you're the only one i'm dreaming of
paperlegends art! For Ace of Hearts by beccadearie.
One night when out with friends, Merlin meets Arthur and quickly realizes that they have something in common: they are both asexual and trying to make their way through life and love in a sexual world without going crazy. What starts as hanging out between friends evolves into something more, and Merlin and Arthur decide to plunge headfirst into this tenuous relationship of give and take between the two of them.
For me, it's so refreshing to see a grey-a character in fic and the story is wonderful exploration of how two people who don't fit in to heteronormative ideals can find each other. It's utterly delightful, so go read it! :D
Thanks to a catastrophic computer failure I had to start my art in my sketchbook instead of digitally, and, partly as an learning experiment and partly sheer foolishness, I decided to be brave and continue in traditional media. I learnt that I have no idea what I'm doing with traditional media.
I'd already decided I wanted to draw Merlin & Arthur cuddling on the beach, something full of bleak winter tones and a dark rolling sea - which is hard to do when you gravitate towards bright colours! After a lot of colour experiments and scraps of paper covered in shades of sand, I just went for it and used whatever I could get my hands on to create the sorts of textures I wanted, including a candle, a sponge and a toothbrush.
(acrylic, colour-correction in photoshop)
Since that turned out to be more of an experiment than an illustration I was proud of, I wanted to do something focusing more on Merlin and Arthur's relationship, and the careful way they negotiate touches and personal space. The first night in the beach house was a perfect example of this, and although I could now draw digitally again I wanted to keep some of the unpredictability of traditional media, so I made my own watercolour textures and combined them with digital sketches.
