J2 Reverse Bang 2021 #2 - SPIDER - Artpost
This is my second prompt at this year's J2 Reverse Bang. Me and my spider fear are not a good team. That being said, I had a huge amount of fun designing and researching. You wouldn't believe all the things I learned about spiders. It was creepy and fascinating at the same time. And I could really let off steam, since I was an author and artist at the same time.
A huge thank you to my beta Jdl71/Jld71, who took a peek at my artwork despite the increased spider traffic and was thrilled.
Warning: spoilers and spiders in art!
Art Title: SPIDER
Prompt Number: 13
Artist: aomasade [AomaSade on AO3]
Fic Title: SPIDER
Author: aomasade [AomaSade on AO3]
Fandom/Genre: SPN/RPS, Romance
Pairing: Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~26,000
Warnings: None
Summary: Ever since he lost his family in the war, Jensen has hated spiders. Then he is mistakenly fed to the monster under the city with convicted criminals. They successfully fight back and manage to escape.
Prince Jared is trapped in the cave in his giant spider form. Due to the fight with his "food", he comes in contact with the blood of his companion and can finally change his shape again and escape as well. He chases after the fugitives, because one of them is his companion.
Jensen is able to shake off his eight-legged pursuer several times, but the damn giant spider just won't give up. Finally, he moves to Spider City to his uncle's house to hide in the crowd. Then he receives an invitation to the royal ball in the spider's castle, which he can't refuse as a new resident of the city.
Masterpost on J2 Reverse Bang Challenge
Art Links: Art (english) | Art (german)
Fic Links: Fic (english) | Fic (german)
Click on the pictures for view in original size.
Caracas prison with the "food" cage
Jensen and giant spider in the cave
Giant spider Jared carries the companion home on the Silk Road.
Jensen and Jared at the campfire in the forest
Spider City
Jensen hides in a cave.
J2 Reverse Bang 2021 #2 - Original prompt - Prompt 13
Short description of art: Jensen hates spiders since he lost his family in the war. Then he is mistakenly fed with convicted criminals to the monster below the city. They fight back successfully and can escape. Prince Jared is trapped in the cave in his huge spider form. By fighting with his "food" he comes into contact with the blood of his soul mate and can finally change his shape again and also flee. He chases the criminals because one of them is his companion. Jensen narrowly escapes capture several times. Now he's also terrified of spiders. Nevertheless, he moves to Spider City to his uncle to hide there. Then he receives an invitation to the royal ball in the Spider Castle, which he cannot refuse as a new city dweller.
In the beginning, there is a dream or I think up a story. My mind is busy for days until I incorporate the plot into a cover or banner. When I'm happy with the finished art, I submit it to Reverse Bang challenges, and then I'm all excited to see what others think of it and if it inspires them. While I was writing the story, I was working on the artwork at the same time, motivating myself. While writing, I got ideas for the art and while looking at it, I thought of more plots and adventures to write down.
In advance, I tried out the effect of the colors. All black and white reminded me very much of old scary movies. Very nicely the eyes and the crown are emphasized when they are the only ones colored green. But then, I liked the colored cover best.
Black webs represent mourning and death. War claims its victims. The black letters of the title hang in the spider webs like victims. Jensen has experienced and seen much. His eye is the gateway to his tormented soul. The black spider is in everyone's sight. It wears a green crown on its back for everyone to see. The sign of his royal lineage.
In the final cover, Spider Prince Jared taps his legs right into the centers of the spider webs that branch out in all directions. He is powerful, is networked with all the spiders, and is in charge. Since the story is available in German and English versions, I have of course titled the covers and banners according to the respective language.
Spider Jared metaphorically spans the swamplands. He was held captive there and now he wants to return as a superior conqueror. They deserve his revenge. Jensen is surrounded by spider webs. There is no way out.
Finding your way around an alternate fantasy universe while reading a story is sometimes a challenge. So many new terms, places, landscapes. That's where a map is very helpful and self-explanatory. So I set to work. First I made a rough sketch with the main points of my story. Then I took a marbled background that reflected well the ups and downs of a landscape and added lakes with shoreline shadows for a more vivid effect. Since my story was not set in desert and steppe regions, I colored the ground green. Using cartography brushes, I began to draw mountains, hills, swamps, forests, and meadows. Now I colored everything dark green, brown, and blue. Then I painted the rivers. The next step was to add the places. To emphasize the contrasts, I characterized the two capitals with different colors. Caracas with the dark red bricks looks gloomy as well as Spider City by the light gray design bright and inviting. The remaining unimportant places are kept simple in beige. A compass rose should not be missing, of course. Finally, I labeled everything - the important two places with white banners, the mighty spider kingdom with the largest font and spider symbol, a little smaller written follow the free lands, and finally in even smaller font the conquered provinces. And ta-da - my first digital map was ready.
Creation of a map
I designed the chapter headings in the style of small scene pictures. With the white background, everything looked pretty bare. So I added the green lightened map background with white cobwebs. The chapter numbers were also given cobwebbed embellishments.
To create a unified overall look, I repeated some elements like font, black font color, capital letters, spider webs, and background. I associate black with large and small eight-legged creepy crawlies, creepiness as well as darkness. The font is curved similar to the spider webs and has jagged-edged tips.
For the story, I needed a divider that conveyed medieval times, sword fights, and royalty. I decided on a green shield and designed the crest for the Spider Kingdom. The first design was still a bit sparse. So I added light green background and spider webs.
I wanted the dividers to be simple, small, and delicate, not distracting from reading as well as fitting the story. I decided to use delicate schematic spider webs hanging over or under an edge.
I created the collage and the GIF animation of the map using PhotoScape X. All other artwork was created or edited with GIMP.
I hope you enjoyed my art post.
