Birthday Boy

I suppose now is as good as any time for an update. Things went south for a while with Hawks, but over time we made up. Long story short; I was patiently waiting for him to leave me forever so I could mourn and move on- so imagine my surprise when he not only came back, but he stayed. 

There were bumps along the road but we're in a good place now.

His Birthday was on December 28th which was when I drew him this picture. He just requested to be drawn by me, but I had a hard time racking my brain as to what context to put on paper. I was also nervous, because I am VERY out of practice when it comes to sketching. 

I took my time trying to get it right, because I'm so rusty, I was afraid he'd come out looking...well..frankly a mess. The sketch is not perfect but once I felt satisfied with it, It was more or less finished. 

During that time, Keigo discovered, completely by chance one of my greatest knee wobbling weaknesses. He was incredibly proud of himself and so that also manifested in the sketch.

He wasted no time taking advantage of it once he had me alone. I offered up my best resistance, but... in the end I found it an exercise in futility.

Bravo, sir.

I was so smitten with his performance, I dusted off my digital paintbrush and actually rendered my sketch. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but I haven't rendered a full illustration in about 5 years.   Painting it was slow and tedious work that was a constant reminder of why I had all but abandoned this form of the medium. I painted with a timid and uncertain hand, consistently finding reasons to be frustrated with myself for having to relearn the way I used to do things and further confronted by the fact that I just never was that great at it in the first place. Decent. But needing practice to be sure.

But Keigo...

Happy birthday, baby.

Keigo loved every second of it. He makes me feel proud of it.