SPN_J2_BigBang 2014 Artpost
Jun. 17th, 2014 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beelikejWhen it was time to claim a summary from this year's ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
spn_j2_bigbang offerings, I looked for a fantasy AU. I wanted to go wild with magical creatures and I sure found an inspirational story! My wonderful author gave me plenty of ideas to work with. Then my muse took me in a more graphic direction and I ended up with mostly text designs. *pouts* But! I did manage to visualize some fantasy figures too (there's a dragon!) and I explored another side of papercutting: I made a 3D design for the header. Tadaah:
Title: From A Forest Of Bone And Blood
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ar_richardson
Artist:beelikej
Medium: Papercutting
Pairing: Jensen/Jared
Genre: RPS Fantasy AU
Story Rating: NC17
ART Rating: G, and contains no spoilers for story!
Wordcount: 50k
Summary: Four strangers awaken in the forest of bone and blood to find that all they can remember of themselves - and each other - are their names. Soon Jared, Jensen, Alona and Genevieve discover that they can make plants grow one moment and utter spells to summon flame the next. After a harrowing encounter with a Witherkin, a creature born of chaos and dark magic, they decide to journey together to visit the fabled Oracle to see if she can help them.
Dryad. Wizard. Dragon. Soldier.
This is what they are, according to the Oracle. She sets them on a quest that will restore their memories and their true forms, but gives one final warning: Of the four, two will not complete their mission.
More artwork
All the pieces are cut by hand, there was no photoshopping involved in creating the designs above and below. The story-banner is made from one piece of paper, glued on a forest-photo background and photographed before a red paper background. There is an extensive step-by-step in the WIP section below. All the images link to bigger versions, so click if you want to take a closer look!
Chapter headers
Chapter-letters cut out of photo (A3 print), placed on top of red paper. The number was cut seperately. I made 14 headers in total (If you really want to see them all, check out my LJ-scrapbook OR, better yet: read the story!)
The chapter header was the one I tested for my first 3D set up, but because the storybanner turned out so elaborate, I chose to keep the rest of the headers flat. (More about the (thought) process in the WIP section!)
Additional headers
There are four Interludes in the story; they tell about the origin of the dragon, the wizard, the soldier and the dryad. I originally meant to illustrate these banners with images of those figures, but due to the nature of papercutting I had to give priority to text in case I ran out of time before posting. That turned out to be a smart choice, because when I finally managed to sketch fitting figures for papershapes, I was unable to implement them in the banners (and I didn't want to 'cheat' and digitally alter my designs;).
It's possible to combine the chapterheader with the interludebanner, but I also made four alternative versions in combination with the specific chapternumbers:)
A special banner for the Epilogue, not as grim as the other photos:)
This is another banner of which I had originally made a 3D version; you can see that in the WIP section below.
Wait! There is more...
Extra artwork
After failing to add fantary figures to the header (for several reasons: it would be too cluttered, I didn't want to spoil the surprise, I suck at planning, and drawing, etc.) I did manage to make an extra piece featuring the four in their true forms:
Dryad. Wizard. Dragon. Soldier.
(The twirls are the magic that changed them: READ THE STORY to find out what happened!
Icons!
As a final surprise for my author, I made some icons:)
1.
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
As per my rule for this challenge to not edit digitally, they are textless;)
The making of
This is a long section; feel free to skip it and scroll down to the end;)
Set up
My initial idea was to make a banner as mysterious as the beginning of the story; the forest in the title is ominous and I wanted to reflect that in the artwork. The one image that stayed from beginning to end is the pale dead trees. The rest of the design was really build around that;)
The very first set up, with a quick 3D chapter sketch and chosing papercolours:
white, black, red and a brown with a bark-like structure (later discarded)
After reading the first story-draft, I made photos for additional inspiration and references; I ended up using them as background for the cuttings!
WIP 1: Storybanner
Quickly cut trees and set up of the Whiterkin monster with swirly tail for a digital lettertest. Luckily my author immediately pointed out the error in the title. That would have been awful to discover once I started cutting;)
Rough cut to figure out the 3D shape.
Tracing the digital print of the text. The main font is Georgia; the handwritten letters are a combination of Elven Common Speak and Killgraphy, which I edited to my own liking.
Cutting the handwritten font had to be done very carefully, pfff, such tiny shapes.
This close up of the names reveals that 'happy' accidents can be fixed with a bit of tape; small letters are still nervewracking to cut though;) (The pencilled in x indicates to take extra care of these letters, yeah, that helped...)
Setting up the silhouettes of Jared, Jensen, Alona and Genevieve; trying to figure out mirroring and placing.
Sketching outlines of The Four
Cutting complete!
The four heads are folded under the paper and then pushed through a slit above the text.
Final step: positioning the forest photo that will pull the piece together...
Putting glue ONLY on the non 3D parts.
Sticking the papercut to the background photo.
*waves magic wand* Tadaah!
WIP 2: Headers
Two more parts of WIP to go; feel free to skip it and scroll down to the end;)
The first set up of the headers was 3D, but while I was experimenting with different photos I decided the flatview didn't need an extra dimension to achieve the effect I was trying to create.
Positioning the chapter header on the chosen photobackground.
Another discarded option for the chapterheaders; testing red or photo background. The latter turned out to be unreadable, but did create a nice 'hidden text' effect in the interlude banner combination (see artwork-section:)
Cutting numbers; these were positioned on top of the chapter cut out, so I didn't have to make 14 separate banners. Not because I was lazy, but because it added a nice shadow effect too :-p
It's obvious why I discarded this ideas, isn't it? O_o
Aaaaaaaaaand another one that didn't make it.
This extra cut on the interlude banner was rejected too. (Notice the 'hidden' chapter text?)
The whole set together. \o/
WIP 3: Fantasy figures
This is the final part of the WIP secion, but feel free to skip it and scroll down to the end;)
The aim was to not reveal the gender of the original characters. I made several sketches and some cut tests, varying from 'realistic' fantasy figures to only faces to more graphic bodyshapes. Who is surprised I ended up with that last option?
The final sketches. In order to save time (and not have to draw and cut them over and over) I scanned these and printed mirrored versions on the back of the chosen photo. (and made an extra copy, just in case;)
Left: the print (a copy) on the back of a forest-photo. On the right the cut out version (on top of red paper) and the turned over shapes with the photo on them. I decided to keep the style of the banners and chose the full paper version to make the final piece.
As a finishing touch I added swirls to illustrate the magic between them.
Last but not least, some close ups of the four figures:
Wizard & Soldier
Dryad & Dragon
For real now!
Credits and Thank yous
The silhouettes from the four were based on photos from my actors-archives, check out my source-tag for links to all the sites I used to create my collection of pretty people.
Credit to me for going outside and making photos of trees and other close ups of nature, wahey!
In the middle of this project I found some marvelous papercut cards at Camden market in London; they helped me to figure out the best 3D shape.
Thank you,ar_richardson for sharing your story and allowing me to take the artwork in this direction. You wrote so many awesome characters to visualize, I wish I could have played with more of them (you know who I'm talking about;).
Also a big cuddle to thespn_j2_bigbang mod for once again hosting this marvelous event.
And of course thank YOU, dear visitor, for taking a look at my artwork!
All comments are welcome, no matter how sweet or harsh. I really love to know that you stopped by, so don't be shy to share your opinion:) And then go read From A Forest Of Bone And Blood!
J.
My masterpost of artsy fiddling (For more papercutting, check that tag;)
spn_j2_bigbang offerings, I looked for a fantasy AU. I wanted to go wild with magical creatures and I sure found an inspirational story! My wonderful author gave me plenty of ideas to work with. Then my muse took me in a more graphic direction and I ended up with mostly text designs. *pouts* But! I did manage to visualize some fantasy figures too (there's a dragon!) and I explored another side of papercutting: I made a 3D design for the header. Tadaah:
Title: From A Forest Of Bone And Blood
Author:
ar_richardsonArtist:
beelikejMedium: Papercutting
Pairing: Jensen/Jared
Genre: RPS Fantasy AU
Story Rating: NC17
ART Rating: G, and contains no spoilers for story!
Wordcount: 50k
Summary: Four strangers awaken in the forest of bone and blood to find that all they can remember of themselves - and each other - are their names. Soon Jared, Jensen, Alona and Genevieve discover that they can make plants grow one moment and utter spells to summon flame the next. After a harrowing encounter with a Witherkin, a creature born of chaos and dark magic, they decide to journey together to visit the fabled Oracle to see if she can help them.
Dryad. Wizard. Dragon. Soldier.
This is what they are, according to the Oracle. She sets them on a quest that will restore their memories and their true forms, but gives one final warning: Of the four, two will not complete their mission.
More artwork
All the pieces are cut by hand, there was no photoshopping involved in creating the designs above and below. The story-banner is made from one piece of paper, glued on a forest-photo background and photographed before a red paper background. There is an extensive step-by-step in the WIP section below. All the images link to bigger versions, so click if you want to take a closer look!
Chapter headers
Chapter-letters cut out of photo (A3 print), placed on top of red paper. The number was cut seperately. I made 14 headers in total (If you really want to see them all, check out my LJ-scrapbook OR, better yet: read the story!)
The chapter header was the one I tested for my first 3D set up, but because the storybanner turned out so elaborate, I chose to keep the rest of the headers flat. (More about the (thought) process in the WIP section!)
Additional headers
There are four Interludes in the story; they tell about the origin of the dragon, the wizard, the soldier and the dryad. I originally meant to illustrate these banners with images of those figures, but due to the nature of papercutting I had to give priority to text in case I ran out of time before posting. That turned out to be a smart choice, because when I finally managed to sketch fitting figures for papershapes, I was unable to implement them in the banners (and I didn't want to 'cheat' and digitally alter my designs;).
It's possible to combine the chapterheader with the interludebanner, but I also made four alternative versions in combination with the specific chapternumbers:)
A special banner for the Epilogue, not as grim as the other photos:)
This is another banner of which I had originally made a 3D version; you can see that in the WIP section below.
Wait! There is more...
Extra artwork
After failing to add fantary figures to the header (for several reasons: it would be too cluttered, I didn't want to spoil the surprise, I suck at planning, and drawing, etc.) I did manage to make an extra piece featuring the four in their true forms:
Dryad. Wizard. Dragon. Soldier.
(The twirls are the magic that changed them: READ THE STORY to find out what happened!
Icons!
As a final surprise for my author, I made some icons:)
1.
2. 3. 4. 5. As per my rule for this challenge to not edit digitally, they are textless;)
The making of
This is a long section; feel free to skip it and scroll down to the end;)
Set up
My initial idea was to make a banner as mysterious as the beginning of the story; the forest in the title is ominous and I wanted to reflect that in the artwork. The one image that stayed from beginning to end is the pale dead trees. The rest of the design was really build around that;)
The very first set up, with a quick 3D chapter sketch and chosing papercolours:
white, black, red and a brown with a bark-like structure (later discarded)
After reading the first story-draft, I made photos for additional inspiration and references; I ended up using them as background for the cuttings!
WIP 1: Storybanner
Quickly cut trees and set up of the Whiterkin monster with swirly tail for a digital lettertest. Luckily my author immediately pointed out the error in the title. That would have been awful to discover once I started cutting;)
Rough cut to figure out the 3D shape.
Tracing the digital print of the text. The main font is Georgia; the handwritten letters are a combination of Elven Common Speak and Killgraphy, which I edited to my own liking.
Cutting the handwritten font had to be done very carefully, pfff, such tiny shapes.
This close up of the names reveals that 'happy' accidents can be fixed with a bit of tape; small letters are still nervewracking to cut though;) (The pencilled in x indicates to take extra care of these letters, yeah, that helped...)
Setting up the silhouettes of Jared, Jensen, Alona and Genevieve; trying to figure out mirroring and placing.
Sketching outlines of The Four
Cutting complete!
The four heads are folded under the paper and then pushed through a slit above the text.
Final step: positioning the forest photo that will pull the piece together...
Putting glue ONLY on the non 3D parts.
Sticking the papercut to the background photo.
*waves magic wand* Tadaah!
WIP 2: Headers
Two more parts of WIP to go; feel free to skip it and scroll down to the end;)
The first set up of the headers was 3D, but while I was experimenting with different photos I decided the flatview didn't need an extra dimension to achieve the effect I was trying to create.
Positioning the chapter header on the chosen photobackground.
Another discarded option for the chapterheaders; testing red or photo background. The latter turned out to be unreadable, but did create a nice 'hidden text' effect in the interlude banner combination (see artwork-section:)
Cutting numbers; these were positioned on top of the chapter cut out, so I didn't have to make 14 separate banners. Not because I was lazy, but because it added a nice shadow effect too :-p
It's obvious why I discarded this ideas, isn't it? O_o
Aaaaaaaaaand another one that didn't make it.
This extra cut on the interlude banner was rejected too. (Notice the 'hidden' chapter text?)
The whole set together. \o/
WIP 3: Fantasy figures
This is the final part of the WIP secion, but feel free to skip it and scroll down to the end;)
The aim was to not reveal the gender of the original characters. I made several sketches and some cut tests, varying from 'realistic' fantasy figures to only faces to more graphic bodyshapes. Who is surprised I ended up with that last option?
The final sketches. In order to save time (and not have to draw and cut them over and over) I scanned these and printed mirrored versions on the back of the chosen photo. (and made an extra copy, just in case;)
Left: the print (a copy) on the back of a forest-photo. On the right the cut out version (on top of red paper) and the turned over shapes with the photo on them. I decided to keep the style of the banners and chose the full paper version to make the final piece.
As a finishing touch I added swirls to illustrate the magic between them.
Last but not least, some close ups of the four figures:
Wizard & Soldier
Dryad & Dragon
For real now!
Credits and Thank yous
The silhouettes from the four were based on photos from my actors-archives, check out my source-tag for links to all the sites I used to create my collection of pretty people.
Credit to me for going outside and making photos of trees and other close ups of nature, wahey!
In the middle of this project I found some marvelous papercut cards at Camden market in London; they helped me to figure out the best 3D shape.
Thank you,
ar_richardson for sharing your story and allowing me to take the artwork in this direction. You wrote so many awesome characters to visualize, I wish I could have played with more of them (you know who I'm talking about;). Also a big cuddle to the
spn_j2_bigbang mod for once again hosting this marvelous event.And of course thank YOU, dear visitor, for taking a look at my artwork!
All comments are welcome, no matter how sweet or harsh. I really love to know that you stopped by, so don't be shy to share your opinion:) And then go read From A Forest Of Bone And Blood!
J.
My masterpost of artsy fiddling (For more papercutting, check that tag;)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From a Forest of Bone and Blood
Date: 2014-06-17 12:49 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2014-06-17 12:55 pm (UTC)Well done - again! :-)
And again - thank you for the behind the scenes pictures. I love to see how you do thing!
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Date: 2014-06-17 12:59 pm (UTC)I'm really looking forward to reading the story - your art has enhanced it definitely. :-)
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Date: 2014-06-22 12:01 pm (UTC)I love your brain!
Date: 2014-06-17 02:23 pm (UTC)surgeonmagiciansurgeon, and a little magic of the fairies thrown in, too. Plus more pure creative power than any ten people. Your art never fails to amaze me, NEVER. I knew this art was yours at first glance. ;) Then I opened the artpost and . . . WOW. Oh, bb, you done good. (Yeah, yeah, you always do good, but this is just amazing.)The letters, OMG.
*returns to art post to bask in the beauty*
Re: I love your brain!
Date: 2014-06-22 12:05 pm (UTC)Thank you for your wonderful praise. Like any artist I mostly notice where I failed, so it's extremely flattering to have a fellow artist focus on what did work *smishes*
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Date: 2014-06-17 03:54 pm (UTC)The title piece in 3D is sheer brilliance and beauty! Love it!
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Date: 2014-06-21 07:56 pm (UTC)Damn, seriously, you are one of the most amazing artists around. You are so creative and I love how you shared everything, the rejected stuff as well as the final versions, which are perfect!!
The banner is just so amazing, I love everything about it, the lettering and the cutouts and the silhouettes... just wow!!! The chapter headers are gorgeous and so original. And the fantasy figures are so cool, love that you used them in icons, too!!
You, my dear, are one creative soul and are so amazing!!!
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