A new partner in crime for this year's
spneldritchbang and a delightfully angsty and creepy story by EnTeSelene. Perfect for the season!
Click on the Banner for the story on AO3
Key to Dean's part of the story is the risky business of catching out trains, so I had to try something around that
The night time background with the train was done with oil sticks, mixed with linseed oil and moved around with a paintbrush with variable success. Dean and the inky Soul Eater were added using digital layers.
And the image of Dean, alone, being menaced by the soul eater was also something I had to try
Now the rambling part 😂
There are actually loads of images that I was inspired by in the story, but alas, deadlines and other things always mean options have to be narrowed down, and those two main images were my favourites from the start.
So first was the searching for suitable references (American freight trains, anyone?) and some sketching to work out the concepts.

For Dean's sitting position I was using this behind the scenes photo from the finale, but on reflection, I changed it so Dean was looking down - both because it mirrored his feelings of despair, but also because in the story he's trying to avoid eye contact to contain the monster.

I made a silhouette of Dean leaping onto the train, which I then used in negative digitally on the oil painting of the train, and again in the banner.
I wanted the soul eater to be something organic looking, so I had a very messy time with a pipette and a straw, splashing india ink and blowing it to create some inky messes to use - and they appear in every picture.
All the [pictures are traditional media which I then played with digitally to combine the different elements. So seated Dean was drawn separately with a Derwent blu-ink coloured pencil, and the Soul Eater was an ink blot page which was added digitally.


Hmm - Blue Dean and the Inkblots could be a 1960s band name...




