Sunday, January 23, 2011

You said...

Only Dee could inspire this!
This is a cap I made for Dee.  It was made during the time that I was struggling with writing to much.  I had several caps that I posted before this go a lot longer than I originally intended, and was trying to get good at short caps.  Dee had recently capped me so I figured it was time to really put this work and return Dee whom I respect for many reasons, one of which is she can make a cap more indepth that I can and use very few words to do it!

If you know Dee (or at least know her preferences), then you know that she likes a lot of different things, but has a very clear list of things to avoid: "I would prefer no male genitals in the pics unless it’s decently tasteful. No cum shot facials either." 

Now when I think of caps, one thing that comes to my dirty little mind is sex.  And when I think sex (at least for caps) I think male genitalia.  So in general when I write for Dee I avoid an outright sex cap.  I realize I could always go 'lesbian', but I'm not sure that I've ever done that (adding that to my list of 'things to do').  I wanted this short, and my biggest problem has always been long descriptive setups, and long descriptive sex scenes.  Now that the sex scene was out, all I had to do was eliminate the setup.  

I started (of course) by searching for an image.  With people like Dee (and Bren, and several others) that don't list specific 'likes' it is a blessing and a curse.  A blessing because ANY image that whispers a story in my ear, no matter what the girl looks like, will work.  The curse is that I have nowhere to start from.  I know that Dementia (one of Dee's personalities) is goth, so I started looking at goth chicks.   I came across this image after while and the only story it whispered to me was silent, reluctant, humiliating acceptance.  

I liked it!

I figured the model here was just seconds away from saying 'Yes Mistress'.   Again wanting a short cap, I figured that would work as the ending.  So now how to get there.  I started imagining a man (Damien of course) making fun of his goth girlfriend.  He would complain about many things he didn't like her and end the conversation by thinking to himself 'but I still love you with all my heart'.  He would black out and find himself in this position with his girlfriend throwing everything he complained about back in his face via the transformation.  

I opened up word and started typing.  I only got a few sentences in when I realized that this story didn't need that much setup.  For one the story would be long enough that it would end up being a multi page cap.  For another thing I had just blown past my intent to make a short cap.  I tried to think of another use for this wonderful image but once I have that story associated with an image, it is really hard for me to let it go. It hit me like a ton of bricks... just drop the beginning.  If I started with the scene of Damien's girlfriend throwing everything he said back in his face, it might make a good cap.   In face you don't even need to know it his girlfriend as that would take space to explain.  

I started over and wrote out what you see here in just about one swipe.  The only major change I added was the variations on you said 'you didn't like', and 'you said you liked'.  After that I sat back for quite awhile reading and re-reading the story to see if it absolutely required anything else.   I'll admit that I was on the fence for a good long time.  I SO wanted to have the Damien/Girlfriend conversation.  Not so much for the setup, but for that last unspoken 'but I still love you....' line.  I felt that it made it better, but I couldn't see a way to add that, without adding the majority of the conversation.  As an experimental nature I went without it.  I figured if it needed it, someone would tell me that it was a little lacking (to this day no one said anything like that, so I guess it all worked out in the end!).  

Now I had to design the cap.  The image when I started was in full color.  I figured it would look better in black and white (Goth, in my humble opinion, almost always looks better in black and white).   So I took out the color, made a little more background and pasted the story in.  Tweak the title, and add the last little bit of color to the Yes Mistress and I was ready to call it done.  As it was for Dee I made a final read through to look for errors (spelling or fat finger).  I then came upon 'pretty pink eye shadow...' and realized that I had killed the pretty pink eyeshadow (I don't know why I didn't realize this when I read 'beautiful red hair').  

Damn it. 

It still mostly worked.

You just had to use a little imagination to see the pretty pink eyeshadow.   But I was already asking the reader to imagine the entire beginning..... so I started adding color to her eyes and lips.  But once you add just one bit of color to a black and white image, you make that the complete and total focus.  Even though it was pale, it shined out like a club's spot lights.  I figured I could always go back to the color image... but I was really fancying the black and white.  So instead of taking the color back out, I colored in the corset, cuffs and finaly hair.  

I am SO glad that I went in that direction.  As soon as her hair was colored in, I knew that this was what the original image should have been.  It really emphasized her pale skin, which worked for the story.  It also made the pink eye shadow and lipstick look more pale.  Perfection!

As a whole I like the cap.  For a 'short' cap, however,  it is still long.  I figure I could make the story more like 'You said we were silly for liking the goth look, and now we've made you into a hot bondage goth chick.  What do you have to say for yourself?  Thank you mistress' and it would still basicly work.... but I am just not that willing to go THAT short.  There may be a happier cap somewhere in between, but it would start to lose some of that 'Caitlyn' flair.  

And I like my flair!

1 comment:

  1. I think the lack of color, except for the hair and lips .. is one of the things that makes the caption really awesome.

    You are on the very short list of people that I would give carte blanche to when it came to creating a caption for me. I know your work, and truly appreciate what you bring to the craft. I would love anything you made me.

    If you did do something out of my preferences though, I'd probably ask you not to post it in my folder. One of the problems I had with my folder, and led to the no genitalia clause, etc ... was that someone I respected would make me a caption with a man's junk in it .. then someone with no subtlety or appreciation for what I would like would see it .. and make an over the top tasteless crappy variation of it, and think that I would like it.

    I also appreciated the face that you were trying to make an all-contained in one panel caption, and I think you succeeded very well with it.

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