Many unwilling vampires and a couple of hundred individual sketches and references later; Cleff had developed an incredibly solid grasp on the anatomy and physiology of a Vampire.
At the end of a long night of studying, observing, and planning Cleff divided right into the vampire reference section that he had developed in his mind space to really digest the many interesting little bits of knowledge that he had gathered up.
Although he was putting aside quite a bit of time in order to plan out the Count's portrait without even starting, Cleff knew that every single bit of preparation was necessary to create his first-ever piece of art that managed to hold onto a spark of life.
To create such a powerful thing that could jumpstart their entire existence to an entirely new level an artist needed to go above and beyond when working. A sculpture or painting didn't just need to be photorealistic, in fact there were many paintings that were vague and styled that managed to connect to the Magica. There were many strange and obtuse sculptures that jumped to life in whimsical ways as well.
To really create something that would grow and change over time an artist really needed to either be incredibly skilled or impart something into their work that was really special. This could range from knowledge to emotion, to even somehow capturing some strange alien law in their work, an Artist needed something special to work with.
As Cleff ran his fingers over the magically charged blank canvas that dwarfed him in size and presence, his imagination twisted and turned to spray colors onto a nonexistent plane of reality.
In the end, Cleff hadn't yet painted a spark of life into anything and due to this, he was lacking in any magical or supernatural techniques when it came to painting. When it came down to it his only option to really succeed would be to stick with fine detail and understanding.
So he was planning to go all out with a full-frontal close-up of the Count with the vampire taking up most of the Canvas. Cleff would build the count up, starting with the bones and then adding on the muscles, then the organs, then the veins, then the flesh.
The bones that slowly grew and stretched over thousands of years leaving the count an elongated form and a height of eight feet.
The muscles that slowly shriveled and grew and shriveled once more over time leaving the count a thin frame with enormous power.
The organs that shifted around and mutated due to the influence of that thing that turned someone into a vampire taking on new shapes and purposes. The new organs that slightly changed the Count's silhouette.
The veins that carried the blood of the Count's victims becoming the vampire's new digestive system. Cleff would paint the veins that glowed every time the vampire went out for a" midnight snack ".
Cleff would paint the Counts skin. The pale skin that was forced to tightly wrap and adjust to the vampire's slowly growing frame, tightly holding to the Count's thin yet muscular frame.
There were many artists in the past that depicted vampires with the same frame and proportions of an average human. But they were wrong. Although it was common knowledge that vampires slowly became stronger over time there were very few that saw and understood the gradual changes that occurred to a vampire's body over time. Even some vampires themselves were oblivious to their gradual physical changes over the years, and Cleff didn't blame them. It was hard to see change without being able to use a mirror.
But in the end, Cleff was not planning on making that mistake.
Cleff would capture the state of a thousand-year-old body that bordered on the edge between life and death. Each and every vein would be painted and with exquisite detail along with the story of how it shifted to its place over the thousands of years.
Cleff was planning to successfully capture the slow and methodical changes that occurred to a once human body over a few thousand years.
Yes Cleff would...
Cleff...
Would...
Walking into Cleffs bedroom when the moon rose once more Veinessa was horrified to find the puny human artist that they hired hysterically laughing in his sleep while hugging the ginormous monster skin canvas.