ARTWORK for SPN_Cinema 2017

[beelikej]

When I pick a film for spn_cinema I don't usually know beforehand what I'm going to do with it. I just like to choose a story I love to rewatch while imagining my favorite guys in the lead *grins*. This time I went with a mermaid theme for Jensen and Jeff:) The Cinema challenge was in between lots of other projects and even though I considered playing with clay or papier-mâché to create a merman's tail, I simply wouldn't have been able to do the idea justice. Fortunately I came across an inspirational artwork that reminded me of a visual I had wanted to try for a long time: a stained glass effect! So here's what I ended up creating:

Title: You Said Whatever My Secret Was, You'd Understand
Medium: Papercutting and paint
Movie Prompt: Splash (1984)
Pairing: Jeff/Merman!Jensen
Rating: G!
Concept: As a young boy Jeff is rescued from drowning off Cape Cod by a young merboy. Jeff isn’t sure what he has seen and what he has imagined.
Years later, using maps from a sunken ship, the still very young merman (Jensen! FYI: mermen age much slower than humans;) decides to search for Jeff in New York City, sprouting legs when his tail dries. When he finds Jeff, they fall in love, but Jensen's secret will no longer be a secret when he gets his legs wet...



The Making Of

Sketch I sent to the mods in September and the new set up for the papercutting version.


I set myself a time challenge, so I drew it all freehand with no references, ahem. I had to keep making adjustments when I was already cutting.


I tried to capture Jeff's eyelash and dimple;) I may or may not have made a mistake around the Splash text when I cut the negative of the shape I had meant to take out. Oops. NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG.


Taping down the (wet) paper before painting. Underneath it is the cut-out image!


See? That's why I paint on my lightbox. With the black outlines being quite thick, I don't have to be too precise:)


I also try to make different patterns with the paint.


Nearly done! I was very proud that I used these bold colours, I'm usually not that brave.


Time for the final test: putting the cut-out on top of the painting. That doesn't look half bad \o/


Some final touch ups (the edges of the paper were a little damaged by the tape)


Tadaah: the unedited version before digitally cutting it to size and brightening the colours slightly to correct my camera.
On the right a photo with backlight from the table for a true stained glass look:)



Credits

This is the scene from the film Splash that was the basis for my artwork: with Mermaid Daryl Hannah and Boyfriend Tom Hanks.
In the movie an eager scientists hunts down the mermaid and sprays her with water to reveal her true identity. She is captured and taken to a laboratory. When the scientist finds out his supervisor wants to do evil experiments on the mermaid, he asks her boyfriend and his brother for help to set her free again. Fun fact: in order to pass the guards they use a fake identity of Doctor Jared from Sweden :-D Guess who I figured could be the scientist in my story (and I'd put CMM in the role of the Boyfriend's younger brother, for many reasons:)

My Splash DVD didn't work on my computer, so I grabbed screencaps from Movie-screencaps.com
I got the idea to use paper for the stained glass style thanks to an animation by artist zeathefourth on Tumblr

Bonus artwork below: I collected images of wet Jensen and Jeff for inspiration and figured y'all might like to see them too, so I combined them into a summary of the story;) You're welcome.

Reference photo of dripping Jensen came from a photoshoot by Michael Muller for the May 2006 issue of Flaunt Magazine and sprayed Jensen is from a promoshoot for Days of Our Lives (NBC). Dripping Jeff images are my own screencaps from The Losers (2010).

Bonus artwork aesthetic



Comments are appreciated!

J.

Comments

[majestic_duxk]

beautiful!!! I completely love this!

[beelikej]

Thank youuuu! <3