In my search for subjects to draw for my 100 Vector Portraits project I've become fascinated with people who have some kind of "me too" going on. When people share a strong connection you can almost see it in the air between them, whether it's a deep friendship, or a common history, or any kind of love.
Vector drawing in Adobe Draw and Adobe Illustrator.
I asked Herbie and Leo to describe their connection, and this is what they had to say:
Herbie: People have a lot of preconceptions about twins. The most classic is “twin telepathy.” Sometimes it’s fun because in a way it’s almost true. We communicate with each other in a way that a lot of people can’t. The kind of relationship that we have… not all twins get it. It’s sort of knowing a person so well that you can read their sub-micro expressions really, really easily. You can tell when they’re lying to someone else, or lying to you. You can tell when they’re uncomfortable. We don’t just know each other. We have the same brain. The same nervous system. When Leo says “my hand hurts” I understand that because mine hurts the same way.
Herbie.
Leo: We joke a lot. We have jokes that no one else gets. More inside jokes than anyone else ever... We used to fight a lot. I think it’s because we understand each other better than everyone else.
Herbie: Yeah, but we got better. Every year we get better. It took a lot of effort. People think it’s something you’re born with.
Leo: It’s something you build.
Leo.
Herbie: We can’t really stop being twins.
Leo: Thankfully.
Outlines.
Herbie: It’s kind of great, I think. being a twin. Some people ask “do you ever not want to be a twin?” I don’t know, because I don’t know what it’s like not being a twin. I wouldn’t change it. It’s like a mini community. He can make it feel like a whole community at once. I can always vent to him, I can always be really excited about something and he won’t tell me to shut up.
Leo: People always ask “is it like having a best friend because we get along so well?” I can’t explain to them that it’s not, because I hate you, but at the same time I can go to you for quite literally everything. They’re like “how can you hate them while you trust them with everything?” I can’t explain it.
All shapes selected.
Herbie: Most of the time you choose relationships. You can choose when to be in it, when to let it fade out. You work to make yourself desirable as a friend… With twinship… you’re able to be yourself on a level that you don’t have to worry about rejection because it’s physically not an option for him to not want to be a twin anymore. We’re monozygotic twins. We can’t change that DNA structure.
I tried to take one photo of them holding the finished prints, but as I was flipping through the photos to choose the best one I realized that their movement was as telling as their stillness.
