#teri

They could have gotten together sooner but Teri had the BRILLIANT idea to sit on Liam. His dino brain went "wet kitten... must warm up!" and unfortunately for Liam that led to... this. Did I also mention that Liam at this point had no idea Teri could shapeshift thanks to his little magic item? Because he didn't, so in his pov a giant friggin beast just gave chase and decided to nest on top of him. Utahraptors were estimated to weight around 500 kg so good luck getting away from the bear sized bird intent on pinning you down...

The title refers to both the weight situation and the fact that, after this happened, the possibility of romance is crushed... at least until later in their lives :D

Mmm other fun facts about this drawing...

I has a LOT of fun doing the rain effect. I added more rain after posting the snippet, and it improved the scene a lot. The blurring serves the same purpose, making it easier to focus on the characters. And the rocks, man! Generally, the background was a pleasure to work on.

The characters themselves came out after a bit of a struggle to decide the pose. I made a collage from screenshots of videogames and random photos to use as reference, which was essential. I should really find some time to do studies/sketches on anatomy and poses at some point... Uni takes so much time though. It's also why I finished this drawing AFTER Valentine's Day.

The Utahraptor's tail was not forgotten: generally, tail stiffness in dromeosaurs is very hard to determine but from my understanding it seems like Utahraptors had at least some stiffness in their tails. Most references I found have it completely straight or very mildly curved to the side when the dino lays down. From the front, like here, it's not very visible either way. Which is a shame! The fanned feathers on the tail would have been a great addition, but it came to a choice between pretty tail and clear pose. Couldn't pass on drawing Liam clawing the ground, sorry tail!

Speaking of, we got full name reveals! I usually just call them Liam and Teri, although technically they are William and Teryel. So far I've also referred to them as protagonist and love interest. The books are from the point of view of both though, so maybe they're just... both protagonists? In their own way?

Liam's face was initially shown but I liked more the idea of leaving it hidden so it was changed. And maaaaybe I am still holding back the actual face reveal... Kinda feel bad for Liam here. I'd like to do a proper face reveal when he's looking more like the cool sunny guy he is and less like a wet kitten covered in mud. Meanwhile, Teri looks waaaay more competent and confident that usual, but don't let it fool yah: it's the bird brain taking over. He's NOT going be forgiven for sitting on Liam anytime soon, the man has pride and this is a HUGE slight.

Lastly, I LOVE doing layouts and working with shapes. The idea to frame the drawing by using a circle was immediate, and I made some plants poke out of the frame to give it some uniqueness. Titles are written by hand with love (and little hearts instead of dots), they were a last minute addition. It felt a bit empty to have just the drawing by itself. Now, with the titles, it looks way more polished in my opinion.