deeply believe that caleb, jester and beau have a book club where they gather once a month in the salon in the tower, dress up nice, pour some fine wine by the fire, and take it in turns to read each other the worst erotica they could find that month and then vote on whose was worst
Sometimes sad cat wizards deserve to get swept off their feet by their narrative foils.
Many, many thanks to both @flappingduster-scribbles and @aboxthecolourofheartache for helping me un-weird the anatomy. Why did I need to un-weird the anatomy? Well, let's look at the reference below the cut...
Leyendecker painted a gorgeous little picture here! But if you look closely, you might notice that the gal in this painting has...no mouth. Also, no nose. She and the dude are just lamprey'd together at the face. It's pleasing and totally works in the reference (which is a crop of a larger painting), but it just looked really, really weird in my painting. So, I had figure out how to give Caleb back half his face, making a lot of stops in the uncanny valley along the way.
Here's the initial sketch! Essek's hair was a fun challenge.
And a bonus: Essek might seem pretty tall in this picture, but if you zoom out...