amberdreams | Burn the Land - spn_J2bigbang Art Masterpost

My second art for this year's

spn_j2_bigbang and my second J2! I struck lucky again with this story - a thriller/love story by

nyxocity (and I'm happy to say I have finally got over my visual dyslexia over spelling her username!).
Click on the banner to go read the fic!

This is the story summary that snagged my interest - I mean, Alaska, Mexico and running for their lives? Awesome.

Summary: Eight years ago, Jared spent his entire summer on a tropical island off the coast of Mexico. He fell head over heels for Jensen, but their lives were going separate directions at the end of the summer, and they never quite got together. Now, in present day, Jared is a marine biologist working on a project in Alaska. He's amazed to discover the captain of the ship he's chartered is none other than Jensen. Jared's overjoyed, but Jensen is less than thrilled--he's a changed man since that summer so long ago; withdrawn, passionless and solitary. Still something of the bond between them remains, and neither of them seem to be able to escape its pull completely. When Jared's project leads them into danger and leaves them running and fighting for their lives, Jensen's secrets begin to come out, drawing them back together--but can they survive long enough to figure out this thing between them?

Of course when it came down to it, I ended up illustrating something totally different from what I'd expected...
Here's the title piece/book cover

I wanted to make this kind of folk arty, to go with the Alaskan vibe.

This next one is supposed to represent the first moment Jared sees Jensen, back in Mexico.

And a detail of Jensen's torso (because that was the part I was most pleased with!)

I did a chapter divider, based on a motif in the fic about Jensen having a collection of flotsam and jetsam, including old fishing nets.

I had wanted to draw some of the items (shells, pebbles etc) to go inside the hole in the knot, but ran out of time...
But I did draw a bonus scene (from the Alaskan sections) which nyx hasn't seen yet because I did it this morning. Hope she likes it!

The process
For anyone interested, I drew the main pictures in pencil, then photographed them to play with colours in Photoshop and PaintTool Sai. Except for the book cover, which was all drawn in Photoshop.
I had intended to do something with this drawing of a net, but then couldn't work out how to use it, so I just cut a section out and used that for the chapter headers.

This is the Jensen in Mexico sketch

I used a photo of a model, a guy holding a bunch of fish and another guy holding a knife, plus a paparazzi snap of Jensen as refs for this pose. Phew.
And this is the pencil versions of the Jared and Jen bonus pic

I only realised after I'd drawn Jared's face that I needed to sit Jensen on his right so I had to flip Jared when I put them into Photoshop. Doh!
Oh and this is the background I've used a couple of times, a painting done in Sai of a Mexican beach. It's in the background of the first Jensen pic, then again for the chapter headers. The wall and doorway in the Jensen pic was from this photo that came up in a google search for old doors.