Art: And the City Stopped As I Held You in My Arms (Masterpost)

[dancing_adrift]

Title: And the City Stopped As I Held You in My Arms
Rating: G (NC-17/Explicit for fic)
Fandom: Supernatural RPF
Pairing: Jensen/Jared, Jared/Adrianne (in fic only)
Characters: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Adrianne Palicki (fic only)
Summary: Art for And the City Stopped As I Held You in My Arms, written by akintay / whispered_story and created for the 2017 spn_reversebang challenge.

READ THE STORY! (AO3)

STORY SUMMARY: New York City, 1946. Jared’s been putting off proposing to Adrianne for long enough. But when the day comes and he’s still having doubts, it seems like a sign he can’t ignore when a handsome stranger knocks into him and destroys the roses meant for Adrianne. Jensen is like no other man Jared has ever met, and it makes Jared start to question much more about himself than his discarded plans for marriage.

THE ORIGINAL PROMPT

Title: Running [In]to You
Prompt Description: "Jensen is late for his train, and in his hurry he runs smack into a handsome stranger (Jared), knocking the dozen roses he’s carrying to the ground."

This is my second time collaborating on art and fic with my dear Anna (for our first collaboration, check out “The Dizzy Heights of This Dreamed of World” - FIC | ART). We’ve been working together on fic for a while now outside of official challenges, so it was such a thrill to be paired up again for the reversebang.

Above the cut you’ll see the original prompt which I submitted to be claimed. It depicts the moment after Jensen has run into Jared, knocking the dozen roses he was carrying out of his arms.

The story that Anna wrote for this art… it’s perfect. If you don’t want to be spoiled for it, I suggest you go READ IT NOW. It’s so good. Anyhoo, now that those people who want to read the fic first are off doing that, let’s talk a bit about the art and the fic it inspired.

There are a couple elements that I very intentionally incorporated into my art in an attempt to influence getting a certain type of story, and Anna picked up on them so flawlessly. Like the fact that I chose an older picture of NYC to use as the backdrop. When I was google image searching, I was just hoping to find a decent shot of a NYC street to use, but then this gorgeous photo outside the subway popped up, and I just had to use it (even though it's actually a picture of NYC in 1929; the feel is still right for my intended era of the 40s, and I still love it, so there). And I tried dressing the boys in clothes that would be found in that era as well. But if a story about two men falling in love (which I think was kind of implied by the fact that I listed J2 as the pairing in my prompt) was going to happen during that time period, and be remotely realistic, it was probably going to involve a lot of hiding, a lot of secret-keeping, and closeted characters. The fic has all that, and I think Anna did a really nice job of subtly keeping that 1940s feel in the background of her story.

Also, the dozen roses. I don’t think there are a lot of standard, expected reasons why a man would be carrying that specific bouquet. The classic dozen red roses is very typically given to a romantic love interest and this is almost always going to be a woman. So the fact that Jared was carrying roses to bring to a woman when he met Jensen... Seems to kind of indicate that Jared was already seeing someone romantically. And Anna hit that one square on the nose, too. Normally I’m not one for infidelity in fics (or in general, lol), but somehow Anna has a way of just making it work.

ANYhoo, what I’m saying is… I think Anna basically wrote the exact fic I was hoping to get when I created this prompt. The art’s not exactly my usual style, since it’s a little ‘mixed media’, if you will, what with the actual photograph combined with my drawn characters and roses, but I was still really pleased with it.

Here's the image (created in Corel Painter Essentials 5) before I did any editing in Picasa:



I actually created several variations of the original drawing, thumbnails of which are below (click to view a larger image). I wanted to edit it somehow so that the photograph and my drawn images would feel a little more like they fit together, like they were part of the same picture. I eventually settled on the mainly sepia tone to make it feel more accurate to the time period, but with a focal color spot on the roses to draw attention to the minor tragedy of their falling, because it really is a very symbolic moment in the fic.


Lomo-ish, Holga-ish B&W, Focal B&W

BANNERS & DIVIDER

Header Banner


End Banner


Usually I try to use my original prompt or at least a part of it when I make banners for a fic, but I didn’t want to dilute the effect of the original piece. So I played more with that awesome photograph to create a simple header and end banner for this fic. I initially wanted to include the “quote”/“tagline” from the end banner in the header, but it just made the whole thing too busy. So instead I just left a very subtle “love will always win” in the header to tie the two together.

Divider

One of Adrianne’s fallen roses, looking a little rusty from being abandoned on the street seemed like a fitting image to use as a divider. This is definitely one of Anna’s angstier fics, and I wanted to reflect that with the one piece of art that would be scattered (heh) throughout it. The inherent angst is another reason I liked the idea of an ending banner with that “Love will always win” message resonating from it, because while this J2’s life together won’t be easy by any means, it will still be a close happily ever after.

Thanks as ever for reading all my ramblings! I hope you enjoy the art as much as I enjoyed creating it, and enjoy the fic as much as I enjoyed reading it! ♥

P.S. A special shout-out to Sammie (non_tiembo_mala) for her encouragement and feedback as I created this piece. Love you, chica!

And thanks again to my amazing author Anna. Please go show her all the love on this amazing fic she wrote for me ♥

♥♥♥

Comments

[beelikej]

Oh, how I swooned when I saw your promptpiece; you created such a great scene! I'm amused that you used the exact bit of that artwork without J2 for the banner;) Great use of mixed media \o/

[dancing_adrift]

Oh, thank you so much! I'm actually still a little afraid that, by not having... people... in the banner, that it will make it seem less appealing to potential readers, but I just didn't feel like picking my original piece apart in order to make a banner from it. I wanted that piece to maintain its, idk, intensity? by being the only one with the edits and J2. I'm glad you like the mixed media look :) Thank you so much for the lovely comment! ♥

[emmatheslayer]

Wow very awesome work thus looks awesome

[dancing_adrift]

Thank you! ^_^ I hope you enjoy the fic as well! ♥♥♥ Really appreciate the kind comment ♥

[sillie]

This is a lovely piece bb. The banner and divider are great as well. :)

[dancing_adrift]

Thank you so much ♥ I hope your RBs are going well, too! I'm excited to see what sort of fic was inspired by your gorgeous drawings.

[akintay]

WE DID IT ♥

I can't tell you how happy I am that I got to work with you again, Amanda. Your art, your ideas, your enthusiasm for this fandom and these characters inspire me all the time - not just for this story.

And the art is amazing - obviously. I was a tiny bit worried when I claimed it, because I knew I'd have to write something that's a little different from my usual fics, but I'm so, so glad I did it. And your prompt actually made it really easy. I love the mood you set with the art - the colors especially made it such an interesting, evocative prompt and it was so easy to imagine J2 in that setting because of that. And I'm so happy my fic matched your vision for the prompt :D

Thank you for squeeing with me over this and supporting me and being awesome.

That being said - I came here to tell you how awesome you are, but that's really hard because your post just makes me want to cry because you're so sweet. Thank you!

So, uh, to many, many more collaborations, I guess? ;-)

♥

[dancing_adrift]

♥♥♥♥♥ *squishes you*

Obviously I loved working with you again. Anytime, anywhere. Always.

One thing I love about how you approach these art-first challenges is that you seem to make a very intentional effort to claim a piece that is a little outside of your norm. Like when you claimed dephigravity's hooker!Jensen, or marietwist's creature!Jared. I've read all(? pretty sure) of your J2 fics, and if I'm remembering correctly, you hadn't written either of those tropes before, not really. Or even when you picked quickreaver's apocalypse boys, having already written a fantastic end-times AU, you still managed to create a completely different world within the same trope. You really take the 'challenge' part to heart, and that desire to try new things, and to expand upon stuff you're already comfortable with, is really awesome and admirable.

And you did that once again with my prompt, and I could not be happier with it. Even if I didn't have some idea already about the amount of research you put into this fic, I think I'd be able to tell just by reading the fic. And not only with the period that the fic was set in, but also the tone. I said it already, but I'll say it again: this is easily one of the angstiest pieces you've written - which was so, so fitting for the art and the time - and you totally knocked it out of the park while still managing to give it a happy ending like I always trust you to do.

Thank you so much for claiming me. Yes, let's absolutely do this again! (And again, and again... ;)) ♥

[fridayblues.livejournal.com]

Amanda, I love this so much!!!!!

The color, the atmosphere, and especially the endless possibility for Anna to create a story! And I'm so happy that she shares with us the forbidden love story of the boys in the 40s. I just finishes reading, loved it so much, left a long and incoherent comment (lol) and rushed here to give you vitual hugs *squuzes you* and probably a comment that just as incoherent lol

Although it has a happy ending, but I'm still sad :( I want them to be able to at least hold hand when they go to work or out to dinner. I'm sure I will think of these boys sometimes in the future, wondering how they are doing in that tough era :(:(:(

Anyway, the story makes me think about this song, for some reason. It's old, but I want to share it with you (and Anna)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9yIiotDWuY

Again, great work, bb! And the Love Will Always Win banner is just the sweetest touch!

*hugs*
Ann

[dancing_adrift]

Ann, omg, thank you so much for your glorious comment. Not incoherent at all! I'm so happy (and a little sorry, lol) that you were so affected by the art and the story - though that's really what we hope will happen when people experience art, so your lingering sadness about this J2's situation is actually, like, the biggest compliment I think Anna and I could ask for or get?? I think it's amazing that you felt their story so deeply, and I am so honored that my art inspired that first in Anna as an author and now in you as a reader. That's just incredible.

Thank you also for sharing that song! I think it definitely fits the fic very well! How cool to have that to pair with this collab also!

I'm really happy you liked that ending banner. Not that Anna's ending in the fic wasn't amazing and pretty much perfect... but I really wanted to, idk, kind of connect a reality of the past with today - to send the message that this J2's struggle was a real life struggle for so many people... And yes, the social and political environment surrounding the LGBTQ+ community has improved greatly more recently, but there is still a long way to go. And we find we have to believe that LOVE will win in the end in order to keep ourselves moving forward. I think it's a message we need to hold on to, you know?

Anyway, wow, thank you again so much for leaving such a wonderful comment. *hug hug huuuuug* ♥

[madebyme_x]

What a wonderful collab! I love the 40's feel with the old photograph and the fashion, and the artwork really does tell a story when you see it. I love the bright red of the roses, and the poses of the boys. Beautiful art! Thank you for sharing :)

[dancing_adrift]

Thank you so much!! ♥♥♥ I'm so glad you like it, and how you can see the story in it. That's my main goal when making art for the reversebang challenges - trying to convey at least part of a story that an author will want to expand upon! :) Thank you for the lovely comment ♥

[red_b_rackham]

THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL. I love everything about this - costumes, old timey filter, gestures, expressions, falling roses, background, everything. Wonderful work!!

[dancing_adrift]

Thank you so much! ^_^ ♥♥♥

[matchboximpala]

This is a really beautiful piece. I think you did a wonderful job blending the photograph with your drawing, and the attention to detail to the style of their clothing really evokes the time period.

[dancing_adrift]

Thank you! I'm glad you like it ^_^ I made a lot of little decisions to try giving it a certain feel and I'm happy to hear you think it all works. Thank you for the lovely comment! :)

[vodou_blue]

Truly lovely.

[dancing_adrift]

Thank you!! ♥