BigBang 2011 ARTPOST the second

[beelikej]

I hadn't planned on another claim in the spn_j2_bigbang this year, but I couldn't help myself when I browsed the rare pairing section and stumbled upon this summary. Not only did I end up with another story to do artwork for, I also stepped out of my comfort zone of Real Person Slash and into a Supernatural-AU verse*. Although the relationship in this story is different from canon (John and Dean are unrelated) the pater familias is clearly based on the father in the TV series, so thanks to this story I had to expand my Supernatural knowledge;)

Seeing as the main characters in this story are portrayed by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jensen Ackles, I could also indulge in fiddling with their images. Double win! I hereby happily present my artwork for...



Title: Unrelated
Author: john_n_dean
Artist: beelikej
Medium: Photoshop & Illustrator
Pairing: John/Mary, John/Dean (AU; characters are not related to one another)
Story Rating: NC-17 (Art is PG-13:)
Summary:John Winchester is quite content with his life: he has a gorgeous wife he adores and great kids he'd do anything for. He has a solid business and a lucrative side occupation that appeals to his love of the military. John has one big problem, though... He's falling in love with his son's best friend.


Artwork
The story is divided in three acts with each 3 chapters. I made banners for each new part. I hope you notice that not only the children grow up; both John and Dean are getting older too:)







Chapter headers




















Dividers
Seeing as the Marines play a big part in the story, I made a divider out of the chains for the dogtags. (My own photos)






Icons
Inspired by the story and all the banners, I also made a collection of icons.
01. 02. 03.

04. 05. 06.

07. 08. 09.

10. 11. 12.


Extras
In the headers for the acts you see a silhouette of the family shaped out of photos of Dean. I drew the outline for this silhouette in Illustrator before playing with it in Photoshop. Here is the base with the names of all the children:



I adjusted this base for each act, to visualize the years going by. (see headers above:) Spot the difference!

For the torn up wedding photo in the story banner I manipulated an image of a Marine and his bride; I changed the original couple into young John and Mary from Supernatural:



I then printed the manip, tore it up and took a photo of the pieces. I added some effects in Photoshop to give it depth. The torn up edge in the chapter headers is based on a detail of the photo.

The end banner




*Notes and Thank Yous
I usually stay in the RPS section of the fandom, mainly because I'm too lazy to get involved with the Supernatural canon. I do like the show, but I'm just not able to get emotionally invested in it. *ducks for response of dedicated fans* This story did inspire me to investigate the background of John Winchester a little though, which was very interesting.
So first and foremost I thank john_n_dean for offering me an intriguing insight in John's character. It was a true pleasure to read this story and to find and create fitting images to go with it. I didn't always use specific Winchester screenshots, but I hope the artwork at least captures the spirit of the characters :)

Of course also a BIG thanks to wendy and thehighwaywoman for their perfect organisation of the spn_j2_bigbang.

More information about the images I used in the artwork can be found in my BigBang source post.

Whether you watch Supernatural or not, whether you understand the pairing or not, I hope you leave a comment if you were brave enough to take a look at the artwork:) I love to know what you think!

J.

Comments

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

I can't help but notice that your Photoshopping are getting more advanced by every challenge you enter, and also the overall idea seems more and more 'complete' (Or I just haven't noticed before). But then - I guess we all develop by time.

I really like what you have done here!

oh, I am impressed by the silhuettes. I am no good working with vector graphics. *sigh* I ususally cheat my making selections in Photoshop, and then transform it to vector graphic.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you:) I guess practice makes perfect *grins* I'm not sure if I get more advanced in expressing myself, but I do pick up more tricks every time and definitely work more neatly now than I did before.
I really appreciate your comment about the overall idea being more of a whole, that's something I aim for, so I'm glad to hear that's coming across. (Especially since I struggled with this one)

I think I told you before I have much more experience in Illustrator, that's what makes working in Photoshop so much more interesting.

[aerynvala.livejournal.com]

I am seriously fucking impressed by this fanart. The amount of it is amazing in itself, but the quality of each piece is even more so. I absolutely love the hell out of the chapter header images, those are brilliant.

You've actually inspired me. I'm going to be doing fanart for a big bang later this year & this post is going to be the standard I'm going to try to live up to.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

*Blushes* Thank you very much, that is a very big compliment. I hadn't planned on making this many pieces, but as the story grew and was divided in more parts, I played along. It was fun trying to summarize each chapter with a collage (and not give too much away;)

[confuzed.livejournal.com]

These really are stupendous!!And you went into such details for this...simply wonderful :)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-) It was a challenge to make the images fit to the story, so I'm glad you noticed the little details!

[sillie]

Very awesome, and everything fits so well together. I love the banner (I love the fact that you printed out the manip and fisically tore it up. <3) But really, it all looks good. I keep going back to look. :D

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

\o/ Thanks! For my sketches I had made a quick manip and cut that up with scissors, so I had the idea very early in the process, but while I was getting into the head of the characters, I found tearing it up made it look much more emotional and fit better with John's state of mind. That also gave me the idea for the chapter-headers design and that's how it all came together in the end:)

[etrix.livejournal.com]

You've made the banners transition really smoothly through the ages. The idea of the changing silouette was a clever and quick way to convey the idea of years passing.

Really impressive. =]

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad the visualization of the gradual change of time worked. I had a blast making little changes in that silhouette to fit the outlines of the children with the characters in the story. (I was worried I put too much thought in that;)

[tanisafan.livejournal.com]

I love how much work you put into this! Even just the fact that all the chapter headers are different (and, I'm guessing, relating to the content of the chapter?)... respect.
I also really, really love the torn up picture of John and Mary and was gonna ask how you created that, but then YOU EXPLAINED IT. Because you're wonderful.

Aaaanyway, my actual point was: love these (and how different they are from your other BB artwork)! And I also love Jensen on a motorcycle. That is all. *g*

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you:) Yes, each header image is some sort of summary of the chapter (so if you want to skip to the good part, chapter 7 is recommended *grins*) There is so much more I could explain... like the clouds showing John's struggle or my system with regards to emphasis being on either John or Dean, and so on.

I'm very happy that the artwork has its own look, because when I start I always feel it's too close to what I've done before.

Jensen's smug motorcycle-face is my favorite;)

[tanisafan.livejournal.com]

Tell me more about the symbols and the system. *chinhands*

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm gonna make you sit down for a lecture if you ever come near my lair again;)

[moodilylit.livejournal.com]

I love your art.
As I was reading this, I kept thinkking that your art fit perfectly with the words. It's bold and beautiful.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. I also read your long comment on the story and was thrilled to read such a well thought out response. I'm glad to hear the art complemented the fic:)

[moodilylit.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, that was a quick response. Thanks.

I was kind of worried about my rant cause I've seen people get bashed a lot after commentating on certain "sensitive themes", but hey, I believe in everyone having their opinions and not keeping them to theirselves :D

And hey, the artwork is generally what fisrt draws me to a story 8seeing as I'm an artist too) and yours did that pretty quick and it only got better from there :)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Heh. Well, you caught me on my last round of checking messages before bed;)

I'm a believer in saying what's on your mind (with the appropriate respect for whomever you're talking to/about, obviously;) I sometimes wish people who pass by and don't like the artwork, would step up and say so.

I always hope the artwork catches the eyes, so thanks for saying that. I've been avoiding other (BigBang) artwork while I was working on my own, but plan to catch up with comments this week.
I did check out your art-journal and loved your style; I'm still struggling with colouring outside the lines, so to speak. For my next project I'm aiming for a looser style, less constrained by my own set of rules.

[moodilylit.livejournal.com]

I'm lucky you were lurking, then :D

And if your artwork was already eye catching whilst you were "coloring inside the lines", then I'll look forward to your work for next year's big bang. Unless you'll be posting other art in your journal or somewhere else?

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

:)

Well, I signed up for spn_cinema and spn_reversebang again. All my earlier creations for these challenges and the previous BigBang can be found under my bbartwork TAG. (I'm in other fandoms too, but I haven't made anything for either one of those in a long time;)

[moodilylit.livejournal.com]

I had heard about the Reverse Big Bang (and I'm totally doing it thanks to you because I didn't know it was still open), but I didn't know about the SPN Cinema. It looks brilliant and I'm going to go check out your stuff! :)

[john-n-dean.livejournal.com]

Dude... I just wanted to stop by before I finally collapsed for the night and say thank you once again for you dedication to this project. It's always a great thing to work on a project with someone who will give the kind of attention to detail that you did. I adore the art, and I'm very, very grateful that you decided to step out of your comfort zone and pick my story.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Ahw, thank you. You and your story made the transition not as awkward or scary as I anticipated;)

I've also been keeping an eye on the comments on Unrelated and am so very pleased it got the recognition it deserved. I'm glad so many people decided to give it a try despite their reservations about the relationship. Because you really made it work.

[enablelove.livejournal.com]

Nice art!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-)