SPN_J2 BB - When the Devil Came to Pluto. Art Masterpost

[amberdreams]

This year's spn_j2_bigbang I claimed a Western J2 AU, because the summary sounded like so much fun. I was right! I was chuffed to learn the story belonged to tsuki_no_bara, as I hadn't worked with her before. So this meant lots of new things - so exciting!

Click on the banner  or HERE to read the story

There were so many interesting characters and so many visually pleasing scenes in the fic I'd have liked to illustrate, but sadly the timings of the bb mean artists don't get a huge amount of time, and mine ran out very quickly!
Here are my finished pieces:
The town of Pluto

This is a composite made from two different drawings. Here's the town buildings on their own.

I thought it would be fun to try some gifs, so the next two are (slightly) animated.
This is the scene where Jared sees Jensen take off into the night, using a burning brand to light his way.

Next, Jared and the herd of ghost ponies. I'm not really happy with this, it didn't turn out like I wanted but it is what it is.


And lastly, here's Jared and Jensen by their campfire.


Process!!
All the creations were a combination of traditional and digital.
Here are the traditional drawings for each piece.
First the two drawings of Jared and Jensen that I used in the last picture, done with Koh-i-nor sanguine pencil.


I used two overlay effects on that final picture; one is from Pack 19 by_sirius_sdz, which gives the effect of a fire between them, and the second was a NASA Hubble photo of cosmic dust. I then digitally painted the background and highlights of the fire on their faces, added colour dodge yellow and multiplied shadows to creat the fire effect and sparks. I then used those layers to create the gif.

Here's the town drawing number 1 before I changed Funeral to Richings on the last building.

I used a composite of several photos of Western towns for reference, and then, because I'd stupidly done the townscape too near the top of a page, I drew the town sign separately then mashed the two together in Photoshop.

The pic of Jensen climbing over the rocks was done entirely without references, and I used ink pen and watercolours. Stage one was drawing Jensen and the rocks in ink, then giving it a wash of watercolour paint.

Stage two was adding more colour with watercolour pencils, then washing over that with water to blend it.

Stage three was all digital, adding shading and shadows and the flickering light.

Lastly, this was my first ghost pony idea.

Done in a hurry on my iPad but I actually like the pony on this much better than the ink wash versions I tried this morning.

Here's the ink wash version. I then drew Jared with sanguine pencil and fineliner. Not at all happy with it.

Comments

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

But that's exactly it though, I feel I am able to tell a better story through photomanips.

I know that I have some talent in drawing. Talent determent the potential you have of being good in a thing if you put your heart and effort into it. And had I put my heart and effort into it since I was a child, I would have been much better than I am - and if I keep practicing, I can get much better than I am. I have a potential to be better at it... And I do appreciate that you recognize that, and tell me that. It means that you believe in me.

I do believe I have a talent in Photomanips as well. And I do believe one can tell a story though that kind of art, and I do believe I do that. And I am more fluent in photoshop than in traditional art, if it's possible to say that.

I feel that if I try to tell a story though my art, I am able to tell a better story though photomanips than traditional art because I feel that my lack of skills in traditional art (because I haven't trained that muscle as much) stops the story way earlier than I want it to stop. I can go way further with photomanips, because I have reached more of my potential there.

But I feel I was forced to do traditional art. First because of my own insecurities. You are not the first person that has said that they prefer traditional art, and a lot of people say that don't consider photomanips to be art. And for a while there, my self-confidence was depended on "likes" in fandom. So I did traditional art, because even a half-good drawing get more hits and likes than a well done photomanip. And then JIB of course put a stop to getting autographs on photos, so I had to start drawing there as well. And it's been great getting way more compliments for my drawings than I have even gotten for manips. But it still isn't me.

It's a little bit about telling a story in Norwegian vs English. If I write it in Norwegian, I can tell a better story, because I own the Norwegian language. It's mine. It's my history. It's my culture.
If I tell a story in English, my story will lack because I don't own English in the same way. I'm not part of the culture that are the building blocks for the English language, and my vocabulary and ability to add all those subtle distinctions.

But I am forced to write my fics in English, because that's the language fandom reads. Had I written the story in Norwegian, it would have been better, but I would have much less readers, so and what is a story if no one reads it? A story is meant to be told...

But I feel it's time to go back to my roots... I want to keep telling stories in photoshop, and I can live with getting less hits. I want to tell better stories again. And either you are very good a lying when you comment on art posts, or you have actually found my arts to tell stories before, because this was your comment the last time I did photo-manip art:

"Great art work! I really love the style you chose for these, the backgrounds are lovely, they really add a lot of atmosphere. The way you've positioned the characters so they are kind of haunting eahc other in the background has me intrigued about the story! I especially love the first one of Jensen on crutches, the one of Jared sitting with the shadow of the girl on the wall, and the last one with all the other people as shadows. These pictures tell stories all by themselves!" (it was this art: http://bflyw.livejournal.com/649068.html (http://bflyw.livejournal.com/649068.html))

Hopefully I'll tell a story in my art this year as well. I really want people to see that we can make art in photoshop as well, and that our art also tell a story.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Oh I didn't mean it to sound like I don't think photomanips can be art, or that they don't have merit - they absolutely do. And like you say, storytelling (which is what I love about fanart) is definitely there in manips too. I think I've just moved myself from photos to more traditional stuff as I've grown a bit more confident in my own drafting skills. And the number of people who can do good manips are few and far between. I'd definitely count you as one of the good ones! And yes, my comment stands! (Typos and all... dammit)

I would say though - do carry on with your drawing too. Because if you carry on, I'm sure you will come to own that skill just as much as you own photography and photo manips.

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

I think I've just moved myself from photos to more traditional stuff as I've grown a bit more confident in my own drafting skills.
I can definitely understand that!
And the number of people who can do good manips are few and far between
Unfortunately I agree with you there - which is why I think it's important for me to encourage those who do make manips, so that they will continue and get better at it :-) We need more!

haha - love typos - when they are yourn, not mine!

I definitely want to continue to do drawings.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

A couple of us were discussing this the other day - how there seem to be so many either bad or mediocre mannippers out there, but that the people concerned get a bunch of enthusiastic comments regardless of how terrible the art actually is. So do we comment positively (but non specifically) to be encouraging; try and drop in a hint or too on how to improve; or just cease trying to comment at all?

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

It's tricky. You want to encourage them... and you don't want to step on anyone's toes, you know?
I think my way of dealing with it has been to post more and more about the process I go through when making my art, so that other people may get some ideas how they can do stuff....easy stuff like matching the lights on the elements, softening the edges so that it doesn't look so cut and paste, soften it with texture at the end to blend it all together etc - typical errors that a lot (and I mean a lot) of manippers do in the beginning. I was lucky to have photoshop in my education, so I've had about 250 school-hours in photoshop (3 months of photoshop 20 hours pr week + plus homework in photoshop on top of that), where the teacher taught us how to soften the edges etc, otherwise god knows how I would have made my manips...

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yes, I find process stuff very useful - and i've used some video tutorials too, though I haven't done any of the techniques often enough to fix them in my head. I need to check every time for a lot of things!