Wallpaper | Confusion

[galathea]

Two years! That's how long it's been since I last opened Photoshop for anything more complex than an icon. It's not that I don't have ideas anymore, but when I started working more hours, I had to choose between keeping weekly reviews up and making art, and obviously the former won out. And the longer I stayed away from fanart, the more difficult it became to go back to it. So imagine my surprise when I was suddenly overcome with the urge to make art yesterday. I feel extremely rusty, so don't expect anything special; it's just a simple episodic piece for The Born-Again Identity



So, yesterday I was browsing and listening to a random music playlist on my computer - internally pondering whether I wanted to read a Big Bang story or start working on one of my missing S6 reviews - when Hendrix' All Along the Watchtower came on. Of course, I know the song in and out, but the second line of the lyrics suddenly struck me as a perfect summary for Sam's situation in The Born-Again Identity - and that motivated me to open PS. The end result you can see below. There is nothing deep or fancy here. In fact, I am glad I still know how to make a simple blend. *g* I think the composition is a bit odd, but I don't entirely hate it either, so I thought why not post it anyway.

This is the first time I downsized various wallpaper sizes from the orgininal 1680x1050 size. Thanks, uglybusiness for the pointers. I am not sure how the quality looks on the actual corresponding monitor resolutions, so if the downsized versions looks blurry or oversharpened to some of you, just let me know. :)


1680x1050 | 1440x900 | 1280x800 | 1024x640

So far I spent most of the hiatus relaxing, catching up on shows I had lost track of while they were airing and working my way through the SPN Big Bang 2012. However, I do plan on finally writing the three S6 reviews that are still missing from my review archive, and maybe finish the half-written S6 meta I have still lying around. And who knows! Maybe yesterday wasn't just a fluke and I get to dust off my PS skills and make some more art as well. But knowing my fickle muse, I wouldn't count on it.

Comments

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Awwwww, ChrisArt ♥

I'm happy to see you arting again. I know what it's like when you stop doing something for whatever reason, it just gets harder and harder to get back into it again, but the ice is cracked now - and you haven't forgotten everything you ever knew, see!

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's really hard to find your way back after such a long time. It's not that I missed it so much, apart from the occasional regret when I saw someone else's art, but it is good to be creative from time to time.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I didn't really miss writing, either. But it's fun to be trying it again! You'll probably find it easier to open PS from time to time now, as well. :)

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Maybe. Hopefully! Though it does eat away at my time like nothing else. LOL

[sweet-lyri.livejournal.com]

Oh, you have NO idea how much I missed seeing your art around!!

This is just fabulous! I love the coloring, and the confusion on Sam's face. The texture, the text...it's all so brilliant. Definitely my new background!!!

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Lyri. :) I am glad you like it. I shall endeavour to make more art. *g*

[bowtrunckle.livejournal.com]

ART!!! I love your stuff. I can't find my around PS, so I really appreciate everyone else's efforts. Wonderful.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon! I can barely find my way around PS either at this point. *g*

[naisica.livejournal.com]

Oh, hon! So glad you made this art:)))
Hope you will do more. I missed it))

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon! Glad you like the piece. I, too, hope that I'll get some more pieces in before S8 (and thus my weekly reviews) kicks in again. :)

[marciaelena.livejournal.com]

Yay! It's awesome that you're creating again. The wallpaper is gorgeous. <3

Poor Sammy, though.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :) I am happy you like the wallpaper.

Poor Sammy, indeed. Sam's arc this season was my favourite part of S7! :)

[uglybusiness.livejournal.com]

Well, you were clearly exaggerating when you said you had forgotten composition, coloring etc. :) This doesn't look "rusty" at all. I love the angsty idea and the clever use of straight cut edge of the screencap across Sam's forehead. The quality looks very good on my monitor. (And I'm glad if I could help!)

Welcome back to the fanart land! We missed you here. ;)

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hon! Well, I do think the composition is a bit unbalanced, but well. And I fiddled forever with the colouring. I used to be much quicker with finding the right colours. LOL

And yeah, thanks again for the tips. I did use Unsharp Mask in the end for adjusting the downsized versions. I am glad they came out okay. :)

[nikkimisplaced.livejournal.com]

Yay lovely Chris art! *hugs* your rusty is amazing.. I'm quite happy to see much more rusty art if you are up to it!! :) <3

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

ROFL thank you, hon! *hugs* We will see if this was just a fluke or something more. One wallpaper does not make a return to fanart, I'm afraid.

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Oh wow that's GORGEOUS! <333 The composition and caps and texture are perfect, and that line does fit so well! (Oh Luci, I miss you, even if you were torturing poor Sam).

Lol I will always associate that song with BSG now, though! :p

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon. :) I am not sure about the composition, but I am glad you like it. Heh, whenever I hear the opening notes of that song I always think of BSG as well. It's the lyrics that brought me straight to SN. *g*

[fotw-sv.livejournal.com]

Nice piece Chris! I felt like that today at work...lol

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hon. :) ROFL don't we all sometimes?

[erin-nikki.livejournal.com]

OMG! *dies* New art from one of my all time favorite artist!!! My day is now complete. :)

Those lyrics are absolutely perfect for Sam. I'm glad you made the connection and were about to make this. I love your choice of image for Sam and how you have him position near the bottom with the clean cut beneath the text. Really emphasizes that we are seeing all the noise and confusion inside his head. The feather blend/effect is also a nice touch and throw back to Lucifer being an angel. And your coloring is also spot on!

Great piece! Really hope this means we'll be seeing more of your work in the future!!!

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you so much for the great feedback, hon! *hugs*

I am so happy that you picked up on the Lucifer-angel-feather connection, I thought it is maybe a tad too subtle. And I am glad the composition works for you in conveying the fact that it all plays in Sam's head. You basically picked up on everything I wanted to do with this piece, and that makes me giddy. :)

I, too, hope this wasn't just a fluke. I'd really like to get back into the fanart saddle, if only for the duration of the hiatus. :)

[ehlwyen.livejournal.com]

Awwww! So happy to see you did art! I was afraid you had talked yourself into believing you would never do it again. :( It is tough getting back into arting feeling natural, but you will. Plus your technique looks flawless.

I love this episode for its reveal of truly how unbearable that Lucifer had become. Earlier eps, it was cute to get Lucifer commentary in Sam's mind. But by this ep, Lucifer had become the despised villain who had taking the prank too far and was destroying Sam. Perfect choice of caps to portray the nearly broken Sam and how Lucifer's fun was not cool fun anymore.

So glad you arted and shared it!

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hon! I am glad you like the piece. *hugs*

Well, I did believe I'll never art again. I do find fanart frustrating at times, and I didn't really miss it that much, especially since I always have writing as a way to channel my love for SN. But it felt good to do something creative and I hope I'll find some more opportunity to do art during the summer hiatus. :)

Earlier eps, it was cute to get Lucifer commentary in Sam's mind
Hm, I never saw it this way. All those uncomfortable, thinly veiled hints at the fact that Lucifer raped Sam in the cage were never cute. Nor were his acts of violence, his allusions to torture or his attempts at emotional manipulation. I've always seen Lucifer as a manifestation of Sam's trauma and hence he never came off as funny or harmless to me.

[ehlwyen.livejournal.com]

Well, I was never not sympathetic to Sam. Nor did I feel it was harmless. But it surprises me you never found Lucifer funny, particularly in Repo Man when he is so ecstatic that Sam finally acknowledges him. I loved Lucifer helping Sam by pointing out people's names and clues.

I often felt Lucifer's taunting was more in the vein of the crap that an older sibling pulls. Only on the level that your sibling really was Satan. It's not hard to imagine young Sam having to shrug off all the pranks and teasing that Dean did. Having to pretend that those things didn't bother him. I felt Sam tried the same tactic with Lucifer in his head. Born Again Identity revealed the line between the vicious things a sibling will do and that of someone truly wanting to see you destroyed.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

But it surprises me you never found Lucifer funny, particularly in Repo Man when he is so ecstatic that Sam finally acknowledges him.
I was more annoyed with that moment, actually. Yeah, it is funny, but it is one of the handful of instances in the Lucifer storyline where the writers break perspective. That moment makes it look like Lucifer is actually an autonomous being, instead of an hallucination, and that undermines the consistency of Sam's storyline. Don't get me wrong, Repo Man is one of my favourite episodes of the last season, but that moment doesn't sit quite right with me from a narrative point of view. :)

Born Again Identity revealed the line between the vicious things a sibling will do and that of someone truly wanting to see you destroyed
Hm, for me that line was always there. The way Lucifer tried to drive Sam into suicide in Hello, Cruel World or the way he wanted to convince him that he never actually left the cage in Meet the New Boss - that's all about trying to destroy Sam, emotionally as well as physically. In Repo Man Lucifer seems less effective just because Sam has learned control at that point, but the moment he loses that control, Lucifer sets him aflame. So, Lucifer's destructive intentions have always been there for me. And I could never see allusions to rape and torture in the same context as the teasing between siblings. But well, ymmv, of course.