About Cyrus and Grey
Usually, when I work on illustrations, I mainly focus on having one prominent character. This allows me to really zero in and embellish my illustrations with as much detail as possible. This time around, however, I was asked to draw two shounen ai characters which I was happy to do, so I jumped at the chance to challenge myself with this work.
Working in Monochrome
What’s freeing about working on Cyrus and Grey, was that I was working in monotone. This gives me the opportunity to take my time and focus on creating smooth, weighted lines. Inking Cyrus’ black hair the way that I did was a very nice touch. I love how shiny it looks and would use a similar technique when I ink black/dark haired characters in the future. As for Grey (the wavy haired character), the one thing I want to change is the line weight I used for the spirals. Some are more heavier than I would have liked and added extra weight to the curls. A smaller stroke would have made the curls look more bouncy and added more life to them, but the hair as it stands today, still turned out better than I had expected.
What I wish that I had more room for was to showcase more of Cyrus’ leather pants. I added some ribbing to the leather and airbrushed some texture to the pants to make them more interesting, but because there was only a small amount of work space available, it did not come out as I would have hoped. If I could have shown the entire body then those pants would have popped more along with some cool boots or shoes. . . . I think I should just plan on doing my own monochrome drawing with leather and other cool fashionable items in the near future. Please stay tuned for that.
Wrapping Things Up
All in all, Working on Cyrus and Grey was a lot of fun and truly was a very cool project. In the end, all that really matters is that aratithiliel liked the finished piece. I hope that when I am commissioned again, I will be able to showcase more and more detailed designs, patterns and textures whether it’s in monochrome or color. If there are any questions or concerns please feel free to comment below or contact me for more information.
