Before adding the AI interpretations of Wendigo, I will briefly summarize the legend.
The legend has been held by tribes of Plains and Great Lakes Natives, as well as by some First Nations of Canada. Wendigo were an evil entity that was believed to be the result of practicing dark magic or heinous acts. While there are variations, the most common catalyst seems to be canabalism. The penalty for the crime is to endure an unsatiable hunger, and be transformed into a very malnourished being, that does not seem to be able to die naturally. Since there are many variations and I cannot translate any of the original sources, I cannot atest to much else about it. The above photo is a decent example of how the Wendigo is typically depicted. One point worth noting is that the antlers are apparently not a settled part of the description. Some information says that Europeans added this to the lore at some point. Without the antlers, it would basically be a very famished human-like entity. So, that would seem to fit just fine, if correct.
I was very short and vague with the AI regarding a description. The text for Deep Dream was essentially: Wendigo spotted in the forest at night. Then I changed styles and some minor variations from there. I did 7 images on that premise, then at the end, I did 3 with a starting point of a painting I did a while back.
Those were the first images, based on text alone.
I remembered that I had done a painting of a Wendigo a while back on a burlap canvas and decided to find an image of it and use it as a starting point image for the AI. I think the results were satisfying.
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