Artwork: Strange Days Indeed

[beelikej]

So, time to come clean: I set up the quicky_bang for pure selfish reasons; I wanted to find more short fics and challenge myself with tighter deadlines. Thanks to loads of eager authors the community turned into a treasure trove of stories. I didn't quite succeed in my second goal, because I already got carried away with the first fic I grabbed *grins*. Still made it before the required one month deadline though, ha! I happily present my artwork for:



Title: There's a UFO over New York and I ain't too surprised
Author: blackrabbit42
Artwork by: beelikej
Pairing: Jensen/alien!Jared
Rating: NC-17
Word count: 2100
Enticements/Warnings: Interspecies sex, tentacles, slight(?) dubcon, body modification, implied mpreg
Summary: Jensen still sees Jared as he first appeared, human muscle and bone propped up over him, a fine patch of pubic hair lost and mingled in Jensen’s own. But equally there is something else. Something made of vibrantly glowing tentacles, too many to count, too tangled to pinpoint their origin of symmetry. Each one ends either in a small round bulb, pulsating with light, or a tiny single claw, segmented and grasping.


Artwork: Strange Days Indeed...

The original papercut version


Papercut with lighteffects :-)



How it was made

First sketch right after reading + figuring out their bodies plus the tentacles.


Made photo-set ups for the background


Final sketch and individual cut-out version for Jensen (with adjusted legs)


I used the Jensen cut-out to make adjustments for Jared's posture:)


Playing with the cut-outs (What? Like you wouldn't)


An artsy composition before finally putting them together;)


Check out the difference in shading, it's like a porny puzzle to put them together just right.


Tentacle references; I originally thought of creating them with light, inspired by the effect from my chandelier: see how the light spreads out in my hallway!


But fearing that would be too complicated to figure out, I first tried thin golden paper curls. That was not a succes.


A silhouette test in front of my window confirmed my fear: the papercurls were invisible, so back to the drawing board for the light effect tentacles...


Cutting different coloured layers to see what would block the light best. The blue won.


Setting up the scene on my light table


It worked! I love how the light shines through, binding Jensen in translucent tentacles and making Jared's hair glow. It looked even better than I had imagined :-)


But I had to play a little more, so I went up to the big screen and beamer up in my attic for another light-test...


Bonus Light Effects

A close up of that light effect from the lighttable. Even though that was already what I had in mind, I did an additional test with light coming through the blue cut out to shine on their paper bodies.
See how I taped J2 on the big screen? Don't mind the text, that will be covered, I just needed the projected image to be bright and mostly white.


So, bodies taped on screen I then held the blue cut out in front of the light and tried to snap a photo with my other hand...


The light effect is awesome, but it was impossible to get the angle right. Still cool though, right?



Credits
First credit goes to blackrabbit42 for writing that visceral story that inspired the art, thanks so much for submitting it to the challenge! *smishes*

Sources for New York background: view of NY from Omni-Hotels | NY by night from Wallpapercave
References for bodies and position: The Male Nude Stock Deviantart | Gay Pixel Deviantart
Design Taxi Kama Sutra Illustrations | Orgasmic Tips For Girls Tumblr
Visuals for tentacles: Aquarium.ORG | Wet Web Media
Last but not least: thank you, dear visitor for stopping by:)


Gosh, this was a fun project, even if I spent much more time on it than I had planned. I definitely want to make some more art for the quicky_bang, but that will be less elaborate *grins*.

J.

Want more? My Masterpost of artsy fiddling

Comments

[dancing-adrift.livejournal.com]

oh my GOD. This is amazing!!! What a unique art form - I love it! It's so *tactile* <3 And it looks so cool!!! Wow. I'm blown away by the time and effort you put into creating this. And with such awesome results! It turned out so well! Great job! <3 <3 <3

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

*beams* Thank you! I hadn't planned on going all intense for the quicky_bang, but this story just begged for it. I'm so happy it worked:)

[zara-zee.livejournal.com]

This is awesome. The finished piece is brilliant and I loved reading about your process. That was absolutely fascinating!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Glad you also liked the peek behind the scenes:)

[sillie]

Oh, that is so awesome!! Love how you did the tentacles with the light; so creative. :D :D Awesome work bb. <3

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

:) Thanks! It felt like all my experimenting earlier with shadows and light all prepared me for this fic. i'm really happy I came close in capturing the tentacles as they are described..

[whiskygalore.livejournal.com]

That's stunning!! I love your paperwork and this one is incredible, so clever!! All the work with the tentacles, wow!! I love seeing your step-by-step process, so interesting and it all comes together so perfectly. Amazing job!!!!! <3 <3

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Thank you very much. After reading I just had to play with those tentacles;) I'm happy you liked seeing the whole process too!

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

WOW! That's impressive stuff! I love the how to and showing us the different stages :DD

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I like sharing the fun I have behind the scenes;)

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

It's also really good because it gives us mere mortals a chance to think of new ways to create :D

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Oh hush. Actually, it would be awesome if I could inspire other people! (I went back to arts & crafts for my fanart thanks to the first GISHWHES years ago, it such fun to do hands on stuff:)

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

It;s always great to try shizz you've never tried before, this place (lj) has helped me mix it up quite a bit :D Okay, as someone who does a lot of arts and crafts - would you be interested in a postal exchange, for birthdays say, or once a year everyone who's creative and makes/draws/paints stuff...we all send each other something. Pick a name out of a hat style from names on the list of participants. I mean everyone loves getting mail, right?

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Oooh, sounds interesting. I'll think about a longer, more specific response on my long weekend to London. I'm going to try and be off line for a couple of days;) Will check out your post when I get back!

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Have fun hun!! Wait, if you were gonna be in London, why did you not sign on the A16?!? lol! Birmingham's not that far away ;)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Heh, while I love meeting fellow fangirls, I'm not really the convention type of person (Not that I didn't consider when JDM was there last year;) I'm looking forward to a dose of theatre and a luxury hotel bath:) There probably will be a picspam next week...

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, Cons aren't' for everyone :) I do hope you enjoy the luxury for the weekend :D

[fireheart13.livejournal.com]

Such a gorgeous image!! Wow!!! Your artistry is just amazing. The bodies themselves are really beautiful, and then the light tentacles are stunning! Fantastic work!!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you, bb. You are one of the people on my journey of playing with paper and shadows *smishes* Happy to know you like this:)

[ladygreytowers.livejournal.com]

Love the paper cuts! Awesome art, for an awesome fic. thanks

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you:) I'm really glad I found that awesome fic, it just had to be visualized!

[blackrabbit42.livejournal.com]

This is the first time I'm getting to view it properly on a regular size screen instead of my phone, and I'm secretly typing this while my boss is in the shower...

But OH MY GOD!!!!!!! I love it o much. I love ALL the versions, even the version where you are just playing with the paper doll cut outs, because yes, I TOTALLY would.

I keep looking at how you got such a three dimensional look and feel to the tentacles that are wrapped around Jensen, and I have to come to the conclusion that you're actually a wizard. And even more so on the blue one.

Thank you so much for choosing my story. I feel like I won the lottery for first round of quick bang, and in my opinion, it's officially the greatest invention ever and I will pimp it all over the place. Thanks for creating the challenge and giving my story a chance.

:)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

:) I'm still so stoked you submitted this fic to the quicky_bang and I managed to grab it; setting up that community was my best idea EVER. *twirls you*

I'm thrilled I managed to make my initial idea for the light tentacles work. *whispers* I don't know how I did that, it must be the magic of your words (or aliens;)

Thank you for giving me free reign and not freaking out when I sent you my silly set up sketches. I had so much fun and I'm glad you like the result too. *smishes*

[blackrabbit42.livejournal.com]

You've made me greedy for more.... scrolling through my master list to see what I might submit for next round....

I forgot to mention that even though it didn't ultimately work out the way you wanted, I liked the paper scroll idea, they look like electrons orbiting a nucleus of J2. Which, what's better than that???

XOXOXOOX
:)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Heehee, well first up is the Big Bang and other summer challenges, but there will definitely be another round of the quicky_bang!

Oooh, a J2 nucleus, that sounds like it could be another fic idea *innocent face*

<3<3<3

[trishabooms.livejournal.com]

The artwork you do never ceases to amaze me!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-)

[somersault-j.livejournal.com]

HOLY WOW! I love, love, love how you made the tentacles and how they're all over Jensen, around his arms and legs and his throat. Really brilliant! I LOVE IT :D

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

:-) *beams* Thank you very much, bb. <3

[2blueshoes.livejournal.com]

Wow!So much goes into these. So very impressed.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this wasn't really a "quicky" *grins* but the story made me do it;) Thank you!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Aaaah you did the tentacles as light effects - clever! It's worked so well.
I always love seeing your in progress shots but this time they were extra entertaining. I could imagine those positioning ones as them preparing to have sex in null gravity!! Maybe blackrabbit can write that one next. Hee!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Heheheh, and I didn't even catch all their shenanigans on camera :-p OOooh, it would be awesome if this inspired fic in return. (Blackrabbit already interpreted one of the WIP shots in a different perspective, so who knows!)

[jimbobjoe.livejournal.com]

Amazing work, as always! The light shining through is such a cool idea!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Thank you! I amazed myself when the light thing acutally worked;)

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

So SO cool!!! And I boggle at the amount of work you do...I feel like such a slacker!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Thank you:) Oh shush, don't be fooled by the ridiculous amount of WIP pics :-p

[sinfulslasher]

This is friggin' awesome! What a unique and brilliant way to create art.

I don't have a single artistic bone in my body so even stick figures are too elaborate for me - meaning, I'm pretty much in awe whenever I see someone create art, but this here? Whole different league.

*two thumbs up*

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

*beams* Thank you very much for the lovely comment and also the awesomecake with omgicing icon, you put a big smile on my face :-)

[tmn1966.livejournal.com]

Whelp, LJ ate my first comment, so let me try again. lol

First off, congratulations for setting up the quickybang community. It's an awesome idea!

Although reading tentacle stuff isn't for me, I certainly do appreciate art for it, especially your art. Your paper cutting is to die for. I just love how you show us how different lighting affects your pieces. And also how you problem solve, how you have a vision, an idea, but that if you see it's not working, you work at it until you come up with a solution that fits the piece(s).

And the porny puzzle pieces. LMAO You are too funny. You make my day, bb. You really do. ♥

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

You made my day/week with all the comments <3 (and again now that I finally have time to reply;)

I agree that the quicky_bang was one of my brighter ideas; not only to get myself an awesome supply of fic, but also because it introduced me to many artists I hadn't met in my corner of the fandom sandbox!

I'm not always sure about the erotic aspect of tentacles*, but this story features a different kind from the usual octopus style appendices ;-) and it was very exciting to find a way to visualize how I imagined them. It was thrilling to experiment with the light idea and I was as surprised as anyone when it actually worked!

*that one time I put them on JDM excluded *blushes*