The Song of the Ravens - spn_j2 big bang art masterpost

[amberdreams]

My second spn_j2_bigbang art post is for a pretty epic fic by winchesterpooja - The Song of the Ravens. I don't use the word epic lightly - pooja's taken on creating an AU after episode 3.15, and an alternate of season 4, with the added twist of the boys being separated. To retell a whole season in a completely new way was no mean task, and I'm looking forward to reading the whole fic uninterrupted as we've both been working up to the wire on this one!
Click on the banner to read the story on AO3

Summary: With barely two weeks remaining for Dean to go to Hell, Sam isn't coping, and Dean is hell-bent on making it all seem like small consequence. After all this, a mysterious string of deaths, and a subsequent case in Texas was all they needed to hammer in the final nail in the coffin. Interfering with this case proves detrimental to Sam and Dean, as they're left looking for each other in ways that they never expected, against odds that they can't even begin to imagine.

Will they find each other in time, or will the circumstances of their separation become an advantage to other evil forces?

The rest of the art:

Chapter header

And two POV markers

Dean and Castiel kiss

A scene from near the end of the story

And icons (shown large here)




The processy stuff:
The banner was the first piece I worked on - it's all drawn in PS using a pencil brush I hadn't tried before.Got to say, it was hard work, much more difficult using pencil digitally than using a real pencil!
The photo refs are promos from Season 6, you'll probably recognise them.
Here's the stages I went through to get from this:

to this (which for some reason I really, really like):

to starting to colour (in Sai and PS):

The chapter header was drawn in biro on paper, photographed then painted in PS and Sai. Here's the drawing.

Then the scene in the car (NB not the Impala!) was done in PS and painted in Sai
Concept sketch

Starting to draw it in detail in the same style as the banner

then I decided it would look better if you could see more of the car - like a camera shot

So then I erased all the excess parts, and coloured it. The texture is card6 from a pack by lost&taken.
The ravens in the banner are from a piece of sculpure by Aric Jorn.

Phew...that was a long one!! Hope y'all like the art and have fun reading the story!

Comments

[zara-zee.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. This art is AWESOME! I love all of it. The POV banners are amazing, as are the icons, and the one in the car is brilliant. I think my favourite, though, is the pencil drawing of Dean and Cas kissing; it's just so beautifully intimate. What an absolutely fantastic art set! And the story sounds good too. Shall keep an eye out for it to go live. :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! Glad you liked the kiss, I don't think I've really attempted to draw one before! :D

[sleepypercy.livejournal.com]

Ooh look at all the pretties!! I love those connected ravens and that EYE is just gorgeous with the trees growing out of the lashes <3

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I was quite pleased how the eye turned out! :D

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Cheers me dear!

[chomaisky.livejournal.com]

Ooooh you made the Impala pic work!!!! That's ambitious! I love the raven sculpture design!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the encouragement re: the car pic, and I'm glad you think it works! I have a particular fondness for animal interlace - and that sculpture saved me a lot of work... LOL!

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous art!! The ravens, the banner, and the soft tones in the car are glorious.

Awesome stuff, and the piece with the eye, tree and ravens is especially eye catching!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much!

[thursdaysisters.livejournal.com]

WOW that mechanical raven is baaaaaaadass, looks like something out of a Foglio steampunk comic! Are these on tumblr for pimp purposes? :-D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I hadn't intended the ravens to be steam punky but now you mention it... yeah, they are a bit!
And I forgot about tumblr (as usual) so thanks for the reminder - http://amberdreams1960.tumblr.com/post/124317280849/my-second-spn-j2-bigbang-art-post-for

[expectative.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, this is amazing art! I have a fondness for ravens :) Th eboys are looking good. Not sure I'll read the fic if it's Dean/Castiel but your art sure does a good job to make people want to read it anyway :D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

It's actually quite mildly Dean/Cas, and majors on the Sam and Dean relationship, so you'd probably find it ok on that point. But thanks for the compliment!

PS I haven't forgotten your commission either, don't worry!

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Bb I am gonna have to start not looking at your journal for fear of heart break! LOL! These are bloody amazing bb! I mean honestly, where did you get this SKILL from *jealous* so beautiful, and there's so much of it! Well done! I particularly love...nope, sorry I can't actually pick a piece they're all fucking amazing!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Aw thank you, but don't stop looking! :D

[fireheart13.livejournal.com]

This is really stunning, bb!!! You have some incredible line work and shading both going on here!!! Wow! And I love the ravens themselves, so cool!! I'm interested in the story just from seeing this. As much as I'm not a fan of Dean and Cas kissing, I do think that pieces is just lovely. Amazing set!!!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thankee thankee! Destiel ain't my thing either, but well, pretty boys kissing, huh? Got to be done.

[rockstarpeach.livejournal.com]

Amazing, love!

The final pieces are stunning, and it's always so cool to see the concepts along the way :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I try and remember to save a few of the steps along the way now, because i love seeing other people's so much! :D
Glad you like these, thanks for stopping by! :D

[siennavie.livejournal.com]

Fantastic, bb! Loving them all! The way you shaded and colored everything is fab, and I really enjoyed the progression shots for the car pic. Good idea to frame it with the car.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much! Sometimes an idea works... :D

[galwithglasses.livejournal.com]

The POV banners are really awesome. I love the ravens. The trees growing out of the eye in the chapter 1 banner are very cool as is the green in the eye. I don't usually read much Dean/Cas but based on the art, the story looks like I would enjoy it. Fabulous work.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you! So happy you liked the eye :D Oh and the fic is fairly mild on the Destiel, and has the advantage of not underplaying the importance of the brothers' relationship.

[lotrspnfangirl.livejournal.com]

Absolutely gorgeous! And I love the impala picture and that you can see the majority of the car as if you're standing right beside it. And I love the Destiel sketch <3

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm extra happy the car scene seems to have worked for people!

[SPN J2BB] The Song of the Ravens: Masterpost

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

User winchesterpooja referenced to your post from [SPN J2BB] The Song of the Ravens: Masterpost (http://winchesterpooja.livejournal.com/36639.html) saying: [...] finally boils down to SamnDean. Mentioning it here so you won’t be disappointed! Art Post [...]

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Gorrrrgeous! I especially love the raven knotwork design. THAT is damned niced. Love the car drawing too; man, is it tough to figure out where to put multiple figures so that they all work, but you rocked it! Very smart, to tilt the perspective a touch.

Well done, Amb!!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I can't claim the credit for the Raven knotwork - that was me being lazy! LOL chomaisky gave me the confidence to persevere with the car scene but I can actually thank badbastion for the original inspiration - I seem to remember she did a car interior scene a while ago.

[nomercles.livejournal.com]

I got lucky enough to see little teasers from winchesterpooja, and every time I just marvelled at your art. You are very, very talented.

I particularly admired the black-and-white drawing of the boys with the ravens on their shoulders. The shading is *incredible*. The same for the kiss! I'm not a Destiel shipper, but there was still something painfully intimate and lovely that you captured in that picture. There's a *lot* of intensity there.

Every time she emailed me with a "progress report", whether your art or venting about her story, or whatever else, it was magical. You guys are a really good team. :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Pooja made everything easy with her enthusiasm and ideas - I'm glad you liked what we were doing as we went along, that's cool!

[winchesterpooja.livejournal.com]

AAAAAA! WE DID IT!

:DDDD

I love looking at your process! This is fantastic! Thanks for giving me and our fic your time, and you are so, so wonderful. The last minute scramble! EEEEE!

Anywayyyy, I will always ogle at shirtless!boys and Destiel and the car and the ravens and everything, just everything is GORGEOUS.

Thank you so, so very much. :*

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you my dear, you are a pleasure to work with!

[pennydrdful.livejournal.com]

Beautiful work! And that raven thing looks kick ass. Love the design of if it!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

That sculptor is worth checking out, he makes lovely Viking designs (I just borrowed from him!)

[locknkey.livejournal.com]

These are stunning! Really great work. I love the banner with the celtic crows - the composition works really well. The chapter header is very eye-catching (no pun intended) as you can't help but be drawn the the eye. Really nice perspective in the car scene.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot, I'm glad you found so much to like!

[equally-dour.livejournal.com]

these are so beautiful!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[jennygeee.livejournal.com]

Wow! This is amazing art! All of it is stunning!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you, glad you liked it.

[tx-devilorangel.livejournal.com]

The art for this story is gorgeous, just absolutely gorgeous.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

[akira17.livejournal.com]

beautiful and I really like the ravens

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I kind of stole the raven design but it was too cool not to use..

[dephigravity.livejournal.com]

WOW! Just wow! I absolutely love your line work in all of these-- especially (dare I say) the Dean/Cas piece. And that Raven is freaking cool! Bravo!!!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Heh heh - nothing wrong with a little bit of Destiel on occasion. It's a bit like Bon Jovi....LOL
Thank you!

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

the chapter header is creepy as shit, but the eye is really beautiful. i love the way you distinguish the two pov headers, and while i'm not a dean/castiel shipper by any stretch, the drawing of the two of them is very, very nice.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

It is kind of creepy, I suppose... :D Thanks very much!