hi.

This gonna be my David Dawson spread. ◟( •⌄• )✧

What should I draw next? I’m open to suggestions! :3

I’m thinking of some stills from The Flaw (pray it comes out soon). My Policeman is the obvious candidate, tho I actly wanted to do color studies for that one cuz the colors are sooooo beautiful (yes… the ✨ colors ✨).

Close-up of my boyyyyyyyy 🥹🩵

🪶wip🪶

If anyone's curious, here is the source I used for the caption - Late Anglo-Saxon Prayer in Practice: Before the Books of Hours. I must admit I only read the relevant paragraph with the quote, but it seems like a genuinely fascinating read.

Anyway, art rambles ahead!

🌘 Rough Draft

My rough drafts start out very rough. I normally never share this part because it's just ... scratch marks on paper lol.

🌗 Sketch

I tried a new sketch method - blocking out the shapes, then "sculpting" them down. I find it a much more intuitive method of sketching! However, when drawing Alfred, I still started with the outline. I don't think I've quite gotten the hang of sculpting the human form yet, but one day ... one day!

Also the initial sketch was sooooo much more bizzarro than the final picture lmao. 😂

🌖 Lineart

This was when I had to start reasoning whether the stuff I drew in the sketch phase made sense lmao. Curtains had to go, random wolf and rabbits had to go. I did give Alfred a cross to pray to and a rug for his knees ... so that was nice!

🌕 Color

I saw this illustration by Sheya, and I was absolutely mesmerized by the colors! So I was like ahhhh ok i'm just going to try it, it looks so pretty, and my king deserves to be praying in this ethereal glow. 🩵✨🌙

Anyway, if you've made it this far - thanks for listening to me yap! ( ´ ∀ `)ノ

They say you shouldn't draw your faves while practicing portraits because you'll hyperfocus on the details. Also you'll get super fussy about achieving a likeness ... which ... true!! (〃´∀｀)

So I'm very intentionally NOT drawing the blorbo and trying to practice with other subjects.

... but somehow I feel I keep leaking his features in because my subconscious bias is so strong lmao.

Another version with a more muted bg! This one was taken on my coffee table instead of the on the floor like some gremlin lmao.

✨ wip ✨

I initially wanted this to be two separate images - the "shepherd" and the "wolf", that, when pieced together would become a full image. Then ... I got lazy. :D

But I wanted to share this version with the gridlines to show how the picture can be split in half, and barring one little lamb getting chopped, it's still quite symmetrical lol.

Some chaotic wip ... ik they say trust the process but i'm more-so resigned to it lol. ʅ(°ヮ°)ʃ

🖋️ Line 🖋️

🪶 Sketch 🪶

So I just want to share a little story: I showed this to my friend, and I was telling her how I initially drew Alfred looking towards Uhtred, like his head tilted back a little, but somehow I felt this pose was better. And she said, "he doesn't need to look, because he trusts him to follow." AND I WAS SOBBINGGGGG 😭😭😭

So I just want to thank my genius friend for saying that, I can't claim to have thought of it, but I fully accept it as canon for this picture lol. 🥹

✨wip✨

Sharing the raw sketchbook jpeg lol.

If you look closely you’ll see the scars of 10,000 eraser marks. (= v =)”