Where the Wild Roses Grow Art Post

[seleneheart]

Title: Where the Wild Roses Grow
Summary: Cas is a human with the ability to exorcise demons, hidden away by the Order to protect his bloodline. He meets a young man at work with a billion mega watt grin, how was he to know it was his ancestral enemy – the Morrigan, and what it means to love someone like that.

When I was thinking about my claim for this year, I wanted a darker fic that was infused with symbolism and mythology. I found exactly that in seraphim_grace's story, Where the Wild Roses Grow. These pictures are a bit spoilery for the story, so read that first.

Book cover




Castiel

In the story, Castiel is described as being a Merovingian, which was a medieval French dynasty, so in my mind, he was a knight.



Dean

Dean as the Morrigan, on the other hand, was clearly a pagan, so he is a modern representation of that Celtic goddess.



Dean and Cas in happier times.



Last scene of the story -- Cas is older, hardened, has lost the one person that means anything to him.


Icons and Divider



Some scraps that were part of the larger pictures. The raven tattoo took an unbelievable amount of time as I continually changed my ideas about how I wanted it to look, even after I had sketched the outline. And it's only a decoration on a larger piece. The Morrigan sigil with the entwined roses another example of something that is part of a larger piece. Once I'd painted the first rose and leaf, I just kept warping their shapes and rotating to put them in other art.



Rock studies


Usually I do initial work in my sketchbook, scan, and finish off in photoshop. This year, my scanner wasn't available, so these are crappy cell phone photos. I ended up doing everything digitally and didn't use these, although you can see the ideas going on in my head. *squints* Perhaps they're a bit phallic . . .

A major source of inspiration for the settings for both Dean and Castiel is the art of Amy Brown. While neither of these are direct copies of her works, credit goes to her marvelous fantasy landscapes as the artistic forerunner of the pictures.

Dean was the Morrigan, a Celtic god, the battle raven, which is why ravens appear in several of these pictures. The triangle sigil that shows up in these pieces is my interpretation of the marks on Castiel's hands.

Hugh thanks as always to uisgich, who held my hand throughout this process and gave me honest feedback on the art as it progressed. Both wendy and thehighwaywoman do an outstanding job herding this massive undertaking into something organized and sensible. The spn_j2_bigbang is by far my favorite BB to participate in.



Tools: Photoshop, Corel Painter, Bamboo tablet
Fonts: Peep, Jellyka Delicious Cake, Pea Bailey, 28 Days Later

Inspirations, sources and reference photos

www.costumecraze.com/MEDI144.html
fashion-miss-model.blogspot.com/2012/03/misha-collins-photos.html
/www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/17/us-japan-quake-chernobyl-belarus-idUSTRE72G5IX20110317
naturemappingfoundation.org/natmap/facts/crow_vs_raven.html
www.wiccansupplier.com/images/black_feather.jpg
marioara08.deviantart.com/art/black-angel-wings-200050457
texturelib.com
www.fanforum.com/f222/pillow-talkers-%7Bdean-castiel%7D-slash-9-last-time-somebody-looked-me-like-i-got-laid-62949181/
celebmanmeat.blogspot.com/2009/10/jensen-ackles-yahtzee-u-win-at-life-if.html
www.shareapic.net/View-22014126-RAVEN-Tattoos.html

Comments

[seraphim-grace.livejournal.com]

internet issues on my end due to flooding
seriously!
I cannot get my service to send an email, even through my phone

http://archiveofourown.org/works/433283
the story w/out art, I'm trying to dl it but my internet comes and goes a lot so as soon as I get it I'll post it in the story

[seleneheart]

Okay, got it!! Let me know if I can do anything to help.

[seraphim-grace.livejournal.com]

you know the download festival, and all those pictures of people floating in mud
literally a stone's throw from my house, and clearly that is where our hub is,
I've pretty much got the art up, I'll continue tweaking it as I can, but seriously think of that mud,

[seleneheart]

Let me know if you need me to make the post to the comm or something. Hope the internet comes back!!

[si-star-x.livejournal.com]

The book cover is amazing! So beautiful. As are all of the other pieces. :)

[seleneheart]

Thank you! It was the first piece I did for this.

[galwithglasses.livejournal.com]

Nice work. I really like the book cover and the way you've portrayed both Dean and Cas. What especially caught my eye was your original raven tattoo. Intricate but clean and simple at the same time.

[seleneheart]

Heh, I'm glad you liked the tattoo. My original idea was just to find one and slap it on there, but none worked for my purposes. Hence the time spent getting it right.

[confuzed.livejournal.com]

This is very awesome artwork! My favs are the last of Castiel and Dean with wings...so hot!!

[seleneheart]

I"m glad you like it, thank you!

[meus_venator]

Lovely work, especially like the scrollwork inside /behind all your lettering. Beautifully detailed. And the stylized gauche treatment in the paintings, especially that pale yellow one for Cas with the script font lis ovely.
Well done!!!

[seleneheart]

I've had Corel Painter for a while, but never got the hang of it, because it's much less precise than Photoshop. But I've found that for brushwork like those backgrounds, it's way more flexible. Not that I'm expert, but I don't fear it anymore. Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate hearing what worked.

[sazzy-angel.livejournal.com]

Awesome drawings. Really good. :D

[seleneheart]

Thank you!

[ladyknightanka.livejournal.com]

All of this looks gorgeous. ♥_____♥

[seleneheart]

Thank you!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the details of your thought processes, I love reading how people arrive at the final pics. I really like Castiel's face in the Did I Find You picture, and the Morrigan sigil. (And yes, that 2nd rock sketch is definitely phallic LOL!!)

[seleneheart]

*g* I didn't really notice how the rocks were looking until I posted them. Thank you for the feedback, especially as I debated not putting those scraps up.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Wow, you put so much work into these, well done! I like the pattern in the lettering and all the details you pointed out (and the ones you didn't mention;) Good, good artwork.

[seleneheart]

Thank you so much. I always like hearing what people like specifically about a piece.

[alchemise]

Gorgeous artwork! :)

[seleneheart]

Thank you!

[write-light.livejournal.com]

I love the cover art - it caught my eye immediately as I scrolled my flist. The other work is also great - and I must say that's a Dean I might just like :D

Have you seen Jensen's shirt? (recent vacation pic) http://pics.livejournal.com/usaexpat101/pic/00032way/s640x480

[seleneheart]

You mean half-naked? I think we could all like that!

He looks very relaxed.

[write-light.livejournal.com]

I was thinking more of the birds.

[seleneheart]

Ah, i see.

[skiing-pelican.livejournal.com]

This are amazing art pieces! Your style is beautiful. The only little issue I have is that the rock Dean stands on looks like it couldn't hold him a second and is about to fall down, but hey, construction engineer speaking here. Little thingies like that just spring at my eyes. But your art is still beautiful!

[seleneheart]

Physics teacher here. That bothered me too for a while, and I considered trying to fix it, but then I figured that he has those wings so if they collapse, he'd be fine. :) Thank you for the kind feedback. I really appreciate it.

[sillie]

Ooh, really nice! Awesome work. :D

[seleneheart]

Thank you!

[deadflowers5.livejournal.com]

Beautiful art!

[seleneheart]

Thank you!

[counteragent.livejournal.com]

These are super gorgeous! Love the intensity.

[seleneheart]

Thank you! I appreciate your feedback.

[wendy.livejournal.com]

That kiss picture is awesome! I lovelovelove the book cover, and the rose detail in the knight pic is my favorite thing.

Great job, thank you!

[seleneheart]

Thank you so much! I really enjoy hearing specifics about what people like.

[jessnick05.livejournal.com]

I love the rose appearing throughout as a connective thread, twining around things. It's obvious how much thought and detail went into this. Really beautiful work.

[seleneheart]

Thank you so much for the feedback.