Forever and a Day - spnopera art post

[amberdreams]

No last minute panic here, nope. Me and cherie_morte paired up to deliver a J2 version of Gounod's Faust for spnopera. cherie is posting a bit later on, I'm posting now because I'm going out later. STORY LINK COMING SOON!

The prompt was Faust (by Gounod): Trading his soul to the devil Méphistophélès, Faust transforms back into a handsome young man and the two go off in search of beautiful women and adventure.

Trying again bcause I accidentally deleted half the post. Dammit!

I wanted to do this one mostly in pencil because I wanted that grainy quality - ha! Right. I should have stuck to Photoshop, because nothing seemed to work right. So most of this post is me bemoaning my lack of skill. Just warning you.

I tried a scene illustration

I hate it - the proportions are all out of whack and even the blood spatter couldn't disguise  all the errors - argh!

I'm including this one (murder husbands!! Thanks Chomasiky!) because though it was initially just a sketch idea, it's ended up being the only piece I like.

and I did some shading and blood spattering so it matches the set

I liked how the shading suddenly makes Jensen look wicked.



OK - process/in-progress stuff (beware more whinging):

The title art: Without giving too much away from the story, Jared's face for the title art was meant to show Old Jared and Young Jared.
Here's the first version of the drawing

which I got annoyed with and scribbled over because it was ALL WRONG!! Well, maybe the bottom half of his face is ok, but the rest - just NO.

Which actually looked marginally better but still WRONG. However, there was no time to start again so. This angry scribble was the one I then added the wrinkles to age the right half of his face. I photographed it again, and used this version for the title pic.

The murder scene:
I'd tried sketching the scene in photoshop to get the positions and then used this final idea to draw from in pencil - I think I should have stuck to PS.
Photoshop sketch

Pencil version

So yeah, that's about it. The whole thing ended up being an exercise in frustration, really - though I will hasten to say, no reflection on the quality of the story, which is great!

Comments

[badbastion.livejournal.com]

I like it! The cover art looks great, and I really do love the murder husbands ( :D!) picture. I'm sorry you had such a frustrating time with it! Sometimes art is hard (hugs) but I think it turned out better than you think it did :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you! But --- ugh. :D

[chomaisky.livejournal.com]

Who don't love some Winchester murder husbands?!!! I love Jared's wicked smile :)))))

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Eh well that one sort of worked so yeah... Thanks!

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

I think these are wonderful (and you shouldn't be so hard on yourself!)

The portrait of Jared is gorgeous, and I love the textures you created and the blood splatters. The murder husband pieces are stand out, and that devilish looks in Jensen's eyes is perfect.

Looking forward to the fic! Take care :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

You are too kind! :D Thank you

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

It's scarily good artwork hun, very grungy and very vivid :D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Grungy. Yup LOL! Thanks me dear.

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

*grins* That was meant to be a compliment!

[thursdaysisters.livejournal.com]

The world can't have enough murder husband art! I love how Jensen's eyes glow in that bloody hug portrait, it all looks great! :-D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's cho's fault I was looking at Hannibal art and stole the pose :D

[sillie]

These look great, bb. Pencil can be really hard, especially if it doesn't want to work with you. I've wished several times that my pencils had an undo button, or a way to move around things.

ANYWAY. I really like the Jared portrait you did, and the murder husbands picture is lovely in a bit of a creepy way. :')

[emmatheslayer.livejournal.com]

wow amazing art you have so much skill wow

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

I love the murder husbands one, especially with the blood splatters, and the murder scene is chilling. Your Jared is great, I love his cheekbones and the angular look to his face. I can't wait to read the story now!

[majestic-duxk.livejournal.com]

these are wonderful! I love the colour schemes - so fitting

[cherie-morte.livejournal.com]

*slinks in a thousand years late* *is a giant scrub* OKAY SO I FINALLY FINISHED THE STORY AND MY CRIPPLING GUILT ISN'T FORCING ME TO HIDE FROM THIS BEAUTIFUL ART POST ANY LONGET. I am so sorry I did not at least comment when you posted--I kept telling myself I would leave the comment as soon as I finished the fic and wHHOOPS THAT TOOK LONGER THAN ANTICIPATED.

But. I looove this art. I only hope that I was able to create an atmosphere even 1/10000 as creepy in the story as you captured in this. GOOOOODDD THE TWO MURDER SPOUSES PIECES. ARE SO MUCH. THE BODY LANGUAGE in the first one is so delicious debauched and I love the POSSESSIVE EDGE to how Jared is standing. And then those unapologetic filthy looks on their faces in the second, closer piece. My soul left my body. (also worth mentioning is that Jared's ass is *long row of fire emojis*. I mean, you do have such a talent for drawing asses. Which, if there's a better compliment out there, I don't know how it would sound like.

And the creepy sketch of Jared that you did for the title piece actually inspired me to write it into the story. I love that it has a kind of Portrait of Dorian Gray way of capturing his badness. Like, it should be a regular portrait of our Jared, but there's something creeping and unsettling about it that you just don't see with the usual happy-puppy-and-rainbows!Jared portrait.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CREATING THIS AMAZING ART FOR MY STORY. I CANNOT EVEN EXPRESS HOW MUCH OF A BUTT I AM AND HOW MUCH I DON'T DESERVE IT. <3333

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

God I'd totally forgotten about this! Sadly, I still don't like my drawings much either, they haven't improved while I wasn't paying attention...but I'm sure I'm going to love your story!

Now I need to add the link to this. :D

[hugemind.livejournal.com]

Oooo, murder husbands and all the wickedness!! ♥ Also, Jared's painted on jeans. ;D

[somer.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is creepily beautiful and bloody! I really like the pieces. <3

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yay, glad you like!