. Attributing these events to the anger of vengeful Gods, early civilisations would offer animal or even human sacrifices by way of atonement. To provide a focal point for these sacrifices, idols representing the Gods would be painted or carved from wood or stone, their faces and bodies often taking on frightening forms to symbolise the fears provoked by their anger (Figures 9.1 and 9.2).
Figure 9.1 Early civilisations gave substance to their Gods by creating idols
Figure 9.2 Egyptian friezes like this one included supernatural images – note the arm emerging from the eye
For many, life was a fragile existence, fraught with the dread of such natural disasters and further compounded by the self-inflicted horrors of war between local tribes and even between whole nations. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that refuge from these fears was sought, but it remains a curious aspect of the human psyche that this refuge was often found at the expense of others. The Romans, for example, as they sat, socialising in the security of the stands of the Coliseum, apparently relished the spectacle of Christians and sundry other enemies of the Empire being crushed or torn apart by bulls, bears or lions. In later centuries, large crowds gathered to watch public executions, where victims were hung from gallows or beheaded with an axe or guillotine, the severed head often being impaled on a spike and put on display, or to attend so-called ‘freak shows’ which exploited poor creatures suffering from gross physical deformities.
Echoes from these bloodthirsty events can still be heard today at bullfights and heavyweight boxing matches, and how many secondary traffic accidents are the result of drivers slowing and taking their eyes off the vehicles ahead as they gawp at the poor victims of a pile-up on a motorway? Why is it that, in Christian countries, we still celebrate the pagan festival of Halloween (Figure 9.3), with its dark images of witches and warlocks? Somehow, it seems, we take comfort from the misfortunes of others, or by flirting with dark forces, as a means somehow of expurgating the fears from our own nightmares.
Figure 9.3 The stars of Halloween and early horror films
Whatever the correct psychological explanation, we humans clearly love to be scared, whether it is in the safety of our armchairs, securely strapped into fairground rides or clinging to the arms of our cinema seats, as evidenced by the runaway success of early films like Dracula and Frankenstein and their modern day equivalents like Jaws and the Alien series.
Images of a bizarre or macabre nature appear not only in films but also, increasingly in the advertising of products like music CDs and even life insurance – one advertisement featured a surprisingly animated Grim Reaper lookalike. In this chapter, we shall look at images related to this curious aspect of human nature and at the techniques we can now use to create and embellish them.
Perhaps foremost among the images guaranteed to bring a tingle to the spine are those most obviously associated with the hereafter, i.e. skeletal remains. Featured defiantly on the Jolly Roger (Figure 9.5) – the flag of the pirate sailing ships of the Caribbean – the skull and crossbones struck fear into the heart of many merchantmen, while, more recently, an image of a human skull has appeared on bottles containing poisons, or signs warning of minefields or other hazards (Figure 9.6). Four, more detailed, representations are shown in Figure 9.7; rendering in black gives the images a suitably sombre, funereal, cast. A more complex form – showing a skull leering from within the hood of a monk-like robe – is the familiar Grim Reaper, shown in two different poses in Figure 9.8.
Figure 9.4 Who’s for swimming?
Figure 9.5 The Jolly Roger
Figure 9.6 Achtung! Achtung!
Another graphic device for conveying a sense of mystery or malevolence is the mask, an artefact which has provided a primary artistic outlet for many cultures over the centuries. Dating back to Paleolithic times, masks were often constructed to represent spirits, deities or ancestors and, in early civilisations, it was believed that the wearing of such masks bestowed magical powers on the wearer. Grotesque war masks were worn in battle in ancient Greece and Rome.
The practice of creating death masks -so called because they were made from wax impressions of the features of the dead -originated in Egypt and Rome. The impressions were used as models for sculpted portraits, a practice which continued into the early twentieth century.
In some tribal rituals, the wearer was believed to be possessed by the spirit of the mask. Made from a range of materials including wood, leather, bark and even animal or human skulls, they varied widely in their style and degree of ornamentation, ranging upwards in size to the six metre totem masks of Papua, New Guinea.
Masks were central to many types of ritual ceremony, from initiation of children to ensuring rainfall and success of the harvest to successful hunting. Some were believed to enhance the curative skills of their wearers while others were worn to protect against disease. Burial masks were placed on the face of a corpse to protect the deceased from evil spirits.
The ritual mask still survives in modern Western culture in various folk pageants and customs and in Halloween and carnival masquerading, and occasionally in other instances. Figure 9.9 shows some examples.
Figure 9.9 Changing faces
In Europe, it became the practice for public executioners to wear a hooded mask which bestowed on its wearer an almost bestial appearance and thus enhanced the theatrical spectacle of the event (Figure 9.10). In fact, in medieval Europe, masks were widely used in the theatre, in mystery and miracle plays to represent a variety of characters, including monsters, God and the devil. During the Renaissance period, the full face mask gave way to half masks which covered only the eyes and nose and these in turn gave way to a mask covering only the eyes. Masks were also worn by the aristocracy at Renaissance courtly events such as masquerade balls (Figure 9.11) and the ballet de cour, while a simple variant found favour with Dick Turpin and other highwaymen (Figure 9.12).
Figure 9.10 Headhunter
Figure 9.11 The masquerade
Figure 9.12 The highwayman’s adaptation of the courtier’s mask
Since the days of the original Greek theatre, theatrical masks have fallen generally into two categories – tragic and comic – with many variations on both themes, giving rise to the now familiar theatrical logo (Figure 9.13).
Figure 9.13 Make them laugh, make them cry
Outside the theatre, most masks found today are worn for protective purposes, such as the industrial welder’s mask or the mask worn by the ice hockey goalkeeper (Figure 9.14) which bears more than a passing resemblance to the faceplate of a suit of medieval European armour, while the balaclava – a simple woollen full-head mask which leaves only the eyes and mouth visible – is favoured both by clandestine terrorist organisations and by the skiing community. The painted face mask of the clown (Figure 9.15) dates back to the first modern circus which was staged in London in 1768.
Figure 9.14 Twentieth century armour
Figure 9.15 The roar of the greasepaint
Astrology, which first appeared as early as 3000 BC, is a quasi-science which possesses its own special group of mystic signs or symbols. Astrology was practised by many early civilisations in China, India, Greece and South America, who observed the correlation between planetary movement and the terrestrial seasons. Mystical signs, which became known as the twelve signs of the Zodiac, were ascribed to the apparent path of the Sun among the stars, which was divided into twelve sections of 30° each.
Astrology has been practised in Europe since the Middle Ages, in spite of condemnation by Christian leaders and progressive undermining by the discoveries of the science of astronomy, and there are still many avid readers of astrological charts who remain convinced that the movements of the planets govern their lives.
The zodiacal signs are Aries, the Ram; Taurus, the Bull; Gemini, the Twins; Cancer, the Crab; Leo, the Lion; Virgo, the Virgin; Libra, the Balance; Scorpio, the Scorpion; Sagittarius, the Archer; Capricornus, the Goat; Aquarius, the Water Bearer; and Pisces, the Fishes.
One of the simplest and most effective ways of creating bizarre or macabre images is to edit or even interchange features between familiar objects. The viewer, at first reassured by what appears to be a scene conforming to normal visual rules, is startled to discover that something is not quite right. Such a technique was widely employed by artists like Modigliani (Figure 9.17), whose portraits are characterised by the oval faces and elongated features often conveying to the viewer a strong sense of pathos.
Figure 9.16 Signs of the Zodiac
Figure 9.17 Modigliani’s La Tête Rouge
In the example shown in Figure 8.18, the appearance of the girl has been altered by replacement of her eyes – the most important feature of the face – with the eyes of the tiger. A Photo CD image of the girl was opened in Photoshop and then, using the Paths tool, a path was drawn around the girl’s right eye and converted to a selection, with a feather of two pixels. A Photo CD image of the tiger was then opened and the tiger’s right eye was selected with the Marquee tool. The selection was copied to the clipboard and then, using Photoshop’s Paste Inside command, the tiger’s eye was pasted inside the selection of the girl’s eye on a new layer. The opacity of the tiger eye was reduced to 75% to allow some show-through. Using a small brush size, the Smudge tool was used to blend the edges of the tiger eye into the face. The same procedure was then used to replace the other eye.
Another variation of this procedure is shown in Figure 9.19. In this case, a ceramic mask purchased on a vacation trip to Spain was placed on the platen of a flatbed scanner and scanned at 150 dpi in 24-bit colour using Photoshop’s Acquire function (a). A copy of the image was made and a similar procedure to that described for Figure 9.18 was used to select the eyes from a Photo CD image and paste them into the empty eye orbits of the mask (b). What helps to give this result visual impact is the convincing three-dimensional look of the mask, shadowed against its background so that the viewer is satisfied that the object is both inanimate and inorganic. The appearance of what are quite clearly human eyes in the sockets of the mask, which in all other respects remains the same, creates a disturbing visual conflict – a technique widely exploited by the ‘fantasy and horror’ film industry.
Figure 9.18 Tiger eyes
Figure 9.19 Seeing is believing!
Figure 9.20 shows an image reminiscent of an Egyptian sarcophagus, in which a human figure appears to be ‘embedded’ within a block of stone. This was created by importing a DXF model of the male figure into Bryce, where it was rotated into a horizontal position. A Bryce cuboid primitive was added, scaled and positioned so that the figure lay partially below its surface. Textures with complementary colours were then applied to the figure and plinth and a grey sky was added to give the scene atmosphere.
Figure 9.20 Peace at last
To produce the ‘drowning man’ image in Figure 9.21, the male figure was first created in Poser with the head tilted back and the arms outstretched. The image was saved in DXF format and imported to Bryce, where it was scaled and rotated into position. In Bryce, a new water plane was created and the relative positions of the figure and the water plane were adjusted so that most of the figure appeared to be below the surface. Textures were then added to the figure and the water plane. Finally a daytime sky with high cloud cover was added to complete the effect.
Figure 9.21 Drowning in a virtual sea
A more complex technique was used to produce the result in Figure 9.22. The figure was first created and positioned in Poser and Lit Wireframe was selected from the Display menu to display the figure in wireframe format. This wireframe version was saved as a TIFF file. The figure was then rendered, using the Nude Male surface texture provided with Poser and this rendered version was saved as a separate TIFF file. Next, both files were opened in Photoshop and a new layer was added above the rendered version of the image. The wirenet image of the figure was next selected, using Photoshop’s Magic Wand tool and copied on to the new layer above the rendered version. A Layer Mask was added to this upper layer and then the Airbrush, using a large brush size, was used to paint out the mask covering the lower part of the figure, revealing the rendered version on the background layer. Using a pressure sensitive stylus and tablet to apply the airbrushed ef-fect, the pressure was reduced in the solar plexus area and on the upper arms to create the impression that the wirenet was ‘showing through’ the skin. The rest of the figure was left untouched to leave the resulting hybrid effect.
Figure 9.22 Fraying at the edges
The same technique can be applied to just part of a figure, as shown in Figure 9.23. In this case, the figure was first posed and then scaled up until only the head and shoulders were visible. The Lit Wireframe display was selected and the resulting wireframe image was saved as a TIFF file. The image was then rendered and saved as a second TIFF file. The same technique as described above was used to create the hybrid shown in (b).
Figure 9.23 That netted feeling
When a Poser figure is saved as a DXF file, the option is provided of saving the figure as one object or as a group of separate body parts which can be ungrouped in some other applications (Figure 9.24). Figure 9.25 shows such an example, in which the DXF file was imported into Bryce, ungrouped and the body parts were redistributed as if the figure had been pulled apart.
Figure 9.24 Poser DXF Export dialog box
Figure 9.25 Ripped asunder
Figure groups can also be created within Bryce. The figures can either be created and exported separately from Poser, or posed together, saved together as a single DXF file and then imported to Bryce as a single file, so that their spatial relationship is maintained. Once inside Bryce, they can be separated by using the Ungroup command and then manipulated separately if, for example, different textures are to be used.
Figure 9.26 shows an unusual dance ensemble created in this way. The figures were created using the Female Nude and Male Skeleton options and then the figures were posed, scaled and positioned with respect to each other. The pair were then saved as a single DXF file and imported to Bryce. After separating the figures, different textures were applied to them. A ground plane texture was chosen to create a shimmering effect in the distance and to reflect the colour of the sky.
Figure 9.26 Danse macabre
Figure 9.27 uses the technique of disturbing the symmetry of an image (the eyes in the face, in this case) as well as mixing an inorganic object (the monitor) with an organic one (the face). To create this effect, a Photo CD image of the face was first opened in Photoshop and a new layer was added. The clipart monitor was copied to the clipboard from CorelDRAW and pasted on to the new layer, where the white background was selected with the Magic Wand tool and erased, leaving the monitor floating over the face. The Paths tool was then used to draw the shape of the monitor screen and the path was converted to a selection and saved. Switching to the background layer, the selection was loaded and dragged into position so that it framed the right eye. The selection contents were copied to the clipboard and the Paste Inside command was used to place the copy on the screen which was then rotated as shown.
Figure 9.27 Transposition
CorelDRAW’s PowerClip fea-ture was used to producethe result in Figure 9.28.A 30 30 grid was first placed over the clipart skull (a) and the skull was powerclipped into the grid. Next, the outline colour of the grid was changed to None and the grid was ungrouped, so that the skull was now divided up into 30 30 individual elements. A number of these elements were selected, moved and rotated as shown in (c). They were then extruded, using CorelDRAW’s Extrude feature and a Solid edge fill, to give them an appearance of depth. Finally a clipart brain (b) was imported, scaled and placed in position over the skull and then, using Arrange/Order/ To Back, was placed beneath the skull so that it now appeared that the brain was being revealed through the opening in the skull.
Figure 9.28 Using CorelDRAW’s PowerClip feature
Finally Figure 9.29 shows how an existing painted image such as the face in the Dutch master on the left can be edited to produce the result on the right which is more reminiscent of the grotesque images painted by Francis Bacon. To produce this result, the original Photo CD image was opened in Photoshop and duplicated. The Lasso tool was used to cut out the face and neck and the rest of the image was filled with black. The result was then saved and opened in Painter, where the Hairy Bristle brush was used to add red and white to selected areas of the image. A combination of the Wet Drip Distortion brush and the Add Water brush were then used to paint the added colours into the image and to modify and smooth the features as shown 
Figure 9.29 Rubens’ Head of a Negro (left) edited in Painter (right)