Lesson one - 3 drawings

I finally got around to drawing the first three tasks in my book 'Learning to draw on the right side of the brain'.
It involved drawing 1) my self portrait 2) my hand 3) someone from memory.
The first, my own picture, was hard. The finished product looks like someone from a criminal suspect flyer, but I think in some ways it does resemble me. The hair I still have no idea what to do with and things aren't the right sizes. By the end of the book hopefully it'll be better.
The second drawing, my hand wasn't to bad. The picture isn't perfect, but it's OK. I messed up the darkness of the shadow shades around the hand near the end, and have no idea how to shade in the top of the hand.
The third, drawing a person from memory, was the hardest. I tried to draw my dad. I hope he can forgive me for this truly bad picture (In the future I swear I'll make a better one  Dad!) One thing I found interesting, was that even though I rushed it out, I found myself shading under the nose and on the lips the same way I did on my self portrait. It also seems that not only do I need to improve my drawing, but also my spelling. It's Awful with out the 'e' haha.
Good stuff!

Life drawing class 3

Here be my life drawings from class three last week. I'm fairly pleased again at my results, especially as the model kept moving herself. The appearance and disappearance of breasts in her movement made me wonder what my final pictures would look like, thankfully not to bad. 

I read the first chapter of 'Drawing on the right side of the brain' the other day and find it very interesting. I haven't had the time to draw the tasks involved as work and other things have kept me, but in the coming days I will, and of course, share I shall with all you lovely people.

Swimming styles

I've always enjoyed swimming. There's something about water that I find quite magical, the way it can change shape and bend light, and when I look out upon oceans and seas my heart races a little when I comprehend that sheer size of what lies in front of me. 

Swimming is the nearest thing I can think of that is so close to flying, at least for something as heavy as me anyway.  Swimming as close to the sea bed or pool floor as I can for half a minute or so, as sun beams shoot through from above, utter bliss.

Recently I've been watching other swimmers in the local pool, each length swimming behind a different person. Every individual swam differently. There was a woman who never moved her arms, but kicked her legs twice for each breast stroke. Another man arced downwards in a 'U' shape  after every stroke before kicking himself to the surface. Others swam with little or lots of leg pounding on a freestyle, another with arms alone and no leg movement. Kicks that created no bubbles and others that made it impossible to see. It's something I've only noticed recently and now can't stop. I find myself wanting to see how these people walked, ran, ate, wondering if there would be a link between the swim and other activities. 

I found myself trying to copy these people as I swam behind them, and virtually every time I found it incredibly difficult. We all learn to swim, but all do it differently, how wonderful.

Animating walks

I've been reading 'The animators survival kit' for a few weeks now, picking it up when I can. Currently I'm about half way through the book, and find it to be a superb guide. I thought it would be time to try animating a walk, which some say is the hardest thing to animate. My skills with a wacom tablet are far from sexy, and I hope they improve a bit over time, but here you'll find my first two attempts at a walk.

Landscapes of a lady

And so I returned to the class after two weeks. It was insanely busy in the room today, and having arrived with just seconds remaining before the doors slammed shut, I found a sneaky chair in the far corner and settled in. Today the model was different, big bushy hair dominating her figure.
The two hours passed quickly, with the man behind me sighing depressingly every 30 seconds, my own personal air con, his nose playing a flute solo to a similarly morose tune with every breath out. I blanked the sound out and struggled to concentrate at first, not able to measure, but by the end I had this (picture right) which I am happy with.
The variety of styles again tonight was incredible. Some with paints, others with ink only. I'm looking forward to the next time.