Fanart (J2BB): Take Me Back (PG-13, Sam/Dean)
Title: Take Me Back
Author: safiyabat
Artist: cassiopeia7
Pairing: Sam/Dean
Rating: PG-13 (art only)
Summary: On Nov. 2, 1983, Mary Winchester died defending her infant son Sam during a riot. Her grief-stricken husband, Dr. John Winchester, took the family on the road, vowing that no one would ever die in an underserved area because of lack of medical care again. He raised his sons to be field doctors as well, but when Sam didn't toe the line he was disowned.
31 years later, Dean is Boston's top trauma surgeon. An FBI agent is fished out of Boston Harbor with a bullet in his shoulder. When the blood and harbor grunge are cleared away, Dean recognizes his patient: the prodigal son, Sam. This is the story of how two brothers cope with the relationship they had, and figure out what kind of relationship they want now.
Artist notes: Sam in Kevlar, Dean in scrubs, and a side of badass FBI agent!Meg. Count me in! :) Many thanks to my darling author safiyabat -- you were a delight! Your suggestions, encouragement, and excitement for this project were downright infectious. Roses and hugs to my kickass medical beta, dear_tiger, and my equally kickass art beta, becc_j. Bless you, Becc, you and your killer suggestions -- I could not have done it without you, and that's the truth! Finally, thanks to The Goddess of Mods, wendy, for once again putting this playground together and running it like a boss!
Link to fic!
ART CONTAINS STORY SPOILERS!
“Dr. Winchester?” Inias called, obviously not the first time he’d said it. “Are you okay?”
A woman looked up from the chair by Sam’s side - sharply, as though alerted to a threat.
“Can I help you?” she asked in a quiet voice that was anything but soft.
“I’m not going to bother you. I’m not going to bother your new, clean, good family.
And I’m not going to jeopardize your freaking career, all right? I’ve got one of my own
to protect and there is no part of anything that happened when we were kids that would be any good
for me right now. So you should know that I have zero motivation to come and mess up your life, right?
Just…let me go.”
" . . . Meg and Sam have run through this exact same situation a thousand times.
If anyone can get in and get out with a minimum of casualties it’s them."
[Stuff and nonsense.]
Evolution of a Banner.
This one really did take a village. From safiyabat's suggestions, to dear_tiger's medical input, to becc_j's artist's eye, the banner went through a few changes from thumbnail to final.
The original banner was always intended to be Sam and Dean facing off:
Then Safiya suggested adding the Boston skyline. While my initial idea was to have a silhouetted skyline behind the guys, while working on the line drawing, the idea of morphing skyline into an ECG tracing struck.
Boston skyline / ECG tracing / water reflection thumbnail, non-repro blue pencil and all:
Do note the scribbled inconsistent ECG tracing that got my butt kicked by medical beta dear_tiger. Yes, Doc, I know. CARDIAC ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY! (But it does look kinda cool, all jagged and uneven like the skyline itself, eh?) :)
Final concept with digital sparkly bits added (after multiple corrections to that darn ECG tracing, and alas, it's still not a proper rendering of a heartbeat, but dammit, Doc, I'm an artist, not a cardiologist!):
As I was tearing my hair out trying to figure a way to integrate boys and skyline, becc_j seized upon an idea that I had -- but didn't realize I had (thank GAWD for betas!) -- and suggested increasing the vertical space: Revised background prototype, with room for the guys:
. . . the huge moon is gorgeous, but didn't want to cooperate with Sam, so I had to shrink it. :(
Draft-to-ink:The money shot -- Sam being all badass in Kevlar, and Dean being all Dr. Sexy in scrubs. :)
I love me a man with big hands, but Sam's massive meat-slab paws are ridiculous. /o\
Dr. Dean and his surgical team -- "Somebody get me a real artist, stat!"
dear_tiger's definitely gonna kick my ass when she sees what I drew in the monitor . . . that right there is SPN-class "medicine."
*runs away*
In which Meg is either standing on a box, or wearing killer heels, as the massive height difference between teeny!Meg and gigantor!Sam seems to be lacking. Thank gawd for betas!
. . . Sam's rifle is bendy. :)
... and the dividers.
