This is a good moment in the scene where Antonia and Mitzi try to break into the bath houses.
Getting the pose right, keeping the composition interesting, and still keeping this faith to the image I have in my head is very difficult. You have to be very good at all this stuff to avoid making compromises somewhere.
I did a BUTT-TON OF WORK sorting this pose out. Of course, the final could always be pushed further: I wouldn’t mind more of a spring across Mitzi’s back and shoulders to indicate excitement, but I am happy with the tension in Antonia’s shoulder and the clear slumping-against-the-wall I needed. Below are thumbnails, then I took some reference photos of myself slumping against a wall in a few different ways, then came back to the thumbnails. Then took it digital where I could fine-tune and push shapes.
Unluckily for you, I HAVE written this scene, so below is an excerpt. (Still in draft form – needs a few sexy world building notes and asides.) Enjoy!
“Antonia!”
Antonia jumped at the sudden speech.
“Do you have your gloves on you?”
Antonia patted her pack, indicating that she did.
Mitzi looked closely through the glass walls, examining the baths. A bath had been constructed over a fire pit in the corner of the room, so that the water might be heated when the fire was lit. Above this, the ceiling broke into a lattice to let smoke out.
Excitedly, Mitzi pointed.
“You see those holes in the ceiling over there?
What if you made your glove float in from the ceiling, and open the door from the inside? Just like you made them float at the piano, when you were singing at the bar.”
Antonia’s eyebrows shot up. She rummaged and took out one of her gloves. As if to test that she still could, she let go of the glove, and it stayed suspended in mid-air. Mitzi was delighted. Antonia made it do a little wave and Mitzi smiled even more widely. Finally, Antonia began to feel her spirits lift.
“You say that you know a little magic,” she said, “so you must know that magic requires energy from your body. I’m familiar with all this, but I’m not sure I can make the glove travel so far away from myself with so little practice. It will take all my concentration.”
“Are you asking me to shut up?” Mitzi grinned.
“Now that you say it…”
Antonia and Mitzi crept around the building until they were at the closest point to the openings. Taking a deep breath, Antonia flicked her hand and sent the glove upward.
Mitzi gazed at Antonia’s hands.
“I just love it when your hands glow.”
As she spoke, the glowing stopped and Mitzi watched Antonia catch the glove as it fell with a little thwip.
“What did I say about talking?”
“Whoops. Sorry.”
Antonia was sweating, and her brow was furrowed. The last thing she wanted to do was lose her precious glove on the ceiling: if she lost control of it once it left her line of sight, she wouldn’t be able to get it back.
The glove disappeared over the edge of the building. Both girls held their breaths.
Antonia spent a few seconds in deep concentration, staring at the holes. When she could hold on for no longer, she shook her hand in frustration, slumping against the wall.
“Antonia.” Mitzi knelt down to check on her, but a disturbance in the light caused her head to snap back to the baths.
“Antonia!”
The excitement in Mitzi’s voice led Antonia to follow her gaze. At the last moment, the glove must have dropped over the edge – and now fell lightly into the bathhouse, landing on dark rocks next to the pool.
The success hardened Antonia’s resolve. Still exhausted, she crawled alongside the building until she was between the glove and the door. Now she could see it again through the glass, the spell was slightly simpler to cast, but still difficult. With immense effort, she moved the glove to the door, pulled the handle, and – click!
“It worked!! Antonia, it worked!” Mitzi held Antonia’s hands triumphantly. “That was incredible.”
Antonia was breathing heavily, still on the floor.
“If I had to smell you like this for one more day, I don’t think I would have made it much past Cerric.”
Mitzi snorted, pulling Antonia back to her feet.
“No, but I’m serious.” Antonia let herself be led into the building quietly. “We are finding you some soap in there.”
SEASIDE ILLUSTRATION 