Read more about the meme that inspired the composition and color palette here: What Is The ‘I Depend On You’ Meme? The Viral Controversial Art Getting Redrawn On Twitter Explained
My brainworm yarn map took me from the meme title, to the latin etymology, to the titular lyrics from Hanging On, originally by Active Child. I’m familiar with Ellie Goulding’s 2012 cover version from Halcyon—which, in case you haven’t noticed by now, is the Roycest album.
Wait, Darkness, you said Roy-cest?! Indeed, I tagged both versions of the relationship here because these two will never not be amperslash to me. Although *I’m* certainly imagining these two [redacted] after this moment (See my recent fic… 😏), it remains open to platonic interpretation, and a spectrum of every hue in between.
But, back to the song, it opens with a sort of scat singing (I will not make a pun, I will not make a pun, I will not…) wherein the artist vocalizes the phrase You and
backwards; it just so happens that and backwards is… DNA. 🧬 Likewise, that very You and
literally sounds just like… yeah, I know right?! 🤯🤩 Especially followed by the languid, longing pause between it and the me
.
Speaking of distance, as I was adjusting the still to serve as my reference, I repositioned the figures more closely together—as they ought to be, obviously! I did a very loose digital sketch that I printed out and traced onto my paper, but I generally worked the figures in an impressionistic style. In a reversal of my typical process, I used masking fluid to leave silhouettes and painted the background before addressing the figures. The elements of building up, hiding behind, and peeling back layers felt extremely appropriate for these two. 💕