poser, chensung

.•three•.

"ugh, why does it look like that?" jisung groaned for the fifth time that evening and ripped his page up from the almost vertical drawing board. chenle was sitting with his legs parted and hands on the table between them, an innocent pose for an innocent boy.

"look like what?"

"it's all...i don't know. it's getting animated again, you know? i draw thick lines and it comes out two dimensional, even with a skeleton."

"can't you like, shade it or something? don't artists do that thing where the lines are faint and they build it up with shadows instead?"

"you're telling me? here's my attempt," the taller brandished the sheet in front of his model and sighed with aggravation. "what's happening?"

"um...i don't know. it's just...a cartoon almost. it's like you've placed emotions on me that aren't actually there, and the creases and whatnot in the clothing are defined and dark, not shadowed. it's good though."

"it's difficult. maybe i should accept a fail, because i really can't do this."

"don't give up that easily, we've only just started," chenle whined. "this is the first night, yeah? every night you'll work something out and improve, that's how practice works."

jisung hated to admit it, but his hidden partner was right. he was being too hard on himself too soon, and there was still plenty of time to get this right. he ruffled his shaggy hair and tried again, this time swapping out his 6b pencil for a hb one and going extra light. he wasn't fond of light nibs since he liked thick, dark lines with definite structure to the work and all areas of building present. but that wasn't what mrs. jo was looking for, so he'd need to fix that.

another while passed, maybe half an hour. chenle had switched from that stance to a relaxed one so that he could rest while jisung was sketching him. it was already getting close to eight, and this heavy focus was draining them both. it wasn't for naught, however, when finally the seventh picture actually turned out quite well.

the ebony student kept adding to it, fixing it, improving the skills he'd left dormant until this year. each time he glanced at the older boy, he'd find something he'd missed and would insert the observation into the artwork. the artificial lights of the room were waning now at this hour, and the shadows in the corner of the large room were extending and creeping the artist out.

"okay, i think i can sleep a bit better tonight," the pinkette hummed happily and placed his pencils and the one charcoal he'd relied on down. he cracked out his knuckles and stretched his arms back, each joint in his shoulders and back popping from stiffness. "chenle, you can go to bed if you want." when he didn't get a response, his brows furrowed and concern settled in his chest. "chenle?"