11.5.13 More Ballerinas and Bhangra, also Kitties!

Hi internet friends!
Well, I had a very productive week so I'm super happy!!  that's all I need, I'm easy to please.  I got a lot of really good drawings done and creatively and technically I've gotten noticeably better which is awesome!  I also had a couple of dancing dreams in which I was drawing the dream as it was happening--I love those!  I have them, usually, when I'm deep into a project.  I read somewhere that it means you are improving if you dream of the task you were performing throughout the day.  I'll take it!
  I didn't just draw ballerinas this week, I also drew another little lady dancing the bhangra!  I think I will draw some adults dancing bhangra, too.  I love small children dancing, they are so full of joy it's hard not to smile and laugh when they do it.  And I love the images I get from it.  Check her out:

Study for Baby Bhangra, Naari, 2013

Now, on to the ballerinas!  I love drawing ballet so much.  I've also been learning lots of new words like "epaulement" which refers to the position of the head over the shoulders...which I then became obsessed with getting just right, just like a ballerina!
 So this time I did things a little differently.  At first I was just drawing figures willy-nilly all over the page and then I tried to be a little more deliberate. This is what happened:

sketchbook, 2013

I loved how fluid the movement looks.  For me the movement is clear but I wonder how well it's coming across to those who aren't trained in animation--anyway, the next thing I did was, naturally, to exapnd on that so I did this 2-page spread (Which is called a "folio" in book-making terms, just FYI!)

sketchbook, 2013

 Okay, that I love.  So, this was the next thing I did, which I was really super, super happy with! :-D

sketchbook, 2013

  So, for sure, the movement is clear.  I'm so happy with how this project is going.  I feel very confident I Can fill a large room with these.....no worries, guys!!  I'm really excited to work on the final images.  Drawing pictures is so fun!  And I'm super excited to draw Bhangra, next!  I love how their skirts twirl around when then spin. :-D

 I also think it's good to switch it up and study the anatomy of other animals b/c all vertebrate skeletons are basically the same structure with just variations in length or assembly.  I find that a good understanding of human anatomy makes it easier to draw animals and vice-versa.  So, here's my kitty, Christopher Robbin.  He's all, "Whatchoo doing? Stop that and play with me!!"

Kitties!!  (one of them is not Christopher, it's my other cat, Napoleon.)

Kitties are so cute and fun to draw.  I love all their curvy lines and I love how they move.  They are like living sculpture to me.  Also, my cats happen to be very sweet and cuddly which is also awesome.  Here's my favorite kitty fun-fact:  their shoulders are not attached to the rest of their skeleton by bone, only by tendons and muscles--cool!  This is one of the reasons why they are able to survive falling from great heights. How neat is that?

Well!  Thanks for coming by for a visit!
Oh, hey!  You can also visit my tumblr, here:
http://beckylaff.tumblr.com

See you next week!
Love, Beckarooo!