Drawing this and just… picturing Anathema FRANTICLY shushing everybody, while also going “oh my fucking god you guys look at these two”
Julia’s going to have the WORST crick in her neck
Mum says I can ramble AS MUCH AS I WANT in the readmore. You’re trapped here with ME.
And ooh look we have progress shots and the original reference that’s fairly sexy
My toxic trait is putting so much texture into lines only to blur/chromatic abberation/add noise until it’s all just a soft fuzz.
Pouring one out for the lineart of Julia’s hair tho. Loosing that’s a tragedy.
Drawing this didn’t take much brain power, it was mostly ‘see ref, become obsessed, work on this between comms’
It became a FIGHT once I got to colour/shading/light though. I wanted some streetlight-y look but also not quite that and?? Spent well north of an hour and a half (about half the total work time) pushing and pulling. The bright blue/orange/red is of course what saved it in the end. This was as far as I intended to take it but I’m glad I put the extra time in.
Also as I’m sure is blindingly obvious— playing with the idea of sidestep Mel not bleaching her hair. You have no idea how much blonde Mel ruins the composition it’s so bad
Okay! Two in one day because I've managed to be finally happy with this one. Thank you, @swordsandspectacles for offering up Melody Basri as tribute. It was a delight playing her against Loren!
Loren can’t stop giggling. Xe can’t remember why, either. Something Melody said or did or maybe just the comfortable buzz of hitting the line between tipsy and drunk. Xe leans heavily against the bar, only Melody’s hand on xir shoulder keeping xem from slipping off xir barstool.
“Careful there.” Melody’s small smile is sharp-edged, sly, and makes Loren’s stomach flip. “Think we should call that good, yeah?”
Melody shifts her hand, less holding, more pulling. “No,” Loren groans, hooking the xir heels in the footrest of the barstool. “Not yet. We just started having fun.”
It doesn't save xem. Melody uses her height to her advantage, hoisting xem off of xir barstool. “We can have fun at home. With some water. And food that isn't $20 a plate.”
Loren huffs, but leans into Melody's side as they stumble out of Joes. Xe looks up at Melody, watching the lamplight reflect off her blonde curls. “Thanks for coming out with me, Mel. This was nice.” Summoning xir courage, Loren stretches to press a quick kiss on Melody’s cheek.
Or so xe planned. As she nears, Melody turns her head, capturing xir lips against hers. Loren tries not to blush. Xe fails.
This post marks the end of the Ask a Director experiment. I’m so grateful to all who have contributed, supported and engaged with it over the past six and a half years.
This blog was started at a time when I felt incredibly alone in the directing field. I had always been taught that a director operates solo, that it was a lonely career and above all, it was based on scarcity. This was a style of working and living that didn't fit for me. I wanted to talk to other directors about their practice and thoughts about the field, both national and international. This blog was started as a way to connect, to uplift other directors and to create a conversation about the changing field and practices.
It's surpassed all of these goals and brought me more joy than I can name.
I'm now at a moment where my practice and advocacy are taking different and exciting paths and it's time for me to put this site to bed. I remain committed to uplifting other directors, to talking about the practice, to flattening hierarchies, to opening doors for new ways of working, and leading rehearsal rooms, companies, and classrooms away from silos and vacuums. Featuring these 268 different directors was just the beginning.
I encourage you all to hire them (and others), advocate for them (and others) and choose to work in a system that values connection and generosity.
Or someone overshadowed by by your new self, anyhow.
I got! Some funky risograph brushes from Retrosupply. Turns out the procreate version is a bit easier on the brain than the clip version (yay) so I’ve immediately begun fussing around with these…
Having fun with textures and negative space today! If im 110% honest I think I could have (should have) gone further, really shrank Mel down in pose and space on the page to totally envelop her in Entropy’s cloak. Buuut I didn’t.
Fun trivia; Mel usually wears heels, so Entropy being taller is just an affectation for the vibes.
Mel/Entropy and her AU sidekick Pumpkin, another villain suit for one of my stupid wolf OC’s if they were a Sidestep (the white holographic stuff has my hEART-)
Then just. Wolf studies. Almost entirely from Pinterest photos, because I need to get better at their stupid lEGS-
Finally, warlock with unicorn patron for a maybe dnd game.
So fun fact I do actually have WIP covers for my own sidesteps too. The problem is because they’re for me, I’m in full on overthinking mode all the time (and also the poses feel? Really stiff? Weh.)