Art: Dont' Say You'll Never When You Might (bandombigbang)
This post contains the sketches, as well as final artwork that I did for the bandombigbang fic written by two talented ladies, zephyrina and framianne. I totally failed my own BBB as a writer, so it made the art assignment even more daunting, because I haven't drawn anything by hand for ages and it brought back memories of art school and getting mediocre grades for my hand-drawn assignments and being told that I needed to do more linework, more observation, more cross-hatching, etc etc etc. In the end, I'm quite happy with the results and I'm glad that my recipients are happy with them as well.
The story is called "Don't Say You'll Never When You Might", and the masterpost for it is here.
I suggest reading the summaries/warnings thoroughly and if you feel that it is your kind of fic, do read it and leave a comment for the lovely writers. I think they did an excellent job on a challenging subject and didn't cut any corners with it. The early parts of the story focus on the city of Minsk, while the later parts take place in and around New York City. The scene I chose to illustrate for the final piece was the New Year's Eve scene in Times Square, which I did upon request from the writers, who said it was their favorite scene (and I agree).
After deciding to work on the medium of black paper, I hunted down some art supplies and began sketching. I knew I couldn't possibly do the final piece right away, so I started by familiarizing myself with the paper and the Derwent drawing pencils and dermatogrpahs I was using, and discovering which techniques worked best.
I sketched this quickly using dermatographs, just to warm up my lines and getting some sense of structure in them.
Two sketches of "the bench", with Robert sitting on them. I should point out that I deliberately avoided drawing facial features/expressions because I fail at them so very, very HARD. Here is where I started to get a feel of how to mix earth tones.
My first jab at drawing Times Square. I used a "rainbow pencil", with multicolored lead that changes colors as you use it, to see if I could get the effect of a nighttime celebration.
A profile study of Robert, this time focusing on hair details.
Ray, drawn from a low-angle, I forgot which scene this was supposed to represent but I seem to have a penchant of portraying all the characters in scarves.
A sketch of Bob from a point in time towards the end of the story. He turned out too "feminine" in posture and hair for this one, but I did enjoy sketching in the clothing details.
My first go at illustrating the final piece. This didn't turn out so well, and I don't know what the fuck I was thinking when I chose a HORIZONTAL orientation for a low-angle drawing, but it did prepare me for the final piece and taught me a lot about color-mixing and shading.
FINAL PIECE:
"All around, people are screaming and jumping and toasting, and there are even more and noisier fireworks exploding up above them, but Robert doesn’t care. Ray is holding him close, clutching his waist as if Robert might disappear or run away, his body hot and tight against Robert’s, and everyone else might even disappear without him noticing. He puts everything in his kiss, all the doubts and frustration and growing fondness he’d been nurturing in these last days, hoping that Ray will understand, that he won’t run away from him again. Almost scared to open his eyes and read something he won’t like in Ray’s, he keeps them close and slides down his arms to clutch Ray’s shoulders, feeling the muscles move under his clothes when he tightens his hold on Robert’s waist."
I'm really, really thrilled that I got the chance to exercise my drawing skills again, and I realize now that it's been too long since I'd drawn just for the sheer fun of it, and I want to give zephyrina and framianne a massive group hug for writing such a fantastic story and allowing me to rediscover my love for drawing through it.
NOTE: Most of these sketches have gone through some Photoshop tinkering to enhance contrast and to give them coloring effects.
The story is called "Don't Say You'll Never When You Might", and the masterpost for it is here.
I suggest reading the summaries/warnings thoroughly and if you feel that it is your kind of fic, do read it and leave a comment for the lovely writers. I think they did an excellent job on a challenging subject and didn't cut any corners with it. The early parts of the story focus on the city of Minsk, while the later parts take place in and around New York City. The scene I chose to illustrate for the final piece was the New Year's Eve scene in Times Square, which I did upon request from the writers, who said it was their favorite scene (and I agree).
After deciding to work on the medium of black paper, I hunted down some art supplies and began sketching. I knew I couldn't possibly do the final piece right away, so I started by familiarizing myself with the paper and the Derwent drawing pencils and dermatogrpahs I was using, and discovering which techniques worked best.
I sketched this quickly using dermatographs, just to warm up my lines and getting some sense of structure in them.
Two sketches of "the bench", with Robert sitting on them. I should point out that I deliberately avoided drawing facial features/expressions because I fail at them so very, very HARD. Here is where I started to get a feel of how to mix earth tones.
My first jab at drawing Times Square. I used a "rainbow pencil", with multicolored lead that changes colors as you use it, to see if I could get the effect of a nighttime celebration.
A profile study of Robert, this time focusing on hair details.
Ray, drawn from a low-angle, I forgot which scene this was supposed to represent but I seem to have a penchant of portraying all the characters in scarves.
A sketch of Bob from a point in time towards the end of the story. He turned out too "feminine" in posture and hair for this one, but I did enjoy sketching in the clothing details.
My first go at illustrating the final piece. This didn't turn out so well, and I don't know what the fuck I was thinking when I chose a HORIZONTAL orientation for a low-angle drawing, but it did prepare me for the final piece and taught me a lot about color-mixing and shading.
FINAL PIECE:
"All around, people are screaming and jumping and toasting, and there are even more and noisier fireworks exploding up above them, but Robert doesn’t care. Ray is holding him close, clutching his waist as if Robert might disappear or run away, his body hot and tight against Robert’s, and everyone else might even disappear without him noticing. He puts everything in his kiss, all the doubts and frustration and growing fondness he’d been nurturing in these last days, hoping that Ray will understand, that he won’t run away from him again. Almost scared to open his eyes and read something he won’t like in Ray’s, he keeps them close and slides down his arms to clutch Ray’s shoulders, feeling the muscles move under his clothes when he tightens his hold on Robert’s waist."
I'm really, really thrilled that I got the chance to exercise my drawing skills again, and I realize now that it's been too long since I'd drawn just for the sheer fun of it, and I want to give zephyrina and framianne a massive group hug for writing such a fantastic story and allowing me to rediscover my love for drawing through it.
NOTE: Most of these sketches have gone through some Photoshop tinkering to enhance contrast and to give them coloring effects.