#zhang family oldtimey photos

[thelaithlyworm]

Beginning a grand tradition of product placement...

[ID An advertisement in 1930s style for "Ty-Phoo Tea". The illustration shows Fo-ye in full military garb and cloak at a table in a luxurious room, looking thoughtfully down at his tea cup. Beside him, his lieutenant Zhang Rishan holds a pistol on three frightened men. Large caption reads, 'They Shouldn't Have Interrupted Commander Zhang's Tea'. The illustration has two insets: 'Ty-Phoo Tea, Quality and Economy' and a picture of the ornamental box the tea comes in. End ID]

Image Sources:

screencap, Mystic Nine "Coffee, Paper, Background" by ruthe_meriele "Ty-Phoo Tea ad" from https://www.vintageinn.ca/tag/1930s-tea-advertising/

Sharing Information:

Free to use or remix, with or without credit. Please DO fold, spindle, or mutilate. (Though if you credit me, please remember to credit pixabay and ty-phoo tea sources.)

Un-Foxed Version:

[ID As above, without artistic discoloration. End ID]

[thelaithlyworm]

I believe this is what they call "slightly foxed". Still, I'm really glad to have found one of Er-ye's old posters. They're collector's items!

[ID Old-fashioned poster in coloured line art advertising Er Yuehong in the opera "Farewell, My Concubine". Dominating the upper right quadrant is Er Yuehong's face in opera paint, wig, flowers, and beaded 'royal' hat. Below are two still figures, of the Emperor with arm raised in passion, staring at his cloaked consort. Title reads, ER YUE HONG, Farewell, My Concubine, Meihua Tea House, 2 February 7:30 pm, One Night Only!!' End ID]

Image Sources:

Mystic Nine screencaps "Tear, Rag, Paper" by BRRT (Pixabay) Pixabay stock image (paper)

Construction Notes:

Sometimes the best screencap for the face comes a little cropped in the frame, what with all that pesky 'cinematography' and 'movement' and boring things like that.

This is what I started with for the big face

[ID Screencap of Er Yuehong in opera gear, looking upwards winsomely. Subtitle reads, 'Sing, you!' End ID]

And I edited out the subtitle then reconstructed the missing parts of the hat by clipping and pasting the tassels at the back. And I think I used part of the cloak to do the top? (It's all starting to blur.)

The bottom figures were much easier.

[ID Screencap of two opera performers, in front of a lush and vivid stage. End ID]

I clipped them out separately to give me some flexibility, and a portion of that stage behind Er-yue, expanded and played with, makes up the shifting colours in the poster. Not sure if I entirely like the shadows I gave the lower figures. But eh. I still have my working files. Might have another play in a couple of days.

[thelaithlyworm]

Mystic Nine Oldtimey Photos

I had some time to kill today, and an image editor, and I'm on kind of an M9 kink right now, so...

[ID Zhang Qishan in full military garb, formally posing for the camera with one hand touching his hat and the side of his cloak falling in elegant yet manly folds. Photograph is sepia and spotted, as if it was developed a long time ago. End ID]

[ID Shot of Zhang Qishan in leather coat and waistcoat, with a luoyang shovel resting on one shoulder. Picture is sepia. It is also over-exposed and at an odd angle, suggesting a hurried candid shot. End ID]

[ID Photo with the offset frame of a polaroid, faded and discoloured. Again, the framing suggests a candid shot. Yin Xinyue in pink shirt and fluffy fur weskit offers soup to Zhang Qishan, who is neatly dressed in a dark civilian suit. End ID]

'the patinated scrollcase is more interesting than the one that is new'

Something.

I'll do some more when I come up with ideas. Oh, hm. Something with Huo Sanniang and a painted 'portrait studio' background -- that'd be interesting...

Image Sources:

Mystic Nine screenshots, publicity stills.

"Coffee Paper Background" by ruthe_meriele (Pixabay)

[thelaithlyworm]

The Zombie Notes

[ID Four pictures in the style of a notebook with watercolour paintings and handwritten labels.

Head of a zombie in laced jade-plate armour, against a background of layered steps.

"Blood Zombie (Tamutuo) - shibie inside head - dry - quick-release armour - Do Not Tug Thread

2. A teenage girl in a rumpled labcoat. She is belly down on the floor and her back arches painfully, bringing her head and shoulders back like a striking snake.

"Hei Feizi (Gutongjing) Rest in peace, child. One day I will find out your name."

3. Two images. The first is the painting of a black-hair snake looking at the viewer with its hood spread.

"Snake Formerly Known As Employee Da Wei Sadly there will be no red envelope this year. Thank you for your service. Bed and board still provided."

The second is a smaller sketch of a jar on a table with something indistinct writhing inside.

"Employee Da Wei's New Home"

4. Head of a man with straggly white hair and a corrugated face, against a forest backdrop.

"Blood Zombie (Dart Summit) My Great Uncle"

[thelaithlyworm]

I stole a page from Wu Xie's private notes because I thought it was pretty.

[CW: insects, tryptophobia, harm to a human]

[ID Landscape page showing 'pencil' sketches of a moth and web, some small with folded wings, one large with outspread wings partially drawn in mottled glory. Centre bottom is the sketch of a hand with mysterious pockmarks. There are spots and scrapes of a red-brown substance. Title reads, 'Ghost Moths (avoid)'. End ID]

// Image Credits

Mystic Nine screencaps, heavily edited "Hand, Palm, Fingers" by Alexander Lesnitsky, Pixabay "Nest Wasp Insect" by notre_planete, Pixabay Pixabay stock image (spotted paper)

// Some of the details, in large:

[ID Close-up of spread-winged ghost moth, in bright colours and wide 'brush-strokes' like oil paint. End ID]

[ID Version of the painted moth, now looking like pencil on a white background. End ID]

I'm not going to say there's not stuff about these edits that isn't insanely nitpicky, frustrating, and tedious, but also a big chunk of this is knowing which filters can be slapped onto what and what effect they might have. The 'pencil' is directly derived from the 'oil' with some clean-up with the eraser tool and then copy-pasting some of the left wing to fill in a gap in the right that didn't convert well (that shadowy bit at the bottom.)

[ID 'Sketch' of a hand held palm up with alarming smudges and small pockmarks dotted all over. End ID]

I got those crater textures by converting a picture of a wasp nest to 'pencil' and pairing it down until I got those alarming circles, and then played around with placement. Also... this started as a photo of a hand but I lost the tendons and the palm crease in conversion and rebuilt them from spare parts.

I'm. I'm pretty sure a real graphic designer would be Very Unimpressed by what passes for technique here, but it gets shit done and certainly entertains me.

[Permission to use or remix these images, with or without credit. (Though namedropping the Pixabay sources would be ace.) Please do fold, spindle, or mutilate...]

[thelaithlyworm]

Looks like Ty-Phoo Tea revived their old campaign...

[ID An ad for Ty-Phoo Tea. In the lower two-thirds, in a blocky painting style reminiscent of old-fashioned ads, the aged matriarch Granny Huo sits in profile, calmly sipping tea. In the background a horde of men in grey suits brandishing batons struggle to get through a wide doorway. There is an inset, 'Ty-Phoo Tea, vintage flavour! vintage economy!' and a photo of the box. The main title reads, 'Nainai never let anything interrupt teatime...' End ID]

Old-fashioned as it looks, according to the archive I got this copy from it was printed in 2005. The archivist I talked to (aren't archivists wonderful? So beautiful, so powerful) mentioned there was a handwritten note included in the file: "Well maybe Nainai could have reconsidered dying so young. Dead people don't get opinions. <3"

[thelaithlyworm]

Fox Mask Stone Relief

Wu Xie must have found this with Chen Wenjin's notes in Golmud.

[ID Picture like an ink rubbing taken off stone relief, of a fox-shaped mask enwrought with elaborate line patterns. Notes in red handwriting read:

Site: 7 Star Palace Rubbing taken: 17 May, 1992 Room: level 2, NW quadrant, 4-32 Number: 022-019 Category: 20, 939, 37 Note: if return possible try with sample Zhang blood -- CWJ End

On the mask's ears and temples a scattering of random-looking pits trace the familiar shape of dmbj's Xisha-Changbai dragon line. End ID]

Image Sources:

screencaps, Ultimate Note Pixabay stock image (paper)

Construction Notes:

This was actually begun for Mekare's Little Tombraider project but the more I got it to look like an ink rubbing, the less it popped, you know? So I have liberated it for a slightly different setting. This started with a screenshot from the under Banai sequence in Ultimate Note:

[ID Screenshot of two men wearing verdigrised bronze masks looking like above. End ID]

I do not now recall what unholy practices I used to get it looking like an ink rubbing, but I do like how it came out yeah? (Just wasn't great with lettering on top.)

I also converted the drawing of the dragon line from Xie Yuchen's stage in Ep 2

[ID Screenshot of the floor of Xie Yuchen's stage, limned with pseudo-random specks of gilt, with a faint overlay of lines atop it. End ID]

I hid them as nicks in the stone -- there's a consistent theme of things hiding things in dmbj. The line about Zhang blood is a reference to the big lecture by the Wang Family in Sand Sea -- in the novel version they show a picture of a stone relief that shows a very specific pattern when "a red liquid" is poured over it. And then there's all the stuff with the iron plate at Four Maiden Mountain and qilin blood in Tibetan Sea Flower. Given how much Chen Wenjin was researching esoteric matters, she'd probably run across the technique at some point.

[thelaithlyworm]

The Ghost-Door, Seven Star Lu Palace

[ID Large notebook page, containing 'pencil' details of the ghost statues guarding a large door in the Seven Star Lu Palace of Lost Tomb 1. One holds a ghost claw, and below it is a sketch of a hydra cypress with the caption 'Ghost Hand in the Desert'. The other ghost statue holds an imperial-size seal with an animal on the fob. Under it is a sketch of the Qilin Seal as shown in the Time Raiders video game, titled 'Qilin-Trampling-Ghosts Seal'.

Main writing says:

'7-Star Tomb Two ghosts guarding a door. One brandishes a ghost claw, one cherishes a seal. Are they partners, mates, enemies watching each other? A man and a woman push a cart. Without both the mass will not move. Yet each seeks to guide the cargo onto their own road.

or maybe you're just overthinking it, Wu Xie'End ID]

Image Sources:

screencaps, Lost Tomb 1, Sand Sea official art, Time Raiders (videogame) pixabay stock image (paper)

Sharing Info:

Feel free to use or remix, with or without credit. Please do fold, spindle, or mutilate...

[thelaithlyworm]

[ID Mock 'newspaper page' old and stained, holding the photo of Yin Xinyue (large) and Huo Sanniang (small) with a fashion puff-piece. Title reads 'Beijing Beauty Batters Changsha Barriers'. Text of puff-piece extremely biased towards Yin Xinyue. End ID]

(I only just remembered they weren't calling it 'Beijing' at this piont, and refuse to be @ -ed. It's just a bit of fun.)

Mystic Nine Oldtimey Photos

I had some time to kill today, and an image editor, and I'm on kind of an M9 kink right now, so...

[ID Zhang Qishan in full military garb, formally posing for the camera with one hand touching his hat and the side of his cloak falling in elegant yet manly folds. Photograph is sepia and spotted, as if it was developed a long time ago. End ID]

[ID Shot of Zhang Qishan in leather coat and waistcoat, with a luoyang shovel resting on one shoulder. Picture is sepia. It is also over-exposed and at an odd angle, suggesting a hurried candid shot. End ID]

[ID Photo with the offset frame of a polaroid, faded and discoloured. Again, the framing suggests a candid shot. Yin Xinyue in pink shirt and fluffy fur weskit offers soup to Zhang Qishan, who is neatly dressed in a dark civilian suit. End ID]

'the patinated scrollcase is more interesting than the one that is new'

Something.

I'll do some more when I come up with ideas. Oh, hm. Something with Huo Sanniang and a painted 'portrait studio' background -- that'd be interesting...

Image Sources:

Mystic Nine screenshots, publicity stills.

"Coffee Paper Background" by ruthe_meriele (Pixabay)

[thelaithlyworm]

Slightly better version of Beiing Beauty...

[ID Mock 'newspaper page' old and stained, holding the photo of Yin Xinyue (large) and Huo Sanniang (small) with a fashion puff-piece. Title reads 'Beijing Beauty Batters Changsha Barriers'. Text of puff-piece extremely biased towards Yin Xinyue. End ID]

And wow! Someone sent me this page from an old adventure serial they found when unpacking donated china at the thrift-shop!

[ID Wrinkled page in the manner of a child's adventure serial, "Captain Tanaka Takes Command" by Yoshiya Nobuko. Prose is a simply written plotboiler, with a close-up of Tanaka Ryoko of The Mystic Nine drama, with a pistol pointed at her, and below, a wide shot of Tanaka surrounded by gunmen in a prison wardroom. Style is 'ink-and-paint' with a lot of pretty blue and yellow shading. End ID]

It took some doing, but I scanned the pics and cleaned them up a bit:

[ID Enlargements of the above pictures. End ID]

// Image Sources:

Mystic Nine drama screenshots "Paper Pages Old" by Raphael Jeanneret, Pixabay

// Notes on the Text:

I was going for an Adventure Serial vibe, like the Fiend of Twenty Faces written by Edogawa Ranpo in roughly this time period, then I figured I'd go Full Shojo. Yoshiya Nobuko was a real writer, though she seemed to have specialised in romantic two-girl friendships with varying layers of lesbian subtext (bless). Perhaps this is why the writing here is so awkward! It's also why Er Yuehong is now a chick, 'Hong Shuixian | Red Narcissus' -- I'd wanted to keep a flower vibe and we shall ignore the name's re-use in Reboot.

Neither Er-ye nor Tanaka were pleased with this creative embellishment to their relationship. Writers are a shady and untrustworthy bunch.

Mystic Nine Oldtimey Photos

I had some time to kill today, and an image editor, and I'm on kind of an M9 kink right now, so...

[ID Zhang Qishan in full military garb, formally posing for the camera with one hand touching his hat and the side of his cloak falling in elegant yet manly folds. Photograph is sepia and spotted, as if it was developed a long time ago. End ID]

[ID Shot of Zhang Qishan in leather coat and waistcoat, with a luoyang shovel resting on one shoulder. Picture is sepia. It is also over-exposed and at an odd angle, suggesting a hurried candid shot. End ID]

[ID Photo with the offset frame of a polaroid, faded and discoloured. Again, the framing suggests a candid shot. Yin Xinyue in pink shirt and fluffy fur weskit offers soup to Zhang Qishan, who is neatly dressed in a dark civilian suit. End ID]

'the patinated scrollcase is more interesting than the one that is new'

Something.

I'll do some more when I come up with ideas. Oh, hm. Something with Huo Sanniang and a painted 'portrait studio' background -- that'd be interesting...

Image Sources:

Mystic Nine screenshots, publicity stills.

"Coffee Paper Background" by ruthe_meriele (Pixabay)