Aw, it's been a while since I drew these two. The man is Leopold, and the lady is Tanya; both of them are characters that I actually created years ago, and have since evolved into deeper characters that I am working into a love story. This is just a sketchdump, mostly of Leo, testing out different facial expressions.

Bit of background on the characters: Leo is a very intelligent paleontologist whose specialty is crinoids (sea lilies). He's nearsighted, shy and a little accident-prone, but once he gets over his shyness, he can be very charming. And in case it wasn't obvious, he's also Peter Lorre. Or at least, looks like him. He loves Tanya, another scientist who works in his institution. She looks a lot like me, only hotter. She is a microscopist, is also very smart, is more nearsighted even than Leo, and though she is young and up-to-date with modern techno-gadgets, is quite happy to live in a past that she never experienced (loves old movies, music, books, radio, etc.); she is a dreamer.

I like the way this turned out--I never expected the "remove noise" option in Paint Shop would make my pencil strokes look so soft and watercolor-like, so I kept it that way. It fits the mood... I drew this listening to Jackie Gleason's "romantic instrumentals" collection. Oh, which reminds me... *goes to sketch Jackie Gleason* I've been meaning to draw The Great One for a while.