Living the Dream - Case Fic Art Masterpost

[amberdreams]

I had the pleasure of working with oceanbluecas and sixxstiel on this year's casefic. Unfortunately, due to lions and bears and JIBcon, I only had time for one main picture, which I cannibalised to make the banner and some icons.
Here's the banner (click on it to read the story)

Here's the picture without text

and here are two crops which could be used as icons (because they're square LOL)


Process (yes, even though I was strapped for time, there still was one!)

I had the idea of trying to represent Dean's confusion in the fic, struggling between the djinn visions and reality. There's a cool description about Dean's world represented by black, red, and blue, so that's where I went with the design. The background is created from this free wallpaper I found doing an image search.

It's just called black and blue abstract.
I used an old promo photo of Dean for his face reference, instead of my initial reference which was a still from What is and Should Never Be. I just thought it would look better if Dean was looking straight at us, which also had the advantage of letting me highlight the colours in his eyes.
This was my first draft sketch idea, just trying out stuff and because I needed something quick to submit to the mods. It was very scrappy!

As you can see, in the finished piece, Dean is quite different. Plus I went off the idea of trying a reverse silhouette in favour of the painted look. I still haven't got the hang of painting in PS, but the final piece was done laying down flat colours then blending using the mixer brush, plus adding some PS filters for texture. The lines of the blue and red colours, and some other lines were done in a separate layer. I wanted those lines to look rougher, though I'm not sure now that it really works.
The colt is a PS overpainted photo with some other fiddling by me because I'm lazy.

Comments

[somer.livejournal.com]

Looks freaking awesome! I like the red and green in the firts banner and how it highlights things! LOOK AT THAT BEAUTIFUL GUN!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Aw thank you!

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Beautiful!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[emmatheslayer.livejournal.com]

so awesome

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Cheers me dear!

[big-heart-june.livejournal.com]

GORGEOUS!! amazing colouring, crazy-beautiful gun, and a lovely lovely Dean ♥ SO EXCITED to see BigBang postings! ♥

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

My BB is quite different from this one so I hope you still like it!

[sillie]

This looks amazing bb. Loved the colors you picked, and the gun looks amazing.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Aw thanks! But the gun was a cheat with the photo giving me all the detail.

[sillie]

I don't think using reference pictures is cheating. It still looks great to me. :)

[kalliel]

This is so intense--instantly eye-catching. I tend to scroll through my flist pretty fast, and open all the posts I aim to read/comment on in tabs after the initial speed-scan, but this stood out, and I didn't want to wait to get to it in my tabs. XD Gorgeous use of contrast and vibrant color, and Dean's expression is totally arresting. I do like him staring right at the audience! And damn, son, the detail on that gun. <3333

I also love that the square crops don't quite align, which gives it an off-kilter, disjunctive vibe that does its own unintentional storytelling if you envision the as a diptych!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

You are so nice to say so! *huggles you*

[julchen11.livejournal.com]

Goodness - this is simply gorgeous!!!! *stares* Great work, my dear. Thanks for sharing!!!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much!

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Despite being strapped for time that's extremely beautiful, the colours just leap off the page and I love the use of his world being split into the three colours. Very clever, and even though you say you still haven't got the hang of painting in PS you've still nailed this one, it's stunning :) You're right though there is a huge difference between that initial sketch and the finished product and having him face forwards really makes the piece :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Glad to hear you think the changes worked so well!

[herminekurotowa.livejournal.com]

STUNNING!!!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks petal!

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is really eye-catching!!! I love the colours and that gun. Awesome stuff!!!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

It's super pretty, though!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thankee!

[kuwlshadow.livejournal.com]

This is really awesome. :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks bunches!