Pixel Paint Scrapblog – Scrapbooking Tips and Ideas

Many events have happened in the 20th Century, moon landings, evolutions in technology and the civil rights movement. We, the human race have a lot to be proud of. While we may not always make the right decisions, we as a species have been really creative in all areas of our lives whether it is art or technology.

Art came to life in the 20th Century as it became thrust into the mainstream as more people became excited by art and as many couldn’t afford originals they wanted prints. In the past art had been reserved for royalty and the rich, where as in the 20th Century art became more readily available and more acceptable for normal people.

Beryl Cook is an artist from Plymouth, Devon in the United Kingdom who sadly past away earlier this year. She was originally from Surrey and in her youth spent time travelling as a showgirl before having a job in the fashion industry and then settling down in Plymouth with her husband John Cook. Her artwork was well known for featuring depictions of real life and the people of Plymouth. She would produce colourful Beryl Cook prints that focused on the activites that everyday people do, such as waiting for a bus or the bin men collecting the rubbish.

Doug Hyde was born in in the early 70′s and he has made a big name for himself for someone so young as the BBC named him the UK’s Best Selling Artist. His technique is fairly simple, he is inspired by the emotions he has felt in certain situations and this is what has made Doug Hyde prints so popular. As well as prints he is also a popular sculptor, producing sculptures that have the same themes and often feature similar characters featured in his canvas artwork.

Peter Smith is an artist that comes from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. The career path of Peter Smith has been a varied path working as a information technology programmer and a designer in the clothing and fashion industry. Peter Smith prints are inspired by the likes of Dali as a portion of his art features surreal ideas and imagery. Peter Smith prints often feature animal characters sometimes called Zeppos,which look like a cross between a zebra and a hippo. These animal creations have become very popular in both print and sculpture forms.

10 Pencil Drawing Tips to Improve Your Compositions

Simply put, composition refers to an ordered relationship among the parts or elements of your drawing. Note that the position of shapes is not the only element of composition. Other elements include: value, intensity, and color.

1. Basic Unit – When composing a drawing it is always helpful to choose a “basic unit”. A basic unit is a line segment of medium size with respect to the composition you are trying to realize. You can use this basic unit to estimate all other sizes.

2. Focal Point – Rule of Thirds. Your drawing should always have a focal point, i.e., a point that attracts the viewer’s attention. The rest of your composition should serve to lead the viewer’s eye back to the focal point.

The rule of thirds is one of the easiest aids to find good focal points. The rule requires you to divide the width and height of your paper in three equal parts. The four intersection points of the resulting lines are called the “hotspots”. Each of these hotspots can be used as focal points for your composition.

3. Balance – When creating a drawing you should always balance every compositional element relative to the focal point. It is important to develop your intuition for balance and then trust it and apply it.

4. Shapes – Shapes are one important element in a composition. There are two types: positive shapes (actual objects) and negative shapes (empty spaces in between objects). The idea is to strive for a balance in both types relative to the focal point and within the boundaries of your paper.

5. Value – Value is yet another element to keep in mind when putting together your composition. Value refers to the darks and the lights. Here again, balance is the keyword. Make sure that large areas of darks and/or lights are balanced within the boundaries of your paper.

6. Intensity – Intensity (particularly of color) refers to the degree of brilliance. Color but also plain pencil graphite can be dull or brilliant or anything in between. Your drawing should also be balanced in terms of relative intensity.

7. Color – Color is the fourth element of composition. Observe how colored objects interact with each other to create a subtle harmony or a flashing contrast. Try to create a pleasing and exciting color composition.

8. Vision – When establishing the basic structure of your composition, ask yourself whether or not it conveys the meaning or vision you have in mind. A good composition can help communicate your vision to the viewer.

9. Temperature – Color artists often talk in terms of warm and cool colors. A good color drawing will have a certain overall temperature (warm or cool), but within that overall feel there must still be balance in the relative temperature of the object colors.

10. Emotion – Understand that all the rules of composition are just aids in trying to create a good work of art. Therefore, the application of these rules should not be too obvious so that the viewer is not immediately drawn into an analysis of your work instead first responding to it emotionally.

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Measuring Lengths and Angles in Pencil Drawings

This is another stage of a typical pencil drawing, because you have come to the stage when you need to settle the units on the paper properly and take care of the angles.

Let’s get down to the typical units.

Basic Length Unit – A basic length unit is the length of a line segment of medium size relative to the composition. That means a line segment that is not too long and not too short.

1. Life Unit – First, we choose a basic length unit for the real scene you want to draw. For a large life scene you can do this by holding a pencil at arm’s length with locked elbow. Then, with one eye closed, you can measure a basic unit along your pencil using your thumb as a marker.

If you work with a photograph you can measure your basic unit with your pencil directly on the photograph. Let us call this basic length unit the “Life Unit”. Draw this Life Unit on a separate piece of paper.

2. Ground Unit – Now, you also need a basic length for your actual drawing. Indeed, the size of the real scene will usually be different from the one you will realize on your paper. Again, use your pencil to choose a basic unit suitable for your ground and call it the “Paper Unit”. Draw it next to the Life Unit.

How to Use Your Basic Units – Now we can use the Life Unit to measure any length on the real composition. We express these lengths in terms of the number of Life Units. For example, you will speak of this table leg being about half a Life Unit or this hat sits 1.5 Life Units to the left of that umbrellaangle. The same angle is then realized on your paper.

The above suggestions will give you a good start with estimating lengths and angles in a systematic manner. With some practice, you will be able to do this without thinking.

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How to draw with pencil fundamentals – the line in pencil drawing.

Speaking of the lines, we should have several important issues mentioned in this publication. As the line is part of the basic skills which you should master seriously – let’s get into the details of this issue.

The following characteristics are most often mentioned about the line.

Length – Naturally, the length of a straight line is the distance between its beginning point and its end point.

Direction – A straight line also has a direction. Its direction is determined by the angle it makes with a horizontal or vertical line.

So, when you want to draw a straight line you need to think about two things: length and direction.

Then, you also have to develop a technique to actually draw that line. A pencil artist seldom uses a ruler to draw a straight line. Lines are drawn free-hand. And this takes quite a bit of practice. In the end you should be able to draw straight lines and parallel lines fairly quickly and in one stroke.

The idea here is to swing your arm from the elbow as opposed to from the wrist. You can use your wrist for tiny lines or other small details. But generally you keep your wrist and lower arm fixed as one unit and you rotate your elbow as you draw the line. This movement happens quite fast.

To measure the length of a line you can use the following procedure.

First, you choose a Basic Length Unit. It is the length of a line segment that is not too long and not too short relative to a scene.

We will choose two such basic units:

1. Life Unit – First, we choose a basic length unit for the real scene you want to draw. For a large life scene you can do this by holding a pencil at arm’s length with locked elbow. Then, with one eye closed, you can measure a basic unit (not too long and not too short) with your pencil using your thumb as a marker. Draw this line segment on a separate piece of paper.

2. Paper Unit – Now, you also need a basic length for your actual drawing. This is because the size of the real scene will usually be different from the one you will render on your paper. Again, use your pencil to choose a basic length unit suitable for the size of your paper and call it the “Paper Unit”. Draw it next to the Life Unit.

Now we are ready to use these two basic units. We use the Life Unit to measure any length on the real composition. We express these lengths in terms of the number of Life Units. For example, you will speak of this table leg being about half a Life Unit or this hat sits 1.5 Life Units to the left of that umbrella.

Next, you take your Paper Unit and multiply it by the ratio you just obtained with your Life Unit. For example, on your paper the table leg will measure 0.5 times the Paper Unit or the hat will sit 1.5 Paper Units to the left of the umbrella.

Then there remains the technique to measure angles:

Angles are measured relative to the horizontal and the vertical. If you work on rectangular paper you can use its vertical and horizontal edges as a reference. The angle you observe in your life composition will be the same on your paper. No ratio involved here.

Again, you can use your pencil but this time align it horizontally (or vertically) and estimate the angle a particular line makes with your horizontal or vertical. This technique requires some practice but after awhile you’ll get a feel for angles. After you’ve drawn the line you can check of the length as well as the angle seem right to you. It is remarkable how quickly the eye gets trained to detect incorrect proportions and angles.

Note that curved lines can be considered as a linkage of small straight lines so that the same techniques can also be applied in an approximate manner to these curved lines.

The above tips should start you off in the right direction with regards to dealing with lines.

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Pencil Drawing Fundamentals – The Compositional Role of Object Placement and Viewpoint Selection

In this article we will learn about some of the considerations to be made when it comes to creating a composition or selecting a particular viewpoint.

First, let us introduce a few definitions:

Eye Level – The eye level is the height of the line (eye level line) that connects your two pupils. This assumes that you stand vertically on a level surface.

Eye Level Plane – A horizontal plane drawn through the eye level line is called the eye level plane. This plane divides a scene into an upper and a lower half space. It is worth mentioning and to remember that to see objects in the upper half space you will need to look up and to see those in the lower one you will need to look down.

Horizon – The intersection of the eye level plane and a face-on vertical plane is called a horizon. An example of a close approximation of a horizon is the actual ocean horizon you see when standing on a beach. You will find that to view anything below the horizon your eyeballs need to rotate downward and to view anything above the horizon you will have to rotate your eyeballs upward.

Now, when you create a composition, you must first consider the height at which you will place the objects. This is critical because many compositions are weakened when the placement of the objects is either too high or too low relative to the horizon.

It is good practice to ask questions such as: Would my objects look better if I saw them from above? Would the composition benefit from lowering my eye level? What if the horizon were to split the objects? This last option means that a particular object is located such that part of it is above the horizon and part of it is below the horizon.

The choice of placement of the objects relative to the horizon depends to a large extent on the form and the number of objects that participate in your composition.

Next to the placement of your objects relative to the horizon, your composition will also be fundamentally influence by your choice of viewpoint.

The viewpoint is determined by the location of the eye level plane and the location of your eyes on the eye level line. To help you understand the effect of the viewpoint on a composition, place a group of objects on a table and start varying your viewpoint, i.e., change the eye level plane by moving your eye level line up or down and then also by moving your eyes along the eye level line. These movements will results in dozens of different viewpoints.

The idea is to study these different viewpoints, i.e., see how the composition changes when the viewpoint changes. Some of the objects will begin to intersect with others. Others will now show their top or bottom. At the same time you can also change the placement of the objects relative to each other to improve certain compositions that you found.

It is clear that both the placement of objects and the selection of a viewpoint drastically influence the composition of a scene. Your task as an artist is to change both placement and viewpoint in such a way that you end up with the composition that suits your artistic requirements the best.

It makes good sense to learn the difference. This can be done by developing your artistic sensibility for composition. One way to do this is to pay attention to composition when you study the work of great artists. In fact, the greatness of the work of some artists rests specifically on their talent for seeing good composition.

With this I hope that you now have developed awareness as to the importance of object placement and viewpoint selection and how they influence composition and therefore the attractiveness of your work.

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A cricut is a personal electronic cutter which cuts paper and craft materials into various shapes, sizes and letters. This machine really enables fantastic work. Without the cricut cartridges, the Cricut would be nothing. Electronic powering is what enables the blades to move. The Cricut can handle basically any paper stock. There exist specialized cardstock and pads that are tailored to accomodate the Cricut.

When you decide to get the cricut there will be an enclosed set of shapes and fonts. The massive amount of cartridge styles out there ensures that one will never get bored. While different cartridges have different features, two features that cartridges typically share are “Blackout” and “Shadow.” Each cricut cartridges font or shapes cartridge includes a guide filled with creative ideas as part of a pack.

Pooh and Friends Cricut Cartridge: This is the perfect one for your kids. These Cartridges should make for limitless fun. Just don’t regret you didn’t have this when you were younger! Because of these cricut cartridges you can create lovely designs of all the lovable characters of Winnie the Pooh and his friends.

Challenge Your Creative Abilities: Adults can use these cartridges, too! The image available span an incredibly wide range. Don’t be afraid to push cricut to the limit.

Blackletter Font Solutions cricut cartridges: This is perfect for creating stately monograms with a traditional English style font.

You can produce stunning images of your favorite holiday with the Christmas Solutions cricut Cartridge. You can use the Tinker Bell and Friends Cricut cartridge to create images of these lovable characters. The Teardrop Cricut Cartridge allows you to adorn the edges of letters with a magnificent “drop” effect.

One cool thing about the Cricut color cartridges is that they can switch out for the cricut machine and its regular cutter, creating colored styles. Thus, your creations become more unique. This is extremely easy to do – though we wouldn’t recommend children do it. The Cricut color cartridges can be purchased in a variety of colors, including packs of primary, basic, fashion and even sophisticated colors.

For the past few decades, schools have been using expensive die cutting equipments for notice board* and craft projects. Then as scrapbooking got more popular scrapbook stores and craft Shops began to sell Cricut die cutting machines. Generally, the cutting equipment isn’t that expensive. However, you are able to easily spend hundreds or thousands of
bucks on die sets. Since most people who enjoy scrapbooking , the cost of having a old fashioned die cutting equipments along with a large selection of dies is simply not
practical.

Compared to traditional die cutting equipments, with Cricut die cutting machine, you are able to set the machine to cut any sizes of letters or shapes between 1 to 5.5 inches. Previously, in order for me to cut different shapes utilizing a traditional die cutting equipments, I had to have sort out templates for each letter and each size of those letters. The nice thing about my choice to purchase Cricut die cutting machine is that I did not want to buy all these separate templates.

Cricut Die Cutting Machine is so handy to carry around, contrary to other big and heavy die cutting equipments. Additionally, you will be able to buy a carrying bag for it. You can easily take it to a friends’ house and have a scrapbooking party together. And whenever you need to travel with your Cricut die cutting machine, it will not be a problem in the least.

Rather than manually cut each letter or shape one after another, with the Cricut die cutting machine, everything is automated. All you require to do is put your paper on the mat, follow some operating instructions, and press a few buttons, and the cutter will do all the hard work for you. This is a great feature because you will be able to set your Cricut die cutting machine to start cutting something, while you can do other things at the same time. This really makes scrapbooking a snap.

Cricut Die Cutting Machine is a very useful tool to assist you not only cut many different size, but also create any project you desire, with its high tech user interface. So do not hesitate to check up on this awesome tool, and see how the Cricut die cutting machine can help save up you time and money on your paper craft projects as it has helped my own one.

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Your Free Beginners Oil Painting Tips – Solvents Mediums and Varnishes

If you paint with oils you will need a solvent to clean your brushes and thin your paints. Of course, if you paint with water soluble oils then your solvent will be water.

Turpentine is a standard solvent used to thin ordinary oil paints. You can purchase turpentine in any art supply store or hardware store.

Some artists work with mineral spirits. These are also available in hardware stores. To save money, buy the largest available quantity and use a smaller container when you do your actual painting.

Tube oil paint can be difficult to manipulate. Some colors are stiffer than others and may be hard to evenly distribute over your canvas. To solve this problem, artists often need to mix their tube paints with a so-called painting medium.

A painting medium is a liquid solution that makes the oil paint smoother and easier to manipulate. Adding any one of a number of different painting mediums changes the consistency of the paint. Some mediums are meant to make the paint thinner for glazing and others are meant to make the paint thicker for impasto painting.

The most basic medium is regular turpentine. Adding a little turpentine thins oils paint. Another frequently used medium is linseed oil, which makes the paint more fluid but, over time, it also tends to yellow the paint. The most commonly used medium is a combination of turpentine and linseed oil, sometimes with the addition of a little damar varnish.

Begin by experimenting with a half-and-half mixture of turpentine and linseed oil. Because linseed oil slows down the drying process, you may want to increase the proportion of turpentine.

Once you find the medium you like, mix a batch and store it in a tightly sealed jar. As you paint, dip your brush into the medium, then add a little paint, then mix them together on your palette.

Preliminary compositions can be drawn on your canvas with a so-called thin turp wash, i.e., a little bit of paint with a lot of turpentine. A turp wash evaporates very quickly, so you can quickly paint over them.

In general, the more turpentine you use the matter the finish will be and the more linseed oil you use the glossier it will be. If you like robust, permanently visible brushstrokes, you may want to use less dry.

Special painting mediums are also available that change the oil paint in different ways. The most common are those that shorten or lengthen the drying time of the oil paint. Check your art supply store or the Internet to see the available types of mediums. All medium bottles will show instructions on how best to use the particular medium.

Oil paintings must be varnished to protect them from undesirable elements such as dirt and toxins. Varnish is a clear solution made from a resin and turpentine or some other solvent.

In art-supply stores you will see two major types, retouching varnish and picture varnish. Depending on the paint layer thickness, it can take six months or more for an oil painting to dry. In the meantime, the surface of the painting needs to be protected with a coat of retouching varnish. After the varnish is applied, the turpentine evaporates, and leaving a thin protective coat. You can apply retouching varnish as soon as the paint feels dry to the touch.

Picture varnish contains more resin than retouching varnish. It should be applied about six months after you complete a painting. If you paint with impasto-like brushstrokes, you may have to wait as long as a year before applying the final coat.

Both types of varnish are applied in the same manner. Using a broad, flat nylon brush, apply the varnish evenly using horizontal strokes. You can also use retouching varnish to brighten dry dull patches in your painting.

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I went to an show in 2006, which was at the Lygon arms, Broadway. The artist was Sue Macartney-Snape who is probably better known for illustrating topical characters in the Telegraph, I think the area in the Telegraph was called the “Social Stereotypes” section. Anyway I had wanted to buy one of Sue Macartney-Snape’s prints at the show but found myself in the infuriating position of having no cash to purchase the prints with.

I have since heard how collectable her pieces are with her work eagerly sought after by many members of high society. Personally I’m sure that many of the characters Sue Macartney Snape paints have several of her caricature prints secretly stashed somewhere in there home. Once again I digress, I went searching for some of her work online and found a few sites that allowed me to buy prints of her work.

I particularly liked the picture “collecting cuttings” with the gorgeous caricatures that she makes feel so vibrant and jolly amid the structure of an English garden reminding me of relatives getting their heads together over Carnival fundraising. I had Sue Macartney-Snape’s print sent to me via the mail and it now has pride of place in my Fitted kitchen. There was a restricted run on the prints of six hundred and each picture was 22” X 18” without a mount. I had a local picture framing company mount and frame the print and was extremely happy with the results.

Anyone that has not yet had the delight of looking at her artwork should look her up as she has a witty take on the weird hierarchy that is British society.

Free Beginners Oil Painting – Canvas Priming

When you refuse to buy any of the pre-fabricated canvases you can always buy a roll of primed or raw canvas cloth. The first step in the process towards constructing a finished canvas is the stretching of the canvas. Once the stretching is done it is time to prime the canvas cloth if you bought a roll of raw canvas.

The reason it is necessary to prime a raw canvas is that both linen and cotton cloth will eventually rot when saturated with oil paint.

Here are the steps to be executed in the priming process:

1) After stretching the raw canvas, evenly brush the weak glue or gelatin solution onto the raw canvas using a wide nylon or bristle brush. Note, do not stretch raw canvas too tight, because the priming will shrink the canvas cloth and therefore tighten it automatically.

2) When the fabric dries, coat it with a mixture of white lead in oil and turpentine, again using a wide brush.

3) Once the canvas is dry, sand it lightly.

4) Then, apply a second coat of the white lead in oil and turpentine solution, and sand the canvas again.

All these materials and the accompanying instructions can be bought in a serious art supply store or on the Internet.

Many artists also enjoy working on wood panels, which is a proving support for oil painting. The old masters worked on oak, poplar, and mahogany, but today “wood panel” can mean anything from a piece of poplar to plywood to Masonite.

Wood panels are perfect for rendering intricate, detailed subjects where the weave of the canvas might be too uneven. You can buy prepared boards or you can make your own. You must prime the panel with gesso before you begin painting. Dilute the gesso with water; apply it with a wide housepainter’s brush, let it dry, and then sand it smooth.

You can also oil paint on watercolor paper or vellum. You can size the paper with an acrylic medium first so that the oil paint does not eventually rot the paper. If you want to make your painting last longer (permanence) you need to choose heavy paper of at least 200 lbs.

This is the end of short primer on priming different grounds for the purpose of oil painting. There is much more to learn but this will give you enough information to go to a reputable art supply store and be able to converse intelligently on the subject of priming and priming methods.

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