Day 197: Hiatus Pt. 2

Just a quick note to let people know I haven't disappeared.  The break is really helping me with my focus.  I've been able to knock out a plot structure book that's been on my read list for months now.  The notes I took are already helping to stream line my script writing process.

After I get back from my business trip I'll be able to set down at the drawing desk with fresh eyes and some renewed motivation.  One piece of advice I can give at this point is to make sure you have some fun while you're drawing.  If you get too hung up on dedicated studies and singling out your weak spots it can be pretty soul crushing.  I'm definitely adding that to my list of things not to do in the future.

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Metrics

Pages Read This Week	240
Total Pages Read Since Launch	1760
Books Completed Since Launch	14
Total Tutorial Run-time	14 hours 33 minutes
Days Since Launch	197
- Active Days (1 hour or more of practice)	164
Drawing Time This Week	20 minutes
Drawing Time Total	160 hours 35 minutes

* I'm considering Friday to be the end of the week for tracking metrics so that it lines up with my summary posts.

** I had to use a some fuzzy math to figure the page count for some of my Kindle books since they only have location tagging.

Day 183: Hiatus

I'm taking a temporary break from the blogging and daily goals.  It's not like I got tired of drawing after six months.  I just reached the point where this schedule and format puts unnecessary limits on what I'm trying to do.  I mean, it's hard to sit down and write out a script if I only have a finite amount of spare time and a chunk of it is sectioned off to aimlessly copying muscle structures and random perspective tutorials.

The plan for the time being is to dump as much time as I need to into breathing some life into an original project that I can use to drive my progress over the current plateau I'm stuck on.  I'm still tracking time on my spreadsheet, it's just collecting a lot more big fat zeroes now that days are being chucked at plot structure and character development.  Hopefully it will pay off big, so stay tuned.  Or not, you can always catch up later when this blog is moving again.

Day 176: Week 26 Summary

This week turned out to be a little chaotic.  I had to take a few breaks from the perception training exercises in "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain".  It's really hard for me to qualify the book because on one hand I can see why it's so highly recommended by artists and on the other I can see why reviews become more mixed when you look at popular ranking sites like Goodreads.

The first exercise was to draw the two opposing faces in profile.  It might be hard to recognize in my own drawing below, but it's the wonky looking chess piece on the top of the page.  This drill was pretty neat and I tried it several times throughout he week to see how far I could draw the faces before I started drawing the chalice.

The next exercise was to draw an upside down copy of the famous squiggly line guy.  This was particularly hard for me because I have already honed my ability to draw the things I'm looking at by recognizing what I'm looking at.  Making the subject confusing by flipping it upside down was supposed to trick my brain into focusing on the simple details like distance and curvature of the lines.  Instead I ended up rapidly losing scale and proportion throughout the squiggles.  The end result wasn't awful, but I feel confident it would have turned out much better if the source wasn't inverted.

I stumbled a bit on that chapter and decided to doodle to remind myself that I am drawing for a hobby to have something that I enjoy doing in my spare time.  If you're noticing a quality drop it's because I'm trying to shift to drawing from memory or imagination and not from observation.

I'm also working up a character redesign for the next club meeting, so my attention is really scattered right now.  From Monday I'm going to try to get back to nailing down at least one chapter a day from the book so I can narrow my goals down a bit.

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Metrics

Pages Read This Week	18
Total Pages Read Since Launch	1520
Books Completed Since Launch	13
Total Tutorial Run-time	14 hours 33 minutes
Days Since Launch	176
- Active Days (1 hour or more of practice)	164
Drawing Time This Week	7 hours 10 minutes
Drawing Time Total	160 hours 15 minutes

* I'm considering Friday to be the end of the week for tracking metrics so that it lines up with my summary posts.

** I had to use a some fuzzy math to figure the page count for some of my Kindle books since they only have location tagging.

Day 169: Week 25 Summary

I started reading through the opening part of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain so I could hit the ground running for next week.  It's not exactly what I expected.  Especially since the author says that it's less of a book on art and more of a book on perception.  The first three chapters are text heavy explanations of the theories that are the foundation for this approach to drawing.

It's very interesting to read and I am keeping an open mind about the whole left vs right brain idea.  The idea of being able to zone out and cut off my logical processes, even temporarily, would be a huge help for me.  I tend to over analyze and critique my own work mid-process which makes completing exercises more time consuming than they should be.

The closest I think I've gotten to this approach on my own is when I've veeb listening to music and droning my way through gesture practice sessions.  During those exercises I stop thinking about the specifics of the image I'm observing or the outcome of the finished drawing and I just go through the motions.  I can relate to some of the testimonies in the book, because I have been surprised by my own work when I drop out of critical observation mode and just draw.

I knocked out some anatomy sketches and a few Pokemon doodles for my daughter, but nothing really interesting this week.  I will be starting the more interesting drills tomorrow.  I'm also working on a side project, trying to work up some character designs for a short strip.  I'm hoping to have something worth sharing for that in the next week or two.

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Metrics

Pages Read This Week	46
Total Pages Read Since Launch	1502
Books Completed Since Launch	13
Total Tutorial Run-time	14 hours 33 minutes
Days Since Launch	169
- Active Days (1 hour or more of practice)	157
Drawing Time This Week	6 hours
Drawing Time Total	153 hours 5 minutes

* I'm considering Friday to be the end of the week for tracking metrics so that it lines up with my summary posts.

** I had to use a some fuzzy math to figure the page count for some of my Kindle books since they only have location tagging.

Day 162: Week 24 Summary

Let's just say that with all the travel prep, packing, and family visits that's happened I'm surprised I even had a chance to look at a pencil.  Things will be picking up on the 15th. (Yes, I know I sound like a broken record.)

My work area looks like something out of a war documentary right now, so it really needs some TLC before go time.  Other than that everything is prepped and ready to go.  The materials are on standby and my motivation is stoked

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Metrics

Pages Read This Week	0
Total Pages Read Since Launch	1456
Books Completed Since Launch	13
Total Tutorial Run-time	14 hours 33 minutes
Days Since Launch	162
- Active Days (1 hour or more of practice)	150
Drawing Time This Week	3 hours
Drawing Time Total	147 hours 5 minutes

* I'm considering Friday to be the end of the week for tracking metrics so that it lines up with my summary posts.

** I had to use a some fuzzy math to figure the page count for some of my Kindle books since they only have location tagging.

Day 155: Week 23 Summary

There's nothing too exciting or new to report.  I've been doing a lot of research on universities with art programs that I can dump the last of my GI Bill into before the funds expire.  The only problem is that I can't get the full benefits unless I attend classes face to face, which limits me to after work hour courses.

That hasn't been working out so hot for me, so I'm now digging around for on line courses so I can at least get 50% of the housing benefits and I'll just try to max out on the courses I can take to get lots of books and instruction time.

In the meantime, I'm still doing family practice with my daughter.  She's shifted from inking my lines to coloring them so that's been fun.  I've laid the groundwork for the next few books I'll be tackling.  For now I just have to keep my hands limber and enjoy as much time with the family as I can until I drop them off at the airport.

Things should get much more interesting on here after that.

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Metrics

Pages Read This Week	0
Total Pages Read Since Launch	1456
Books Completed Since Launch	13
Total Tutorial Run-time	13 hours 23 minutes
Days Since Launch	155
- Active Days (1 hour or more of practice)	147
Drawing Time This Week	6 hours
Drawing Time Total	144 hours 5 minutes

* I'm considering Friday to be the end of the week for tracking metrics so that it lines up with my summary posts.

** I had to use a some fuzzy math to figure the page count for some of my Kindle books since they only have location tagging.

Day 148: Week 22 Summary

This was a pretty successful week for getting back to the basics and honing my pencil and paper skills.  An added bonus for me was that my daughter has made drawing with me part of our nightly routine before she goes to bed.

We usually just draw pictures from the comics that are laying around.  There's also been a few tutorials on YouTube that helped us turn out a pretty sweet Robonyan and SD Deadpool.  I'd put up scans of those but they ended up crumbled up in one of her toy boxes.  She likes to take the finished drawings to bed when we're done so I haven't had a lot of luck scanning them.

That being said, it's still great practice.  I'm a little bummed out that she's gotten interested now when she's leaving the country to visit her grandparents in a few weeks.  I haven't had any luck lining up my art classes at the local community college so I'm laying the ground work to roll through the lessons included in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.  If the testimonials in the workbook are real, there should be tons of cool work to post when I finish up with that.

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Metrics

Pages Read This Week	0
Total Pages Read Since Launch	1456
Books Completed Since Launch	13
Total Tutorial Run-time	13 hours 23 minutes
Days Since Launch	148
- Active Days (1 hour or more of practice)	141
Drawing Time This Week	7 hours
Drawing Time Total	138 hours 5 minutes

* I'm considering Friday to be the end of the week for tracking metrics so that it lines up with my summary posts.

** I had to use a some fuzzy math to figure the page count for some of my Kindle books since they only have location tagging.