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Velvet is a character from a series of books called LC & The Critter Kids, by Mercer Mayer. I read the books when I was about 13. But it wasn’t for the mediocre writing. I mostly just liked this character. Shy characters had a way of tugging at my heart.
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While looking at Velvet’s biography picture, I noticed that if her pose was just slightly different, it would be one hell of a tease. I had to draw it! But the problem was that I had never drawn a sexy picture before and my drawing skills weren’t up to snuff. I desparately wanted them to be. I wanted this picture to exist! And I was going to make myself better just so I could pull it off.
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So I spent about 6 hours with a make-shift lightbox carefully studying her picture, commiting every line to memory, tracing over it repeatedly in an attempt to form some kind of muscle-memory. Then after building my confidence I’d attempt to redraw the original picture from scratch… and the proportions would always suck. The arms would be too long, or the knees would be misplaced. Then I’d curse my lousy drawing skills and go back to tracing over the original picture a dozen more times to practice before making my next attempt. I did this over and over. Each attempt seemed almost as crappy as the last. Almost… but not quite. As the hours wore on, the proportions gradually started to behave themselves. I wanted to be able to draw her perfectly before I even attempted the real picture. It had to be perfect. After 7 or 8 recreations, I felt like I might be ready. So very carefully… I drew this. And it was perfect.
