#jgl

1) i darkened eames' hair from the light green blond of the wip, which I was initially hesitant to do bc I'm so used to the black and blond hair ships I think and I thought irrationally "they cant BOTh have dark hair" as if undertones don't exist.

2) absolutely did not think I would ever finish this bc I hate drawing hands so much but I had so much fun rendering everything else I just kept going and completed it in record time

3) i really really struggled with the hands and arms but I knew I wanted to make eames hairy so I lovingly rendered the arm and chest hair <3 I had no idea what I was doing and I don't think I'll ever be able to recreate it. the hands are not the best but I think this study made me improve on them at least a little so thats a win for me !

4) eames' pants were originally bluer but it contrasted too much with the rest of the art so I desaturated it considerably. his shirt was also much brighter but it was absolutely an eyesore.

5) i had no desire to try to make them look like the actors (even tho jgl was my childhood crush and Tom Hardy is my forever crush) bc I usually draw in an anime or cartoon style and I didnt want to get stressed out trying to capture their likeness and making it too hyper realistic since that's out of my skill range

my only goal was to give eames' his beautiful lips and Arthur his very high cheekbones and slick hair since I was depending on their clothing to make them recognizable. I added a poker chip and a moleskin in their hands bc I was still worried it wasn't reading as THEM. Arthur has a basic face that I would draw casually but eames..EAMES I felt possessed drawing. I kept thinking "I have to make him look beautiful like Tom Hardy, I need everyone to see how beautiful an anime stylized Tom Hardy is but I don't want to go full realistic either"

6) I wanted to draw them in the original suits that leyendecker drew, but I really wanted to draw more slouchy folds on a white shirt and rolled up sleeves so I decided to just draw them in modern clothes. If I revisit this again, I ll just draw the new clothing over it. maybe even go ham and draw a bunch of versions of them in different AUs bc I love drawing clothing and I LOVE love LOVE Arthur and eames in all their different AUs. aside from regency and suits, I would love to draw their clothing swapped. like maybe their suitcases got mixed up and now they HAVE to wear each other's clothes or a body swap situation. pls if there's any art or fics of clothing or bodyswap please give it to me

7) I wish I made eames bulkier but when looking at reference pics hes not actually that much bigger than Arthur (not like bane u kno), just a little thicker around the neck. I broke his nose a little too. I wanted to draw a peek of his tattoos but I don't recall seeing them in the movie and I'm too lazy. also I cant be looking up shirtless photos of Tom Hardy at work.

8) when I tried to post this on Instagram the auto audio that popped up was "metal pipes banging over your head again and again cartoon sounds"