amberdreams: (Bum)
amberdreams ([personal profile] amberdreams) wrote2016-07-27 10:39 am

A Long Quiet River - Art Masterpost

The first of two art posts for the wipbigbang, celebrating writers finishing their shit! Yay!
I was lucky to snaffle herminekurotowa's J2 kidnap fic A Long Quiet River - lots of hurt Jensen plus a mystery, what more could a girl ask for?
Summary: Jensen meets Jared in unluckiest circumstances - as a kidnap victim. But who is the kidnapper?
Click on the banner to go read the story!
hermina banner 600
Here's a larger version without the text.
hermina faces large no text
I started with an idea of showing Jensen chained up in the cellar/basement, just suggesting Jared's presence with a shadow on the wall.
So here's the main illustration - I ended up with two versions, one daytime, one nighttime, and couldn't decide which one I preferred.
This is the original version - nighttime
HerminaWIP-caged Jensen
And then I played with the layers and effects and ta da! Daytime.
HerminaWIP-caged Jensen day

Process!

The main illustration was all done digitally. I started by sketching/outlining Jensen, creating Jared's silhouette, then adding layers, colouring/painting Jensen and then fiddling with various layers and adding shadows until it looked done to me.
Here's a progress shot
HerminaWIP-1 prog

References/resources:
I used this promo shot of Jensen as a reference for his pose
S7_015 and created Jared's silhouette from this promo shot
Sam season 4 promo white t
The background is this stock photo from tiger's stock on deviantart. I've used this one before because I like it so much.
466_empty_room_01_by_tigers_stock-d4t5ymt

The banner was a pencil drawing. I created a rough manip using two convention photos to use as a reference.
The Jared one is by wolfpup2000, sorry I don't know the photographer of the Jensen pic, I found it on tumblr.
Hermina 2 faces-1
The reason it's cropped like that is because initially I'd had this idea about drawing them like a Mitoraj sculpture, like broken pieces of themselves. But that didn't really work out, so they do have hair!
Here's the drawing taking shape, for anyone interested.
P1410684
P1410685
P1410687
P1410688
To create the banner I took the best photo I could get, imported it into PS, extended the grey paper to a more oblong shape, duplicated and multiplied the drawing layer 3 times to increase the darkness without losing the pencil strokes, altered the balance using curves, then added some shadow and the text. The font is called Beverly, and I think I got it from Creative Market as a freebie.
ext_57687: (♥ actor | ja jib11 laughing! (ani))

[identity profile] big-heart-june.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 10:20 am (UTC)(link)
Beautiful insight into truly gorgeous artwork. As always ♥ Wow, cant stop staring at alllll the pretty ♥ Hermine is THE LUCKIEST.

[identity profile] herminekurotowa.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 10:26 am (UTC)(link)
You're so right!!!! AND YES SHE IS!!!!

[identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 01:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Aw shucks. Thank you!

[identity profile] milly-gal.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 12:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh wow honey that's stunning and I love the way you managed to crop and layer them to just the right angles for your reference. Gorgeous pieces :D

[identity profile] madebyme-x.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Ohhhh I love these! And you're right it's a hard choice with the night time or day time pieces, I think I'm slightly more partial to day time because we get a little more of Jared's silhouette on the floor boards.

Beaufufl work - as always! Take care :)

[identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 04:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I think I'm angling towards the daytime one too...

[identity profile] fireheart13.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 04:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I love these pieces. I also love seeing how you developed them! THe process is always so fascinating!

[identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 08:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I feel I have to include the process now LOL

A Long Quiet River

[identity profile] livejournal.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 07:06 pm (UTC)(link)
User [livejournal.com profile] herminekurotowa referenced to your post from A Long Quiet River (http://wipbigbang.livejournal.com/71158.html) saying: [...] / Art on LJ [...]

[identity profile] red-b-rackham.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 07:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh WOW!! You are so talented! Wonderful sketches! <3

[identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 08:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks very much!

[identity profile] dizzojay.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 08:07 pm (UTC)(link)
That artwork is gorgeous - I love the black and white effect of the banner.
I'm really looking forward to reading the story :)

[identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks very much, me dear!

[identity profile] galadriel13.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I love the sketches!!! I love all the art! Wow!
Thank you for sharing your process of creation in such a detailed way.

[identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks, I'm glad you like the art and the in-progress bits.
sillie: (BigBang2010AmriaDean)

[personal profile] sillie 2016-07-27 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, these are wonderful. Love the progress shots, thanks for adding those. :D

[identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I kind of feel obliged to add those now, LOL! And thanks!

[identity profile] zara-zee.livejournal.com 2016-07-27 11:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Gorgeous! I like the daytime one best too. I like the colour and the fact that we can see Jared's silhouette better. :)

[identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com 2016-07-30 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
Ta muchly!

[identity profile] jj1564.livejournal.com 2016-07-29 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, your artwork fits the story perfectly; I actually prefer the night time one as it's more stark and I love the air of menace from the silhouette. Jensen's lips are gorgeous in the banner, so plump and pretty! Thanks for sharing your process, I love how you used photos from conventions to make the sketch, and the one of Jensen sitting on the floor is such a favourite and was perfect for this story. Wow!

[identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com 2016-07-30 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I still can't decide one night or day, it's nice that people are also divided!

[identity profile] aerynsun5.livejournal.com 2016-07-31 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
Your work is so lovely. It's always interesting to know your process.

[identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com 2016-08-03 11:17 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks so much! :D

[identity profile] somersault-j.livejournal.com 2016-08-07 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
God, this is gorgeous! Their faces in the banner are PERFECT!

[identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com 2016-08-07 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! It's always extra nice to hear that a pencil drawing works!