SPN Reverse Bang 2020 #1 - L'homme Vaudou - Artpost
My first reverse bang and my first of two prompts. The original banner "Black Magic" was claimed by the brilliant theatregirl7299, who then wrote the wonderful magical love thriller "L’homme Vaudou". Our collaboration resulted in additional works of art such as a cover, chapter headings, large and small dividers, set designs and userpics.
I created or edited the art with PhotoScrape X.
Warning: Spoilers in art!
Art Title: Black Magic
Prompt Number: R1002
Artist: aomasade [AomaSade on AO3]
Fic Title: L'homme Vaudou
Author: theatregirl7299 [Theatregirl7299 on AO3]
Fandom/Genre: SPN/RPS, romance, thriller
Pairing: Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 31,784
Warnings: Violence, knife play, blood magic, supporting character death
Summary: Jensen's sister Mackenzie is missing in New Orleans. Jensen, a private investigator, flies down from New York City hoping to join forces with Jeff Morgan, Mackenzie's boss and an old family friend. When Jeff goes missing as well, Jensen realizes he's faced with a city full of mystique and magic. Jared, a professor in Jeff's department, volunteers to help steer Jensen through this seductive web of Loas and voudou. Except Jensen finds that Jared may not be all that he appears.
Masterpost on SPN Reverse Bang Challenge
Art Link: AO3
Fic Links: LJ | AO3 (english) | AO3 (german)
Click on the pictures for view in original size.
Jensen's bag, cane and badge as well as horn skull
Skull and Jared's book of rituals
Bowl with pestle and ingredients like chicken feet, cloves, calendula, cinnamon and paprika
Jared's books and ancient masks
Jared's top hat and blood-red rose
Skull, ritual knife and notes
Jensen's pistol and badge as well as potion and witch bag
Jared's sunglasses as well as cigars, matchbox and voodoo doll
Jensen's badge
Jared as Baron Samedi and Jensen in Loretta’s workroom
Jared's tattoo
Userpics
SPN Reverse Bang 2020 - Original prompt - R1002
Short description of art: Private investigator Jensen Ackles comes across traces of black magic during his research, which lead him to the local warlock Jared Padalecki. Jensen doesn't think much of witchcraft and categorically rejects Jared's advances. Since Jared had fixed his shining eyes on the handsome man, he wanted him. Jensen has no idea how powerful Jared really is and that he can't escape. Jensen is trapped in the city by a banishing cirle and all roads lead into Jared's arms.
I'm enthusiastic about fanfictions with artwork and follow the challenges. This year, despite my language barrier, I dared to take part. When I saw the picture of Jensen sitting on the floor and being illuminated by a bright light, I was inspired. I love stories with witches, wizards and dark magic and my banner was taking shape. Jared with his unearthly shining eyes desires Jensen, who is sitting on a wooden walkway under the starry sky in the moonlight. A magic circle and black lightning tendrils symbolize the dark magic that reigns around them.
As a homage to fifteen great years with 327 episodes of Supernatural, I hid every now and then the famous anti-possession symbol in a magic circle. Do you find them all?
Here are two earlier designs. The background is lighter and the stars are white. The atmosphere wasn't right. The picture looked cold. So I darkened the background and added yellow stars and black magic tendrils.
I experimented with the font. Since there wasn't much space, I asked theatregirl7299 for a short title with a word or two. I chose black as the font color for voodoo, dark magic, rituals and death. The font should look old, but also handwritten. Because the magic circles are drawn on the floor according to old templates. I achieved the deep blackness of the finished works of art with a 3D effect. This makes the letters look even more saturated. They act like viscous ink. They suck each other tight and don't let go. Anyone who touches black voodoo magic cannot get away from it.
I designed the chapter headings as still lifes. Jensen sits on the cover and banner on a wooden floor in the moonlight, so I also chose a wooden underground (or wodden altar) for the chapter headings and put suitable items there such as Jensen's bag, badge, cane and pistol or Jared's books, masks, sunglasses, top hat and roses. There are also cigars, voodoo doll, skull, knife, matchbox, notes, candles and herbal ingredients. But something was missing. So I added a dark, starry sky and now everything fit in with the dark overall concept.
Theatregirl7299's description of Loretta's workroom and Jared's transformation into Baron Samedi inspired me to create this work of art. The background is deep gold with burnished sheen and a magical spell circle. Jared wears a black coat with a blood-red rose on his lapel, a top hat with a purple hat band and a black feather, and sunglasses made of gold wire with only a dark lense. During the voodoo ritual, the hint of a skull overlaps Jared's skin.
Jensen's picture contains a lot of white as a contrast. Black and white, light and dark - in equilibrium they form a unit and complement each other.
Theatregirl7299 wished narrow dividers for her story. So I came up with the idea of combining black voodoo needles (long and thin) with voodoo masks. Once with red eyes for the blood in story and purple eyes and brim for the magic. In addition, I designed two wide dividers with large and small magic circles.
I hope you enjoyed my art post.
