aesc: (Default)
aesc ([personal profile] aesc) wrote2008-03-22 09:30 pm

.art: Cover for [personal profile] fiercelydreamed's "Unidentified" and noir AU

A couple experimental pieces, by which I mean experimental for me. One is a cover for [livejournal.com profile] fiercelydreamed's really, really awesome Unidentified, and the other is a draft of a cover for the noir!AU [livejournal.com profile] villainny and [livejournal.com profile] amberlynne have been interested in.







1: At some point when I was supposed to be doing something else, I wanted to see how many layers I could handle before losing my mind (answer: 215), and producing something like Rodney's "memory wall" in "Unidentified" seemed like a good way to do it. Unlike the collages I do for textures, I wanted to try something that would have an identifiable (pun intended?) subject, and with everything--at least on the board, not so for the background elements--relating to each other. Pretty much every image on the board pertains in some way to Rodney and his interests: his friends, places he might have been or should go some day, science fiction stuff, cool physics things, a photo of Johnny Cash that John probably put there at one point for purposes of antagonism.



2: I suppose this is really only noir-inspired; I tried to adapt some of my fonts (I think this is Futural) to 40s/50s-style typefaces, and the coloring is mostly monochrome to mimick the greyscale-sort of atmosphere from the classic films. If this was really properly 1940s noir, I guess it should be hand-drawn and painted, but in the absence of mad drawing skillz, I borrowed a heavily-desaturated and erased John from a Nantucket piece for a placeholder. Like the story that might eventually go with it, it's just a battered, lousy pulp paperback, complete with coffee stain and folds in the corners.

Now that I feel a bit less like I'm falling over myself, I might actually be able to do decent stuff for [livejournal.com profile] paintedspires, which is a happy thing.

[identity profile] highonstargate.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Very cool wall!

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! :) :)

[identity profile] eleveninches.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 03:58 pm (UTC)(link)
These are gorgeous. Great job.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks so much!

*cackles at your icon*

[identity profile] tex.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
The second one is just gorgeous but the first one? Oh, my, it's unspeakably beautiful. I've tried to do that, a kind of collage thing but as you said, dealing with all those layers was insane. But you did it so well - all the individual photos are still so clear and well, I'm just speechless. It's an amazing work of art. You totally win! *hugs*

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
*snuffles* Thank you so much!! A lot of the time went into hunting through layers to move things around... I really wish PS7 had a layer search function. Or if it does, that I knew about it :D

[identity profile] athousanderrors.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
The WALL! You made the wall!

*is all kinds of happy flaily squeeful*

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
\o/ Yay, thank you!! It was the first thing I thought to do when I decided on this type of project :)

[identity profile] sgafan33.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 04:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, Oh, Oh! These are amazing! They just cry out to be made into posters. Or half sheets. Or at the very least 8x10s but that wouldn't do them justice. I would so buy them. Or donate the money to David Hewlett and Joe Flanigan's charities.

I don't even know what 215 layers means, but that's 215 of something and that takes dedication. Plus, I see you used mostly real life photos of Joe, David, Rachel and Jason, not just screencaps of John and Rodney. I bow to your greatness in accumulating them.

I would love to see the detail in The Wall instead of the wee thing I can barely see on my screen. Is that borg!Picard? What's that grey thing with holes? What was Live? What's that postcard next to the Canadian flag? What's that thing between the photos on the filmstrip?

To use a word that David hates, you are just awesome!

I also await the noir!Au story. Already a winner in my book.

Thanks for your dedication to your art.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
I see you used mostly real life photos of Joe, David, Rachel and Jason, not just screencaps of John and Rodney.

Oh yes, yes. There was absolutely no way to do this if I relied only on SGA caps; it would have looked like a wall of photos from one party :) I think Teyla is out of her uniform or Athosian clothes once in the four years of the series, Ronon twice, and John and Rodney not much more, which is nowhere near enough to do this sort of thing, so yay for Google image search \o/

I would love to see the detail in The Wall instead of the wee thing I can barely see on my screen.

Sadly, that is the image at full size :/ Photoshop was already reluctant to load the working document as it was (215 layers = very large file), and much larger would have made my computer extremely unhappy.

But I can tell you that yes, that is borg!Picard, the grey thing with holes is probably a postcard of some Wiltshire crop circles, "Live" is from some graffiti stock I had lying around, the postcard is this... very strange thing with a doodle of a girl and her little brother (the caption reads "When my brother was little I made him kiss me on the mouth and now he is gay"), and if you're talking about the swirly white things, those are just some thread stock and a photograph of some physics equations I messed around with :)

(no subject)

[identity profile] sgafan33.livejournal.com - 2008-03-23 18:04 (UTC) - Expand

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[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com - 2008-03-23 18:17 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] sleepwalkerfish.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 04:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't even know why I comment when - I just, usually don't even know what to say. They're both fantastic. Unidentified is one of my favourite fics in the fandom - if not the favourite -, and ever since I first read it, "the wall" bothers me. Now you made it, and, and *flails* - you are really, really a genius.
I don't even know when I'll have the courage to open PS again.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, thank you so much!! ♥ I absolutely loved the wall in "Unidentified," and I'd always wondered what it might look like. This was a chance to find out :)

[identity profile] elli.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 04:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Aweomse. Especially the second one. *g* Now I want that story! 215 layers is eriously impressive.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 05:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much!! I hope the story will come along nicely... It makes sense in my head, but my head is a strange place ;)

[identity profile] crownglass39.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
OMG these are awesome!

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Eeee, thank you!

[identity profile] quasar273.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
That is really amazing. I love the wall of pictures -- I can't believe the amount of work that must have gone into that.

Um, do you take requests?

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 06:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much! It did take some time... mostly trying to remember where I put things so I could move them around :)

And as for requests, I'm just starting work on my prompt for [livejournal.com profile] paintedspires and my story for [livejournal.com profile] sgabigbang, so I don't know how fast I can be, but if there's something you'd like, let me know and I'll see what I can do :) (I just might be really slow about it!)

[identity profile] hellpenguin.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
first of all, jeez, woman, i can't handle more than ten layers without getting frustrated as heck.

second of all, i'm totally behind the noir-esque au, EXCEPT when I think 'detective' and 'rodney' in the same sentence, i also think DIRK GENTLY.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)
EXCEPT when I think 'detective' and 'rodney' in the same sentence, i also think DIRK GENTLY.

Ha ha ha! I was also thinking Guy Noir, Private Eye :D

[identity profile] d_odyssey.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 09:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Both of these are awesome and made of win. The wall is just amazing. I just keep staring at it, awestruck at both the pretty and the work you put into it. Wow! Works perfectly with the story, which just makes me sigh! *Goes back to stare some more* Spectacular!

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it! :) And the story always makes me sigh, too.

[identity profile] rinsbane.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
way cool. The wall looks like so much work, but they're both fantastic.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you, Rin! ♥

The wall was pretty time-consuming, mostly because there was so much back and forth, and trying to hunt things down :)

[identity profile] alizarin-nyc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
God these are amazing. Just... wow. Wow wow wow.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much!! :)

[identity profile] luna-61.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
These are so Beautiful. The Unidentified photo wall is just amazing and really gives the reader a great visual.
Thanks for sharing.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you very kindly! I'm happy you liked it :) :)

[identity profile] pollitt.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
Oh wow, those are GORGEOUS. Two Yards Short of the City looks like a graphic novel cover. And I would totally buy it.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much! *siiiigh* if only I could sell it :D
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[identity profile] krysalys.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
Two hundred fifteen layers in PS. WOW.
I think my iMac would've seized and died around thirty. At the MOST.
Awesome art, m'dear.
-----}-@

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 02:18 pm (UTC)(link)
*snorfles* Thank you!!! PS7 was not very happy about opening after a certain point, that's for sure.

[identity profile] kimberweeme.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
I just want to stare at the wall and figure out what every single picture is. It is beyond fantastic! (Also, intriguing and nifty and beautiful.)

The noir piece is very cool. I think it has exactly the right feel. Battered and murky, dark and oddly romantic. Pulp fiction at its best.

I have massive amounts of love for every piece art you create. MASSIVE AMOUNTS, you hear? You are made of all things awesome (just like Rodney McKay)!

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 02:19 pm (UTC)(link)
*meep!* Thank you so much!! Though whatever awesomeness I have cannot approach that of the great McKay :D

[identity profile] halona.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
These are gorgeous. I really wish I could zoom in on the first one so I could see everything on the wall.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 02:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much!

I'm really sorry the wall is so tiny... much bigger and Photoshop would have mutinied :/

[identity profile] burkesl17.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 11:13 am (UTC)(link)
These are beautiful. Rodney's board must have taken so much patience and it came out looking lovely. I adored the second one too, the font, the coffee stain, the bleached out Sheppard it all just worked together really well. Great job!

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 02:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much! Rodney's wall took quite a long time... It was one of those things where I could only work on a little bit at once, otherwise my brain would implode from the back-and-forth and hunting things down :)
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[identity profile] the-oscar-cat.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
OMG THE WALL.

You are an utter utter star!

<3<3<3<3<3<3

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 03:57 pm (UTC)(link)
♥♥♥!!

[identity profile] villainny.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 03:41 pm (UTC)(link)
*FLAILS WORDLESSLY*

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 03:57 pm (UTC)(link)
XD XD XD

[identity profile] almost-clara.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh my. Gorgeous work.
I think I want to read Unidentified now. As for the book cover - I really need see Joe or David in a trench coat and a fedora...
215 layers. Crumbs.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much! You really should read it--it's lovely :)

As for Joe and David in a trench coat and fedora... Yes, yes please. The coat-wearing figure on the cover is actually David in Treed Murray, but sadly, he is fedoraless.

[identity profile] sonadorita.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 04:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Amazing work! 215 layers, wow. I would've gone mad *g* Great job.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 07:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much!! And I almost did :D :D It was quite close XD
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[identity profile] steammmpunk.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 06:16 pm (UTC)(link)
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE These are wonderful. Wonderful, I say. ♥

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 07:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Yayyy, thank you!! \o/ \o/

[identity profile] gaffsie.livejournal.com 2008-03-25 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Those are beautiful. I have no idea how much work 215 layers is, but since everyone else are suitably impressed, I'm just going to assume that it's *a lot* and that you're really devoted to your art. It looks amazing, at any rate.

The Noir piece is really intriguing. If that was a real paper-back, I'd totally read it.

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-03-25 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!! 215 is not the most I've seen... I have stock collages I've downloaded that are somewhere around 300+ layers, which I can't even conceive of... This was hard enough :D

The Noir piece is really intriguing. If that was a real paper-back, I'd totally read it.

*siiiigh* To be able to make money off this sort of thing!

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