Artpost for "I See Stars In You"
Created for quicky_bang
Title: I See Stars In You
Author: jdl71
Artist: dwimpala21
Rating: Mature
Pairing: Sam/Dean
Word Count: 722
Summary: Sam reflects on Dean's scars.
Link to Fic: Ao3
I claimed Jen's fic for quicky_bang . the author wanted a specific scene illustrated and that was the brothers in bed. The thing that intrigued me the most was about Sam giving Dean a massage. The fic elaborates the scene so beautifully. I've tried my level best to do justice to the story. Here's how the final piece took a shape.
1. The first step towards creating the photo manip was finding the correct background. The dim lights, feel of an enclosed room as the boys are in bunker, a bed with white sheets and all. So I googled and settled on the following image of the room.
2. Step two, get a correct perspective of the room that would be suitable to add the illustration and the angle of the room right for boys in bed.
3. Step three. Now that I am satisfied with the perspective, I needed to change the background because obviously this room is not suitable for the feel of the room in MoL bunker. I chose, from an array of options available to me, a cream-ish wall with a small window that leave a bit of scope for light to enter the room.
4. Step 4 would be to create a cut out of boys, Sam in a position of giving Dean a massage. I had to align the body and face ratio and index to get the feel of them being Sam and Dean. Enhanced the cutout with temperature, brightness, clarity, hue, saturation, contrast etc, to blend the two images to get a perfect photo manip. Once I had the cut out ready, I pasted it on the background. Changed the perspective again, added some elements like blankets etc and added a "warm" tone filter.
5. Step five. Finally gave the image a makeover with some effects in a specific color scheme. The one I used is called "galaxy" to go with the theme of the title. the title resonates with the colors of sky so I went with that particular color scheme. then I found a perfect starry sky image that could blend with the image to relate to the title "I See Stars In You." Once the outcome was satisfactory, I added the text. the author wanted the text to be something that is soft and soothing. Accordingly went with handwriting font available with the software and the manip was ready.
It would never have been possible without the endless feedback from by beta jessie_cristo73 and the author herself. So, thank you both, for being my support system. Special thanks to the mod of the challenge for running it for another year.