Family in an Artwork, Huh?

It is most likely that you see your family members everyday. You look at them, but not closely. As a last post of this school year, I am going to introduce to you about drawing family portraits. 

You would have a group photo of your family or perhaps individual photos for each of them. You will need: photo(s) of your family members, a piece of sketchbook paper, a pencil, an eraser, and any coloring material that you would like to have. It is an option whether to draw yourself or not. 

As you look at the photo(s), identify the major characteristics that your family members have such as small eyes, long hair, big smile, and etc. Position the places where each of them will be at with light ovals. Fill in the ovals with the size of the shape and the upper body. Remember, even the person with the roundest face doesn't have a perfect circle drawn by a compass. Faces should be closer to oval. 

Draw the parts that are necessary: eyes, nose, mouth, hair, and upper body. If there are more things that you want to add, feel free to do so. Since this is a realistic portrait, it is wise not to use comical elements of the face, because it doesn't look realistic. 

Also for the upper body, think about what they would wear for a lot of times. Does she wear an apron, a cool t-shirt, or a beautiful blouse? Does he wear a white buttoned shirt, a gym t-shirt, or comfortable-looking shirt? Think about it and draw the garments for each person. 

After you have sketched, you have a choice to leave it with pencil sketches or coloring with the materials. If you are only using pencil sketches, make sure that you don't have several unclear lines of the drawing. Make one clear line for each individual person in the drawing.

You are done for the day! Hope you liked the new posts that I have added from the past couple of weeks. This post is most likely the last one for the school year. There might be possibilities of uploading more in the future, but this post is the last one for now. I give thanks to those who have been reading off the posts from "Artsy, Special, Unique" blog of mine. I appreciate it so much! 

Quote of the Day: "I leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days and nights that I am away from you." -Frida Kahlo

This is my artwork of my family
portrait with adjectives.

Life is a Collage

Perhaps, collaging could be the first time in this blog. I will be giving a blog post about collage.

You will need: a gray or light colored piece of hard paper, a pencil, an eraser, a glue stick, cardboards (optional), any materials that you want (ex. paint, colored papers, pens, pictures from the Internet). Mentioned again like before, light colored hard paper would make the collage be filled when the white background makes the artwork empty if there are empty spots.

For a collage, think of a topic. All the elements that are on the collage should kind of relate to one another. For example, I chose "festival" as my main idea for this collage. I chose the things that would relate to festival such as lights, scissors, and people who are quiet. Scissors in mine represent loud and excited people by using bright colors.

On the piece of hard paper, sketch out the things that you would like to fill in the spots. You don't have to sketch the whole draft out necessarily, but think about the things as you are working. You could make some volume to a piece of paper by adding cardboards on it. You could write words on them if you would like to.

There should be many or big things that should fill up a lot of space since collage is about filling the space with creativity. It isn't a collage if there are barely any elements in it.

You are done with your collage whenever you are satisfied with it!

Quote of the Day: "A dream collage is pictures of your goals. It is like your future photo album." -Bo Bennett

This is my collage based on festivals.

This is part of my collage. It is closed
up in detail. 

My collage based on
"The Diary of Anne Frank".

Silhouette Scenery

As you look up at the evening sky in the forest, the sun is about to drown into the horizon. The sky is at a beautiful color, and then the tree dances with the wind. But then, the trees look darkened in front of the sunset. That is called silhouette. Today, I will be telling you how to draw silhouette artwork.

You will need: a set of pastels, a reference photograph of a silhouette (optional), black acrylic paint, an acrylic paint brush, a piece of sketchbook paper, a pencil, an eraser, a cutting knife, and several pieces of tissue. This is the second time that you are going to use pastels from this blog!

First, sketch out the things that the forest might have like trees, deer, bears, and etc. Whenever that is taken care of, paint those in black acrylic paint. The objects in the forest are black, because the background is colorful from sunrise or sunset. You need to paint it clean, because it looks dirty when the background comes in afterwards. If you are done with the painting, dry it completely so that it isn't wet at all.

Now, it is time to color in the sunrise or sunset background. Pull out the set of pastels that you have prepared earlier, and think about if it is going to be sunrise or sunset. Sunrise would involve more of the lighter colors like light orange, yellow, and sky blue when sunset would involve more of the darker colors like dark orange, red, purple, and perhaps pink. Consider the colors as you pick either of the two. When you chose what you want to do for the background, think about the color blend. I used purple, ivory, light pink, and mango orange from top to bottom. I noticed that my gradation worked out quite well.

You need to start from the bottom or the top. In either way, choose a color of the pastel. With a cutting knife, grind the surface of the pastel lightly. Then, it is much easier to spread the powder of it with a piece of tissue. Try not to have powder on the silhouette even though there are solutions at the end. But first, go on to the next when the first color is done by blending the two colors together at the division, because it is unnatural to have straight lines.

I mentioned to avoid having pastel powders on the silhouette. If you have some powder on it, that is fine. You just need to dust off the powder with an eraser! Be careful not to erase the background by accident. Then, the silhouette will no longer be blurry like the background. There might be some parts of the silhouette that might be blurry a little bit, but there is barely any solution for it.

You are finished at last! Enjoy your artwork for the day! 

Quote of the Day: "Vision is the art of seeing what is visible to others." -Jonathan Swift

This is my silhouette artwork that I
referenced in some of the
photographs that have been taken.

Art with Tape

Many people might think that tape is only used to mend things that have been torn apart. But, tape could be used in art, too! Today, I am going to tell you about how tape works in art. 

For this project, prepare colored tape (ex. red, yellow, blue, black), a piece of sketchbook paper, a reference artwork, a pair of scissors/a cutting knife, a ruler, a pencil, and an eraser. Colored tape could be solid or has low opacity. By a reference artwork, I mean by artworks that has been created by other artists. However, it is optional.

First of all, either design your own drawings or look at the reference to start sketching it on a piece of sketchbook paper with a pencil. For me, I looked at an artwork reference and sketched it. After you have sketched it, it is time to put colored tape onto it. You might need a ruler if you are a perfectionist. A ruler is mainly used for cutting straight tape strips with the width of your choice. 

If there are curved lines on your sketches, I suggest that you disconnect the long line of tape into sections to make them curve naturally. If they are in shapes, put several strips of tape together and cut the shape that you want. Also, if the colored tape has low opacity, try not to overlap them, because it makes darker colors in some places. 

It might not stick very well like glue does, so try to stick them as hard as you can. Even if you are finished, make sure that they are all stuck well. You are done whenever you are satisfied with the artwork that you have created!

Quote of the Day: "The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure." -Dale Carnegie

This is my tape art that I
worked on by looking at
an artist's artwork.

Pop Up Art

Have you made drawings that are "sort of" 3D? I am going to tell you how to do pop up art. 

Prepare the materials for this project: some sketch book papers, a pencil, an eraser, any coloring utensils, a pair of scissors, a glue gun, some cardboards, a ruler, and a cutting knife. Make sure you have the same dimensions of the sketchbook papers. 

Think of objects or people that you want to make it pop out from. For my project, I chose a vintage bicycle. It doesn't have to be more than one. Consider about it, and draw it on a piece of sketchbook paper. If you want to draw more than one object or person, draw them on separate sheets of sketchbook paper. You have choices whether to color it or not.

Then, think of a background that these objects or people might be in. It could be a forest, a city, a library, or etc. There are unlimited numbers of backgrounds that you can choose from. Draw the background that you like to have in another piece of sketchbook paper. Color it if you would like to. 

Whenever you are done, look at the papers with objects or people in them. Cut the shape of the object, leaving a few centimeters at the bottom. The reason why you need to do that is because it is easier to stick the objects or people later. Afterwards, do the same thing for every other object. 

You need to cut out the cardboards to make the frame of your artwork. It needs to be the same dimensions of the background. Cut them out by using a pencil, a ruler, and a cutting knife for accuracy. You may choose the width of the frame. Stick the cut out cardboards together to form a frame. It is a wise choice to use a triangular ruler to make the corners at a 90-degree angle. Stick them by using a glue gun, and be careful while using it. When the hot glue dries up, stick the background. Don't stick the background at the front of the frame, but at the back at the frame, because it needs room for the objects. 

With the cut out objects or people, stick them in front of the background. Don't stick it on the background, because it doesn't make it 3-dimensional. 

You are done whenever you stick all the elements!

Quote of the Day: "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." -Steve Jobs

This is my pop art. The bicycle is the
one that looks 3D.

Me?

What is your bibliography of your life so far? What are the main events that happened that you would never forget? Today, I am going to introduce to you about making a life book about yourself.

You will need some sketch book papers, a pencil, an eraser, coloring materials that you would like to have, and a stapler/colored tape or a hole puncher/2-3 rings. You have choices whether to combine the pages with a stapler and cover it with colored tape, or to use a hole puncher to attach 2-3 rings. Also, the reason why we are using sketchbook papers is because a book shouldn't be flappy, but to be firm. In addition, choose the coloring materials that you prefer like pastels, paint, colored pencils, and etc. You may bring more than one of course!

You first need to think of events that happened in your life that are important to you or that you remember it clearly. Grab a piece of paper for the first page of your book, not the title page yet though. Sketch out the picture and add a sentence or two for it like a narration. You could think of it as a picture book that is for children. Do the same thing for drafting the rest of the pages filled with content. You should draw the pictures that fit to the sentences. For me, I picked out 8 events in my life.

Whenever the drafting is finished, start filling the colors in. It should be vivid and attracting your readers. The colors you wisely chose should fit into the drawings that you made. Also, trace the writings to show the words clearly. You wouldn't want sentences to hide underneath your fantastic drawings, even though the drawings should be the ones that should pop up the most. 

After you are finished with your pages of the book, now do the title page. It would be better to do this at the last moment, because you get to name it that is based on the content of the book. Honestly, the title page of your book needs to be the most attractive page of all. Make the title in big fonts, and I personally prefer using diverse colors.

When you are finally done with the title page and the content pages, it is time to combine all the pages together to form into a book. I mentioned at the beginning of how you have two choices. The first option is to use a stapler. When the stapling is done, it makes the marks, and it is better to cover those up by using colored tape. The second option is to use hole punchers to make 2-3 holes, and then linking the holed pages with 2-3 rings.

You are finally done with a book of your simple life story! 

Quote of the Day: "Before they read words, children are reading pictures." -David Wiesner

Title page of my book.

 

My 1st page.

My 2nd & 3rd page.

My 4th & 5th page.

My 6th page.

My 7th & 8th page.