SPN BigBang: The Art of Pulling Pie from Thin Air Artpost
Title: The Art of Pulling Pie from Thin Air
Author: poetartist
Summary: It's been four years since he disappeared from Stanford and Sam is wandering. Oh, he knows who he is, no amnesia involved (anymore), but he's not fully human (he's sure) and with that whole "if you walk out that door, don't you come back" still hanging between him and his family, Sam doesn't think they'll view his new demi-god status any different than college (except there might be more guns involved).
With the vague and mostly frustrating guidance of trickster Coyote, his blunt and sarcastic teacher Fred (female, half-god), alcoholic berries, homicidal non-Winchester hunters, and pie, Sam comes to find that insanity brings the best clarity, and maybe you can go home again.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: brief descriptions of torture, some F-bombs, scattered OC's, general weirdness, crack/angst, not all there!Sam, Pre-pilot AU but spoilers for everything up to season 5.
When I signed up as an artist for the spn_gen_bigbang I was pretty worried that I wouldn't get the chance to grab a story I'm really interested in, especially since claiming happened when my brother married, so I was late to the party. (The claiming, I mean. Contrary to public belief, I do have my priorities in order.)
Fortunately, I was proven wrong. There were, as expected, more Dean-centric than Sam-centric stories on offer, but as it happened most artists were also more interested in the Dean centric ones and I managed to grab not one but two of the fics I had on my "do want" list. Fics that turned out to be absolutely fantastic.
By the time I picked it in the second round, no one but me had shown any interest in this story and I have to say: their loss. (I also have to say: I was surprised, because the summary sounded awesome and I was very happy I got the chance to grab it.) All the more because poetartist has been an absolute pleasure to work with. Not only is she a very nice person and a fantastic author, we also had very similar ideas for the art.
We agreed to keep the style simple and more in the way of classical story illustrations than complicated digitally created pictures. It works well for the fic, though I fear my art doesn't do it justice.
In any case, I reccomend you read this stoy. It's one of my favourite fics ever, and I'm not just saying that because I illustrated it. It's fun, abstract, incredibly well written and has exactly the right amount of hurt and troubled Sam and worried Dean to make me very happy.
Also, there's pie.
Banner
When poetartist told me she wanted the figures Coyote drew in the sand depicted in the banner in some way, I actually laughed a little, because I already had an idea for the banner I would have wanted to create if it had been my choice to make. You see it right here.
Illustrations
This was the second illustration I drew and the first scene I knew I wanted to illustrate. I had it beofre my mind's eye so clearly that naturally I ended up being disappointed in my inability to get it on paper.
Also, the pencil I used kind of sucked.
After the banner this was my fist picture for the fic and as it happened it was a scene poetartist loved to have illustrated. It's also one of my favourite scenes in the story.
The final pic I drew. I had originally planned to only draw three illustrations but I had some time left so I asked my author to pick a scene and she asked for Sam and Fred among the sleeping giants, the moment Sam remembers.
While Fred's looks aren't described in detail int the story, the instructions poetartist gave for drawing her came pretty close to the image I already had in my mind.
Sam in a hospital bed. How could I not?
Chapter Cards
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