SPN Reverse Bang 2021 #1 - WITCHER - Artpost
My first prompt for this year's SPN Reverse Bang. I was super excited to have the original cover "WITCHER" claimed by the awesome morganadw (morgana07), who wrote a magical love story with dark secrets to go with it. With each writing progress came new ideas that I just had to implement. Let yourself be enchanted by art and story. Dive into a world full of black magic and mysterious rituals.
Warning: Spoilers and witchers in art!
Art Title: WITCHER
Prompt Number: R1008
Artist: aomasade [AomaSade on AO3]
Fic Title: WITCHER
Author: morganadw [morgana07 on AO3]
Fandom/Genre: SPN/RPS, AU, Magic, Romance
Pairing: Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 51,089
Warnings: language, violence, mental manipulation, implied stalking, harassment, misunderstandings, blood sacrifices, dark magic, eventual explicit sexual content
Summary: It was never easy to go home again. That was what Jensen Ackles knew when the death of his beloved grandmother forces his return to the small Oregon town that he’d fled at seventeen to get away from the arrogant and possessive Jared Padalecki.
Any plans to settle his grandmother’s estate simply quickly vanished once Jensen learns the path to his inheritance rests in the hands of the very man he’d left home to escape.
Arrogant, smug, with a temper was how most of the town of Gallaway Ridge described Jared Padalecki, a powerful sorcerer that came from a long line of magic users. It was even how he would describe himself at times.
When the past returns and lies are exposed, both men must learn to trust each other to open the path to where their true magic lies, and defeat the evil that had destroyed their friendship and could still destroy them.
Masterpost on SPN Reverse Bang Challenge
Art Link: AO3
Fic Links: LJ | AO3
Click on the pictures for view in original size.
Sacrificial altar scene from Jensen's nightmare
Supernatural Reverse Bang 2021 #1 - Original prompt - R1008
Short description of art: Jensen moved away years ago because he could no longer stand the possessive ways of the arrogant Jared Padalecki. A dispute over his grandmother's inheritance forces his return and promptly Jared keeps running into him. He still can't stand him. But the inheritance dispute drags on and he can't leave town. Jared has waited a long time for his familiar and is now a very powerful sorcerer. He has lured Jensen here to finally settle their little disagreement over a lifelong partnership. Jensen will not escape this time.
I love magical stories with Jensen and Jared. So I made the decision to design a cover for a dark witch story. Jared as a powerful witch sits relaxed in his ritual room. Old and new unite. Thick, dark walls with archways, vaults as well as occult symbols, pentagrams made of bones, human and animal skulls remind of a pagan place of worship. Jared's modern clothes, parquet floor and carpet betray modern times. The red armchair resembles a throne, embodying wealth and power. It is made for Jared.
The story is about black magic, good and evil sorcerers, mind control and human sacrifice. That's why I chose dark colors for my artwork. Dark red is a wonderful color and represents love, glow, magic, fear, blood and danger. Glowing red eyes are eerie and magical. The cover, banner, chapter headings, and dividers are all uniform (color, font, symbols) to frame the story and deepen the eerie and beautiful reading experience.
At first I had tried the color blue, but the images seemed cold and would fit better with a ghost or frost story. So I decided to go with the warmer blood red.
For the chapter headings, I chose a dark background shrouded in black magic. The font resembles the Supernatural font including the pentagram. I found this to be totally appropriate. Evil is embodied in the various skulls with sacrificial blood dripping from them.
Morganadw so vividly described Jensen's nightmares and memories stemming from a horrific experience in his youth that I just had to create a fitting image to go with it. Jensen recalls dark woods, the old Ackles Manor outside of town in the style of a Victorian mansion with a tower, and the clearing with the sacrificial altar. Color and lighting effects were used to emphasize the eerie atmosphere, aided by wafts of mist and magical sparkle. The blood-red rendering shows Jensen's nightmare as he keeps remembering back then, while the night-blue version reflects today's vision.
The dividers should be small and narrow. To make them fit the tenor of the story, I mixed bones, black smoke and creepy skulls. Finally, I added glowing red eyes to enhance the mystical effect.
The cover scene of "WITCHER" is my first foray into the realm of GIF animations. Glowing eyes, magical sparkle, appearance and disappearance of the warlock - it was fun to do some "magic". I used PhotoScrape X to make the GIFs.
I created or edited the works of art with GIMP.
I hope you enjoyed my art post.
