OK, now it's really pi**ing me off! :) In archery, people wear pads for a reason... The reason is that the string moves rather fast when you let go of it, if it twats you on the forearm, it stings! Women wear breast protectors, because if it clips the nipple, (even through the clothes) it really stings! Then there is the matter of reach and balance... Push one arm directly out in front of you, now fold your other arm to your chest and pull your shoulders in and push your chest out. Notice that even with the fingers on your "bent" hand clenched, they don't reach past your nose... So why is it, whenever I see a render of a drawn bow, the string is invariably held behind her ear? Because trust me on this one, when she lets go, (and it's almost always a she) it's REALLY going to hurt... We now return you to the P5 slugfest. Enjoy! :) later jb

As another toxophilist, I can understand your frustration. Maybe you can produce a set of Poses for use with bows. BTW there is a style of archery in which the string is brought past the ear. It's Japanese, I can't recall the name of the style at the moment. I always thought that it looked very dangerous for exactly the reasons that you suggest. From what I remember seeing of it, it was performed by women! Go figure! Maybe they like having their bits tweaked! On the other hand, many Japanese women have very nice small bits which prolly don't get in the way as much as for more buxom ladies! ;)

So, a toxophillite is someone with a twat on his forearm....

most men should be so lucky, right? :P

It's always best to check with someone who knows. Trust me, I've made my husband pose for sword fighting poses. He used to fight. :)

Well, it keeps you warm.... (actually, that replies to both!)

As a fellow Tox I quite agree, I downloaded a free pose of an archer, think it was in freestuff here (but could have been somewhere else) It was pathetic! It is physically impossible to even hold a bow in the manner it suggested, let alone draw it. The bow arm was held straight out in front of the person, as they looked straight ahead, and the draw arm was next to the body with the elbow pointing to the floor. Here`s an image I made to demonstrate the pose after the arrow has been loosed. (Olympic style which I shoot)

Also a toxophilite (and a long time member of the Society for Archer Antiquaries, though I've never contributed any research myself). Also frequently PO'd with horribly unrealisitc archery art. Don't you just hate those ones where Vicki draws the bow like the draw weight is about one pound? She'd be lucky not to have the arrow land on her foot. Mind you, it would just bounce off. I've thought about doing a set of decent archery poses but it's actually really hard to get the string arm in anything like the right position. Corner of mouth and centre of chin draws just aren't happening. You can almost get a mediaeval style ear draw but even that is hard.

Anek, if it was an animated pose it was probably mine here. I put it up years ago when there genuinely were only 12 animators. I've since deleted it. I'm not going to rant about freestuff and so on as I don't really have an excuse (a very close relative was Western England champion for some little while and I spent my formative years on various archery fields). In my defence, the animation was setup to use an impossibly small bow so, blame the modeller too! Also, I could have sworn I bent the shooting arm at the elbow, had the thumb tucked behind the ear and had the other elbow pointing straight back. It was about forty frames long. I get the feeling though that any animation I do for this kind of sport wouldn't please everyone....

Oh and by the way, I don't recall many bikini clad winged members standing in fire either, well, not holding a composite bow anyway..... Touche I think..

Saxon, I wasn't getting at you or anyone else, it was a general gripe, (after seeing a picture at poserstyle actually) I shoot a 46lb composite recurve, wooden stock, 66" glass fibe and wood composite limbs, and a normal string,(as I was warned off using a fastflyte string as it would ruin the limbs) I use a two fingered Flemmish draw, and I draw to the (handy :) cleft in my nose and my chin. I've actually tried a 110lb long bow with handmade wodden arrows, the action is completely different. At that weight you just can't hold it. The action is a lot like ripping a 100lb compound. But instead of holding 50lb you just have to let go, as there is no let-off point. KILLS your fingers too! That was while wearing an old fashioned finger harness/glove and a three layer leather tab. later jb

Praxis, I can see that you're having a general grump. When you really know your subject then the errors become glaringly obvious. It's a very good point because it emphasises just how important it is to do thorough research. As you know, getting key-framed animations to look as good as mo-cap is hard enough but getting it good enough for really serious scrutiny, well, that's a real challenge.... (not that my scruffy animation was anywhere near mo-cap standard, it was a couple of years old, but I'm getting there slowly)...

Hi again, in reply to Saxon, no it wasnt yours, it was a static pose I cant remember where I got it from and it was so bad I deleted it. Ive not seen any winged archers but when I was younger I did shoot at the club in a bikini (when the sun was shinning) and yes that is a model of my own bow. We did see some fire once but that was in a school ajacent to the tournament field and the fire brigade arrived to put it out, but thats another story. Bye for now...

Never did like CNC machined stocks, I'm a wood man, The grain and pattina alone more than make up for the weight :) Good model BTW... Never got on with compounds either, put my first shot with one through the stop net and into the wall about 2 foot below the boss :) Never got used to the way it jumped on the lose. One of my ex's was a fellow archer, big girl, rugby player :) She used to wear a chest guard out of necessity. She swore a lot too, clipped herself once or twice a night. later jb