J2 Reverse Bang 2024 - Forest GOD - Artpost
My third J2 Reverse Bang. A big thank you to the moderators for running this wonderful J2 challenge. I was delighted when SamandDean76 claimed my artwork and wrote the sparklingly enjoyable love story “Forest GOD” in return. It skillfully blends mystical-magical elements with the modern day. Divinity, power, humor, nature, love and romance as well as skeleton wolves - everything a reader's heart desires. The ideas kept flowing with every word I read. My muse couldn't stop creating one picture after another.
🤗 Thank you, thank you, thank you, SamandDean76 for your fantastic story and our great collaboration. 😘
Warning: spoilers and gods in the art!
Art Title: Forest GOD
Prompt Number: 10
Artist: aomasade [AomaSade on AO3]
Fic Title: Forest GOD
Author: samanddean76 [SamandDean76 on AO3]
Fandom/Genre: SPN/RPS, Romance
Pairing: Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~10,200
Warnings: None
Summary: Jensen is a focused and driven architect who is struggling to see his latest project to completion. But the single biggest hurdle that he faces is city councilman Jared who seems to revel in every single setback that the project suffers. But what's worse is that Jensen is beginning to see strange visions, and he thinks he being chased down by monstrous creatures after he leaves the job site at night.
What's a strait-laced individual like Jensen supposed to do when it seems as if his entire world is falling apart? Jensen realizes that the answer is staring him right in the face, and that he only needs to trust in another and have a little faith in forces that are larger and older than himself.
Masterpost on J2 Reverse Bang Challenge
Art: AO3
Fic: AO3
Click on the pictures for view in original size.
Cover
Banner
Forest god Jared with antler crown
Forest god Jared without antler crown
Forest god Jared crosses the road before Jensen's eyes
Skeletal wolves on the sidewalk chase Jensen
Jensen and Jared look at their beautiful home
Jensen and Jared look at their beautiful home - forest with divine sparkle
Divider 1
Divider 2
Divider 3
Divider 4
Divider 5
Divider End 1
Divider End 2 - with divine sparkle
Divider End 3 - with divine sparkle and Dire Wolf Sadie and puppies
J2 Reverse Bang 2024 - Original prompt - Prompt 10
Art Description: Architect Jensen is commissioned to plan a luxury residential area on the outskirts of the city. A large part of a very old forest has to be cut down for this. But that's where the problems begin - flooding, insect infestations, rampant plants, pesky animals, heat and cold. The clearing of the forest has to be postponed again and again. Jensen doesn't believe in the supernatural, but he is beginning to have doubts. On top of that, he's in trouble with the town councillor Jared, who is massively boycotting the building project and making unwanted advances to Jensen. When Jared turns out to be the local forest god, Jensen tries to escape. But the town is surrounded by forests - Jared's home and hunting ground.
Original prompt
This year, my muse was in top form. In addition to a warlock and a mafia boss, she had a great soft spot for a forest god. I love stories about ancient gods in our modern times. And there were plenty of them in Supernatural. I wanted to portray a mystical forest through which a forest god walks.
I had in mind a picture with a detailed background. That meant more effort and time at the same time. But my muse was thrilled. So I set to work. I tried out a new art style again. This time there are only contours in the foreground. On the one hand, it increases the depth effect of the picture. On the other hand, the viewer's attention is drawn more strongly to the foreground. The detailed background is drawn without contours. Colors and blurring accentuate the scene in the foreground.
An ancient forest? I started with thick, dark tree trunks through which the dawn or dusk shimmers. The forest has such a dense canopy of leaves that the lower branches have no foliage because no sunlight reaches them. An old dying tree stands by a path, mushrooms have spread across it. In front lies the remains of a dead tree. Everything is overgrown with ferns.
Now I thought about how I wanted to portray Jared, the forest god. I wanted him to look majestic and ethereal. I looked at reference pictures by Sam Winchester. I used MagicPoser for the proportions and posture. I decided on a floor-length flowing robe in green - very appropriate for a forest god.
I placed Jared in the center in front of the dying tree, which circles him like an embrace. Large healthy trees can be seen in the background. In the foreground is a dead tree. Because life and death are a perpetual cycle of nature.
Something was still missing to emphasize Jared's divinity. So I added a crown of antlers and a divine sparkle. But would a mighty god wander alone through the forest? Surely he would have companions or guardians. Jared Padalecki is a big dog lover. Every fan of the actor knows his beloved dogs Sadie and Harley, who are sadly already in dog heaven.
So why not dogs as companions? Or wolves, which are better suited to a forest god. Or both. The largest wolf of all time is the extinct dire wolf (Canis dirus - Latin for “terrible dog”). Dire wolves were large wolf-like canids and lived 13,000 years ago in North and South America. Today there are only bones and skeletons of them in museums. That's how I came up with the idea of the supernatural skeletal wolves that accompany forest god Jared. Together they make a cool picture.
Art process
Jared's main interest is the ancient forest outside the city and saving it from deforestation. His divine power is incomplete without companions. That's why he has to use human methods to protect his forest and, as a member of the town council, tries to prevent development plans and projects. That's why I chose the forest as the background for the chapter headings. One of Jared's faithful skeletal wolves can be seen running past a fern plant as an eye-catcher.
For the headings here and on the cover and banner, I chose a slightly squiggly font that is reminiscent of plants. In keeping with the forest theme in green and decorated with leaves.
The forest backdrop, skeletal wolf and fern plant as well as the headline fit the overall concept and underline the story's plot. I designed two variants to choose from - compact and elongated.
I made the dividers dynamic so that the reader is also visually guided through the story. The story is about a run-down city and the “damaged” forest around it. At the beginning, the city skyline (skyline with skyscrapers) looks dark (corruption, dilapidated neighborhoods) and the forest around it is desolate, all the trees are cold gray greens. Jared only had half his god power before Jensen, and his forest suffered as a result. The city becomes brighter and friendlier with every text divider, as more and more windows light up. The forest becomes greener and livelier. At the end of the divider, the windows of all the skyscrapers light up. The facades are silver-grey. Everything shines like a disco ball. The city has blossomed again. The forest around it is healthy. Warm shades of green underline this.
There are three versions of the End text divider. End 1 is designed in the same way as dividers 1-5. The forest at End 2 is magical again. The divine blessing sparkles everywhere (now there are finally two forest gods). At the End 3, Dire Wolf Sadie roams through the magical forest with her five pups.
I always have the best ideas when I'm reading a story. I experience the plot like a movie and when I mentally press the pause button, I see the future picture in front of me. And all I have to do is “sketch it out”.
„His thumb was bouncing against the steering wheel in time to the music playing on the radio when he felt the chill run down his spine. As if someone or something were watching him. He glanced around quickly and didn’t immediately spot anything, but as he turned back to look at the traffic light, a huge set of antlers appeared before him. They crowned the head of a man he would know anywhere; except he had never witnessed Jared looking like this before.
Jared was dressed in long green robes and whatever skin wasn’t covered by them appeared as if they had been tattooed with a mass of swirling vines. The antlers were almost three feet tall and for a moment Jensen thought they made Jared look incredibly regal and majestic. Which, what?“
So I researched street views of modern city centers with high-rise buildings. I decided to use perspective to give the viewer a sense of spatial depth.
I began to draw a street with house fronts and a crosswalk. I aligned the vanishing point with Jared so that the eye immediately falls on him. There is a lot of concrete and little green in the center of Hainich. The exact opposite of Jared's native forest. Jared crosses the street in his full supernatural splendor. The golden sparkle and his overpowering shadow hint at his divine power.
„There were two skeletal dogs - no, scratch that - wolves. Two monstrous skeletal wolves were standing across the street. Pawing at the pavement. Exposed claws scraping over concrete and making a sound that Jensen would be happy to never again hear for the entire rest of his life. Jensen used every ounce of concentration he possessed to simultaneously focus on the wolves and guide his key to the lock. Once the key scraped over the tumblers, the wolves’ heads perked up and they began to advance.“
While reading, I mentally pressed the pause button again. Skeletal wolves walking along the sidewalk? I absolutely had to draw this picture. Jensen parks opposite them in front of his rented house. So I thought of a suburban housing estate with terraced houses and lawns in front. I looked at a lot of pictures of houses and decided on a typical American house facade with brightly painted wooden sidings in a horizontal design. There is not much greenery in this picture either. No trees, bushes, shrubs or flowers - just lawn. Jared has always wanted to rectify this problem, but has lacked the necessary energy.
Finally, I wanted to draw a picture of the forest gods Jared and Jensen, who are happy. Both are standing at the edge of their ancient forest, looking proudly at their work - new renaturalized forest areas and a booming city. Their beautiful, intact home. I have drawn old trees with a green canopy of leaves in the foreground. Lush ferns grow in the shade of the treetops. The ancient forest is imbued with the blessing (golden sparkle) of the forest gods. Bright green young forest (reforestation) stretches out in front of Jared and Jensen. The town of Hainich glistens bright and friendly in the sun. Happy ending.
Did you like my art article? Let me know. Comments, kudos or bookmarks are the greatest praise for an artist.
