Self Made Croquis

AS with so many things that change as I age, my perception of what looks good and what doesn't has had some difficulty with the transition that my body has undertaken.

In my mind, I still look the same. 

And I'm not.

So this is an exercise in how I'm making a croquis for drawing and doodling ideas

and

 mostly it's an exercise in coming to terms with how things are right now.

I have never used them before.

http://www.designersnexus.com/fashion-design-portfolio/v53-free-fashion-croqui-templates/

I just don't move like that. I also don't have legs that are possibly three times my torso height.

You can do this at home for yourself. You need a camera, a mirror or a pal, a picture editing program with tools (Paint is great, still comes imbedded in Windows 10, there are other editing programs on the web for free but this is the one I can use in my sleep), and access to the Internet. 

Well, you surely have the last one  if you're reading this.

First come the photographs.

 (shakes head and sighs)(that's an audible sigh. I'm doing this for you, kids!)

Then we edit in paint

Clip out the background

Then we go online to PicMonkey. Which is free. You can buy in for more advanced features, or you can do a free trial for them. Your choice.. I made the image black and white, then posterized it.

I used the Edge Sketch to reduce it to a line image. Kind of a line image.

This one is going to be easier to edit back in paint

The front image that I didn't edit is harder to read. And it took longer to clean up. But I got a useful result from it as well.

Back in Paint, I've lightly drawn over the basic, sad, chubby little outline (slaps self: those cookies were good, dammit. Quitting smoking was hard! And then there's been the gym-interrupting injuries!)

It was easier to use the line took instead of the pencil at some points. This is a cartoon, not a pencil sketch. I could make it pretty or I could make it useful. And looking at yourself knowing you're going to make a blog post out of it is painful.  Yes, I have left out photos. I'm here to explain a process.

I select the better half of me (if only!) and rotate and paste.

I've never been bilaterally symmetrical before!

So this is what I have. It's not that pretty, but it's realistic. And it took about an hour and I can make as many copies as I can stand to look at.

Hmmmm coookies.....