BigBang 2012 ARTPOST the second!

[beelikej]

Because of the whole work issue I had only claimed one story for this year's spn_j2_bigbang. Luckily I had also signed up for pinch hit duties and after dealing with real life shenanigans for the past few weeks, I was thrilled to be treated to another lovely story to make art for! A romantic comedy no less, inspired by a collection of songs. So you can enjoy fic, artwork and music!

I happily present my designs for:



Title: A Crazy Little Thing
Author: dontknowmyname
Artist: beelikej
Medium: Photoshop (Illustrator & Pen for sketches)
Pairing: Jensen/Jared
Story Rating: NC-17 (Art is G:)
Wordcount: 22,364
Summary: College is nothing but studying and sleeping for Jared until the socially awkward and klutzy freshman literally runs into Jensen Ackles, a big name senior without a plan for the future. Despite Chad’s ridiculous meddling, the two find that there’s an odd but incredible attraction between them. When Jared returns home for a family dinner on the back of Jensen’s motorcycle, they find out if their relationship can last in the face of adversity.

ARTWORK!
Storybanner
See above. Click for 1800x1200 pixel version! I build Jensen out of three different photos (from Vancon2010 by raloria), I also fiddled a little with Jared:



The left side of the banner is transparent, so the motorbike sticks out on whatever background the image is used on. All the other designs are transparent too.

Chapterheaders
I made two sets of chapterheaders, both in the style of the banner, but one with Jensen/Jared and one with images of the places they meet... I was very happy when dontknowmyname and I agreed the latter capture the fun spirit of the story best. - Click for 500 pixel versions!
Set 1: J2


Set 2: Dates

(I bet you're very curious
about that first chapter:
go read the story!;)

Dividers
Originally I had planned to only make two dividers, to simply separate J2's point of views. I struggled to find the perfect image for Jared, so I ended up making more. The website on the laptop is of the University of Texas by the way;) I also made a simple line version (not included here) - Click for 500 pixel versions!



Soundtrack
Because this story was loosely based on the author's playlist, she asked me to make a CD-cover. I found the near perfect photo of a couple on the right motorbike; I painted it black and made the rider on the back taller so obviously now they are biker!Jensen and freshman!Jared *grins* - Click for 600 pixel versions!


You can listen to the complete playlist (and bonus covers) at my YouTube Channel!

Sketches
Because I know how y'all love to see these, here are some sketches. I first made a moodboard to decide on the best Jensen/Jared combination for this story. The banner-sketch below was based on the pictures I chose from that. I'm quite pleased with how the banner turned out; as you can see above, it came pretty close to what was in my head:) You can check out the moodboard and more sketches in my source post.



With the story dontknowmyname sent me images that had inspired her; among them the Hell on Wheels devil, that I adjusted a little for the helmet in the divider and on the CDcover. I had wanted to make a logo of my own, but eventually I ran out of time to make it fit to my liking, so this didn't end up on the final art:


I also doodled a cracky sketch of the boys to entertain my author :-D

(Now you know why I don't draw final fanart by hand;)

Icons
Last but not least: a set of icons!
1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

The end!


Final notes
Thank you, dontknowmyname for sharing your story and the music (and images) that inspired you. I had a lot of fun talking to you and creating designs for your lovely story :-)
As usual also a BIG thanks to wendy and thehighwaywoman for their perfect organisation of the spn_j2_bigbang. I'm very happy you thought of me for pinch hitting:)
Extensive notes about my source materials can be found here.

Thank YOU for stopping by! You're welcome to comment as honest as you like; I love concrit (and of course squee;)

J.

P.S. You can find all my previous artwork in this masterpost!

Comments

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

jensen's faces in his icons are ADORABLE. i really like all the art, tho. it's really cute. and i love that you kind of explain how you built the banner - i just think process pics are so cool.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

:-) Thank you! Those process pics are fun to make too.

[dolnmoon.livejournal.com]

These are is fantastic. You really did the story justice with these pieces. Love the dividers, the hell on wheels logo and the Banner. Wonderful job.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I always try to find a style that fits the story, so it's awesome to know that I succeeded:)

[sillie]

These are great! I love the banner, especially after watching the .gif of how you build up Jared and Jensen. Awesome job! :D

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you:) Making a gif of the steps of the artwork is educational; I sometimes don't even realize how many layers I made!

[inanna-maat.livejournal.com]

Ah wow!!! I love the banner!!!! Long time ago I did know how to do that line around the figures, but I can´t remember how to do it xDDDDDDD But it´s great and wow... and the whole artwork is GREAT!!!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you. *blushes* I had originally planned to do the linework in Illustrator, but then I figured I'd first try to get the same effect in Photoshop and it worked! Basically it's two layers of the same picture: the bottom one with a slightly broader border (purple) than the top one (white).

[confuzed.livejournal.com]

Oh these just make me smile!! Not sure what is going on in Chapter One, but I always appreciate a good bathroom scene!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Yay! Oh the bathroomscene is priceless, I just had to refer to it in the art. (Jensen's facial expression in set 1 of the chapterheaders is based on that scene too:)

[marciaelena.livejournal.com]

The art is great, hon! I love the chapter headers and dividers, and seeing how you put the banner together is so cool. Awesome work. <3

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! *beams*

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

I love the banner - and I love how you have worked with Jensen in the gif...
I am amazed how much you actually scetch and plan in advance - I have a tendency to skip the whole sketching process. :-/

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I don't always sketch, but I had this particular style in my head (with the freestanding figures and the double lines) and I just had to jot it down to kind of force myself to stick to it and try to capture it in Photoshop. (Although I had originally thought to trace the images in Illustrator, I ended up experimenting in Photoshop, yay!)

[tmn1966.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! Look at the pretty! :)

First off, as always, I love when you show how you 'fiddle' with things. That's so awesome to see the process. And I'm sure you know I love your cracky doodles! :D

I really like the icons. Your artwork makes the story look like so much fun! Especially the chapter headers! And I like the dividers, you are so good at that... capturing a part of the story in your artwork from the colors and the font choices - it's all so amazing! And I'm in love with the banner and the CD cover. I'm just gonna stay here and stare for a while.

♥

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

:-) Thank you! I wasn't sure if I should include my sketches, but they remind me of the fun I had behind the scenes, that's the best part of collaborating in these challenges \o/

I always aim to capture the spirit of the story, because I like the style of my art to fit the style of the story:)

[equally-dour.livejournal.com]

Very cute art!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you:)

[wendy.livejournal.com]

You are amazing. Boys on a biiiike! I'm in awe of all you did, and that you did it so well. Looking at this makes me want to dive feet first into the story. Thanks for all your work on this!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Ahw, thank you:) I'm so happy I got to play with Jensen and his leather jacket; bikerboy FTW! I had such fun, thanks again for the pinch hit:)

[deadflowers5.livejournal.com]

Great art, thanks for the WIP of the story banner.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Making WIPs is almost as much fun as creating the art:)

[tanisafan.livejournal.com]

Squee! This is super sassy looking! And as always, I applaud you for creating the exact pictures-of-the-boys you need rather than just using whatever fits best. I bow to your photoshopping skills :D!

And yes, yes the dividers and chapter headers have made me really curious now *grin*.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Thank you, bb! Mission to intrigue accomplished \o/

[evian-fork.livejournal.com]

Oh jeez!!!

The gif of how you made the principal banner is so jeez!! XD But the draws are way too damn cute!! I love everything you did for this fic, is on my list of fics I have to read (but with this big bang I'm barely covering all bases)

And yes, I'm curios about the first chapter lol

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! I have a long to-read-list of BB fics too, it was a good BigBang summer. Hope you get a chance to find out what happens in this one:)

[nightrider101.livejournal.com]

This art is so much fun! It reminds me of... young love, I guess. It's adorable. :) Oh, college. What a crazy, fun place! Nicely done.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I wanted the art to be playful and sweet, so I'm glad you got that feel of it:)

[masja-17.livejournal.com]

Really liked this! And it soo fitted the story! The boys look as sweet as they were in the story, mmm!

<3

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! It's great to hear the art complements the fic. These Jared and Jensen were adorable to work with:)

[gidgetgal9.livejournal.com]

Fun art for a fun story!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you, exactly what I was aiming for:)