We Used to Be Infinite.

Flying is what happens when Flapping and Falling are happily seesawing. Don't do either too much. Being flap-happy will drain you of energy. And then comes the fall. The longer it lasts the harder you'll have to flap to recover. Gravity has a compounding effect. The lower you go the greater the escape velocity (a pseudoscientific view. Calm down. It's a blog for christ sakes.).

A study of Juliana Paes. I was happy with how fast I was able to lay down the lines. Most of them in 20 min. And another 10-20 min. refining. I could've spent a little more time observing to get a complete likeness, but capturing likeness is no longer a major aim in my studies (though I still can't help but try). I didn't start this journey to copy. Copying isn't creative. To test my memory and visual bank I painted her again a day later with only my memory for reference. I went too dark on the darks. I have to remember to limit value range. 

I've somewhat recovered from a recent one and just learned how to glide. It was quite the shock, but not shocking. Not like breathing. How much of a shock is that? You go from the womb one minute to taking this thing called a breath. It's forced on you. It takes you. So invasive, foreign, and intangible. You can't even fight it. We probably cried because we had no choice in the matter. Filling your body, then exiting. Repeatedly stealing something from you. Oxygen is a corrosive, after all.

Mostly doodles. A few quick studies while going through my backlog of Elle magazines. Why the hell can't I subscribe to foreign versions of magazines? I've seen some amazing work posted on blogs. The ones available for subscription were about $150/yr. Multiply that by 20 countries. Then multiply that by at least 10 different magazines. There has to be a digital solution somewhere.

I don't like how ignorant I am when it comes to drawing cloth/clothing. I've started to focus on that, too. Killing two birds with one stone by looking at fashion for inspiration and drawing interesting cloth folds as I go. Flapping and falling ... Nah, I just tried to throw that in there but it doesn't make sense.

Experimentation for an antagonist in my main IP. The middle two heads furthest to the right are what I'm leaning towards. There's a lazy, targeted look to the larger one. I haven't nailed it, but will keep experimenting. I found a picture of a male online who has the skull/jaw structure that resembles what I have in mind. Grayed out text relating to the character I don't want to make public yet.

The basic movements; all the things a baby has to learn over the next few years. If forced to learn them all at once they'd suffocate from the mental overload. Maybe that's why we take deep breaths when we're stressed. Or when we meditate. It takes us back to our first breath. Our earliest memory of infinity. How long did it take a baby to take its first breath? Its entire life? Then half its life to exhale? 

More heads done from imagination. John Grello used a term called 'Same Face' on one of his blog posts. I see sameness in mine. I toyed with different shapes, but I need to understand the anatomy more - proportions of different bony protrusions, fat pockets (which there is hardly any info on), eye and socket shapes ...

A few more heads and some eyes. I broke the noses into different shapes/sections and tried to view them abstractly. By thinking 'nose' I'll draw my mind's default version of a nose. I tried to do it with the eyes, too.

When did our perception of time and change begin? I'm guessing the first time we heard our own heartbeat (do we eventually hear our own heartbeats while in utero? I may google it, but would ruin the the exercise curiosity gives my brain if I do it too soon). It was predictable. Constant. Not sure if our senses were even online yet so how did we perceive it? Hm. One minute to a three-minute old baby is the same as 10 yrs to a 30 yr old. Before there was a second thing to compare ourselves to, what were we. What did we experience ... We used to be infinite.

The last page I left off. I still have a few more issues of Elle to go through. I saw an ad for Kit and Ace with a woman wearing a pair of sweatpants that made me wish I had a gf to buy them for. I'm going to use them for a character in my 'fighting game' IP.

Being human feels weird sometimes. Having to breathe. Having to eat. A body that's slowly dissolving. Failing us just a little more everyday. The things we do to block out one of the only thoughts that makes any sense - that this ride ends and we have no idea what, if anything happens afterwards (It's probably the only one we really need to appreciate whatever 'good' we experience.).  What's really going on? Hmm. It's fun to ponder. And amusing to be amused.

(And once again I forgot that I had a tea bag soaking in a mug of then-hot, but now-probably-not water. I'm trying to think of ginger tea with lemon and stevia as dessert after dinner so I'm not tempted to snack late. Thinking of breakfast as dessert helps, too. You have to go to sleep to get it.)