Work Text:
My first step in the process was reading the story. After that I started to think about a base for all the designs, so the next logical step would be to make a logo for the band because this would be in most art. The following image shows you the different versions and fonts I had in mind.
I wanted to do minimalist logos, but then I thought I should think more like them—Sam and Dean— because eventually they would use those logos and I wanted it to be something they could use. That's how I got the idea of using something simple and obvious (because our boys don't have much imagination, and to be fair neither do I). So along with Lana, we decide to use one suits the band and the brothers.
We choose the next one (and its alternative version, that I used when the background was back so it wouldn't disappear):
Logo, Official Version | Logo, Alternative Version
Next, I thought about a banner/poster. My very first idea for this one was to make one like it was a concert poster, but then I quickly discarded that idea because I thought I was kinda meh—but before I dumped the idea I created some quick art for that (I will show you that later). Then I thought about the brothers at a concert, you know, people screaming at them and they rocking the stage, but sadly I don't have the hands to make that picture come alive, so after many tries, I gave up (Again, later I will show you what happened with the discard ideas). I let some days pass, to think of an idea that I could create. I really wanted to make a poster where the brothers are on the stage, but after thinking about it I came to the conclusion that, even though I wanted both brothers on the poster, the bang is centered on Sam so I decided that only Sam I would be on the poster. And so I started looking for reference images that fit my idea.
I ended up with this. The first version had a lot of things that I wasn't happy about so I quickly started working on making a new version. And I like the second one way more, but still, I felt like something was missing. I asked Lana for a quote of her fic, one line that summary everything and she told me, "well that would be 'You tell the world or I will, Sammy :) You have 7 days.'" And I wanted so badly to put that in the second version but it didn't fit. The space was so small and also I have a problem with the logo, there was too much black there.
So I thought, "let's make a banner and see how it turns" and my god, that was a great idea. In my mind, I always wanted to make a separate banner and poster. But after seeing how the banner turned out, I told Lana that I liked the banner much better and that I would like us not to use the poster. To which she agreed because, like me, she thought the banner looked much better. There was so much more space on it and the letters could be expanded more and looked better. Also, that was when the alternative art of the logo was born.
The banner
After creating the banner, I let a few days go by to rest and think about the next image (I still had to do the image requested by Lana), then, while listening to random music Heaven by Bryan Adams started playing, and of course, I smiled because that's a SamDean song. And in a moment of inspiration, I started working on the next image, or well, on the next idea: an album. I wanted them to have an album, something to be proud of. I thought about the concept for his album and what songs it should have. It occurred to me that Lana had put names to each of the chapters, so the correct thing would be that the name of the songs were the name of the chapters. Now I only needed the concept of the album. In the fic there's this song called 'On the Road' that was written for Sam by Dean and I started there: with a road, and that led me to Baby, Baby had to be on the album. With the name and the concept, I started to work. I created the art for the cover and the back of the album and I told Lana about my idea. Luckily she loved it! (Thank you, Lana. You're a saint 🥺).
This is kinda funny because of my idea Lana changed some things—I'm not sure if I can tell what changed. That's not my thing to say— in her fic to make the album and the fic match. After some adjustments to the initial art (I won't show it because of what I said before and because they are really small), I created this: a deluxe version of the first Vital Signs album.
Vital Signs | Deluxe Version
Version for the fic
The final idea behind the album art was: to get somewhere. That's why on the cover you see the four members in some place, no matter where it is, the important thing is that they arrived. And like I said before, Baby had to be on the album so I put it as the way our boys got to their destination. Also, as you can see we wanted to have Heaven in the album, so. And the On the Road (Sam's version) was kinda a joke for Lana and me. But we loved it, we loved the idea of Sam singing it back to Dean.
The thing with me is that when I do something my mind immediately starts to think about more related things (That's why I take a few days time to time because I have to work and do other things and I can't just be thinking about SamDean, although I would like to). Anyway, what I mean is that if there is a Deluxe version, there has to be a regular version. So I started working on it, using the same concept: to get somewhere. But I wanted to change things a bit because the deluxe versions come out when the albums are a hit, but the standard version for our guys was something new and scary.
Vital Signs | Standard Version
Version for the fic
As I said, I wanted it to keep the same idea as the Deluxe version, but now, the cover has a field of flowers with many paths that can take you to many different places—the fear of uncertainty that the band felt when releasing the album (this is more of a headcanon of mine). And then the back of the album feature Sam and the same road Baby is in in the Deluxe version. I wanted this to be a contrast that at the beginning they were walking, starting. And in the deluxe version, they already have something more solid.
At this point, I got this crazy idea of making a piece of art for every chapter. But I wanted to have some meaning, some lore. So I talked to Lana to give her my idea, that each piece of art would be with a small excerpt from some interview of the brothers or something about them. To, as I said, give depth to the images and to the fic itself (not that the fic didn't need it), obviously I told her that I could write them, they wouldn't be anything big and they wouldn't affect the story. She told me that she accepted the idea, and the truth is that I was in the clouds. So with the help of past and discarded ideas, I came to all this.
The Brothers
I started to work on this to be a poster, but since I'm bad with faces I gave up. But I thought I could bring it to life and was inspired by Freckles & Dimples' faceless art and ended up creating this as it was a fanart made by someone from the world of Vital Signs.
The Poster
Version for the fic
Remember how I told you I wanted the poster to be like a concert poster? It ended up being a publicity poster for a concert by Vital Signs.
This was the first version of the poster. As you can see, at first I was looking for a minimalist style. And I also wanted to use the Samulet (because I'm obsessed with it), but I ended up scrapping the idea because the style didn't fit the band.
The difference between the first one and the final result is enormous and I am very proud of that.
The brothers
In my attempts to create a good poster for the fic, I thought I'd make two, one with Sam's face and one with Dean's. But as I already explained I wanted the poster to focus on Sam. Besides that the first versions were very ugly, I'm terrible at making faces :(
But with the encouragement of a friend—Vania, if you're reading this, I love you, you're the best—I tried to improve their faces and in the end, I liked them so much that I also wanted them to be included in the fic. In my mind, these two images are from a photoshoot the band did for MTV.
I'll be honest, the image that Lana wanted worried me, I didn't know if I would be able to do it, so I started playing with ideas. And one of the images that Lana wanted was of the brothers in the impala, and it came to mind that Dean always had a notebook where he wrote his music, so I thought "why not create a polaroid that dean always has in that notebook?" With that in mind, I created this image, of them two sitting on top of the Impala doing nothing and doing everything at the same time, plus we added a watermark to it with Dean's handwriting (yes, there is a font called Dean Winchester that is based on Dean's handwriting).
The Polaroid
As I said, in my mind, this photo is always in Dean's notebook.
With that, I only had to make a farewell image. When I created it I was thinking about what the fic represents, when I read it I always had this feeling of nostalgia, of longing and I wanted to show that in the final image. A hopeful ending.
The ending
Also, I'm in love with the line "I don't write for strangers, Sammy. I write for you". So I HAD to put it, I had to. Otherwise, I'd die.
And last but not least.
The Excerpts
“Sammy, he— Sam’s a good kid. He’s always dreaming and thinking, you know? He’s wicked smart and funny.
But he's also a brat; that’s all my fault. Anyway, he’s an amazing little brother. [...]
You’re not gonna air this part, right?”
—Dean Winchester about his brother, Sam.
Extract from MTV’s “Meeting with…”.
I just wanted Dean to be soft and to make fun of his no-chick-flick moments.
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“Dean? He’s a jerk. Haha. Just kidding.
Dean’s my big brother. What more can I say? I think that covers everything. [...]
He has always been my role model; kinda my hero. I’m lucky to have him.”
—Sam Winchester about his brother, Dean.
Extract from MTV’s “Meeting with…”.
With this one, I wanted to show that Sam loves his brother and he knows what Dean had done for him, at the same time trying to keep the bratty little brother vibes.
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“What they [Sam and Dean] have—I wouldn't know how to describe it.
The energy they radiate, the looks they throw at each other. Imagine having someone with you all your life.
Someone to love and that loves you back. It’s beautiful.”
— Cynthia Flowers about the brothers.
Extract from her fan blog ‘Cyn Talks’.
Sam and Dean fanart courtesy of [email protected]
This is a funny one. First, there is a little nod to Freckles & Dimples (if you don't know her, she's a wincest artist and friend of mine. @freckleNdimple on Twitter), and another one, a very little one, to wincest.
And this one goes with the 'The Brothers' piece. In Vitals Signs world [email protected] created that piece.
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“Vital Signs' debut album went unnoticed by most of the public. It sold only 10,000 copies in the United States, an unfortunate, but not unsurprising event.
Still, tracks like "Underwater" or "Hazy State of Mind" are worth a listen, bringing fresh, although unrefined energy to the folk-rock genre. [...]
We definitely have to keep an eye on this band because they are on the rise.”
— David Smith, music critic and journalist.
Extract from ‘Indie Rising’ magazine.
This is a small text of an article dedicated to Vital Signs, which shows their first days as a band.
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“The release of the deluxe edition of Vital Signs' debut album was what the band needed.
Many fans have been asking for a new album since the ‘On the Road’ demo was leaked.
The new edition sold 20,000 copies in its first week, twice the sales of the standard version.”
— David Smith, music critic and journalist.
Extract from ‘Indie Rising’ magazine.
Once again, a text from an article. This time shows how much 'On the Road' helped them to get bigger.
—(IF YOU HAVEN'T READ VITAL SIGNS THE NEXT LINE HAS SPOILERS)—
But I also wanted the reader to be able to see—with the albums and the concert—everything that Sam and Dean were going to lose.
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“The concert was amazing. Dean’s angelic voice and Sam—oh, my sweet Sam—he plays the guitar like a god.
I can't believe they're real. [...] I thought I was going to die when ‘Can’t Save a Ghost’ started playing; that song saved my life.”
— A euphoric fan leaving Vital Signs’ concert in Austin, Texas.
Image of the promotional poster for the concert.
I was making fun of fans with this one, how sometimes we exaggerate things and believe that we will die for our favorite artists, whether they are famous or not.
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Each excerpt goes with an image from the ones I presented to you earlier, so you should go read it. 🥺
Anyway, I think that's everything. I know I made this long, but this story really inspired me a lot. It was a great experience. and I feel very happy and very satisfied with the results. I really hope my art tells you something, good or bad. And again, I recommend you read the story is very good.
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Thank you so much for reading.
Kudos and comments mean a lot.