Becoming Monsters: I'm Blue 03

It was disorienting. He felt like it was later on in the morning, but the room was dark. Stumbling a bit, both in the darkness and on a couple of things he'd dropped on the ground (which he would guiltily pick up later), he made it to the window. Opening it, his eyes were stabbed by sun beams directly in his face.

Looks like his gut feeling had been right. Good thing it was Saturday, though he had an afternoon shift at work he hadn't missed any school classes from sleeping in. Birds were singing, there was a very light bustle on campus. Very few were headed to anything official, but there were always clubs and activities going on.

He turned. Grabbed a snack bar from a drawer. Gazed upon the still-sleeping form of Abbey. His girlfriend. There was a lot to do, after all, and she needed her rest. No point in waking her up to drag her somewhere when so much was left to be done right here.

The computer came up obediently, this thing acting in just the way he was used to. With practiced ease he got himself set up to work more on the portfolio. Looking up at the clouds in the sky, he set out to create a piece showing off skills at lighting and rendering. Something that would impress onlookers, something he could use later.

And yet... his eyes drifted back from the window. To the woman in the bed, still sleeping peacefully, a smile still on her face. Perhaps today would not be about clouds and light. Maybe drawing a human form would be better, and he could think of no better subject.

With a few strokes of his stylus he sketched the construction lines. Carefully, he crafted the line art. Laid down the flat colors, planned the lighting, picked the highlight palette. The piece wasn't precisely photorealistic, it wasn't an extended render. It didn't matter.

Captured on his canvas was the blue of the autumn skies, of blueberry lips with the smile of pleasant dreams upon them. Dark hair like a river flowed behind her, sheets draped over her body as the sun kissed her forehead. Resting from an eventful week, recovering from the stress of life.

His girlfriend. Abbey.