Reverse Bang ARTPOST!

[beelikej]

Wahey, I finally get to spam you with my artwork for the spn_reversebang! The goal of this challenge was to make an image to inspire a story instead of the other way around.
This summer I desperately fell in love with the RPS pairing of Jensen Ackles/Jeffrey Dean Morgan and I decided to put them together in an AU scene. I wanted to create something very different from my BigBang artwork and started off sketching with pencil on paper. Of course I ended up fiddling in Photoshop as well....

Then I had to anxiously wait to see if an author would claim my design as a basis for a fic.

This is the prompt I offered for the challenge:

Prompt #2026 - Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Description: Jeff is tattooing Jensen. It's Jensen's first and it's a big one *g* (It will be an elaborate back tattoo).

I'm thrilled to reveal that my prompt was claimed by violet_eyes. We had some awesome chats: I showed her my other sketches and we exchanged ideas. Then she started writing while occasionally sending me tiny scenes. Now it is finally time to read and share the whole story! I'm very excited to present:



Fic Title: From The Ashes
Author: violet_eyes
Fandom/Genre: RPS, Angst, Romance
Pairing(s): Jensen Ackles/Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Rating: PG
Word Count: 13.000
Warnings: Domestic violence
Summary: Jeff owns a tattoo studio. Jensen wants a tattoo to commemorate overcoming a rocky past.

More Tattoo Artwork!
(Click for bigger)
Full size drawing* of the prompt:

(Note the photo of Jared on the wall; there is a larger version of that below;)
FYI/TMI: that is Jensen's own nipple. *grins*

Drawing* of final tattoo session:

(I couldn't resist colouring Jeff's RL tattoos:)

Close up of Jensen's finished back tattoo:

(Yes, those are young Jensen's own broad shoulders. I had to borrow someone else's lower back though;)

Jared's tattoos...

Wouldn't that be something. Dork.



Chapter headers
Remember: I hadn't read the story when I made these; it's my visualization of Jensen's (and Jeff's) emotional journey, based on the initial talks I had with violet_eyes;)











Icons
01. 02. 03.


Dividers







And finally, as a special surprise for violet_eyes:
a wall paper of emo Jensen! (1280x1024)

(Because the original artwork was seriously lacking Jensen's pouty pretty face;)



Technique and sources
*Pencil on paper, scanned and coloured in Photoshop with added original parts of the photo I used as a base for my sketch (leather pants FTW!). I also put in (bits of) other photos, for instance a collage of Jensen's hair. All Jeff's jewelry is his own, except for the keychain with the skulls; that is mine :-D

My drawings are based on photos from Tattoo, the exotic art of skin decorations by Michelle Delio (an actual book from 1995:). Images of Jensen, Jeff and Jared come from various sites on the internet. If you notice anything that's originally yours, let me know. All pencil sketches, doodles and designs are mine.

Thank you
First off I'd like to applaud the mods of spn_reversebang for creating this challenge and doing such a great job in making this as smooth and fun an experience as possible.
Secondly of course big thanks to violet_eyes; it was truely a pleasure to talk to you and I'm looking forward to meeting for real in December!
Also thanks to the flist for hanging around while I babbled about my measly artwork.
And finally: thanks to my family and friends who once again indulged my squees, even though they haven't got a clue about fandom :)

So. Like what you see? Or want to point and laugh? All comments are welcomed; anonymous or signed. I would love to know what you think! Talk to me:)

J.

Comments

[sillie]

I just have to take a moment and revel in the beauty that is young!Jensen.

...okay, so yeah. I love what you did with drawing something yourself and adding things to it with Photoshop. Also? Tattoo's are hot, and I think the ones you picked out are awesome.

All in all, great work! Very curious to the fic, so I hope I'll find some time to read it soon. :)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

He is so very prrrrrrretty *pats young Jensen*.

Thank you! I had many doubts about the pencilwork and struggled to make it work for me. But when I started fiddling with the collage style I knew I had found the personal style I wanted to achieve. Of course I later could indulge in fotomanips for the banners, but I'm pleased the initial artwork is really different from what I did before:)

So far I have read the first part and I plan to read the rest tomorrow. violet_eyes kept the story development and Jensen's history a secret, so I'm very curious to find out what happens (and happened;)

[kaylennz.livejournal.com]

Great work! You did wonderful. Anyone who can draw and have it look like what its supposed to is good in my book,lol! I struggle to draw stick people!

Young Jensen is very pretty. I love the more mature look he's grown into, though.

I can see why Jeff is drawn to him :)

Hope to see more art from you in the future.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much:)

Oh I too appreciate his adult form *grin*, but I have a soft spot for twinky Jensen, I just want to put him in my pocket and feed him M&M's :)

[fred-bear.livejournal.com]

lovely stuff indeed! :)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you! (And hi!)

[aerynvala.livejournal.com]

Wow, these are TERRIFIC! I really like the tattoo, first of all, and the tatooing scenes. I love the detail in the background. Well done!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Thank you so much. The tattoo of the Phoenix was an idea born in the brainstorm session with my author. I had sketched many shapes before it got the final form. It's great to hear that you like it:-)

[reapertownusa.livejournal.com]

Your art totally made me read the fic, which was wonderful, because I've always loved those young Jensen shots and you did beautiful things with them. I adore your mix of digital and hand drawn - it's just all kinds of pretty.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm thrilled to hear the combination of hand drawn and photocollage style is appreciated:) It was a little daunting to be the one who had to come up with a setting for this challenge, but once I had decided on a pairing, I had so much fun 'researching' young Jensen. *grins* He is adorable in an 'oh sweetie, stop sulking' kind of way:)

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

Your art made me want to read Jensen/Jeff goddammit!
Not that I mind - i loved the pairing, but then the writer has made me read pairings I usually don't like before. So her story and your art was a good combo for me :-)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Heehee. Don't resist; they are a lovely couple!

I haven't had a chance to read the whole story myself yet, but I agree with you on the lure of the author and her special pairings;) Even though you can blame this one entirely on me :-p

[ullman79.livejournal.com]

Lovely artwork - not familiar with your work so I don't know if this is your trademark style but I really like this combination of hand drawn work with digital images! Definitely makes me want to go and read the story, too. :)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The handdrawn stuff was actually very different from my usual artwork, so it means a lot that you like it! I usually work with photos (the banners give you an idea of that, but if you're curious, you can scroll through all my J2 art under the bbartwork tag;)

(Have we met? I think I remember you from the CSI fandom maybe? We have at least some friends from that corner in common. Plus, you know: Netherlands \o/;)

[ullman79.livejournal.com]

Hee, I also love the 'I know what a prince and love ought to be' art. That's brilliant. Jared/Jensen isn't for me but wow that map with all the details? Great work. I'm not much of an artist myself (read: I'm absolutely rubbish) so I'm pretty much in awe around those who are. :D

Also, I think we did travel the same circles in the earlier days of Nick/Greg around the time carolinecrane wrote gem after gem. :-) And artistic_sillie's enthusiasm convinced me to give SPN a try, and Jensen, Jeff and Misha did the rest. ;-) Plus, Netherlands, yay - don't meet too many dutch people in (my) fandom(s) tbh!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you again! That was also an awesome story to work on:) I too was introduced to Jensen/Jared by artistic_sillie but discovered my love for Jensen/Jeff last summer after reading In Becoming Who We Are by elizah_jane (be aware, it's primary J2, but the whole story is so good)

I thought so. Ahw, the good old days;) Although I'm still very much involved with Nick/Greg.

We are a rare breed in fandom *g*

[puguita.livejournal.com]

What a great mix with the digital and the pencil drawings, it looks very original and gives it such depth and detail. I really like it! All the pictures you used of young Jensen are just too hot for words!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you ver much. It was my own personal challenge to do a pencil drawing and it's great to hear from another artists that my efforts paid off;)

Ahw, well, you can never go wrong with pictures of Jensen, whether he is young or old. (Older, not old, sorry Jen;)

[(Anonymous)]

Het voelt bijna als inbreken, kijken op een deel van het internet waar ik nooit kom. Origineel, die mix van oldschool tekenen en foto's. Wel komt de vraag op hoe die vlammetjes eindigen/beginnen boven zn billen (is Texas buns een echt merk, of verzin jij dat?)
gr
Brother J.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Nou hallo zeg, brother J, wat een aangename verrassing! Dank je wel voor je compliment. Tja, die vlammen, zoveel verstand heb ik nou ook weer niet van mannenbillen tattoos. :-p Ik stel me zo voor dat de vlammen eindigen net waar het spannend wordt *grijns*. Die Texas Buns is een grapje van mij, je bent de eerste die het ziet, hehehe.

Well hello, brother J, what a lovely surprise! Thanks for the compliment. Where those flames go is indeed the question, but sadly I don't have that much knowledge of men's bottoms tattoos. Let's imagine they end right above the exciting bit *grins*. The Texan Buns Brand is my own little joke, you're the first one to notice, hehehe.

[jenilees.livejournal.com]

I have to laugh at the "texan buns" tag on the jeans... LOL And those are some nice buns too. ;)
I really like the main banner(it has a lot of depth and I love the colours) and the wallpaper. The texture and colours in wallpaper are neat(or I assume that is what that is I don't do graphics so maybe it is drawn in?).
Nice drawing of the Phoenix too. I can just imagine the work that must have been. I have such a hard time drawing things small so they fit in the scanner bed.
Jensen is so young in these. That part one banner I didn't even realise it was him at first. He was and still is, such a cutie. Although I think he is way hotter now.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

:-D Thank you for your awesome comment!
The wallpaper is mostly made in Photoshop, only the pencil sketch of the bird and the handwriting was done on paper first. The crayon effect was made with a digital brush.
The Phoenix was a bit of a puzzle, really. I made several drawings, but never managed to get the bird right in one go. I ended up picking the best bits of each pencil sketch and put the phoenix together in Photoshop *grins* The initial drawings were quite big though, luckily I have an A3 scanner at work. \o/
I love young Jensen, but he is aging very nicely;)

[mementis.livejournal.com]

These are really gorgeous, what a surprise find for me (somehow, I'd missed this!). I love the way you carry the colors from the tattoo through your headers, I love your emo!Jensen, and I love the hell out of that tattoo, wow! ♥

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, I love comments any time and this sure was a joy to read;) I'm glad you noticed the colourscheme, as it took me some time to find a way to connect the designs. The tattoo also caused me some troubles, so it makes me very happy when people love it:)

[tanisafan.livejournal.com]

Finally making my way over here, oh my. I feel like such an awful friend!
But I am so freaking impressed by all the work you put into this, and even more impressed by the result! I can't even imagine being able to hand draw a scene and making it look just like it looked in my head, and all the photoshop touches and real image elements you added to it, make it really pop. It looks really original, AND I can totally see it inspiring people to want to write an intense emotional story about it, too *g*.

Also, Jared's tattoos made me giggle SO hard <3.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Oh, hush, you're not. This is proven by showing up here and not bitching about my whining;)

Thank you for your lovely comment. The sketch didn't feel like mine until I fiddled with it in Photoshop, so I'm so happy that worked out:)

I often have doubts about tattoos, but Jared's arms just BEGGED for some artwork. HIS FACE!

I definitely got an intense emotional story out of it, although I keep imagining intense physical scenes myself *g*