"Moonlight Vision"

. . . Or as I like to call it, the "Insomniac Sketch." Seriously, nearly all the work on this picture, from the beginning to the end, was done in the wee hours of the morning in between random fits of boredom and working on one of my music video projects. I was inspired by a quick late-night sketch my friend Straya did for me of Jamil (which turned out beautifully despite being done so quickly) while we were chatting one late night on IM, and when she showed me what she did, I felt the need to pull out my sketchbook and do a little something too. This looks kinda plain (as it bears a striking resemblance to another unfinished sketch I did back in May), I know, but what would you expect from someone who was only half-awake when she started it?

But anyway, aside from being in colored pencil with a pen outline, this features three things I enjoy drawing: wind-blown hair, Jamil's eyes (as if I've drawn all that many where you can't see them . . . :P), and his coat draped over his shoulders. ^_~ Upon suggestions from friends, I tried a slightly different shading technique than I normally use for colored pencil pictures. As you can see, the colored areas are supposed to be the actual shading, giving it the light, washed-out (if not rather yellowed, no thanks in part to my older-than-dirt scanner 9_9;) feel that inspired this piece's title. Unfortunately, when erasing the rough pencil lines after inking, the paper got wrinkled, and it shows pretty clearly in the scan. There wasn't anything I could do to fix that, sorry. -_-; Overall, I really like it though. It's one of my better inking jobs, and the shading gives it a sense of drama and romanticism despite the plainness of the composition.

Even though I never intended for it to be associated with anything, this could also be considered fic-art for a big project some friends and I are working on. In the part I'm writing, Jamil is supposed to be having a strange Newtype-like vision that takes place on a moonlit night, and this is more or less how he appears in that particular scene. So in a sense, that too was what gave this drawing its title.