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October 3, 2009

Eye’s and Nose

Filed under: drawing,Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , — @ 4:11 am

The eyes and nose come in all shapes and sizes every one has their own very unique ones, isn’t that just awesome.

So when it comes to drawing them a little bit of basic structural knowledge will help you get off to a good start.

Look closely at the shape of them and try to get the lines right. Use a dot to position the pupil and use that as a guide to draw the shape around it. The distance between each eye is about an eye width apart.

Concentrate on getting the lines and positions right before you think about eyelashes, brows or shading. Look at the iris where does it sit in relation to the eyelash lines. Draw in the pupil, shade it black but leave a little dot of white for reflection.

Now the tip of the nose is not quite halfway from the centre eye line to the chin, then the mouth measures about one third of the way down from the nose to the chin. Mark their locations lightly on the centre vertical line.

Your nose measures about the same width across at its tip as the distance between the eyes. The correct size for the mouth is about as wide as the distance between the centre of the eyes.

Practice drawing the eyes and nose keeping an eye on where they are positioned.

Happy Days :)

September 30, 2009

Shading with a Pencil

Filed under: drawing — Tags: , , , , , — @ 1:20 am

We have looked at how  shapes and lines can be used to get you started with a basic drawing. Now we are going to look at the different ways to shade your picture and the effects they create.

Before you begin to shade look at what direction the light is coming from in your subject. The light and shade in your drawing is what gives your image form. On curved surfaces the shading is gradual and even from the darkest tone to the lightest. When you are shading a flat surface the shading is still gradual but will change from surface to surface.

A lot of the things we draw have a combination of curved and flat surfaces. Faces are an example of this so shading gradually and evenly from dark to light is an important technique to learn. Remember practice is the key.

There are many ways to shade with a pencil:

  • Continuous Tone – Hold your pencil almost flat to the paper and move it around with gentle continuous motions, press harder where the tone is darker.
  • Smudging - This can produce beautiful results but it can be difficult to keep within the area and have the correct depth of tone desired, it can also be messy.
  • Dots – This method can be very tedious the dots must be very close together in the darkest areas.
  • Cartoon – This is only suitable for certain types of drawing as it doesn’t really have the gradual change in tone, it is more definite.
  • Combination – This combines solid colour with lines and is only suitable for some drawings.
  • Cross-Hatching – This is a set of lines crossing over each other at slightly different angles. The more lines the darker the tone.

I hope you are getting a few techniques you can use to build your drawing confidence. Its very satisfying to work on something and see your self progressing forward. Keep practicing.

Have a Great day :)

Only Craft Team

September 27, 2009

Anyone Can Draw

Filed under: drawing — Tags: , , , , , , — @ 7:45 am

If you would love to draw but always say you can’t or don’t know how to well nows the time to reconsider.

Drawing isn’t really difficult, of course some people find it easier than others just like most other things in life. That doesn’t mean that you can’t learn a few tricks that with practice will have you drawing alongside the most capable drawers.

If drawing is something you love to do than why not. Here are few new ways to consider what it takes to call yourself a good drawer.

Drawing is a combination of lines carefully observed and put onto paper or other similar medium. To put simply, look, see, draw. The key is in learning how to ‘see’.

When you look at an image you would like to draw consider what the simple shapes and lines are. Don’t get confused or bogged down by details drawing is a process that starts with the simplest form first and than slowly builds up to a completed picture.

So to start with you are just going to concentrate on drawing the simple lines and shapes first. Before you actually start to draw practice looking for these shapes and lines. You are already familiar with them and can also already draw them.

The basic lines are very closely related to the letters of the alphabet and with only slight adjustments will form your drawing, now remember this is just the beginning, once you have accomplised a few drawings and your confidence grows you will be able to produce more complicated pictures. The basic lines and shapes however will always be present.

Think Positive :)

September 3, 2009

Handmade Book

Filed under: Craft Ideas — Tags: , , , , , , , , — @ 3:44 am

Making your own notebook gives your journalling a lovely personal touch, they also make very special gifts.

What you will need:-

  • Heavy card or paper for front and back covers – decorate, paint or stain
  • A4 writing paper, drawing paper, craft paper or decorative paper as desired.
  • Embroidery thread
  • Large darning needle or punch
  • Blunt knife
  • Pegs or clips

Cut paper to the desired size for A4 paper in half is good. Cut the covers to match. Mark holes by measuring even spaces along the edge about 1cm in, to fit paper size and making sure you have an odd number of holes. For an interesting touch you can punch holes in a zig zag pattern instead of a straight line.

So the covers will open easily you will need to score the front and back with the knife being careful not to cut into the card. Score just to the right of the holes and fold over and back gently. Place the pages inside the covers and secure with clip or peg. Punch the holes in the marked spots with the darning needle then you are ready to thread.

Cut the thread four times the length of the book plus a little more to allow for tying off. Start threading from the top, put the threaded needle through the hole from the back through to the front then around and through the back again. From the front move down to the next hole and repeat all the way to the bottom. Once you have reached the bottom hole do a running stitch back to the top and tie both ends together.

August 30, 2009

Paint Class 2

Filed under: Paint and Painting — Tags: , , , , , , , — @ 12:55 pm

How did you go with your drawing? If you didn’t have a projector then drawing by scale would be the other method to use. Most people would have done this before in their school art class and it works very well. Most drawings will come out fairly accurate using  scales. For anyone who’s not sure, use a ruler to draw lines diagonally and horizontally over your enlarged copy of the picture you wish to paint. Do the same onto your canvas, be sure to measure the same number of boxes onto each. So step by step, box by box you can begin to draw your picture. Take your time and just focus on one box at a time, before you know it you will have drawn your picture.

The next step and a rule my art teacher tells us every week is to put out your pallet. Now in my art class  we use a pallet of six colours and white, cool blue, warm blue, cool red, warm red, cool yellow and warm yellow. With those colours you can make any colour at all. Now when you lay out your pallet you need to know what colour you want and you will usually need it in three shades so you can put the effects of shadow and light into your painting. It’s a good idea to make a colour chart so it’s a little easier when it comes to what colours you need to mix to create the colour you want. So I will let you know how to do that in my next post.

Have Fun :)

August 2, 2009

Kids Making Puppets

Filed under: Kids Painting and Crafts — Tags: , , , , , — @ 6:13 am

As much as kids enjoy playing with puppets they can also have a whole lot of fun making them. Puppets can be a wonderful form for expressing ideas and imagination through their creation and subsequent play. Puppets can be as simple or creative as the child desires and as skill and materials allow.

What You Need:-

Scrap Materials – Old socks, gloves, tubes, boxes, sticks, pine cones, paper bags, paper plates, balloons, wool, cotton wool, paper and cardboard, ice block sticks, felt, paste, tape or staples, scissors, crayons, felt pens or paint.

Finger Puppets

What You Need:- Paper, felt or material, cotton wool, ribbons, material, lace and glue, scissors, felt tipped pens.

What to Do:- Cut a shape of paper, felt or fabric about 9 cm x 6 cm. Glue down or sew around the edges leaving bottom end open for finger. Glue or paint on a face add clothes and hair.

Walking Puppets

What You Need:- Cardboard, felt-tipped pens, scissors, glue, fabric, wool, cotton wool.

What to Do:-Draw a figure and paste onto cardboard or draw on cardboard directly. Cut around figure and then cut out a hole for each leg large enough t0  poke fingers through. Draw face and add decorations for hair and clothes. Put fingers through the holes and the puppet is able to be walked around and play with the other puppets.

Have Lots of Fun :)

July 13, 2009

Crochet – Know How

Filed under: Knitting — Tags: , , , , , , — @ 3:45 am

Holding The Work

All crochet stitches are based on the principle of drawing one hoop through another. The hook is held in the right hand. Left-handed people may find they can learn to crochet using their right hand.

  • Begin by making a slip loop at the end of the yarn.
  • Hold the hook in the right hand like a pencil. Put the hook through the loop and pull the yarn tight.
  • Wind the yarn round the little finger of the left hand across the palm and behind the forefinger.
  • Hold the loop at its base, close to the hook between the thumb and forefinger.

The Stitches

  • Chain – Take the hook under the yarn and then from the back over the top, hook the yarn and pull it through the hoop. This is described as ‘yarn round hook’. This makes one chain. Repeat moving your hold up the work as you go.
  • Foundation Chain – Crochet usually begins with a length of chain into which the first row of stitches is worked, this is called the foundation chain. The hook is inserted into the centre of the last chain stitch, there will be two threads above the hook and one below.
  • Turning Chain – Because crochet stitches are worked from the top down, chain are used to take the yarn up to the top of the work at the beginning of each row. These are called turning chain.  The turning chain acts as the first stitch of the row.

Practice these stitches for a while, some more stitches will be introduced tomorrow. :)

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