How To: Draw a Person Part ll (Clothes)

Do you remember my post that taught you how do draw the human form? Well here is the next post! I'm going to help you with drawing clothes! (Sorry the next paragraph has lots of art vocab...)

When you draw, you have to keep in mind that all things have value. Value is using lights and darks (or tints and shades) of a color to show depth. I want you to look around. Do you see many 2D shapes? There are not many shapes around us but there are forms, or 3D objects. We want to capture that as we draw so that we can create a realistic form.

The supplies that you'll need are:
1 Pencil (or pen, your choice!)
1 Eraser
1 piece of Paper

Okay, first we are going to draw the contour or outline of the clothes. With the guy, I'm just drawing a v-neck t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. For the girl I'm drawing just a regular v-neck, some skinny jeans, and sneakers.

The outline

 Now that we have the basic outline and the light source, we need to find where all of the values go. I like to start with the wrinkles. If your person is moving or bending there will be more wrinkles. If they are just standing (like my people are) then there will be less wrinkles. Amazing, right!?!

I like to have the wrinkles darker so that when I add other values, you can still see the wrinkles! 

Next we are going to shade in the whole thing. Think about how dark something is and try to recreate that. With every dark edge you need to have a lighter edge next to it to create space. Sorry about my shading, I'm hurrying!

 That's pretty much all you do! Remember that clothes should express your person and help set the mood!!! (Sorry the shading is bad! I'll post again to show you shading more and how to draw some other clothes.) Good luck! If you want any extra help, or have an idea for a tutorial that you'd like me to do, just leave a comment! If you want to see some other tutorials, look at Martina's blog!

See ya!

Study Tips!

Well it's the end of the school year and finals are here! Students are super stressed, tests are being thrown at everyone, and we are all trying to survive. If you are super stressed, look at Micaela's blog! She has a great post about things that should relax you.

With finals comes lot's of studying, so I'm going to show you some study tips that help me and some of my friends!

Flashcards

Front

Back 

The good old original flashcards. If you've never used these before they are super easy and self explanatory. First, take a card (5''x3'') or small piece of paper. Write the term on one side and the definition on the other. Tada! You've got a flash card!  Flashcards are always super good to use if you have vocab to study for. I also like to use them when I am studying for map tests. I use them to remember countries and their capitals. (Countries on one side, capitals on other)

Paper Folded Terms

Terms go on one side of the folded paper
and then your definitions will go on the other side.

When you open the paper up this is what it'll
look like!

The only down side to flash cards is that they take lot's of time to write so my brother showed me this method! You take a paper and fold it in the middle hot dog style. You write the terms on the left side and on the right side you write your definition. It's pretty much the same as flashcards but to me it seems like you are saving lot's of time and you don't have to worry about loosing any of the cards! You can also write the term and definition on one side and draw a picture of a diagram on the other side. Like this:

Definition and explanation of terms on the right side and on
the left side I have the diagrams and I've labeled them.

Quizlet

Quizlet is an online flashcard website. You create an account (it's free) and you can either make your own cards or you can use other cards that people have already created. You can play 'games' to help with your memorization and you can take tests with the terms. I found this website this year and it is amazing! It helps when you can't have paper with you and you just have your laptop.

Well, I hope these help! Good luck with all your tests, don't procrastinate! (I am a major procrastinator so that is hypocritical...sorry!) Do you have any other easy ways to study? If you do, leave a comment!

Good Luck!

Sunsets and Mid-Day

I'm back with another photography post! Towards the end of this week I was trying to come up with something and then as I was studying for an AP Geography test I looked out the window and thought, WHOA! I need to take a picture of that sunset!  I threw aside my studying (quite happily) and jumped up to get the camera.

Here are some of the pictures I took! 

I loved this sunset because of the contrasting colors and because the clouds looked so cool! They reminded me of a feather or one of the fossils in science that we always talk about...(Trilobites?) It just looked so awesome! I really liked how the colors and silhouettes of the hill and tree set the mood!

In art, we always talk about how artists paint the same landscapes just at different seasons or with different weather to ry and create different moods. So I wanted to try and do that with these photos! I took just a few pictures of the same angle just at a different time. 

Wouldn't you agree that it gives the photo a completely different feel? As you take pictures, or are creating something, think about what you want your viewer to see and how you are expressing yourself. You can do that by asking if you are using the right backdrop, the right colors, the right lighting, etc. I really like this quote I found on Brainy Quote:

"To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place...I've found it had little to do with the things you see and everything with the way you see them." 

-Elliott Erwitt

I find this quote to be so true! It all deals with your perspective! Just like when you were little (or grown up) and you'd look up at the clouds and try to see something out of clouds. You might have seen an elephant but your friend might have seen a t-rex! As you take pictures try to make what you see as clear as possible so that others can see it too!

Well, I hope you are a little bit more inspired and you've got some new ideas! Good luck!

See ya!

PS! Good luck with finals too!

A Journey Through The Year...

Hello again! As I was thinking about what to write, I realized that I haven't ever shown my art that I've done this year in my art classes at school, so I decided to show you! I did a foundations ll class for the first semester and for the second semester I'm in a drawing class. Some of my projects are still at school (or they are not camera worthy) so here are a few of them that I have!

Art Foundations ll

This is the cover of my Sketch Book! We got to make our own and it had to have a theme.
I chose to do the Avengers. It was really fun to draw!

We did a quick twenty minute draw of our shoe. We couldn't use value and just had to do
do some contour lines.

We worked with lot's of mediums in Foundations. One of the mediums was plaster! It was
really fun to use! On the border, I have a pencil, a soccer ball, a nike shoe,
percussion mallets, piano keys, and a paintbrush. 

Drawing

With this project we could not draw forms. We used cross contour lines in this
piece (Combination of cross hatching and contour line drawings). I drew this for
Christian who is in Texas on his mission right now.

I had lot's of fun with this! The paper is poster sized so it is a lot
bigger than what I normally draw on! I got to use my prisma colored pencils
with this project which was great! We were working with geometrical
figures and I wanted to have my figures 'make music'. So they are literally
constructing the music! I really like the blue guy who is sleeping on a 'rest' and
the red guy who gets loud with lot's of force (sfz).

Guess what! I finally did a painting today in class!!! I was done with a project and I had time (this was a new experience for me to have extra time in my art class. We work fast on projects and I...well I am a perfectionist and it needs to be perfect before I can turn it in) to free draw. I was looking around the class and thought it would be fun to draw someone but then I realized I'd have to ask them to not move and it'd take to long. I wanted to try something new so I asked my teacher if I could paint! She said sure, and got me a canvas. I didn't know what to do so I decided to just wing it. So this is what it turned out to be!

My painting from art 

It's super simple but I did it in less than twenty minutes so I thought it went well! I was literally just standing and slashing my brush across the canvas. I was pretty much just having fun by mixing colors than actually trying to make a painting. It was really fun to do though! I might add something in front of it and have the color be the background...I dunno, we'll see!

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading my babbling. If you want to see some artwork from other kids in my class just look at Emma or Martina's blog! That's all for this week! Try a new medium and just have fun with it! Also, remember to save your art or take pictures so that you can see your progress! See ya!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

We have this super good chocolate chip recipe and we decided to make some this Wednesday. These cookies don't take a long time to make and they are super simple! 

We got the recipe from my grandma, who got it from a lost boy's mother. (Cool story right?) My grandma was home one day and saw a little boy get dropped off at a neighbor's house. The mother drove off and the little boy went up to the house to knock. The little boy knocked a few times but no one answered. He sat out on the grass and just waited. After a while, my grandma went across the street to talk to the little boy and see if he needed help. The little boy was going to have a play date, but his friend was not home. So, my grandma brought him across the street to her house and called his mother up. The mother came over to my grandparents house and took the boy home. She came back later with a plate of cookies and told my grandma thanks! The cookies were really- no amazingly good and my grandma asked for the recipie. She got it, and this is it! It's definitely one of the best chocolate chip cookie recipes ever! Because my grandma got the recipie helping a little boy who was 'lost' we call the cookies lost little boy chocolate chip cookies.

Little Lost Boy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes

Ingredients

2/3 c. of Shortening

2/3 c. of Butter (11TBS)

1 c. of Sugar

1 c. of Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp of Vanilla

3 1/2 c. of Flour

1 tsp of Salt

1 tsp of Baking Soda

1 package of Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

Mix the shortening, butter, and sugars together. Add the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add the mixture slowly to the dough. Add the chocolate chips after the dough is a good consistency (the dough should feel like play-dough). Scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet, and bake! (Also, if you need a substitute for eggs, use a banana and baking soda. For every egg that you substitute, use 1/2 of a banana and 1/4 tsp of baking soda. For this recipie you'd use a whole banana and 1/2 a tsp of baking soda. It seems crazy, but it works! The cookies will taste more like bananas but they taste good!)

Here's a plate of cookies and a glass of milk! These are little
lost boy chocolate chip cookies! Yum!

I hope you enjoy them! If you have any questions, just leave a comment! Also, if you want to find some great recipes check out Hungry Happenings for some great food ideas! Also another fun baking blog is my friend Jacqueline's blog, What Would Happen If I Tried to Bake. I hope you enjoy!

See ya!

Photos of Spring

I'm finally going to be talking about photography! I have to warn you though, I don't really know how to set the camera up (things like the ISO and other settings) but I understand composition! If you want to see a great photography blog, look at my friend McCauley's blog!

With these photos I went outside and tried to find something worthy of a picture. I didn't have anyone to take pictures of, so I took pictures around my house. Right now everything is still dead and we don't have any snow. I tried to work a little bit more with perspective and different angles. I also took pictures with anything that was somewhat green. I got a few fun shots, but what do you think?

This is a path on the side of my house. I blurred the edges just a little bit to help
your eyes follow the stepping stones. I  also changed this to sepia because I liked
the feel of the picture.

Here are some tulip buds. When ever I see these popping out
I get excited because summer is almost here!

These flowers always bloom first at my house. They are unique and they
are the first to appear during spring! I blurred this around the edges because
I really wanted to add emphases to the purple. 

Here are the first blades of grass that are green in my yard! Summer's coming! 

This is an archway in my yard. I really like the texture of the
metal and how the arch looks from this angle. 

Because the stepping stone and plant go off the 'page' I think
it adds interest! I like how the stone looks against the soil because of
the contrast.    

I really like this picture. I don't know why but I think it's
one of my favorites!

I also worked a little bit with depth and tried to focus on ether the flower, the 'wheat' (I know it's not wheat but I don't know what to call it!), the soil, or the pot. I think they looked pretty cool!

The flower

The 'wheat'

The Soil

The garden pot

When you are taking pictures of anything you need to be sure that you know what you want your image to portray. If there is an emotion that you want people to feel when they look at your picture you've got to try and create it with your composition or editing. Just remember to always try and see things from a different perspective because not only are things more interesting, but you might be able to see something that you didn't see before.

See ya!

Happy Easter!

Like any holiday, my family has traditions for Easter. (For some more traditions, look at my friend Maddie's blog!) Usually we celebrate the Saturday before Easter with all of the chocolate, the easter baskets, the egg hunts, etc. On Sunday (Easter) we might have one Easter Egg hunt with our extended family, but besides that we try to think about Jesus Christ and his Resurrection and Atonement. We go to church and just have a great day!

As tomorrow is Saturday, we are decorating some easter eggs! We normally try and get creative by: 

• Tying rubber bands to make white lines on the eggs
• Dipping the eggs in multiple colors
• Drawing with a white crayon on the egg. Then when you dip it in the dye you can see your drawing!

These are all super fun to do but this Easter, my family is trying something different. We are going to make a marbled effect by using whip cream and food coloring. (We were going to use shaving cream but that is TOXIC. So we are going to use whip cream instead so that we can eat the eggs later!) Here is a blog that helped me know what to do.

Here's what you'll need:

Hard Boiled Eggs

Whipping Cream

3 bowls (this depends on how many colors you want and how many eggs you have. We had eight)

Food Coloring

Tooth Pick (Or just something you can use to stir the whip cream)

Drying Rack (Or a plate, something you can set the eggs on to dry)

Okay, so first you take your whipped cream and drop some drops of food color into the cream. You don't want too many drops because it'll get too messy. 

The whipping cream with food coloring. We used (from
right to left) Red & Blue, Yellow & Red, and Green & Blue. 

Once you've gotten the drops, you'll want to stir the whipped cream. It might look a little scary but that's okay! You don't want to mix the coloring too much because then it will not be as marbled.

Stirring the Whipped Cream

When you've gotten your whip cream ready, grab your egg! You are going to roll it around in the whip cream. It doesn't need much whip cream on it, just enough to cover all of the egg. 

Rolling the egg around so it is completely covered! Notice
how we didn't mix the whipped cream too much and our egg still
has lot's of color!

When you have rolled it around in the whipped cream, DO NOT WIPE OFF THE WHIP CREAM!!! You want to leave it on the egg. For a really bold color, the blog that gave instructions said to let the cream sit on it for eight hours in the refrigerator. After eight hours are up, just wipe off the whip cream and, voila! You have your very own marbled egg! 

Here's my little brother making an egg with some yellow
and red whipping cream! Photo Credit: My Mom

Here'e our beautiful eggs!

My little brother, mom, and I with our finished eggs!
Photo Credit: My dad

Well, I hope you all have a great Easter, and that you get to go on an easter egg hunt!

See ya!

PS! On the blog where I found instructions it said to put vinegar on the eggs before you do anything else but of course I over looked that....so when we went to wipe off the whipped cream it just stuck on the egg. So, put some vinegar on the eggs before you roll them around in whip cream! Good Luck!