#dancingwdinosaurs

VKelleyart: This technically all began with a chat. We’d gushed over each other’s artwork via a public ask when I decided to take my fangirling offline and PM @dancingwdinosaurs​ directly about how much I admired her beautiful work. At some point during our early conversations, I mentioned offhand how neat it would be to create something together one day, as I used to do Harry Potter art collaborations with an artist friend years ago. She was intrigued, so I tried to sell the idea based on my past experiences. I told her that collaborating on art in this manner - passing it back and forth without a clue how it will look in the end - is a leap of faith. The outcome is a miraculous fusion of creative energy, and is ALWAYS beautiful and mind-blowing for the way it brings together the artists as well as the art.

Thankfully, she said she was game. I took a crack at a composition and passed it to her, and when she sent the file back, I literally teared up at the sight of her beautiful Baz sitting below the tree. Every time she returned the file was an opportunity to fangirl anew. (Our private chats could probably be summed up as “joyful caps-lock squealing.”) 

I mean, can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that behind Simon’s legs are these incredible FEET?:

Anyway, I’m so grateful she took the leap with me. This art has been a little blessing on the side for the last several months, as it let me bear witness to DWD’s incredible talent and exposed me to her kindness, humor, and generosity. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in creating this picture. And now, I can call her a friend as well. ❤️ -VK-

dancingwdinosaurs: Okay. Okay Okay OKAY. I think it´s fair to say that as soon as @vkelleyart popped up on my dashboard for the first time I was hooked - as everybody else was, probably. I was basically gushing over every single new piece of art she created because the way she portrays these characters feels so real and full of emotions and RIGHT. As a result, I had a real moment of “holy shit it´s senpai!” when she eventually popped into my DM´s, hahaha! :D Her idea of doing a collab was absolutely amazing and I´m actually so so thankful for her to even consider doing this with me because if I´m honest, I am a bit of a mess of an artist. I had never done this before and was actually TERRIFIED I´d scare her off the second she´d see my 300 unnamed layers (luckily, I didn´t :D). Working together on this project has been an actual delight and so so much fun. I really want to thank Venessa for her patience, her creativity and all the lovely lovely words that were shared in the process of doing this. There were times were I felt incredibly insecure about my art (or just had a shitty day in general, really) and she was always so very supportive, kind, patient and uplifting. Her art and skill never cease to amaze me and I am so looking forward to working with her more often in the future. wink wink. Thank you for doing this with me - and just thank you for existing, really! 💓