Hey Peeps,
I'm BAAAAACK!

Hope you didn't miss me too much... I didn't mention it on here but I've been giving my wrist a bit of a rest after a bit of strain that's been giving me a bit of jip. I took a few weeks to rest up and with this week gone I'm back at it. The big change here is I'm doing 2 hour streams across the board just to not wear myself down too much. It means I have to do more in a shorter time but with the additional downtime I can focus on other projects not just streaming. Last Saturday I got an animation I'd been holding off on for example and I have a little games project on the go with a few friends too. Things are all go over here but I will still be doing my regular practice sessions just Saturday at 5PM GMT for 2 hours on Twitch join me if you can!

This week I was trying to explain my process a bit more rather then getting lost into the drawing side. Plus losing the extra hour has meant my output is a little more on the light side. That said I managed to get 1 reference drawing done (Pose 3) which turned out okay(ish). Pose 5 I managed to do in seconds at the end of the stream which was to drag a point home (DIMENSION FIRST). My most favourite is Pose 2 as I like the slants that are going down the body. I built everything showcasing the central structures being made from cubes which I then pulled the limbs from considering the tilt and angle of the shoulders/hips. Dimension is the key to realistic poses, anything without them is flat... that was the point across the exercise.

Experience this weeks stream in timelapse form:

While my output this week has been a little on the lower side I am chuffed that I managed to fall back into the groove without much issue. The cube dimension exercises really do help simplify the understanding of the central bodies. Then when you consider tapered cylinders for the legs and arms you are pretty much there. The combo of a Sphere and a cut cube for the head/jaw then its about getting the details right (which isn't easy I'll grant you that). There is also that issue of talking while focusing on art which is still something I have yet to master. It tends to be the more I talk the less zoned in I feel, hopefully that's something that goes away the more I do it... wish me luck!

I hope to see you guys at 5PM on Sat, its gonna be fun!

Over & Out,
xXStItChXx

Hey Guys!
Coming in hot with more Poses...

I spent a lot of last week sketching, getting a bit more messy to try to speed up the learning process and my general understanding of constructing a viable pose. I have once again become acquainted with the idea of pushing things too far but I also find that sometimes success also depends with how the line "feels". The size of the drawing also plays a part as the thumbnails often felt easier to develop in places. When I'm working with the full breadth of the IPad screen things seem to take longer and tend to look a little more spaced out for better or worse. It's another facet of things I tend to forget when I'm in the moment. Food for thought!

I tried to be a bit stricter with my reference poses this week - only turning them on when I felt a little lost on a part of the body. I did this mostly through Poses 1 & 2. When it came to 5, 7 and 12 I threw complete caution to the wind and left them on but tried to get them done at a much quicker pace to not "overthink". Pose 5 was originally a complete failure but I went back to it to see if I could dig it out of the realms of "complete shite" and came up with something I considered "passable" (even if I didn't know what to do with the arms lol). This exercise gave me a plethora of messy art but in much greater quantity, the trade-off of life I think you will find.

Continuing my spate of drawing the central masses of the body first I tried an imagined series which was again - messy for the most part but gave off some interesting results. Pose 4 got the most time for polish with the others being done as and when over my Twitch stream. I also drew other poses in-between that I chose to scrap when they didn't work out. That's the thing about doing messy sketches in quick succession you don't feel particularly precious about them which makes it easy to move on (mistakes happen, so let it right?). It's much harder to do when your in the 3rd hour of a pose you are continually adapting across sketch layers that refuses to work (usually because it doesn't). I'm really chuffed with how Pose 9 turned out.

Experience this weeks stream in timelapse form:

It's been worth giving all of this more time and while I still see myself a ways away from being able to say "yeah you got it" It's nice to see the incremental improvements. As my understanding of the central masses improves pulling the limbs from them becomes easier. I can only hope in time that my knowledge of them will increase too. The upturned head is something I found a constant stumbling block in the last stream so I will definitely take a look at that for next time. I also had a mass of hand poses that I never got round to looking at but they will be looked at in the future (I just have to get over my hatred of hands to draw them lol).

Over & Out,
xXStItChXx

Hey guys!
Another stream, another spree.

This week showed me if anything that when I'm not burnt out creatively I can produce a few half decent poses. I'm also running out of ways to say "poses from reference/imagination" haha. In all honesty I'm not sure "how" it happened but since getting to grips with the main flanks of the body (Torso/Pelvis) things just kind of fell in to place for me. I'm not going to say all my issues are resolved (I don't believe that's possible) but it was refreshing to see some of my imagined poses actually come together full and complete or at least feeling alive with flow, force and weight. I even tried a laying down pose out of the box/imagination (thinking id mess it up) and somehow even that kinda worked out... Let's talk...

In last weeks pose series I attempted a laying down pose from reference which I adapted this week using the on screen reference above (Pose 1 & Ref). The foreshortening was what I was trying to do and while its not perfect the fact I got it closer is a milestone for me - this is something I have always been bad at. Its what gave me the confidence to try one from my imagination (admittedly without much Foreshortening this time). Pose 2 is actually based on a pose I've always drawn wrong before (despite reference) and while the left arm is a bit dodgy I think I did okay with the legs/body/feet. Surprisingly.

All of the poses above I made up in my imagination admittedly not all of them on stream but 4 of them (3, 4, 6, 7) pose 2 I did the evening before to get my mind in gear. I know 3 isn't much of a pose but I kept it in to show how I tend to start my process from imagination. Large bodies, a rough skeleton, keeping things kind of loose. I used to always try this method but without the anatomical knowledge of what goes where there would be hours of corrections (which there still is to a degree but much less). Its why I felt comfortable drawing the pelvis angled down (Pose 6) and to play with the shapes more in Pose 7. Poses 2 and 4 started as wild out of the box poses that I adapted into something legible (check the timelapse to see what I mean).

Experience this weeks stream in timelapse form:

I don't believe I will ever have all the answers to form or what unlocks it (the understanding, the minutia, the techniques that benefit one the most) as it all feels fleeting and every artist experiences it differently. Yet this past few streams more things have started making sense not to a degree that I can put into words or explain why... unless next week I find myself back at square one haha. Suffice to say a hell of a lot made sense with these poses and as you can see I did more imagined poses then reference (which I do rarely for my lack of confidence). Here's to next week (and another way to say "I'm drawing more poses").

Over & Out,
xXStItChXx

Hey Guys
Me again!

Had a rather lazy week but I've kinda been moving things forward from last week so now I'm only just getting things back to a manageable level. That said its been nice to actually catch up on a few things, notably these posts! In all honesty I wasn't too satisfied with Saturdays pose efforts... but we all have bad art days. I often attribute it to how I'm feeling on the day but I also think it depends on if I'm having a chat over on Twitch haha. What? I cant help it I'm a social bunny what can I say? Besides, I often tend to have a little extra draw sesh after the stream... this week I didn't but that's okay... just another week in the grand scheme of things. There is always next week :) Anyway!

Things started of pretty well with Pose 1 but I think I spent quite a bit of time refining it over the others. I was also calling up the reference then turning it off on all of these poses so I had to do my own leg work in terms of the form. This is why the poses tend to look a little different, you can see the details I remembered though - often the flow. Pose 2 I thought would be the easier one but I found myself struggling with the arms pulling back (still my Achilles heel). Pose 3 I took a longer stab at but damn that foreshortening threw me - I might try to clean this up to see If I can crack that this week. Pose 4 was actually the quickest/best one I think... I finally found my groove by the time this one materialised lol!

With only a little time left, I think like the last 10 or so minutes on the stream I tried to experiment with my imagination and you can kind of see how rough as old boots these are lol! I did Pose 5 on stream I mean I don't deny some of these have good bones to improve upon but yeah I guess I just wanted to see what I could achieve if I was put to a time crunch. Pose 6 I did off stream briefly again no long commitment with this I just wanted to try again to see if I could improve on 5 (for my own piece of mind). I need to work more on arms dammit, I keep putting it off! lol! Still it was fun to try and mix up the formula a bit. I had drawn another pose but it was kind of lewd so I backed out of it lol!

Experience this weeks stream in timelapse form:

I think the big takeaway from this weeks sessions is as ever don't get disheartened when you cant find the right way to do something. Your mind is learning how all of this works with every failure... you just have to keep with it. I know this is true because every week I see a tangible improvement and despite how long drawing a good pose takes me... it used to take me much MUCH longer. I also feel more confident when drawing a pose used the terrify the ever loving fuck out of me... Anyway another post for digestion! See you again Saturday!

Over & Out,
xXStItChXx

Hey guys,
Apologies for the delay!

Crazy week as my companies PR event draws closer been getting showreels sorted so the busy period continues to consume but not as bad as usual I have to say. Things just got started a little later this week which meant this post was delayed. Thinking back to Saturdays late drawing session last Saturday I had my usual flip/floppy start where I try to figure out what I'm getting into. After a time I moved onto drawing a pose from the gesture of a pose (that I hid after mapping the gesture) to try to come up with something coherent. A bit of a slippery start but things started getting there.

Poses 2, 3 & 4 show the results of drawing from gesture reference without the full pose which, I experimented with a little, trying to change a few bodily aspects to make things mine. Jumping ahead, Pose 7 shows the results I can attain when drawing the pose with the reference available, which looks good but I find myself trying to adhere more to how the artist drew it rather then making it mine which is why I'm trying to get away from referring to a pose too much. That said its nice to know my eye is getting better at deciphering form from reference.

My imagined poses are a little more inventive (with the exception of Pose 1 which shows my early hesitance). Pose 5 is my favourite here as it came out of nowhere and feels very dynamic despite my believe I may have pushed the twist in the body too far.... yeah. That's the issue I now straddle really, if I do things entirely from imagination I tend to push them too far where as when I use reference I follow the pose too rigidly. it's an interesting conundrum to be in but hopefully the more I explore the more I will be able to blend the two for harmony.

Experience this weeks stream in timelapse form:

I think to a certain degree there is a bit of performance anxiety on my part when I stream too. I tend to get more caught up in explaining the process (of what I'm doing and why) and only start to get in more of a rhythm when I just focus and lose myself entirely. I've always been that way in everything that I do. The problem is you want to do these things in good time and not spend 100s of hours trying to find the right way. Oh well, the journey continues... see you in the next post (or tomorrow on Twitch Live).

Over & Out,
xXStItChXx

Hey Guys,
Getting my licks in now so I hope your ready!

Prior to this post I saw a few drawings go up in my Discord. I always love it when people post Art as I do less and less on there with everything I draw being very experimental. When I posted up my recent stream effort my group praised it which made me want to show my efforts from a few years back to contrast it (something I rarely do). To say it was a bit of a culture shock for me is an understatement see below:

I remember being proud of these sketches at the time but I can't help but see the flaws (clavicle to pelvis top being the biggie). That said I do see some of my training in these drawings which has found its way onto my current efforts. The big gap with my understanding in regard to the human form is understanding dimension. A gap I never thought I would be able to surmount... but try as I might (despite the odd bad drawings) I believe I do produce good sketches now. I still commit too soon to a design and love my strong lines but that's probably a style now, not a flaw.

When I look at my efforts now I do see more confident strides and sometimes even sweeping lines that feel forceful with weight. For this stream alone I managed to utilize "the bean" (a building block used to construct body mass) to produce a pose which is something that has eluded me since forever. It was good to try a few poses from the mind as that is where I find my biggest strides on occasion. If I could find a way of bringing that flow into drawings from reference I would be there... the perfect balance. I follow reference too closely and let it limit the expression and flow.

This is not to say that I don't try to adapt poses that I have used from reference. It could be turning a head, bringing down an arm (in the case of pose 4 it involved adding swords). I just see each new bit of progression as another run on the ladder that seemingly has infinite steps. I always tell people "if I can draw anyone can" and I believe that. Todays bad sketch could be tomorrows greatest effort and that is beautiful in its own way because only by looking back can you truly see how far you have come. The reminder was worth it and welcome.

Experience this weeks stream in timelapse form:

My lack of a defined process continues to be a sticking point but maybe its best if I resign myself to the fact that art is a medium of "variance". What feels right on one occasion may feel completely wrong on another. Trying to define "one way" of drawing something seems like it goes against the idea even as a simple building block. That said my mind is always open to this phenomena (that one day things will just "click").

Have a lovely week and I will see you in next weeks post!

Over & Out,
xXStItChXx

Hey Guys,
Sorry for the lack of noise.

Got sick with Covid over Christmas (at least I believe it was - still got lingering's of it now) and as sick as I was I chose to go ahead with Hell Arts EP82 on Twitch... Suffice to say the drawings were so bad (due to my being a little feverish at the time) I just did not see a point of posting them. Instead, I decided to bring a decent stream/blog post to you after a nice Christmas break, and that's what I come bearing today. Happy New Year to you all btw! Anyway, I decided to kick this year off quite simply by doing a few quick-ish fire poses (5 in total over the initial 2 hours - not polished) the last hour I committed to 1 pose. I feared I would be a bit rusty after the hiatus and due to my last efforts being quite bad... I got a few things sorted though.

My first effort (1) was just straight from an image reference which (as always with me) had a few proportional issues which I fixed with a few trimmings/distortions & redraws here and there. I then set to trying to adapt someone else's gestural thumbnails to get to grips with the simplifications to aid in my future drawing sessions. You see I tend to get lost on occasion and feel each drawing session anew without considering a process to draw form this I believe causes issues on occasion. With no process I sometimes fumble into bad habits like detailing before I should and committing to refinement when the form is still broken/stiff.

I found my confidence coming back after my 5th pose and I still had an hour remaining on the stream so I figured why not commit to a pose (6) for the last hour and see how I get on. I pulled out a thumbnail I like (from the stack on the reference sheet) and first made a rather crude shape with considerations to the hip and shoulder angle. From there I etched in the main bodies (pelvis/chest cavity) and adapted the pose slightly to show myself that I could. I then spent the rest of the time cleaning up and putting in a few facial details and some confident lines for the rest. It turned out pretty good all told and gave me a nice shot of confidence.

Experience this weeks stream in timelapse form:

I wish I had a good memory then I probably wouldn't keep making the same mistakes haha. Hopefully one day these lessons will stick or maybe they do unconsciously in the moments when I least expect them to. My understanding of the female figure has definitely improved since I started drawing people back in 2008... I mean I would expect it to. The hips are something I am getting more adapt at spotting I just need to keep going!

Looking forward to next week it should be fun! I will see you there!

Over & Out,
xXStItChXx

Hey Guys,
Sorry for the delay on this one - Ive been Sick

I had a little plan this week when I did my art stream over on Twitch. The idea was simple (not entirely effective) I wanted to get more acquainted with shading. Now I'm sure lots of you have noticed that I tend to do lots of sketching which is in part because I really wanted to produce tight rough anatomy drawing but it's also because I have trouble seeing lighting. It trips me up and I tend to need a guide on how I place it across the form. It also takes me a while to know when to make something harsh with shadow and the iterations away from that dark point. This is what I chose to focus on, of course it was also when I was getting sick with Flu (Covid?), good time to do it right? Anyway...

I spend quite a bit of time trying to get the torso shaded correctly and then I got carried away with the face which I'm still not sure of. The shadow levels across the board are quite strong as I basically just darked and smudged the line art over the form. The abdominal region is the big the bothers me the most as its not quite right. I corrected a few elements before most notably the arm pointing away from us, I will probably have to explore this more across other poses I'm not sure If I will continue this one yet as I'm unsure if I would just keep going in circles without making real progress. I tend to get lost in poses and spend too long with them so I often need to know when I have to reign myself in. This was a hard thing for me to try and it was a good effort I'm just not sure I could get it to where it needs to be... not yet. Might be one to come back to, when I feel more confident.

Experience this weeks stream in timelapse form:

I know I set off last week telling myself I should explore this pose a little but I'm not sure if this is what I had in mind. I had issues with the core framework of the sketch and just thought "ah, lets give shading a go". I probably should have spent a bit more time on that before committing to shade. Oh well, it was worth a shot I suppose, another one for the pile!

Looking forward to getting back with you guys tomorrow, my voice should hold out this time so I'll do my best to talk more :P

Over & Out,
xXStItChXx

Hey guys, me again!
Sorry for the late one...

Been wrapping up quite a few things for Christmas at work which means a lot of stuff has come rushing up before I finally get some much deserved downtime. Now here I am typing this up while I'm waiting for my warming oven to reheat my by now singed chips and curry sauce from the chippy. Doing this shit is hungry work what can I say? Haha. Anyway, reflecting back on this past Saturday's stream (before we get into the next one) I think things started well enough (except my usual issue of not having a idea of what I'm doing as its pretty much decided on the spot) but I fell into my usual habit of getting lost in the pose. When someone actually came and spoke to me and I didn't notice lol!... a total fuckup on my part, anyway onto the actual drawing content.

This weeks pose was actually utilizing a prop (stool) and thus is a kind of sitting pose. While I was working my way through I kind of wanted to do my own thing this time so a combination of imagination and reference. Through my earlier MK iterations you can see things started out as they tend to with me - stiff, and kind of wrong. I only locate issues through trial and error but as I said maybe that's just how I will do things... if it gets results who cares? I was happy with the end pose but there are a few things that still need fixing her distant arm is too short and there is something up with the chest angle. I wanted to have a play after the stream but got distracted (as I tend to do). I think for the next stream I will try to draw a bit before so I can get the initial nerves out of the way. Food for thought.

Experience this weeks stream in timelapse form:

I think this week I will also try to improve on this pose a bit, I don't think it hurts to go back and take a few runs at a pose especially when your me. If any of you have seen me on stream you will question what the hell I'm doing there lol! I mumble too much and get distracted with what I'm doing especially when the drawing isn't going well... lol!

Anyway hope to see you this Saturday I will try to watch the chat more so sorry to anyone who I missed.

Over & Out,
xXStItChXx

Hey Guys,
Hope your all having a good weekend.

After dropping in to yesterdays HellArt stream once again today I am continually reminded of how quiet I get when I draw. Its the concentration aspect which leaves me wanting to focus even though I do try to explain what I'm doing. After a while it feels like I'm just regurgitating the same talking points... hell I probably am. Maybe I should have breaks between sections so then there are at least moments in the stream where I am a "mute focus monster". Anyway, this week I decided to clean up a pose that was kind of hurting my eyes in my expansive Procreate library. It was a very good idea and gave me a unsuspected result... too much FF7 Remake me thinks.

Before any of you say it, "yes" the character now looks like "Tifa Lockhart" (at least I think she does a bit) and "no" that was not my intention. I added the gloves after doing the face because it just looked so much like her. Her body type is also pretty close despite me not even aiming for that. Whether or not you think she looks like Tifa the pose itself I posted on here for "Rhythm Development" on 14/10/2023 from stream 75 and it just looks miles better. I had to break the pose in multiple places to get something that flowed and felt more grounded. The head angling up never felt right nor did the detailing in the hips. Now it looks much better.

Experience this weeks stream in timelapse form:

It is refreshing every week to get a little better drawing areas where I am weaker. Being able to clean up my old work was something I never believed I would be good enough to do. Now I feel compelled to go back to my older work to see if I can finally turn things around to prove to myself that I have come much further then I thought I would.

I wish you guys all a lovely week. Get those creative juices flowing!

Over & Out,
xXStItChXx