Illustration: Yoga - single handstand

 

Drawn with procreate over a couple months. I thought I would have time at the end of the day etc to do this but I never really did and was able to finish it today only because I had a contractor here for hours fixing my bedroom ceiling after a leak from above. It's Montréal Complétment Cirque in a week or so so maybe I will have more acrobat references to work from soon. 

Illustration: Contort

 So this was a quickie in Procreate. Iit's actually a third try. I started a pen and ink version, didn't like it, then tried it in Affinity Designer on iPad but the palm rejection was terrible and I trashed that one too. Procreate still had issues for me blending colour but it also stopped me from going overboard with details. 

I have did a drawing of a street performed that as at least as contorted this but he was walking around in a sillier pose so I guess he still wins the awkward poses contest so far. 

illustration: Yoga toe grab

 

Probably has a real yoga pose name but I don't know what it is. This was only a 2 day project so it's not as detailed maybe as it might have been. Two days is fast for my but I am also not sleeping which frees up lots of drawing time! I like the skin tones, I lucked out guessing what the best base colour might be. Drawn in Krita on the iMac which I really enjoy. The iPad and procreate are really good but but a 27" 5K screen is so much nicer to work on! I still like the Krita brush options the best too. particularly the blending brushes. 

Illustration: yoga pose

 

I have to admit this one makes me a little uncomfortable. I have not been able to find people to pose for me much, especially not acrobats or yoga practitioners who can do the sort of poses I love to draw. I have even put out ads looking for people but no one was interested.  I lended up searching through many videos online and took screen shots as reference material. I don't always use my own photos (my monster poster series is mostly from screen shots taken from the films) but I HATE not using my own photos! I know it is not exactly unknown to use the almost infinite image and video resources on the internet to find inspiration and references, but it doesn't sit all that well with me. That said, I went ahead and did anyway so I guess I was desperate enough to be OK with it for this one. 

Done in Krita, this is in keeping with my other yoga/acrobat stuff. Seriously... what exactly is the line between the two?In ant case it came together quickly once I decided I was doing it. I tried to keep out too much detail, though at full size you can see hair on his body that is invisible in smaller versions. I don't print my stuff as much as I used to, just costs too much, but I keep that in mind when I add details. 

My last drawing of the year? Quite possibly! 

Illustration: Paul torsion assise

 A bit of skin in my last 2 drawings I guess. This was from 20+ year old references as well and the quality was better than my recent diver references but still somewhat degraded. I had quite a few of them this time so I think I got more out of this one. You don't find many guys with muscles as defined as this. 

I did have to change the pose and some details slightly. This was mostly for clarity of the image. A few toes from the crossed over leg were really distracting and there was a hint of penis which is not something that I would normally hide but it took me some time to even know that was what it was. I also removed his tan line. To be honest it was pretty sexy looking but, again, distracting from the pose. I thought emphasis was on the shoulders and back, not his butt. 

Paul in crow

I am thinking of making this into a series. I'll need a nude male model who can do all sorts of yoga positions,  however.