6 Chapter 6 - Vampire Anatomy

Anatomical knowledge is arguably one of the most important things in any artist's toolbag. Without anatomical knowledge, it becomes incredibly hard for any artist to really capture the human form in great detail.

The human body is a complex subject that is hard to draw correctly made up of many unique shapes and proportions that an artist needs to get right when doing a full-frontal portrait or even a sculpture.

Throughout the continent of Velarus, there are many stories of half-baked artists cockily accepting a commission way above their skill level only to fail miserably after they learned the hard way that proportions are incredibly easy to mess up.

The most famous of which was the artist De Rolo Rolo who was sentenced to death after sculpting a misproportioned statue of the late Trilous Latrix Emporer of the Romanov empire. The bloodstained statue still stands on its over-muscled legs four times the size of its torso in the Empire's foremost art academy as a warning to all of its students.

Cleff having apprenticed to a master artisan was no stranger to human anatomy at all. In fact, like most artists, he was forced by his teacher to spend time sketching and saving references of nude models and corpses until he developed a basic understanding of anatomy and a Magica skill.

Although to be honest he had never gotten used to painting any nude subject and often deleted the inappropriate parts of the constructs that were saved within his mindspace.

His basic anatomy skill allowed him to have an easier time breaking down living creatures into shapes and allowed him to save every single anatomy sketch in his mind space for future reference.

This was actually the skill that he was using to help break down and understand the build of the Count in order to really capture the essence of the vampire in his upcoming portrait.

It was especially important for Cleff to really make sure he had the details down since he would be drawing a nude figure with nothing to hide the anatomy at all. Usually with painted portraits especially with nobles who were touchy about their figures using strategically shaped and fancy clothing could really make it easier. Especially if an artist was better versed in fabrics and not the human form.

Although a few minutes into the Count's first nude modeling session Cleff ran into quite the problem.

Although most vampires were at one point or another " Human " or some other variation of the species, their physical bodies often changed quite drastically over time. Especially after a few thousand years.

Staring at the Count's nude form and diving into his mind space Cleff was hit by a depressing realization. Out of the few hundred nude and clothed models and human-like subjects that Cleff had painted none were even similar to the Count.

Cleff dug through the hundreds of models that were kept in his mind and stored by the Magica and none came close to matching the Count. Not even the models lacking everything but a skeleton.

It was just all different. There were no similarities between the Count before him and the average human being.

The way the bones were shaped, the ways the muscles were formed, the ways the organs took up space, the way the skin sat on top of the Count's frame, it was just all odd. It was just all different from what Cleff had seen before.

So that was why after doing his best to puzzlingly analyze and break down the Counts physical form Cleff decided that it would be best if he got his hands on a wider range of subjects to look at.

And so after the third night of trying to piece together the puzzle that was the Count, Cleff asked if the Count could provide him a few more subjects to study. Preferably of varying ages so he could himself up a better understanding of vampire anatomy.

Of course, the Count being the generous employer he was had no problem calling in a few of his subordinates to model for Cleff.

" Veinessa darling !!!! I am in need of your assistance !!! "

* SHREAAAAKKKK *

After letting out a strange high pitched squeal and crashing through what sounded several hallways and what Cleff could only assume were some poor vampires just trying to make their ways through the halls ( Judging by their screams of agony after being run over ) Veinessa burst into the study carrying a basket of snakes.

" Yes Master, is there anything you require of your lowly servant ?? Do you want me to dispatch this lowly human for you, or do you wish for something more intimate ??? I brought the snakes. "

Bowing down Veinessa gushed out an entire manuscript worth of things that she was willing ( wanted ) to do for the Count. Several of her ideas were so vile filthy and unholy that Cleff practically went into a state of shock.

Noticing Cleffs absolute horror the Count turned and apologized to him,

" Oh sorry little innocent human, you see after a few hundred years many of the regular activities that you humans seem to find so exciting tend to get boring. Especially bedroom activities for example. That's why many of the things we vampires do behind closed doors seem so depraved to your tender young minds. I bet that if you ever had the chance to live as long as we do you would just love to join in.... Actually, we do have several group activities planned for tomorrow are you interested??? "

Cleff hurridly shook his head.

" No thanks.... that would be.... unprofessional..... I only have one question..... What did the poor snakes do to you ?? "

Both the Count and Veinessa both burst into laughter upon seeing Cleff traumatized face.

" Humans are so funny Master. The way they act after being exposed to the actions of a superior race always amuse me. "

" I second that notion Veinessa. Although I did call you in so you can model for Cleff, he has been so blown away by us that he needs to see more vampires before he can understand our true beauty. "

Smiling Veinessa then sashayed over to one of the Counts many display cases and struck a pose against it.

" Is this a good pose human? "

Cleff snapped out of his horror-induced stupor and was about to nod before the Count interrupted.

" Veinessa I said model for the human. Why are you not nude yet ??? "

" Excuse me ??? "

" MASTER NOOO !!!! "

That morning just before Cleff was about to sleep Veinessa stormed into his room and ripped up all the reference sketches he drew of her and gave him a good beating. Cleff on the other hand tactically deleted every single one of the constructs depicting his newest friend from his mind space.