"In several ways."

"Well. Thank you." Elesse slips the bracelet on her wrist.

Smug Lily is smug.

Still – "How long have you been painting for?"

"Depends how you count. As a serious thing with a focus on technical improvement? Four-ish years, I think. But I've always like visual art best."

She nods. "Painting's a hard skill to master, I've heard."

"I won't say it isn't, since I'm still working at it."

"Your best is yet to come?"

"Is that not the point of youth?"

She nods. "I can't wait to see the heights you reach."

"Thanks." Smirk.

"What about you? Planning to continue your artistic endeavors?"

"Yeah. My teacher was right about it. Though I don't know if I'll branch out much... She says I should, but, one thing at a time, you know?"

Elesse nods. "I wouldn't say that's wrong, at least until you get comfortable. But a lot of skills are transferable, and I find experimenting can help with inspiration."

"Point."

"There's a gemstone sculpture tradition, and I could move to other materials... Still the same track, though."

"Could also start with sketching designs – especially if you don't mind helping me learn."

"Sure. Sketches are fun."

"We'll see if spraypainting principles transfer over."

"Do you have flimsi? We could start now."

She does, actually. She goes to get it, plus some pens and pencils. 

Time for sketches. Elesse is of the opinion that the best place to start is studies of simple objects, focused on getting the form right. Closer to a technical drawing than anything else, really (though outside of the most exceptionally eccentric and artisanal firms, all real technical drawings are computer-generated (kind of the same thing as CNC gemcutting versus traditional practices (though in the jewelry world old practices held on longer because of their status as luxury goods (paying for a sapient's actual time is part of the prestige))), but she thinks the practice of replicating the style by hand is important for understanding how the lines and curves in the eye relate to the strokes on the page that combine to give the picture its illusion of realism (and breaking the rules to develop one's particular style is more effective when you know what the rules are and why they exist).).

Not much like spraypainting actually then, which sort of works from the other direction – focus on getting the abstract blobs of color right before trying for form.

She can see the similarities to gemcutting, though, and... Technical drawing would actually be helpful for designs. She likes this better than trying to use a computer, honestly; something about the pencil and the flimsy helps pull the shapes from her brain better.

She also has a lot of assorted objects around that they can practice sketching. Her gemcutting tools and castoffs, sculptures, her mask, a wide variety of artistic pottery... Plus all the general implements of daily life. (Drawing furniture: surprisingly fun. She's never actually really looked at the things in her apartment like this before.)

Seems she's having a good time with it.

It's going to take some work until she actually gets the skill down – she has exceptionally good handwriting, so she's having no trouble with controlling the pencil and getting even lines, but her proportions are... Off. And there's something awkward and flat about her sketches.

This is... Well. Fun. She's trying not to get frustrated at not being perfect, of course – but talking with Elesse helps with that, a lot. (She talks some about the things she's drawing, most of it with an air of something scripted; her collection of pottery is more diverse than most Naboo go for, an eclectic mixture of cultural styles across time and space – richly painted porcelains, complicatedly geometric carnival glass, rustic stoneware, chaotically glazed hand-thrown cups, pots made of coils of clay... Her favorite's a blue and brown teapot shaped like an equinod guarlara with her foal from Naboo, though drawing it turns out surprisingly hard. (She also has a subtly diverse collection of furniture – while it all blends with the Naboo style, much of it isn't actually from Naboo; one of the more prominent dividing screens for instance is silk stretched in a black lacquer frame, rather than Naboo's traditional woven dyed reeds or carved stained wood. It has a scene of a misty bridge painted on it in an ethereal style – a piece from Chandrila – though Lily's attempt to draw both the frame and the scene on it turns out rather poorly.) (She keeps Elesse well supplied with little snacks and tea throughout this, too – after a third frustrating attempt to draw the guarlara teapot, she gives up and instead makes an earthy blend of green tea with brown rice to pour from it, making for a rich gold tea with a nutty flavor. She serves some rice crackers on a brown plate with abstractly sketched Chandrillan ghorlas to go with it.))

"...Maybe I should take up ceramics someday," she muses after settling back with a cup of the rice tea. Unsweetened, of course, she isn't a heathen. "Though I'm not sure I have the room for any kind of studio here..."

"You could use one of those shared public art spaces." Sip. "Or buy a second apartment."

"A second apartment just for a studio might be a little excessive..."

"Since when does that matter?"

"Didn't realize a Jedi would be such a bad influence on my spending habits," she teases. "Maybe I should look for something closer to the Temple – ?"