SKYLAB CHAT

[Terre]

Good night.

 

[Miss B]

Yes, I've done that hiding body parts several times, even back when I was still using Vicky 3. In fact, I seem to remember one instance where the vendor suggested it for getting the knee high boots to work. I had to turn off her feet and toes.

Night Sky. Catch you tomorrow.

 

[skylab]

Good morning. Have a question for Terre...could you clarify what the rider is doing when she's really leaning forward...I'm sure it's for better speed, but in some of the pics it looks like the ladies are either pointing, or perhaps touching the horse's neck...or is it something else, like a short rein...here's a really large picture of the position.

 

[skylab]

Some other good shots at high speed, another showing the forward position of the hand, and very clear shot of a turn...I'll probably use this one primarily for the horse pose.

Another question for Terre, in this photo, is this typical, that they hold onto the saddle with one hand when making the turns?

 

[skylab]

Another clear shot of a turn, a shot taken on the outside of a turn, and another large inside shot. Very clear pic of the girl with reins on the turn. This kinda inspired the stand pose. This one shows the forward thrust of the arm again, and another. This is the appearance I was aiming for with Dawn, her name must be Lindsey Sears....wasn't trying to be exact, just in general, this type of personality.

 

[skylab]

Barrel racing shirt, and saddle. Another forward thrust shot, and this is definitely a giddy-up. Another good turn. In this turn, it looks like the girl maintains a perfectly upright position while her legs are leaning with the horse...not easy to do. This is a great shot of the horse rearing.

 

[skylab]

Well, I think I've done my homework on the subject....so after some rest, I'll start setting up scenes for the poses. Later

 

[Lyne]

Hi Sky...and so glad to see you back, by the way.... I miss you animated avatar...does it not work here?

I was just working on my old Fav. TV show thread (Alisa is helping me to get it reposted, yay!) and the saved OLD forum pages show your avatar nicely, still.

 

[skylab]

Hi Lyne Yes, the kitty that I uploaded to the new forum for an avatar is actually animated, but it just shows as a still frame. As far as I can tell, the new forum doesn't support animated avatars.

Here's kitty as you remember him

 

[Miss B]

Afternoon ladies. Yes I remember your animated kitty. I didn't realize the forum didn't support animated avatars until I clicked on Vask's new avatar, and saw that cute little giraffe animation.

 

[skylab]

Hi Miss B Yes, if you click on the avatar, it animates...I figured that out when getting started on the forum, just didn't mention it...was disappointing a little, but was so glad for everyone that the forum was back. The image insert feature is somewhat different also. The biggest change, or the biggest impact, was the edit feature disappearing after 10 minutes...makes things like ongoing lists and tables impossible now. So, if we're doing things like research for a project or program tutorials, we'll have to just pick through the thread pages to find it now.

 

[Terre]

Sky, I haven't ridden much at all. It looks like whether they hold the horn or not is personal preference with some possibly using it for balance. The forward hand bit might be giving the horse it's head in some cases although in others it does look like short reins. One thing that many of those shots show clearly is that Western trained horses have different "turn now" signals than English trained ones. In other styles of riding you tell the horse to turn by tightening the rein to apply pressure to the bit to tell the horse to turn toward/with the pressure. Western horses are trained to neck rein. You tighten the rain against the neck to tell them to turn away from the pressure. This is why it's much easier to ride one handed Western than English.

 

[skylab]

So it's as I suspected, they are communicating with the horse through movements at the neck. It's looks almost like a dog who is told "sic 'em". When it's time to haul tail toward the next barrel, they give the horse it's head, and almost like with sword in hand, declaring "charge". Some of the mid turn shots show them pulling the reins into the turn, but I wasn't sure about that forward thrust of the arm...so thought I'd ask. Thanks for explaining. Seems that horse training, whether English or western, is a type of "dance", where the horse responds to human gestures as well as bit and stirrup.

 

[Miss B]

Boy Sky, you've really done quite a bit of research.

 

[skylab]

Hi Miss B...I try to either stick with subjects I already know about... or thoroughly research new territory before proceeding, to put forth at least a best effort on my part. I learned that when doing pencil sketch, it was impossible for me to do a convincing rendering without studying things awhile. Also, I learned early fine tuned skills in body language as I had a friend whose father was deaf...they were so good at sign language that they signed for public meetings, so I learned how they "read" people and knew how they really felt, regardless of what they said...which was great information to learn while still young, because as we grow older we find that people often don't communicate how they really feel...so it's nice to have another "language" to lean upon...so posing for me is like virtual body language. I wish my technical skills could match what's in my head...I'm learning, and I have to learn through the photo references.

 

[Miss B]

I can't think of a better way to learn. I like photo references, too, for modeling. Especially if I can get them my modeling app.

 

[Terre]

Boy Sky, you've really done quite a bit of research.

Yes she has.
Realizing that the rider may be communicating with the horse by it's neck illustrates what she said about body language. I just happen to know that's how you steer a Western horse.

 

[skylab]

Good morning. Thought I'd let you see how Dawn is coming along...this is unfinished obviously...the arm and leg on he opposite side need to be positioned, and the stirrup positioning needs to be done, plus various other tweaks. It is starting to look like a barrel racing gallop. My eyes are screaming for sleep now so I'll be resting this afternoon. Later

 

[Miss B]

Oh, what you've already got done is quite good Sky.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Sky, these are definitely coming along.