Ink Exchange

"'Remember to eat now.' Irial stroked her hair back from her face, gentle like his voice.
She nodded. There were words she was to say, but they were gone before she could remember them." -- Ink Exchange

Yes, more book fanart. This time it's Iri and Leslie from Ink Exchange, the second book in the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr. I've only read Ink Exchange so far, but I'm going to get to the rest eventually.

I tortured myself a little over what color Leslie's hair would be (I pictured it either blond or black, so brown seemed a reasonable compromise). I think I might do another piece someday, showing Leslie's tattoo/Leslie being awesome. She's not in a very... healthy state, here, so you can't really tell that she's secretly awesome. Though it was kind of fun trying to figure out how vapid of an expression I could create.

Also, my purple shadowy what-the-heck-is-that background is not a cop-out. It's supposed to reflect Leslie's confusion and lack of, well, grounded-ness. Which is why Iri has to remind her to eat. I know it's kind of his fault she's like this in the first place, but I just found that moment so... sweet.

I've gone on long enough. My last word is that, for all intents and purposes, the song "Once" by Caleb Kane forced me to finish this picture. It's almost eerie how well that song fits Ink Exchange.

Happy MLK day, everyone.

(Of course, Irial and Leslie (c) Melissa Marr)