Cops n’ Robbers! (sketches and progress)

I was recently tapped to participate in a Gaza relief charity zine with a “detectives and thieves” theme, titled Catch Me If You Can. At first, I wanted to go all out on an original concept but ended up turning to fanart of Beatrice and Battler from Umineko instead (I somewhat came to regret this). I thought it would be fun to share some of my discarded ideas here.

Maybe I just wanted to draw a burly detective.... and a sexy thief.... OKAY?

Being me, I skewed a bit risqué before I remembered that this was for an all-ages zine and a bondage-inspired piece might not be the best choice for it. Overall, I wanted to lean into a somewhat dark, pervy mood akin to classic pulp covers.

^ My thumbs for the final piece. Again, I made another regrettable decision of not going with the more original composition (the second one) and playing it safe, but it was because a lot of people in the zine's Discord server seemed to prefer the first one. I think everyone should listen to their gut more often, especially in art...

I thought the way I drew their faces here was super epic. I really enjoy drawing twisted expressions of love.

Aaand the final! Really not as polished as I could have wished, but I was a bit pressed for time. I do enjoy some of the textures I achieved here. Originally, only one butterfly was supposed to be placed over Battler's eye, but being swarmed by them was a more striking image to me. The flat, abstract shapes of blue, red, and gold are meant to represent the "blue claims, red truth, and golden truth" principles dancing across Umineko's story, confused and muddled but not without beauty. It's a very turbulent and emotional story, obfuscating and dense with layers of truth and lies. Really, it's too much to get into here.

Thank you for sticking with me always,

Casper