🎨 The Model

First, I'm sorry that the picture doesn't look as good as my other works, almost wanted to delete it but felt too sorry for the insane amount of time it took...

Hoped to compensate with a more indepth story, hopefully will make it more fun in the end 😅

Edit: Made version 2, hopefully it's better in some ways... Perfektionismus!!! 😣


Martin, his son Nathaniel and Nate's classmate Helmut in the living room, chilling after a long photo session.

Martin: "Another milkshake, Helmut?"

Helmut: "No thanks, Mr. Ribbons! I like to be able to count my ribs, but I'm worried my chest is getting a bit too smooth lately. Even when I fold really hard! Look..."

Helmut stands up, lifts his shirt and arches his chest backwards, easily bringing his shoulderblades to his butt.

Martin: "Wowow! If you weren't Nate's friend, you could be his main rival!"

Nathaniel: "Dad!! You're embarassing me! Helmut can't even do the Snail!"

Helmut jumps on Nate, squishes him into the sofa and chokes him jokingly.

Helmut: "You piece of...dough!"

Nathaniel: "Help!! My body is a masterpiece! This is vandalism!!"

Nate giggles and struggles but only manages to pull Helmut all over himself.

Martin: "Boys! Boys! I just got a brilliant idea!!"

Nathaniel: "What, again? Can we keep our clothes on for like ten minutes? And I'm not kissing this villain any more today!"

Martin: "I wasn't thinking of that! I just had an idea that I think will help Helmut master the Snail."

Nathaniel: "This Pinocchio will never do it! To do the Snail you have to be born in a backbend!"

Helmut: "Don't make me sit on your face! Mr. Ribbons, what is that you had in mind? I'm all ears!"

Martin: "Well, it appears there's something we both want to learn. You want to learn the Snail and I always wanted to learn how to sculpt. Maybe if we combine our efforts..."

Helmut: "Whoa! I'd never have even thought of that!"

Martin: "Yeah, as a photo model you can be pretty dynamic but being a painter or sculptor's model takes holding a static pose for many hours a day. That's exactly what you need to learn the Snail. Would be great if by the time you learned it, I'd also finish the sculpture of it!"

Helmut: "Wow, like a double win! Amazing!!"

Nathaniel: "Oh yeah? How many years will that take??"

Helmut: "Shut up or I'll suck your brains out! Mr. Ribbons, for the Snail I'm ready to work full time, if necessary."

Martin: "Good! Then I'll prepare everything and we can start tomorrow after school. Don't worry, we're gonna take a lot of breaks..."

Nathaniel: "Helmut will be snailing up his spine, 5 minutes at a time!"

Helmut: "You worm!"

Martin: "I'll leave you alone, boys, I need to make some calls."

Nathaniel: "Can I come too, dad?? Leave my pants alone, villain!"

Helmut: "You're not going anywhere! Answer for all your crimes!"

Nathaniel: "No! Help! Haha! Nooo! Don't touch it..."

Martin (gulps): "But first I need to find my wife..."

Several weeks later...

Martin: "Alright! Let's try it one more time."

Helmut: "It's gonna be your fourth attempt, Mr. Ribbons. You sure that sculpture not gonna fall apart this time?"

Martin: "No way! I looked up a lot of tutorials, this time it's totally going to work out. It's going to be solid like my..." (mumbles something incomprehensible)

Helmut: "But Mr. Ribbons... I already learned the Snail..."

Nathaniel: "Yeah, dad! Now his Snail is better than mine! Not fair!!"

Martin: "Don't worry Nate, I can sculpt you next."

Nathaniel: "Yaaay! I already know the pose I really want to work on!"

Martin: "Or even better! How about you both make a composition with your best poses! It's going to be my first sculpture group."

Helmut: "No way! I'm not gonna lay on top of him for hours a day!!"

Nathaniel: "Who said you're gonna be on top, villain?"

Helmut: "Because you're just a pillow, that's why!"

Martin: "So, Helmut... You going to help me with this one or should I start a sculpture of Nate instead?"

Helmut: "No no, I'm in! I'm gonna get an even better Snail!" (sticks out tongue at Nate)

Martin: "Okay then do your warm-ups and I'll see you in the workshop in 20 minutes."

Helmut: "Can we make it 30 minutes, Mr. Ribbons? I need to fix my pillow first."

Martin: "Alright! Wait what? Oh!! I think I'll go check on my wife then, so let's meet in 40 minutes."

What do you think? 😄
Love the hard and soft sculpture ;P his fold makes him look so soft like dough well still showing he got bones with his rips showing. I'll love to see what happens to his "pillow" when they took a break XD
Yup bet he will need a lot of rest on his "pillow" after this 😝
Before reading story once again, I have an idea how make this picture work more as I think its very good! except "stylized" Martin seems bit like his own unfinished creation. What if he was behind some form of window or dimensional portal? Just peeking at Helmut?
Maybe its stupid idea, as I can't picture it exactly in head myself :-( but for some reason felt need to tell you right away before going to bed.

Speaking of crazzy ideas another one just arrived. What if sculptor was making statue just as he is doing inspired by gorgeous model but statue's current form would change his own look in less precise way? Sort of: Do not fear... I dont wana copy your look but little inspiration here and there, can't hurt... .
Shifty
Thank you for the suggestions, but usually I just trash pictures like this because changing them would take hours of work 😂
AMAZING!!!!
Glad you liked! 😃
Oh my god! Martin is so talented! ;D
Yeah I bet Helmut could never do what he does 😂
Helmut managed a better snail than Nate??? That's a shocker!!
And don't feel bad for posting art? I'm loving the post and the story especially :D
--Alldenspa
Yeah, just hope he didn't outdo Yasha's octafold or Yasha will be very mad...

Uh, I do not feel bad about it, I'd feel worse if I had to trash all this work... Just the picture isn't as good as my other stuff, I think... But I more and more suspect it's because of the damned grey wall that kills the entire piece 😅
Still amazing, and the story is greatly appreciated. Love the idea of Helmut snailing his spine slowly and increasingly each time the hourglass is turned. I love all your creative ideas for how your characters achieve their flexibility, this one is definitely the most highbrow lol
Thank you so much!! Now to think of it, it's indeed amazing how many different ideas are possible with flexibility... 😲
Story is very funny. In my own backs something cracked today so just watching Helmut to do snail kinda pains me ,-D but as long as he likes it Iam delighted to watch him.

I like that Martin is teaching and learning various "techniques" at same time... its straight out of best dreams possible.

And Nate having so many friends which can give him helping hands at same time is very good thing!

btw: stone of sculpture is complex and as you write must have taken many hours to make it almost realistic! Plus I like Martin's outfit. Thanks!
Shifty
Thank you so much for reading the story! Yes, Nate sure has a lot of friends. I'm very glad you enjoyed the sculpture and the outfit 😊
Incredible work! Is it his back or his hips when are bending in a superhuman fashion?
Thank you! And a fair question! 🤔
My third comment on this one, sorry for that :p
But I want to stress out it is good you shared even bit inperfect picture with us, story is great and even details like pattern on wall or sculpture are interesting to me.
Maybe most people dont appreciate it but I certainly do!
Shifty
Thanks! We will never know what most people appreciate if they keep visiting here to grab what they like and give nothing in return 😥
I can't even understand why you wanted to delete this picture. Maybe the first version didn't satisfy you with the ratio of the effort you put in and the result you achieved... But I don't see why this picture deserves to be deleted from the site.

Please don't delete pictures just because they are imperfect, in your opinion. Maybe just hide them somewhere on the site... Maybe try hiding them as super kinky pictures, and even below them... So that only true fans of your work could get to the "bad takes" and unfinished sketches. A kind of additional materials.

Sasha M
¯\_(ツ)_/¯