SPN J2 Big Bang 2022 #1 - Gambrels of the Sky - Artpost

[aomasade]

Warning: spoilers in art!

My second SPN J2 Big Bang! When I read the summary of Gambrels of the Sky, I was all over it. My favorite story Flickers upon Cordillera had been continued. The joy was immense when I was able to claim my coveted favorite. The wonderful saga continues seamlessly. I was blown away. The plot, the characters, the writing style ... just brilliant. Pure reading pleasure. A huge thank you to you, Cyndra.
So motivated, I couldn't stop creating art for Gambrels of the Sky by cyndrarae. The great descriptions in the story sparked my imagination and the ideas just tumbled out of my head. The collaboration was great. We lively exchanged designs, ideas and opinions that turned into many works of art. Here is my art post on the grandiose sequel. Have fun watching and reading!

Fic title: Gambrels of the Sky

Author name: cyndrarae [cyndrarae on AO3]

Artist name: aomasade [AomaSade on AO3]

Genre: RPF

Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki

Rating: NC-17

Word Count: ～102,000

Warnings: a/b/o dynamics in the sub-plot, some characters not associated with SPN

Summary: The brave new post-apocalyptic world stands on the brink of war. Lycans of the south will stop at nothing to overthrow the mighty Ackles in the north. So, First Alpha Jensen Ackles returns home, and brings his mate, Jared Padalecki, with him. But as expected, not everyone in Albion is willing to accept a non-lycan, sub-human outsider in their pack. Jared struggles to assimilate, not knowing what his purpose in Albion is, besides maybe just staying alive. Meanwhile, Jensen is struggling too, losing his own purpose and position, everything he's worked so hard for, all because of his accidental bonding to a damn shifter.

Masterpost on SPN J2 Big Bang

Art link: AO3

Fic link: AO3

Click on the pictures for view in original size.

Ackles Mansion in the Cordillera, Albion

Pileggi Tower in Ballarat, Wehea

Coat of arms of Albion

Albion flag

Coat of arms of Wehea

Wehea flag

Chimera bronze sculpture

Jensen's yacht Nyctimus

Jensen's Pam-jet landing

Jensen's Pam-jet flying

Actually, the black wolves are to blame for me picking up a drawing pencil for my two claimed stories at this year's Big Bang. I really enjoy creating manips. Unfortunately, the black wolves refused to pose for suitable photos. There were simply no good photos of them that I could use for manips. And there absolutely had to be a black wolf (Jensen) on the cover. So I tried my drawing luck. It worked so well that I drew all the other artwork by hand as well.

The overall concept focuses on wolves (Wolf Jensen) and Jared, since in Gambrels of the Sky powerful Lycans (Loric wolves) with huge wolf form and their pack politics play a main role, and Jared is connected to the second most powerful werewolf Jensen. The main place of action is the Cordillera of Albion. Everything takes place in a post-glacial era.

In summary: lots of wolves, Jared, mountains, forests, meadows as well as futuristic font.

The wolf image (head or whole wolf) runs through cover, banners, dividers and chapter headings. It shapes the overall look and unity of the artwork. This effectively underscores and frames the story. Jensen was somewhat neglected due to the overall concept. But at the request of cyndrarae, I also painted a human Jensen.

Conveniently, cyndrarae described the cover herself in her story.

Jared stood in the balcony and gazed up at the endless moonlit night. The same balcony from his dreams, overlooking the same mountainous landscape laden with snow. The moon looked three times bigger. Its glow masked the thousands of stars that Jared couldn’t wait to map on another night. The Ackles mansion stood atop the highest peak in Albion. When Jared looked down at the patchwork blanket of shimmering yellow lights all across the cordillera, literally laid out at his feet.

There are several balcony scenes with Jensen and Jared. That's why the view from the balcony was perfect for the cover. So all I had to do was draw the scene.

On the banner, Jared and Wolf Jensen face each other like opponents. In parts of the story, their relationship doesn't quite run smoothly. Each has secrets. Misunderstandings are the order of the day. On the cover this is expressed even more. There they both look past each other. And of course I had to depict Wolf Jensen with glowing green eyes.

First I sketched my idea for a manip. Unfortunately I didn't find any suitable photos of black wolves. Briefly I considered combining photos of Jared and mountain ranges with a wolf drawing. But I didn't like that. So I drew everything myself with Procreate! I made sketches with more details and tested colors and brushes. The colored design met with enthusiastic approval from my author. I then painted the outline drawing. In the process, I adjusted the size ratio of wolf and human a bit. I decided to use watercolors because they appear softer and more substantial. They "caress" the action of the epic story. I chose a striking and futuristic font that embodied the raw ferocity of Loric wolves in a post-glacial new world. The neutral white font color stands out well and doesn't distort the look of the artwork. As a bonus, there was also a tag banner.

I find maps very helpful in unfamiliar fantasy worlds. To get a good overview of the story, the very first thing I did was to create the map of the post-glacial Earth. Based on a sketch by cyndrarae I started to create a political map. Thereby I orientated myself on old land and sea maps.

First I painted the land areas with coastlines and islands. Then I made a contour drawing. The light blue sea color was underlaid with parchment shadow, and I darkened the corners and the edge more. Now I created stencils of the sea and land areas. I lightened the coastlines sea side, added mountainous ground profile and shaded the coastlines land side. Now it was the turn of the countries and territories, which I colored in and delineated with a red dashed line. The translucent ground relief provides a nice plastic impression. Compass rose and wind rose rays completed the vintage look. Large red dots mark the capitals and smaller dark blue dots mark the other cities. I then labeled the seas, cities and countries. The two main plot locations - Ackles Mansion in Cordillera, Albion and Pileggi Tower in Ballarat, Wehea - got extra little pictures to highlight them. In addition, I placed a compass rose just behind Ackles Mansion to bring the place even more to the fore. Because this is where the main part of the story takes place. Also, the powerful Ackles Lorics rule Albion from here and influence (rule) the whole world. Finally, I added scale bar, legend and the map name.

I couldn't color the buildings with watercolor because the sharp reduction on the map only gave a blurry blob of color. So I had to color them with solid color. From this came the idea to create some other objects like coat of arms, yacht, Pam-jet as explanatory images also in this sober style without background. So that the reader gets an idea of their appearance.

The Pileggis' headquarters is a lonely towering skyscraper with over a hundred floors in the middle of a row of much smaller buildings. I kept everything gray and sober to create a cold and forbidding effect. The darker colors of the first design blurred on the map. The lighter colors were a better fit.

Ackles Mansion is beautifully described in the story - baroque splendor with balconies, consisting of four wings surrounding the courtyard, which is spanned by a huge dome. I drew a view of the front with entrance portal and two side wings. The chosen warm colors make the baroque building look friendly and inviting.

I had several ideas for the chapter titles, all of which I was able to implement. Gambrels of the Sky is mainly about Lycans, who can turn into huge wolves, but don't always appear in this form. Jensen's wolf is 6 feet tall. Jared is 6 feet 4 inches tall, so the tips of the wolf's ears come up to his nose, and his forehead is about the same height as Jared's chin. With the chapter headings, the reader should always be reminded of this size relationship.

Against a mountain backdrop (the Cordillera) stretch the forests and meadows of Albion. Chapter numbers and Jared and Jensen are arranged in the foreground to match the content. Their emotions are depicted on the chapter headings. When both J2s love each other and pull together, they look at each other and are together on one side of the number. If they act alone and do not involve the other, they both turn their backs, but they are still on the same side. When there is a dispute or a major misunderstanding, they are on different sides. The chapter number separates the two.

To achieve even more dynamics, I have kept the chapter headings Prologue and Epilogue simpler - only with writing. This way an increase to chapter 1 is achieved or a gradation after chapter 11, which is followed by another increase to the final image.

To add variety to the chapter headings, I used the fir trees differently and arranged the grass clumps appropriately in each case. The shadows of Jared and wolf Jensen provide more liveliness.

First, I drew a few Jareds to see how they look on the chapter headings. Then I drew a matching Jared for each chapter with the clothing described. That's why there turned out to be more than eleven Jareds.

In the first book Flickers upon Cordillera, Jared has mostly his old, simple clothes on (loose torn pants, plain t-shirts). In the second book Gambrels of the Sky, he comes to Albion and is newly dressed. In order not to always stand out like a colorful dog, he also wears mainly his new clothes (tight pants, fashionable outerwear). In chapter 10, he rebels against the constant disrespect and because he no longer recognizes himself. He puts back on his old torn jeans and a baggy brown sweater in an attempt to find himself again. To represent this evolution, Jared wears loose pants only in Chapters 1 and 10. In the rest of the chapters, he wears tight pants.

For the dividers, I picked up the wolf theme again. A Loric wolf, representing all the wolves of Albion, stands majestically in the foreground. In the first divider he looks at his home Albion with the Cordillera. In the second divider he looks out into the world as the protector of Albion. The dividers come with gray, gold, black, red, brown, white wolf - the six wolf colors in the story.

For neutral scenes I have also created dividers without wolf. The many different dividers can be used variably in the chapters, depending on when the color of a wolf is mentioned or when the wolf actually appears.

For the crests and flags, I tried to implement cyndrarae's specifications. The wolves of Albion worship Fenrir, while the wolves of Wehea pray to Luna. Symbolically, both deities can be seen on the respective flags.

The flag of Albion shows a red wolf face on a green background. The yellow eyes represent constant vigilance against enemies of Albion. The flag of Wehea shows a waxing and waning crescent moon and a full moon flanked by the two crescent moons. In the center of the full moon is the face of a long-haired woman wearing a crescent moon on her head. The moon goddess herself is watching over Wehea in the flesh.

I created two variants - as a rectangular coat of arms and as a waving flag on a flagpole.

Chimeras fascinate me. Whether Greek mythology, fantasy, or science, they are mystical creatures. In Greek mythology, the chimera (Chimaira) was a fire-breathing monster in Lycia (Lycia). It is described by Homer as a hybrid creature of lion, goat and snake. Later the name was applied to other mixed creatures. Today, there are even human chimeras that have genetically different cells and tissues because they fused with their twin during development in the womb. I was really excited when mysterious and powerful chimeras appeared in Gambrels of the Sky. That's why I drew an ancient bronze statue for the story - the original chimera. It was probably found during excavations.

Jensen's yacht Nyctimus is a modern, futuristic, expensive luxury yacht, which also has some historical ship elements. Of course, the large swimming deck could not be missing, so that the Loric wolves can go swimming comfortably. Green is not a color for ships. The strong turquoise is a fusion between the green of Albion and the light blue of the sea. Jensen loves both. Also, Jared sometimes has turquoise eyes.

For the Pam-jet, Jensen had provided the description of the two-person aircraft.

“Personal. Autonomous. Mach.” Jensen explained. “Solar-powered hovercraft, vertical takeoff and landing. Actually, mine’s a Mach 2, one of a kind in all of Midworld.“

I have tried to implement these specifications. Cut design for high speed. Blue solar cell coating on top of the fuselage. Powerful turbopropeller in the rear for supersonic flight. Propeller in wings (closed during flight) for vertical takeoff and landing with hovercraft. The designation Pam A2 stands for Pam-jet Ackles 2 - Jensen's unique aircraft with Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound). For better illustration there is a flying and a landing Pam-jet.

I created or edited the artwork with Procreate.

I hope you enjoyed my art post.

Comments

[cyndrarae.livejournal.com]

[cyndrarae.livejournal.com]

I feel so immensely grateful for all the time and effort you put into this project hon. Look at all this beautiful, fantastic art you created!! Congratulations, you should be extremely proud of this body of work!!! I love, love, LOVE every piece you created!! Your art literally makes this story better :) Thank you so very much hon, and I hope we can keep collaborating in future as well! *HUGS*

[aomasade.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for your kind words. 🥰 But you also have to thank the wolves 😉 Only because of them I switched from manips to drawing. And couldn't stop until the deadline stopped me. It was fun to try new possibilities. 🎨 My favorite drawing is the chimera. I had a lot of fun designing the map. The most exhausting part was all the Jareds and the one Jensen. But I think all the work was worth it. I'm very happy that all my artwork will find a place in your story to add to the reading pleasure. Here's to good future collaborations. 🥂

[raederle-of-an.livejournal.com]

All of your work is so gorgeous and so apt for the stories you illustrate. I really like the peek into your process!

[aomasade.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I don't like reading books at all where the characters on the cover don't match the descriptions in the book. It's like deception. So dreams can be shattered and reading has a stale aftertaste. That's why I always try to make sure my art matches the content of the stories. I have a very visual imagination that helps me create. But I also like to learn and look around at other artists. I therefore also pass on my modest knowledge.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Yay for another inspirational BB collaboration and a ton of artwork and a making of, woohoo \o/

Cool composition of the header, adding the mountains and village with the burning lights in the background really brings the focus on Jared and Wolf!Jensen on the balcony. Love that you made a daytime version as well!
That map is so elaborate and well build; I like how you created geographical lines by radiating them from the compass and the Ackles Cordillera Mansion.
The dividers with the wolves are adorable (I know, the wolves are tough, still...). All of the different Jared's are impressive; love how you implemented them in the chapterheaders.
I love all the variations you made and the details you added in all the pieces (the shadows in the chapter headers are perfect finishing touches)
*applauds*

[aomasade.livejournal.com]

I thought a lot about how to apply which effects. What is the main theme of the story? What elements can embody it? A wolf, of course, that much was clear. 🐺 Since the story was over 100,000 words long, I had to let it all sink in after reading it. So I turned my full attention to the map. This gave me a good overview. Details began to emerge in my mind: the balcony, Albion, Jared, the wolves, the Pam jet ... The overall concept began to take shape, resulting in more ideas. Then I worked diligently on the implementation. When Jared enters Albion for the first time, Jensen hands him his coat with the golden fur hood so that he doesn't freeze. 🧥 That's where the idea came from with Jared and Wolf Jensen against Albion's mountain backdrop. The chapter titles were supposed to be the same, but also different. At first it was a couple of Jareds to test, and I wanted to alternate them. But then I did draw an appropriate Jared for each chapter and chose his clothes according to the content. 👕 The shadow was the icing on the cake. 😊