Mello

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Mello raised his head, tearing his eyes away from the laptop screen as he heard a soft digital beep. "Matt, what are you doing?"

The redhead hovered in front him, goggles pushed up into his hair as he grinned and held up a small silver camera. "Nothin’, just taking some pictures," he replied innocently, peering through the focal lens.

"I know that, dumbass. What I want to know is why you’re taking pictures of me." The blond’s eyes followed the boy like a hawk as Matt sidled around to the back of the couch.

Matt raised the contraption and snapped another photo. The image appeared on the screen a few seconds later. Mello’s face stared over his shoulder into the camera, crystal blue eyes narrowed quizzically and full lips parted slightly. His freshly acquired scar threw half his face into distorted shadows. Matt couldn't help but find it strangely alluring. "Well, there’s nothing else around here I can take pictures of." He brandished a hand at the empty apartment. "And I’m not allowed to go outside unless it’s for groceries."

Mello snorted, returning his attention to the computer. "Do whatever you want, you pervert. I just think it’s odd that you picked today of all days to take pictures when I’m in drag and not in my sexy leather."

"You’re sexy any day," Matt replied casually, earning a derisive laugh. "Just more today than you usually are."

"I hope you don’t put this in your scrapbook, Matty. What else do you have in there, photos of me in the shower or when you’re screwing me?"

"Scrapbooks are for girls. Oh, sorry, do you want some of me to put in yours?"

"Shove it."

Matt ran a gloved hand through his tangled hair and stared down at the blond, suddenly very serious. "Okay, in all honesty, I want something to remind me of you, something visual. The police have your name now. Kira could kill you any day, and then what would I be left with?"

There was a moment of tense silence as the words hung in the air. Mello’s thin, painted fingers hovered above the keyboard as the truth sank in. To Matt’s surprise, he let out a dry chuckle. "I didn’t know you were the kind of person to carry around a picture of your lover in your wallet. How sentimental." Mello finally twisted his head to sneer at his partner. "But suit yourself. Don’t expect me to get up and pose for you."

The redhead smiled back, relieved, a pout lingering on his lips. "But I was hoping you’d strip for me," he teased, raising the camera and stealing another image as Mello reached for the chocolate bar on the coffee table.

"Go to hell," he retorted, but he winked as he snapped a chunk off the candy bar and cocked his head to the side for another camera shot.
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Ever since I finished reading the Death Note series, I've wanted to draw a picture of Mello. I wrote it on my To-Do list on my white board, but I haven't gotten to it until now when the summer is over. *laughs* I did manage to draw two pictures of Mello and Matt and one of Mello when he's younger, but I wanted a piece where he is his normal age in the series. Because my sister was pestering me and because I thought it would be fun as well, I drew Mello in drag, mainly because he is another seemingly gender-confused character. *laughs* I had the most difficult time trying to find a reference photo for the picture. I had originally taken a few pictures of myself in drag (while my sister laughed), but I wanted to change the pose before I started sketching so I deleted the pictures. I could not find anything on the web that was what I had in mind. I eventually took a couple pictures with my phone and quickly scribbled some basic guidelines. I wanted to go with a typical pose, but when I took the photos with my phone, I thought it would be more interesting to fancy Matt had taken the photos of Mello, so I went with a cropped, close-up, and slightly crooked perspective and later added the details you see when looking at a digital camera screen. I also came up with a little background story to the sketch when I was taking a walk outside and decided to take a few hours to type it up and post it along with the art piece (which is the italicized text above).
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I like the camera details I added. It makes the picture appear more abstract, especially when my focal point is in the top left-hand corner and not close to the center. I was considering drawing a blur where the laptop is now to make it appear as though Matt had his fingers in the way, but it looked awkward so I left it out. Mello's skirt looks strange because the photos I took were dark and I was not able to see the creases clearly. The laptop looks horrid, but I wanted to keep it because it is included in the story and I needed to fill the empty space. I planned on coloring the image in Photoshop, but after I finished the line art, I did not feel like it was Photoshop-worthy. So I started coloring his shoulder with colored pencil, then quickly realized I was going to ruin the piece. It was better to leave it as it was even though the lines were difficult on the eyes.
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Drawn August 10, '08.
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Mechanical pencil.
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Picture and Story (C) Alice Falling; Characters (C) Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata