December 2023

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zmeess:

digital fanart of Essek Thelyss and Caleb Widogast. Essek is a drow with dark purple skin and short white hair swept to the side; Caleb is a taller light-skinned human with long red hair and a beard. they are standing with their backs to the viewer in front of a large mirror; Caleb is behind Essek, in the middle of helping him do up the hook closure in the back of Essek's white shirt. it is open all the way down to Essek's tailbone, exposing Essek's naked back and a delicate necklace consisting of several interconnected chains with one orange pendant trailing down his spine; the necklace is resting low on his neck so it would be completely hidden by the high collar of his shirt once it is done up. the closure of the shirt is decorated to vaguely resemble a vertebral column; Caleb is holding one part of the open collar with his right hand, while the left is positioned down low, with the index finger slipping underneath one of the panels of the shirt, touching the skin of Essek's back. Essek is looking at himself in the mirror with a slight self-satisfied smile, fixing the cuffs of his shirt; the reflection of Caleb's face is carefully watching Essek in the mirror. the painting utilizes a dark and sultry limited color scheme, and the characters are lit from the side with cool light that turns Essek's white shirt and hair bright chartreuse and his skin a saturated emerald green.ALT

just over a year ago, @saturdaysky commissioned me with an absolutely outstanding shadowgast prompt; namely, ‘Caleb helping Essek put on a fancy outfit’. i’m sure you can imagine how ecstatic i was about it (just look at that line, every single word in it is designed to make me go heart eyes), and i’m finally finished and excited to post this bad boy. i hope you guys enjoy this picture too and my very optimistic wish is that it inspires all sorts of lovely stories in your minds 😏

sky gave me a beautiful prompt and a specific atmosphere/mood to depict, but was very patient and generous about letting me go wild on the actual posing, colors and details, so naturally i did πŸ˜‚ my idea of using a mirror in the composition was admittedly rather ambitious, and lead me to reading up quite a bit on optics, the physics of reflections and reflections in art specifically (as well as the history of zippers and other closures!), so not only was this commission a delight from the point of view of its topic, but i also learned a fair amount of new stuff while working on it. honestly speaking, i like to think that the bookworm wizards would approve of my little adventure.

thank you for commissioning me! πŸ’œ