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I have been neglecting my drawing tablet for a few weeks now, as I made the move more into traditional, picking up the pencil and the paper after my initial introduction to drawing being this very tablet. Digital drawing was overwhelming to begin with, and to some degree I still feel this way towards it. It has been a challenge to try to get used to drawing with a tablet that has no screen. Though my biggest struggle with this learning process has been the whole universe of brush options. Everyone seems to go crazy over brushes, and how they're used and what they bring to the table. Given I have no painting experience, the whole brush side of things completely lost me. I found myself constantly trying to find brushes that would suit me, with each one feeling somewhat weird. Next comes the many ways in which you can go about colouring and shading, and the hours of experience you need to accumulate to get somewhat familiar with it. It all really set me back for a while, but now I'm willing to get back into it.

I went ahead today and just ignored all the doubts I had and chose the normal hard round brush, though the pressure opacity version of it. My aim today was to not take drawing too seriously, to not strive for perfection, but to try to get more familiar with the tablet and digital side of drawing. I definitely feel a lot more confident with pencil and paper, but I have some knowledge of contruction and perspective from my traditional practicing. I feel quite more and more comfortable with anatomy and gesture as the weeks go by, but digitally my biggest struggle still appears to be the strange feeling of it all. I find I use more lines, and things get messy a lot faster. As if the line confidence just isn't there for some reason. Perhaps due to the feeling the brush gives compared to an actual pencil. Though I pushed it all aside and pulled up some references from Pinterest, again ignoring detail and trying to get lines more accurate without constant undoing, erasing, or letting things get too messy.

With this exercise, I wanted to also pursue better understanding of various poses, promoting the mileage necessary by drawing different angles and types of poses in effort to build a better visual library. A big weakpoint of mine from being mostly a shut-in is that I have grown a bit of a boring imagination, feeling a bit stuck as to what poses to draw. Learning to draw has made me realise that to draw anything you must, well, get familiar with it. To draw something well, you have to draw it more than once. Then, as you build a visual library, you can mix and match these ideas and tell your own stories. I did focus on figure drawing for a while, but honestly, it just does not really appeal to me, neither does realism art. But on paper I have encouraged myself to do both to gain more understanding of anatomy and how gesture and construction work together sometimes. With beter knowlege of the 3D shapes and construction of parts of the body, I wanted to be able to draw in a cleaner manner, avoiding many construction lines when possible.

I think it's clear where I feel confidence with the anatomy and lines, and where I perhaps don't feel so confident and things somewhat feel less fluid. I feel I have improved lately with the torso, which is by far my largest weakness, while I have somewhat good confidence in how to draw the arms and legs. Though in regards to hands and feet, I avoided making things too complicated and just went for the basic gesture and shapes to promote their general directions. Again, my aim was not to pursue detail, but to instead pursue familiarity with the method of digital drawing, generally using the basic construction methods I have managed to learn. Drawing the torso definitely seems like a bit of a challenge without any shading or intentional construction to build out certain muscles, so I went with the most obvious landmarks.

These poses were done within a general five minute timeframe each. I didn't want to rush myself with these, but as to avoid trying to go beyond what I'm currently comfortable with with the tablet, I figured giving myself somewhat of a limit would be wise. This meant also avoiding drawing excessive clothing from the references. Where much of the poses would be amplified by folds within clothing and the ways in which they interact with the anatomy. Eventually I'll begin to dive into this area digitally, but I think the best idea for now is to essentially treat the digital side of things as if I am completely new to drawing. Starting from the very ground up, essentially. I feel this is best given I did overwhelm myself at first. I tried too many things at once and all it did was discourage me when I realised I knew so little, and that each part of drawing and painting will take countless hours of practice. I have the passion to improve and learn, and what is most important is ensuring I remain patient. 

I have been drawing every day recently, and slowly attempting to understand just what it is that I want to draw. Some people know they want to paint landscapes, draw figures, maybe just draw cartoons and anime, but I have noticed I sort of like everything. The problem here being my focus is all over the place, which is pretty much why I'm encouraging myself to stick with poses, but pursue the ones that I feel most connection to when browsing Pinterest. Promoting narrative with the poses before any shading and style in the drawing. And as mentioned, giving myself a better visual library to pull from and interact with when it comes to trying things from imagination. I've noticed to learn to get better, I have to do the things that don't entirely interest me. I'm fine with it, though! It feels great noticing improvements slowly, seeing where my faults are and improving as I attempt to fix them.