ARTPOST JDM-challenge [werewolves!]

[beelikej]

As you may have figured out, I'm a huge fan of Jeffrey Dean Morgan. So obviously I was thrilled to find a fic/art challenge that centers around him (and his character John Winchester from Supernatural). In February the authors shared summaries of their long stories anonymously and then the artists got a chance to pick the one they wanted to create art for. I hereby proudly present my claim in the john_w_bigbang! (As always: click on the images for full size:)



Title: Stolen
Author: jayfray18
Artist: beelikej
Medium: Photoshop & Illustrator
Fandom: Supernatural RPS
Pairing: Jeff/Jensen
Genre: Werewolf
Story-rating: NC-17 (for sex & violence)
Wordcount: 16.500
Warnings: Angst, animal-cruelty, fighting/biting (blood)
Summary:In a world that has seen the Were gene become common place, one family has been collecting the creatures for decades, keeping the Weres caged in their animal form for their own entertainment. When his mate disappears, Jensen must fight to recover what has been stolen from him, because sometimes, when something is taken from you, you HAVE to fight to get it back.

Art is safe for work and cruelty free, but graphic intensive, as I have a lot of images to share. The story was inspirational;)

Wolves!
After talking to jayfray18 about how she envisioned the wolf-forms of the three main characters, I understood them to be more animagus (shapeshifters) than the hybrid human werewolves I knew from Buffy and Harry Potter;) So I tried to keep them looking like real wolves while making them all recognizable as their human counterpart. I hope I managed to do this without being too obvious and that you see what I see;)

At the bottom of this post I'm sharing the original wolf-photos I used, so you can compare the before and after versions.

How could I resist making a transformation gif?

This is a fade version. All the way below you'll find actual morphing images of Jeff and Jensen.

Covers
One day I will succeed in making all designs without fiddling with the guys themselves. One day.



Chapter headers
I made these as sketches, only dividers were used for the story.




Dividers



Icons
1. 2. 3.
4. 5. 6.

Scene illustrations/interpretations and End banner
SPOILER-ALERT!


The evil mystery woman only wants Jeff for his hairy chest;)


Jensen went out on his own to find Jeff. Alpha Kim warns him not to do that again. (for his own good)


Wolf Jensen & Wolf Jeff, happily ever after?

Sketches
To show why I prefer digital artwork over traditional drawings, here are the sketches I made after first reading the story:)



Spot the difference!
The wolves before and after fiddling


LEFT: original wolf - RIGHT: wereKim


LEFT: original wolf - RIGHT: wereJensen


LEFT: original wolf - RIGHT: wereJeff

EXTRAS \o/


Aaaaaaaaaaand that's all!


Thank yous
Besides using my own photos in the background, I obviously also needed a lot of pictures from other sources. More information about all the images I used can be found in my Spring 2012 Sourcepost.

Thank you, jayfray18, I really loved that you wrote an AU that is grounded in real life as we know it, with actors Jeff and Jensen very much being the men I love. The werewolves and OC made this an awesome challenge for art while I could still enjoy fiddling with my two favorite guys;) It was a pleasure.

A BIG thanks to deadflowers5 for organizing the john_w_bigbang. You did an excellent job!

Last but not least: thank YOU, dear lurker, friend or passer-by for checking out my artwork. I really love comments of all kinds, so if you have a minute, please share your thoughts, observations and/or concrit :-)

J.

Masterlist of all my SPN artwork

Comments

[jayfray18.livejournal.com]

*squee*

It has been such a pleasure working with you m'dear :)

The artwork is amazing - I love the gif and the snuggling wolves more each time I see them.

Thank you for picking my humble little fic *hugs*

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

*twirls you*

I had so much fun with your story; I love how you created an additional layer of werewolf for real life Jeff/Jensen, it was a blast to read and an honour to make art:)

Thank you for letting me play with those guys! *hugs*

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

I never really work with sketched on paper.... I go straight to photoshop and kind of make my drafts there... it is so cool to see how you plan these, and then actually MAKE the art that you had planned. :-)

I really like the wolves you have found to each person... really fitting! You have done a good job. :-)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

I usually make a rough sketch of what pops into my head right after reading, sometimes I just write down ideas. But with digital designs with well known people, the eventual photoshopping of course always depends on the material that's available;) I had plenty of options for Jeff and Jensen, but Kim Manners was the deciding factor in this challenge; the man worked mostly behind the camera.

It was fun discussing wolves with the author and I'm quite pleased with the ones I ended up creating:)

Thank you!

[sillie]

Oooh, this is awesome! Love what you did with the wolves. The differences are minimal, but definitely make them look more like their human form. :D Great job!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you:) Did you notice Kim's chin and Jensen's freckles? (or the very subtle grey touches in Jeff fur;)

[sillie]

Yessss, the freckles. <3<3 :D

[tmn1966.livejournal.com]

Yay! I've been waiting for this post! :)

I love the transition gif. That's so awesome. As are the dividers - you are always so clever with your dividers. The purple color is beautiful, bold and I really like the wire fence in the background.

The story illustrations they are all so great, but of course my favorite is Jensen and Jeff together.

I'm always thrilled when you show your process and I'm so excited that you included your sketches here and also seeing the morphing of Jensen and Jeff is so cool. I also liked seeing the 'fiddling' with the wolves.

Wonderful job, sweetie! Such a great job! :)

♥

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

\o/ Thank you so much for your detailed comment *hugs*

Purple works wonderfully in my own journal, but more importantly: it's the author's favorite, which is why I picked it for my original sketches (based on her journal's colourscheme) and why it stayed;)

I had the idea in my head for the background and was very pleased to be able to make a photo of the fence myself at a building site next to my work. (I then adjusted the sky and the barbwire to my needs)

The photo of Jeff & Jensen in their wolf shapes together was a lucky find, especially since submissive Jensen-wolf fits with the alpha-Jeff-dynamic in the story. I had to edit out a bit of the additional pack to give those two some private snuggling time;)

The morphing was a new personal challenge and involved a lot of grumbling. I was so relieved when I got it to work:)

Thanks again for alle the compliments.

[tanisafan.livejournal.com]

Ooooo I love it! I especially think the morphing gifs are super cool. (Or 'bitching', if we're keeping things canine!)

Also, the wolves-with-human-touches are amaaaaazing.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

\m/ The one occassion when I really love that word;)

Thank you!

[cali-cowgirl08.livejournal.com]

Very good, my dear! The gradual change gifs are especially neat.
And of course wereJen has green eyes and freckles as a wolf :D

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you:) Were-Jen is more adorable than threatening *grins*

[lausi-gm.livejournal.com]

Wow! Absolutely AMAZING what you did with these! My dear friend jayfray pointed me here and she's right. You're a genius. I particularly love how you "transformed" the original wolfe pics and giving them a resemblance to the actors. AWESOME!

Great work.

*rushes off now to read fic*

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Thank you! I really had fun with the story and discussing wolves with jayfray. It was a refreshing challenge to approach those famous faces in a different way:)

Enjoy the fic!

[deadflowers5.livejournal.com]

Interesting ideas with the gifs!
Thanks for participating!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you for organizing;)

Masterpost

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

User deadflowers5 referenced to your post from Masterpost (http://john-w-bigbang.livejournal.com/8840.html) saying: [...] e sometimes, when something is taken from you, you HAVE to fight to get it back. Art Masterpost [...]