Weekly post 9!

Hello! Finally, another blog. This time, I have a lot more to say since a few things have happened, starting with the gym.

＼(o￣∇￣o)/ Yes ~

In previous posts, I mentioned that I started going to the gym. If I’m not mistaken, it’s been almost a month since I started, and I’m not going to lie—it was very difficult, at least for me, not to give up.

(⎼ . ⎽)

Not so much because of the exercise itself, since I enjoy that, but more because of insecurity, being introverted, etc. And I have it easy compared to someone who might be dealing with obesity or something similar—it would probably be even harder for them. In fact, it’s the opposite for me. At the start of the year, I weighed 127 pounds at 5'10", and that was with a sedentary lifestyle.

(;_;)

No matter how much I ate, I couldn’t gain weight. After two months, I managed to reach 132 pounds, and that’s when I signed up for the gym. Luckily, I started gaining weight more naturally and have now reached 143 pounds, which is considered healthy compared to my previous weight.

(≧∇≦)/

I say the gym was difficult because I got stuck in a cycle of going one day and then thinking about giving up, which brought on all these negative feelings. The next day, I’d go again, and it was like this constant back-and-forth until the day before yesterday, when I finally felt comfortable walking to the gym and training around people.

┌(。Д。)┐

But it was complicated—it felt like a constant tug-of-war this first month. It helped a lot that I didn’t go alone. If I had gone to the gym completely by myself, I probably would’ve quit.

(つ﹏⊂)

If someone wants to start going to the gym for health, as a hobby, or for any specific reason but feels shy or introverted like me, I highly recommend going with a friend, family member, or someone you trust.

(≧◡≦)

That helps a lot in not giving up quickly, and it also makes training much more fun since you have someone to talk to during breaks instead of staring at the floor like you fell asleep with your eyes open while waiting.

(´• ω •`)

Also, if you don’t have someone to go with, it might be a good idea to start with basic exercises at home. If you have the money, you could buy some weights or exercise equipment and take it easy before jumping into a gym.

(・ε・`*)

Changing topics, something pretty bad happened yesterday. In case anyone is sensitive about animals, I’ll let you know upfront that the ending was good, all things considered, so you don’t get too stressed while reading.

(´･д･｀)

Basically, I have two dogs and cats at home. One of the dogs is very old—I adopted him when I was in elementary school from a Chinese market where they were giving away puppies in a cardboard box. It’s been about 12 years since then, so the dog has been with me for most of my life and is now very old.

(-公- ; )

Here’s what happened: yesterday, my family went outside to sit, chat, and spend time with the neighbors since it was nighttime and the weather was nice. It’s normal for my dog to be off-leash because he’s small and the type of dog that sticks close to his owner. He never chases cars, people, or anything like that. Usually, when we go out, he just sticks to our legs and follows us around.

(・ε・`*)

The issue is this: while my family was sitting with the neighbors, my dog was lying next to my grandmother. Out of nowhere, a neighbor’s pitbull appeared. I wasn’t there, but according to what the neighbors told me, my dog was lying next to my grandmother when the pitbull lunged and grabbed him by the neck with its teeth.

Σ(°△°|||)︴

I was drawing in my room and heard screams from outside. I had no idea what was happening, so as I walked out of my room with my brother, I heard my mom yelling to bring water. I hurried and grabbed a bottle of water, thinking someone was hurt, had fainted, or something like that. My brother and I rushed to the door, and my grandmother came in saying a dog had killed ours. I looked outside and saw my dog lying on the ground, not moving or making a sound, while the pitbull held him by the neck.

(´～ヾ )

My first thought was, “That’s it. He’s dead.” I told my brother not to look because he’d see it. All the neighbors tried a million things to get the pitbull to let go—they threw water, used a stick to pry its mouth open, and even the owner came out and started hitting the dog to make it release mine. Basically, all the neighbors started beating the pitbull, but it wouldn’t let go.

(／。＼)

By that point, we thought my dog was dead since he wasn’t moving or making any noise—nothing. After what felt like the longest 10 minutes of my life, the pitbull finally let go, and my dog, lying there, got up, shook himself off, and came back like nothing happened, lol.

o( ❛ᴗ❛ )o

From what I understand, pitbulls, once they bite something, don’t try to bite again—they just don’t let go. It turns out my dog has very long, coarse hair because when I bathe him, he likes to roll around outside on the ground. So, his fur is like rope. That saved him because when the pitbull bit his neck, all the fur prevented it from reaching the skin, and it only grabbed the fur. That’s why my dog wasn’t making any noise—he wasn’t hurt. He also wasn’t moving because he was playing dead.

╭( ･ㅂ･)و ̑̑

In the end, luckily, nothing happened to him. Ironically, the pitbull was the one that got the worst of it from all the hits it took from the neighbors. Today, the neighbor came over, apologized, and said he was going to give the dog away to someone else as a precaution. And that was the end of it.

(⭒  ์ ⲳ ์ )

It made me understand the reputation pitbulls have. If it had grabbed my grandmother or one of the neighbors instead of my dog, there wouldn’t have been any fur to save them.From what I was told, the pitbull was let out because it was nighttime, and the owner thought no one was outside.

As you can see, to create the skeleton, I didn’t use very complex shapes. Before, I only used squares for the arms, a circle for the torso, and another for the waist, which made the result look very unnatural in full-body drawings.

The figure is very simple—by simple, I mean it doesn’t rely heavily on curves. Even for the chest, which helped a lot since before, I didn’t sketch the chest—I just drew it directly.

Once I broke everything down into simple shapes, I started drawing, and this was the result.

 I’m really happy with the result because I tried to draw that pose a couple of months ago and couldn’t do it at all. Plus, this time I dared to draw the hands and feet, even though they didn’t turn out great—especially the feet, since it was my first time drawing them.

(✯◡✯)

I plan to keep using the same technique until I master it. Next week, I’ll show you all the drawings I can make in this style during the week, even if they turn out a bit rough.

See you next week, and thanks for reading!