What if I ain't no violinist?

152. Twoset Manga-ka VI

Brett was an illustrator and manga artist. His assistant Eddy had been a fan of Brett's manga for quite some time. Eddy was a paid member of the website where Brett showcased his monetised work and Eddy's fanmail had brought them together to meet up. An art school dropout, Eddy was offered a job as Brett's assistant. They had a friendly and professional relationship and Eddy seemed to inspire Brett with lots of drawing ideas.

The duo usually worked together at Brett's studio, which was a small flat set up with two desks, two sofas and a coffee table and a small kitchen. For the past week, however, Brett had been working alone.

His phone rang and he picked it up.

"Hey Eddy, how's everything going ?"

Eddy sighed from the other end of the line.

"Well, unfortunately writing manga isn't regarded as so-called essential work, so during this lockdown, I can't come into your studio and work with you and I really miss it."

Just the work?

Whoa. Where did THAT come from?

Brett quickly shook his head.

"Y, yeah, it's a shame. I had a choice of staying at home or here and chose to stay in the studio because it has the better computer, but sh*t, this place really isn't set up well for living in"

"So you've been sleeping on the couch?"

"Yeah"

"Oh no, that can't be very comfortable...Brett you should.."

Still feeling flustered, Brett interrupted. 

"No not at all comfortable. I'm stiff AF. I would've slept on the floor to stretch out a bit but it's too cold in winter. So how are you holding up Eddy? How was your weekend?"

They usually didn't communicate with each other on the weekends unless they had a pressing deadline, in order to respect each other's time off from work. But that was before the lockdown. Now, to be honest, Brett had really missed Eddy over the weekend. Well, he actually always did miss him a little bit whenever he wasn't there in the studio with him, but this time he had missed Eddy A LOT.

"I'm okay Brett. But do ya know what I really miss?"

..Me?

OMG stop it brain.

Brett quickly collected his sappy thoughts and bundled them into a little ball to ignore.

"Um... I dunno. What do you miss, Eddy?"

"Drawing. The non-digital type.  Like in a sketchbook or a manuscript."

Brett smiled.

"Yeah, you know what, so do I. I just realised I haven't done that the whole week."

"Yeah because we've switched everything to digital drawings so that it's easier for us to work collaboratively. But under normal circumstances, you always insisted on having some manual manuscripts.. I think they're important for maintaining drawing skills and staying motivated.. There is something very special about drawing manually.. it's just not the same with digital, even if you can do a lot of amazing things with that too."

"That's so true Eddy."

"So hey Brett, can we have like a doodle session? I just wanna see one of your drawings being put together. I really miss watching that."

That almost sounds like you do miss me.

Brett shook his head again.  He was so glad he was on a phone call and not on Facetime.

"Um.. yeah, sure, of course."

Brett and Eddy switched from a phone call to a video conference meeting.

Soon Eddy let out an exasperated sigh.

"No Brett this is no good"

"Okay, what's wrong? I thought this set-up would be the easiest, you can see me draw and you can see what I've drawn on the shared whiteboard."

"Yeah but I want to see how you apply your pen pressure or brush strokes or whatever you call it. Can you actually video your hand drawing on a sketchbook? It's different when you draw non-digital."

"Hmm, lemme see if I can position everything right.. let me call you back in like 10 minutes?"

"Okay sure. Um.. Brett, I don't know if you want the same thing but should I try to set up something similar as well?"

"...Yeah..!!"

"Brett?"

"Oh, um.. yes. Yes please, I'd really like to see that, too, a lot."

Brett heard a soft chuckle from the other end of the line.

"Okay, sure thing. Ring you in 10."

When they reconnected 10 minutes later, they eventually worked out that setting their phones onto a little tripod to film their hand and sketchbook on facetime proved to be the easiest setup.

Brett was drawing a front-facing close up of a face. Eddy thought it looked unisex or undecided due to the lack of eyebrows and the still very faint sketch lines of the jawline at this early stage. Brett's efforts were currently focused on drawing the eyes that were gradually put together into a pair of strong eyes with a blazing stare, full of determination. Yet it looked like they were staring at something or someone while they held in some kind of a secret...? What is that..a hidden yearning..?

It was then Brett's hand suddenly tilted his pencil and drew a soft black spot next to the iris.

Eddy's eyes shot open.

OMG it's him. He's drawing himself...!!

It was Brett's secret signature when he drew self-portraits or when he used himself as a model when he wanted to express an emotion.

Brett's hand froze and the next moment Eddy heard Brett softly click his tongue as he quickly grabbed an eraser and rubbed out the little black dot he had drawn.

He then started to draw very long hair around the face, as if he was emphasising that it wasn't a self-portrait of himself, even though Brett had practically given it away that it was.

Brett...?

"Hey Brett, it looks really nice."

Brett answered in his most neutral voice that usually went with his dead-pan expression.

"Thanks."

To be continued...