It's been exactly two months since my last update. You got a new layout last time around, this time there's LOTS of new pieces to be added! The total count ended up at 21 so I'd say this is one of the biggest updates on Chosen Art in more than 2 years or something. Some of you might have seen some of these pieces around the net as I haven't refrained from posting them completely just because this place hasn't been updated, but there's a lot of new things too that nobody's seen. Let's get started, shall we?
1 - Buffy/Dean manipulation
6 - Buffy Summers manipulations
4 - Fanfic Posters, 3 for "Lapsang Souchong", 1 for "Morning Glory" [both written by Ava]
1 - Dean Winchester wallpaper
1 - Buffy Summers wallpaper
7 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Supernatural wallpapers
1 - Buffy Summers/Echo wallpaper
Here you have a younger Buffy and Dean. There's really no specific thought behind
this one as I created it mostly for a banner for Route 66. The Buffy in this pic is
also a manip, but I'll get into that later. What I like about this combination is
the soft but present attitude. Their facial expressions matches to a T in my opinion.
Some shadows are lacking in this manip but that is because of the reason stated before -
it was made for a banner, which means the last few things to make this manip
more "real" was done over there.
Also, something you'll be noticing with the manips uploaded today is that I'm doing some very heavy tagging these days on the manips. This is prevent the continued theft. Sorry to do this, hate doing it, but you all know what kind of people prowl the net.
And here is the manip used in the one above. Originally the body belongs to the actress who
play(ed/s) Lois Lane on Smallville. I really liked this pose and made it specifically for
this wallpaper that I updated with
sometime last year (can't remember when). I'm very pleased with this one because, first of all
I love that pose. It felt very "Buffy" to me, and I'm so glad I managed to find the right
headshot for it because she can give you both attitude and sadness depending on the
effects when using it for "regular" pieces. I had to re-color the skin on the body to
match up, it was way too pinkish. But that's the only work on the body itself.
There's a very specific idea behind this manip as it was made from the getgo as a
poster (which was included in the previous update) so I already had everything done,
I just needed to manip the face. The body belongs to Lena Heady and was a poster for
Terminator. What drew me to this pic is three things: the weapons, the clothes and the pose.
It felt so alone which works perfectly for Buffy. The challenging thing here was
that I had to use a season 2 headshot since the fic that this manip was made into
a poster for plays out at the end of season 2/start of season 3. Can't have a season 6
Buffy as a headshot then. I had to do some rebuilding on the exposed shoulder to
remove the original hair. I also removed an engagement ring on the left hand. The
skincolor on both Buffy and the body was a serious challenge as they just didn't want to
play with eachother. Took a lot of work to get them to agree with each other. Annoying
as hell but the end result worked out great IMO :)
Now here's a manip you should recognise. Just scroll up and look at the header. This was also
my entry for the manip category at the AFA's and it recieved 6th place with 89 points.
It was actually not a very planned manip and it didn't take a lot of time. It's probably
one of the quickest manips I've done, but it contains quite some work anyway. The funny
thing is, I never liked the original pic of SMG that I used as headshot here because
I thought she looked kind of weird in the mouth area. But it works here, doesn't look as
weird, not to me at least (while you might be sitting here laughing at me ;)). The original
body belongs to none other but the dark Slayer Eliza Dushku as Echo. Again, the
weapon and pose had me hooked - very Supernatural Buffy to me! I did shrink
(read cut) her right (our left) breast. Eliza has a much bigger chest than Sarah so
that was a big "HAVE TO" if I was gonna be happy and consider this manip rather realistic.
So I shrunk it down and then built up the jacket so it was outside the breast, unlike
the original where it's hidden behind it. I also added a cross around her neck. That
was done for two reasons - 1. Could have been given to her by Dean Winchester, or 2.
She just doesn't give a fuck about what kind of cross she wears, as long as it's a
cross. The cross is itself created by using two nails and some wire. I also added a
leather band around her neck for it.
Another very quickly done manip. The body belongs to Sarah just like the face, I just did some changes
because I kinda hated the original. I couldn't stand the facial expression, it felt too "meeh" to
me and I needed either more attitude or more confidence. I went through the season 4
headshots and found one where she angles her head exactly the same way as she did on this
full body shot, so that was a simple choice. I switched out the faces, matched up the flow
of the hair and then did some color work on the body as it was very faded and didn't
have any kind of bounce in the colors. Took me about an hour or so to put this together.
Now here's a manip I've been wanting to do for quite some time. Not this body shot specifically
but the choice of body in combination with SMG. May I present the first manip that combines
the two fandoms of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight. The body belongs to Kristen
Stewart and I've been dying to use her. I love a lot of her photoshoots. They've got
a lot of attitude and they're somewhat different from most of the other actress shoots,
which makes me all kinds of giddy in my little manip heaven :) I chose to go with
a black and white manip because I couldn't replace her hair with Sarah's and when I
lightened Kristen's it just didn't want to play with me in the blond area - unlike Alexis Bledel.
I just had to go with a more attitude filled headshot of SMG for this one, since you
can very well fuck up this pose and turn it ridiculus. The plan while making this one,
was also to have her combined with Dean in a wallpaper, and that is another
reason to not have soft and sweet Buffy.
Another attitude touched Buffy. I had a completely different plan for this manip than
what it turned out as. Lets go over the parts of this piece first before I get into that.
The legs belong to Summer Glau from a promoshoot of Terminator. The same goes for the white
belt. The upper body does belong to Sarah but the shirt underneath the jacket is
Britney Spears. The face belongs to the upper body, but the hair comes from Season 6
of Buffy and is mixed with the original body hair. It took four bodies to make one :)
So what was the original plan? Just exchanging the heads, but I couldn't find the right
angle, and when I thought I did (the one used) I ended up deciding to just switch it all
around anyway because it didn't feel 100% right. This manip also ended up in a wallpaper
and I hope to work with it again later on because it contains a much "harder" Buffy
than a lot of other pics.
Lapsang Souchong - 50 years in hell
Here you have the poster the manip in the previous update was created for. I thought
the body of Lena Headey for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a perfect
match for this story (and series) to bring out the badass Buffy. Buffy has and will
continue to change during the "Miles to Go" series and this is just another visual
proof of that. I wanted to use the fire to show where she's been (hell) and what lies
in her path (the apocalypse). This was originally planned as a poster for "Oleander Wine"
but it never clicked. Then Lapsang Souchong came along and so did this poster :)
I did some extra effects to the text, adding light within it to make it more fire-y,
along with lines that stretch out from some of the letters of the series name, just
to add to the effects of fire. The tagline couldn't fit any better if you buttered
it up and squeezed it in with a shoehorn ;)
Lapsang Sounchong - Left behind
This one is a collection of about 6 different images. You have the frame, the broken
glass within, the buffy picture, the car and the road. The thought behind this one
is as follows; Everything changed at the end of season 2 for Buffy. She sent herself
to hell instead of Angel where she spent 50 years being tortured by Dean among others.
When she was rescued out of hell by Castiel, the life she left behind fifty years ago
doesn't exist anymore. The Scooby gang has spent months mourning the death of Buffy
and finally moving on. A new Slayer has come to town and Joyce has left Sunnydale
and gone back to her husband in L.A. Giles went back to England and Angel moved to
L.A (much like he does at the end of season 3, only the timeline has been pushed up
to season 2). With all that change, the Buffy both we and she herself knew, is left
behind (the picture), never to be seen again. When she goes with Oz to visit Angel
in L.A, the trip ends with her receiving a car as a gift from Angel, Doyle and Oz.
It will make her travel across the country easier and more free than by going by bus.
The car is a Honda Civic, which you can see in this poster. So if you take all that
information in, you suddenly see (hopefully!) how Buffy has left her old self behind
and is now driving into a new future, a new life and a new destiny.
I didn't plan on the car from the get go. I wanted to just use a pic of Buffy in a broken frame but then as per usual, my muse took over my hand and the poster took on a life of its own, and here ya go! :)
Lapsang Souchong - Companions
This is the second time you see Castiel appear with Buffy in a poster relating to this series.
The last time
he was just hidden in the background as he hadn't become a pronounced part of everything,
he was just stated as her savior from hell. As time moves on he appears a lot more to
Buffy, just like with the Winchesters, as she leaves everything behind. He's her only
companion through life now and the one guiding her. I used a latin quote on this poster
that was given to me by the writer, Ava. It felt very fitting in this poster and it reads:
"Solamen miseris socios habiusse doloris" which means "It is a comfort to the
unfortunate to have had companions in woe". Don't you agree it's a good fit?
Took some time to find the right Castiel pic, since I had to be ruled by that somewhat since at the time this poster was made, there wasn't that many full body shots of him. When I found this I knew exactly how to match him up with Buffy, and then it all just evolved from that. It felt natural to go with a b/w concept and then just apply a cool color on top of it to remove some of the harshness in the b/w. Since Buffy was dragged from hell like Dean, Castiel held her by her right shoulder, just like he held Dean by his left, so I had to include the handprint since her shirt is sleeveless. I'm very happy about the outcome of that and the fact that I actually remembered :) I also didn't want to remove the focus from Castiel/Buffy which is why I placed the fic name behind his head. And, as you could see on the other two posters, you can now find the series name ontop of the fic name. The background is just a compilation of different textures, I thought that would be a better effect than a stockimage.
Morning Glory - The next chapter is about to begin
There's a lot of work in this one, more than you might notice at first glance. I've
turned Buffy less perky and more stabby by pulling her eyebrows just slightly more
towards her nose/center. I also pulled down the edges of her lips just a little bit
to turn that mouth more angry. I intensified her make-up, both eyes and lips and
sharpened some of her skin more to match the sharpness in Dean's skin (he's less
airbrushed than Buffy is *sigh*). After that I added the cross and then just drew
the black line that is the leatherband the cross hangs on. Matches the one attached
to Dean's amulet, doesn't it? ;) I actually did that on purpose because it looks
so homemade and "I don't care as long as it's around my neck". Various effects has
been placed on both necklace and cross to make it more present on her neck. On Dean,
well, I kinda beat him up a little *evil grin*. I figured that him meeting Buffy
wouldn't be flowers and cuddling, but more violent and hard. Ava told me after this
was made that it'll probably be more "sucking chest wound" than anything else. So
got that one right me thinks ;)
I've of course played with the skintones to match 'em up. I did keep the background from Dean's original image because I liked it, and I also kept part of the gate that Buffy's leaning on in her own original pic. In conclusion I just couldn't resist putting these two together when I saw that pic of him. It just screamed "HE'S LOOKING AT BUFFY" and so I had no choice but make it so! I'm also very happy about how Buffy turned out. I haven't played with facial expressions before and it's very hard to pull off in a natural way, but I think I managed just fine! It was also nice to go back to beating up my subjects. I went through a period back in '06 or '07 where I did that a lot, been missing it since so it was nice to bring that effect back. (sorry Amber ;))
Lapsang Souchong - Nothing will ever be the same again
Just a simple promowallpaper for Ava's story with the same name. I used the promo
with Dean and then added in Sam from the group promo they also did. I prefered this
version because Dean isn't squinting as much due to the sun in his eyes and therefor
doesn't look completely pissed off ;) The background is a combination between their
two promos. I decided to make a hole-like feel between them, where mist is coming
out from, just to bring out a more fantasy feel to it. I also figured this pic of
Buffy was a perfect match since it's season 2 and the position she's sitting in looks
like she's leaning against Dean's leg.
Lapsang Souchong - Fuck U!
This one is solely based on a song Ava told me she had on repeat when it comes to
these two. I wanted an arrogant and smirky evil Dean for this and a pissed off Buffy
who hates him more than can be described. I'm very happy about the outcome in terms
of simple blurry effects and the placement and choice of caps. I had to go with an
older Buffy which I usually don't for this series but I couldn't resist using the moment
when Buffy looks the most pissed off I can remember ever seeing her (Once More, With Feeling).
The caps of Dean comes from both "Dream a little dream of me" and "When the Levee Breaks".
There's actually a touch of the poster for the first installment of this series, if
you look closely and compare you'll find a repeat of a pic of Dean.
Dean Winchester - I'm just drinkin' to drink
There wasn't that much thought put into this piece. I'm kind of addicted to the latest
album from Christian Kane and he's got one song about how he's just drinkin' to drink
and it felt like that kinda applied to Dean at times. So I dugg up a pic of him holding
a drink, added buckets of textures, did a search for stock pics of bars and then
did the same for bottles. And there you have it, along with quotes from the song.
I'm not a 100% happy about the outcome but meeh, it'll have to do!
Buffy - I was happy once, wasn't I?
I've been wanting to work with this photoshoot of her for a very long time, finally
I saw how this would work. A lot of different textures makes out the background and the
bottom of the wall. I also felt that since I was going for this kind of mood, a b/w
wall was the right way to go. I also added a tear on her right (our left) cheek, to
underline the words and the sadness that's written all over her face. It's a pretty
personal wallpaper so I'm very glad this turned out the way it did.
Buffy & Dean - Broken Champions
This isn't about a scene between the two, unlike my other works. But it's about when
they've both come back from the dead. One from Heaven, the other from Hell. They're
both broken people and nothing like the person they were before they died. So this is
just a reflection on the both of them when they're back and standing infront of a mirror
the first time. The piece could have turned out much better but it'll have to do.
Buffy & Dean - Dream and Reality
Been wanting to work with these two pictures for a very long time, but I just never
found something that worked for them, until now. As you can guess from the text in
the piece, Buffy isn't here anymore. But Dean is. I wanted to use the b/w concept because
it shows how cold and hard the truth is, and the colorless world Dean lives in now that
she's gone, while the color by Buffy reflects the dream he has and the love and warmth that existed
between them. I also thought that the pic of Dean holding himself would work with
how empty his arms is now and all he's got is himself, while you have a soft and sweet
side of Buffy to further underline what he's lost.
Buffy, Dean and Sam - Legends
Would YOU be able to resist making a wallpaper with such pretty people? Don't think so :)
When these promos of the boys surfaced I had to work with them and preferably together
with my favorite gal. The first idea and the one that ran in my head when making it was
that they make undercover work look good. But as I returned to the piece a few weeks later
to place the text I didn't really see that anymore. There was just too much attitude
coming from them that it needed to be a bit more aggressive and less playful. Took
me a while to come up with the words and when I did I wasn't too happy about the fonts.
Took a few tries to get that one right, but in the end it ended up all good IMO. The
background is actually from Twilight: New Moon. I managed to get hold of the background
from their poster of Edward/Jacob/Bella standing in the woods and I just had to use it.
It's such a great stock image of inside the woods. And then with a bunch of textures, you
get this - a blazing fire behind them, about to explode through the trees. In the middle
of the mayhem stands three strong people, the only ones that are able to fight back
and save the world.
Buffy & Dean - Made for this
And here's the piece where the manip ended up I talked about earlier. It took quite
some time to find a matching Dean pic, I was contemplating a manip of him but I was
just a bit too lazy to head into that direction after a 2 day pic search, so I spent
one more day on it and that's when I ran into this pic. I love it because he was
leaning just the right amount and he has the same kind of expression on his face
as Buffy. The pic was also taken outside, which helps since Buffy is too, so the
light bounced on him the right way, and I loved the background! So after some work
I b/w him and went to work. This is actually one of my favorite of all the walls
I'm updating with today because I just love how it turned out. You have the feel
of this being a picture being burned, I softened the b/w a little with a brownish
hue and then just played with stock images of fire. There's very little textures in
this one, two maybe three I think, but that's it. The most pronounced one is the
one that frames it into a picture. And then you have the trees as well. Just
all in all - I'm in love with this *lol* Hope you like it too! :)
Buffy & Impala - My life for worse or better
This one.. I'm so happy about this one I just kinda wanna bounce ;) I ran into this
pic of the Impala a week or so ago, never having seen it before and I knew there
was a wallpaper in its future. The first plan was to have Dean in there too but
when I decided to cut out the background in the Impalas pic, things just took on
a life of its own. I decided that THIS manip was the perfect Buffy pic to use with
the car. You need a little attutide when posing with a car like that! This is my first
piece where I've played with textures in this way and let it be the background and
not have the objects standing on a specific surface. As I was making it I was listening
to some pretty depressing music and I began to see this as Buffy w/ the Impala after
Dean has died (be it in season 3 or later). There's a lot of fics out there where Buffy
becomes the new owner of the car after Dean dies, so it didn't seem so far fetched in
my mind as I was completing this.
The words is actually a combination of three things
The Get Up Kids - Like A Man Possessed, Placebo - Running Up That Hill and my own words. It's not a complete transcript of the songs, because I've altered them somewhat to fit this piece and to fit together. I'm very pleased how well it worked out.
Buffy Summers & Echo - Don't you forget about us
I listened obsessively to the song "Don't you (forget about me)" by Simple Minds
a while back and as I did, a little plotbunny was beginning to jump around my head
and then I came up with this piece. They're both women of shows that isn't around anymore
but that doesn't mean we should forget them, now does it? So that's what I'm going for
here! I also changed the last word to "us" instead of "me" since it fit better. I'm
very happy about the outcome here because I've lately found the fun in playing with
text and fonts, so being able to base a piece soley on that concept, awesome! :) I'm
also very pleased about the Buffy pic because that was one horrible quality before I did
some work in it. Fitting all around in terms of objects and text IMO :)
Ontop of new art, there's four new affies! Head on over and take a look at their stuff, will ya?! :)
I've also updated the links of [erin nicole], Chris and Lyri. Hope you guys like your new homes, esp. Erin since she just got herself a brand spankin' new domain! :)
I think this might be it for this update. Now don't tell me I didn't bring it! Hope you like all the new work and keep coming back even when this place is somewhat quiet. I promise Chosen Art isn't going anywhere, I'm just busy with my own life these days and too tired when I get home to start working on updates or even sit down with photoshop. It's annoying though because I want nothing more than to do exactly that. Evil circle!



