history bang art master post - SPN. And not one Stick Stand by Another by tesserae_

[amberdreams]

I was lucky to nab tesserae_'s hard to describe Supernatural fic to do art for in this year's history_bigbang. It's not time travel, and it's kind of an AU mixed with non AU, so the past has a version of John and Mary, with wee Sam and Dean, while the present has the Sam and Dean we know. See? Hard to categorise! So now you'll have to read it, right?
Story link HERE on AO3! Woo hoo!

Two details from the larger pic
Mary and wee Sammy

Wee Dean


A look at the work in progress for anyone interested in such things

I drew it all in photoshop using photo references for the faces - a JDM photo shoot, a still of Mary, Dean is from a photo of one of my friend's sons on a beach somewhere while Sam is totally made up! (Which is probably why he looks like a little doll ha ha ha!). I then painted it in Sai, then back to photoshop to add textures.

And I'll wait fro someone cleverer than me to explain how I managed to cock up John's face just by colouring it. I got something very wrong there and it's gone from looking quite like him to looking like some other bloke! LOL

Comments

[yohkobennington.livejournal.com]

Little Dean tho, I want to cuddle him and tickle him.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

The minute I saw my friend's photo I thought - perfect for wee!Dean! I was happy how he turned out so I'm very glad you like him too!

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

That's weird, John does look much better uncoloured, I can't see why!! But little Dean is perfect, he looks full of life and joy. Lovely.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Little Dean was my fave - I was really happy how he turned out!

[siennavie.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like how you brought the characters into the past. And I have to chime in with everyone about the adorableness of wee!Dean.

As for John, the first thing that strikes me in the colored version is the roundness of the forehead. I think the highlight is a bit large?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yes I did fiddle with that quite a bit but I just seemed to make it worse! And the mouth went wrong too.

[siennavie.livejournal.com]

I've been in those shoes too many times to count. I like to think though as we keep practicing, spotting (and fixing) those issues will come easier to us :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Hee! Let's hope so! :D

[tifaching.livejournal.com]

Ah! John looks so serious and Dean looks so happy and MARY CARRYING SAM! I already can't wait to read this. :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I only had the first chapter to work from but the Mary & children image was one I just had to do!

[runedgirl.livejournal.com]

Awwwww, wee Dean - so adorable!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

He turned out cute - yay!

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

Oooh, love the golden palette! So it's an fifteenth-century-ish Winchester story? Mary has a suitably Puritan look about her. And Dean is just adorable! ♥ This looks like a story I need to read.

Re line-to-color mishaps, I've been there and done that. Many times. :) Something as simple as too much or too little shading in an eye socket or cheekbone can totally wreck a likeness. Now I keep the photo ref in front of me as I shade the facial contours. (But hey, at least y'all digital artists can hit the back button if it all goes sideways.) :D

[siennavie.livejournal.com]

I know, right?! And even with a photo ref, you start becoming blind to the subtleties after staring at it for hours, so fiddling and fiddling sometimes gets you nowhere. Or when you think that eyebrow looked perfectly placed in the drawing, but coloring proves it's too high! Shared pains :P

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Mid 1600s so yeah! Story link is now up too.

I think I over shaded, basically. Then I couldn't work out how to backstep without starting over so...

[blackrabbit42.livejournal.com]

OMG. Dean's wee freckles and eyelashes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to lick them. In a cute, age-appropriate way, of course.

:)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Heh heh. Thank you!

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Perfect style for a historical! I just love it! Especially the little vignette of Mary and the boys; you just don't see that often at all.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I ended up much more pleased with Mary and the boys! Ta my dear.

[chomaisky.livejournal.com]

I love the biblical feeling. And little Dean is perfect!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Actually, now you mention it - yes it does have a medieval biblical feel to it, if I'd added a donkey it would have been a Winchester flight to Egypt!

[http://users.livejournal.com/tesserae_/]

And these are so wonderful! Thank you for pulling the boys to life so beautifully - that scene was the first I wrote, and I'm so glad that was what you chose to capture.

Also, here it is! (Hey - it's 13 minutes to midnight! That's still the 20th, right? Holy shit.)

On AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1496215

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ha ha down to the wire! Well done! Now I'm looking forward to reading the finished article!

[badbastion.livejournal.com]

This is lovely :) I especially love wee Dean and Sammy - Dean looks so happy! The colors are beautiful, too.

I don't know if you still want answers about John, but I think you lost some of the darkness around his eyes - JDM has some permanent eye circles, and without them, he looks smoother and less aged, so he looks less like him. I think darker eyelashes might have helped, too. :) But it's still gorgeous!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ah, mmm I think I will have another look at the eyes, thanks!
And I was pleased how happy Dean came out, it was nice to do a 'before' tragedy picture for a change! Thanks for commenting when you must be busy with your move!

[ash48.livejournal.com]

This are great! (and there's a history big bang? Wow...). You've captured the past beautifully - especially with the colouring. I love Wee!Dean trailing behind with that delightful smile on his face. Then there's Mary's worried face and John's serious one - there's a real sense of story in this picture (it's made me very intrigued about the actual story).
xx

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

There is indeed a historybang - annual, multi-fandom, not overly subscribed... I discovered it last year thanks to tryfanstone. I wrote my J2 WWII AU for it and got some perfect art done for me, and I did some art for tryfanstone's Dorothy Dunnet fic.

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

It's not often that I see art for all four members of the Winchester family so this is a real treat!

I love the serious expressions on Mary and John's face compared with how carefree Dean looks (so cute, with his freckles). Baby Sam is just too adorable!

You've certainly made me want to read this fic! Such beautiful art and I love the golden warmth of the colour palette.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Of course, if it makes you want to read the fic then that's my job done!