Shadows - S/D Minibang Art Masterpost

[amberdreams]

My second artings in the the 3rd annual samdean_otp minibang challenge are for the lovely roxymissrose and her fic Shadows.  Read it here.
Summary: Season one background.  Dad's somewhere unknown, Dean's bone-tired and weighed down knowing that Sam is counting down the minutes until he can leave. Dean's a hell of a big brother, so he does Sam a favor and jumps ship first. What Dean doesn't know is that he's carrying a souvenir of his last hunt; it's hiding in his dreams.


An illustration of a more peaceful scene. Dean's reading while his new friends fish in the nearby lake.


I did a set of dividers






And finally:

The boys together, leaving town.

Some throwaway bits:
Dean walking scribble!

and the town sign on its own

The technical bits:
Dean reading is drawn and painted in Photoshop, without a reference. I did some overlay effects in GIMP because I still haven't worked out how to do all that in PS. Dean walking was also scribbled in Photoshop, using a screen cap from Episode 1 of Season 8 as a reference. The Title page/banner is GIMP, using screenshot photo-cut-outs of Sam and Dean, various smoke brushes and I drew the grass myself in Photoshop (because the brushes in PS are lovely for tapering effects).
The final picture was again done in a mixture of GIMP and PS. The lighting effect is a texture by cloaks. I drew the town sign from a photo I found of a real sign from Alaska.

Comments

[mashimero.livejournal.com]

I love how peaceful Dean looks reading away. And that's a really nice grass brush! Grass can be SUCH a pain in the ass to do (and to do it well) but you do it so nicely!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ha ha it wasn't a grass brush just a normal PS tapered brush (if you see what I mean) - I did lots of blades, then duplicated the first layer a couple of times ans resized a couple of layers - with hindsight, it would have been easier/quicker to have made a brush. Or used the one I've got in GIMP!! LOL

But thank you!

[mashimero.livejournal.com]

Ohhh smart thinking! I don't know why I never thought of copy-pasting grass LOL. And your icon btw is ADORABLE <3

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Oh the icon!!! That was odysseaia's wonderful art for my spn_gen BB - if you haven't seen it, go check it out, it's totally perfect!

[mashimero.livejournal.com]

I'll have to check it out, thanks! I haven't really been on LJ in aaaaages so I've missed tons of good stuff >.<

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Oh dear - well, have fun catching up then! LOL

[indiachick.livejournal.com]

Ooh I love the one where Dean is reading away. That's really beautiful in its soft palette of colors. And the texture for the Azaleas one is very nice too! Grass and hair are two of my absolute least favorite things to try on Photoshop but your grass looks so perfect and the color gradience is lovely! Great job :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I enjoyed doing the grass, sometimes I enjoy doing hair too, so maybe we are diametrical opposites there... LOL

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

Lovely, lovely work!!! You capture the dreamy feel so very well. Kudos!!!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Shadows and dreams is what I was going for!

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

I love the White Azaleas sign! It's those little touches that make me quite happy and make the universe seem 'real'. Fantastic job as always, lady!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ta very much missis. I have a little soft spot for town signs.

[roxymissrose.livejournal.com]

hi! I just have to tell you again how totally thrilled I am with the art. I love 'Dean reading' so much it's ridiculous. I love the way everything about him is more relaxed than it would be on the road hunting. Thank you for making my story even better. :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

"Twas a great pleasure! Mutual backslapping is in order, methinks!

[tifaching.livejournal.com]

Wow, these are really gorgeous. I love the way Dean's just a shadow in the burning field. Now I can't wait to read the story.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Cheers m'dear! I reckon you'll enjoy the story!

[equally-dour.livejournal.com]

Lovely work!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful mix of styles! I love how you coloured all of it; from the dramatic reds & fire-yellow in the grass to the comfy green & sand-yellow in the drawing of Dean (and for reversing those in the divider) and the soft tones in the final image.
I adore the Dean scribble.

GOOD STUFF!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!! Actually, I hadn't consciously done that with the colours of the dividers and the Dean beach pic...so that's kind of cool!

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

the smoke in the banner is pretty fabulous - also the grass and the fact that sam's face is lit but dean is all silhouette - and i love the pic of dean reading. he looks so relaxed and peaceful, and how often does that happen?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you - and yes, it made a nice change to have a Dean-down-time scene to illustrate!