Another Sokeefe Oneshot Book

One shot 7: ART TIME

A/N In which Keefe teaches Sophie a bit about art, because I'm an artist and I wanted an excuse to write about art stuff.

"Teach me."

Keefe looked up from the paper he was drawing on at her desk, looking amusedly confused. He had come over to Havenfield for a study session, and had ended up drawing instead, much to Sophie's disappoint. But she had kind of expected it.

"Teach you what?" He asked, raising a questioning brow.

Sophie got up from where she was sitting on her bed, Iggy, who had been on her lap, flapped off to his cage, glaring at her for disturbing his nap. Sophie pointed at the paper he was sketching on.

"Teach me how to draw." She clarified.

Keefe laughed, a crooked smile coming over his face. "Actually? I can't work miracles you know."

Shooting him a glare, Sophie crossed her arms. "Have you ever even seen my art?" She asked.

Smirking, Keefe answered, "No. Because I don't think I've ever seen you draw anything the entire time you've been in the Lost Cities."

Sophie opened her mouth to argue, before she realized he was right. Slightly disbelieving, she thought back, searching through her photographic memory to find the scene that had to be there. But Keefe had a photographic memory too, so when she failed to find a single instance of her drawing-or even doodling something-while in the lost cites, he grinned.

"Told you."

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Whatever. So will you teach me or not?"

He pretended to think for a moment before replying. "Sure. But first you have to show me what you can do, so we know where to start. Feel free to draw a few things actually. One of the most important things when you start out drawing is to find what you like to draw." He gestured to the paper he had been drawing on, an unfinished face outlined in pencil. 'For example," he continued. "I found out very quickly that I like drawing people, and simple landscapes, because both have a lot of life, and every single one is different. There are a lot of different varieties you can make with them, and that's why I like them." Suddenly, he seemed to realized how much he had just said, and a slight redness came onto his cheeks as he glanced away. "Wow I sound like such a huge nerd now don't I," he muttered.

Grinning, Sophie poked him on the shoulder. "Actually, that was very informative. And I like hearing you talk about your art." She held out a hand. "Now hand me pencil and paper please."

He reached over to the small pile of paper she kept on her desk, and then the jar of pencils, and handed her one each.

Sophie quickly grabbed an extra chair that she had near her desk, and dragged it over next to Keefe's. Plopping down, she laid the paper down gently and grabbed the pencil. And when she held it over the page...

Nothing. No ideas. Empty brain.

She looked over at Keefe to find him shaking with silent laughter.

"What?" Sophie snapped, a little more harshly than she meant to.

Keefe shook his head, his laughter finally dying down a bit as he said. "You don't know what to draw, do you."

She was about to argue, when she realized he was right. "It just looks so easy when you do it. You like, immediately start drawing every time."

"That's because when I do draw, it's usually because I already had an idea. Sitting down to draw without an idea is much harder. When that happens, I try one of three things that I've found work for me." He explained. "One, I draw what I usually draw. Maybe a random face, or a tree, etc., and if it gets the ideas for it, or a new drawing going, yay! Two, I think of a random word, or colour, and see if anything pops into mind from that. Three, I look around the room I'm in for an idea."