All Posts by admin
Under the Knife: Artist Uses Special Tool to Create Paintings
Stuck with a case of painter’s block? Think about switching up your painting routine by using different techniques and tools to complete your works of art.
Artist Sasha Pepper used to be known for large abstract paintings, but she recently started experimenting with smaller paintings by using a palette knife.
”I like working with a palette knife. Not only does the technique build up rich textures, there is an element of chance in how the layering will work, creating some wonderful, unexpected effects. The jewel-like surface draws in the viewer,” she said.
Using a palette knife adds to the special effects of the painting and can change the overall look of the finished product. Each pass with the knife will add new swipes of color to the composition. As the paint dries, the texture will develop, building rich layers with colorful highlights.
(Read the entire Times-Standard article at http://www.times-standard.com/lifestyle/ci_22144813/painting-palette-knife)
If you’ve hit a plateau with your art, consider enrolling in a painting class to learn new skills and techniques to propel your creations to the next level. Lessons will focus on using different mediums and tools to complete your masterpieces. Explore using different sizes of brushes, palette knives, sponges, and other tools for a variety of unique effects in your artwork. By looking beyond the norm with your artistic tools, you will be able to take your art to places you never imagined possible.
Controversial Holocaust Painting Makes Waves in Art World
Art isn’t always something that’s only pretty to look at. Sometimes, art serves a purpose. However, these types of artistic works are often controversial depending on the view points of the artist’s audience.
What is art and what is crime? This issue is currently being explored after a Swedish artist allegedly used the ashes of Holocaust victims collected from a Nazi death camp cremation ovens. Artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff said that he kept the ashes for a while before mixing them with water to create gray streaks in a painting, using them as if the ash contained energies or memories or ‘souls’ from people… people tortured, tormented and murdered by other people in one of the 20th Century’s most ruthless wars.” Von Hausswolff’s art might have been a tribute to him, but critics denounced as an “unimaginably barbaric act” and “repulsive in the extreme.”
Participants take part in the March of Life event at the Former Nazi Death Camp Majdanek in Lublin August 22, 2012.(Reuters / Agencja Gazeta)
Explore all forms of art by signing up for a class on painting. If you have something you’re passionate about or an issue you think deserves exploration, look into expressing yourself through art. Learn how to use paint to illustrate people, places, scenes, or issues. You will receive specific instruction on how to mix colors, which brush strokes to use to achieve specific special effects, and basic tips on setting up your canvas or art surface to have the best possible composition for your art. Once you master the basics of painting, you will be able to bring your visions to life. Ask instructors about the ethics and different issues presented to artists while expressing themselves for more insight on these
Manga Artist Brings Fantasy Closer to Reality
Takehiko Inoue married a passion to an artistic genre and has enjoyed stunning success because of it. The celebrated artist created the popular “Slam Dunk,” a manga series that has sold nearly 120 million copies. Whereas most manga tell stories with supernatural and fantastical themes, Inoue’s “Slam Dunk” was able to garner a wider audience because it was about basketball, which Inoue loves.
As an artist, there are many things that Inoue must keep in mind when creating his characters and stories. For one, he has an audience to entertain. He must successfully blend images and words to make a cohesive storytelling platform. Inoue also enlists his own characters to help drive a manga forward. “If you can have vivid characters, they will make the story themselves. By putting them in certain situations or having one meet another, they naturally make stories by reacting to each other,” he said.
Interested in learning how to draw manga but not sure how to get started? Take a class on comic and cartoon drawing today. You will receive thorough instructions on basic figure drawing, drawing action scenes, facial expressions, telling stories, and more. Personalized tutorials will focus on both problem areas or areas of particular interest, depending on what you want to get out of the lessons. If you’re having trouble with shading and perspective, you can choose to receive instruction covering those topics. If you’d rather explore color and movement in comics and manga, that option is also available.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/29/showbiz/takehiko-inoue-human-to-hero/index.html
Calligraphy Shows Art Comes in Many Forms
- http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/life-style/2012-11-30/teacher-shows-how-calligraphy-art-form
There aren’t many areas in life where imperfections become part of a finished product.
Calligrapher Natasha Lawrence teaches workshops on calligraphy throughout the southeastern United States. Even as an expert at the art genre, Lawrence knows that it’s better to embrace her stylistic hiccups rather than try to perfect them. “I’m not the greatest calligrapher in the world. I’m not, and I’m not sorry about that,” Lawrence said. “My style of calligraphy is my style.”
Students enroll in the workshops for a variety of reasons. Some simply want to learn something new, while another wants to add an extra fancy touch to her holiday greeting cards. Still another wants to save money in her upcoming wedding by making her own invitations with calligraphy.
If you’d like to try your skills at calligraphy, enroll in a calligraphy art class today. Even if you have poor penmanship or no experience whatsoever, clear and simple tutorials will help you develop all the techniques you’ll need to make beautiful and elegant letterforms. Lessons will cover calligraphy from all angles, including everything from materials you can expect to use to the physicality behind specific strokes for different styles of calligraphy. Mastering this art form can also be lucrative — start your own business making invitations, announcements, certificates, and more by hand.
Man Finds Love of Art Through Lesson
Writer Bob Dunn has somehow escaped having artistic abilities in a family of artists. His brother used to be able to reproduce book illustrations, while his mother decorated the house with paintings of landscapes, cartoon characters, and solar systems. To try to settle some sibling rivalry, Dunn decided to take a watercolor painting lesson from artist Brooke Schnabel.
Schnabel challenged Dunn to see art in the every day — in this case, their subject was a mug and several oranges. They started off with a contour drawing, which gave a strong basis for the size and scale of the end product, and began filling in the space with watercolor. In the end, Dunn produced a painting that he was somewhat proud of. “With my mother and brother both hundreds of miles away in two different states, maybe finding some wall space at home for my painting will make that gap between us feel a little smaller,” Dunn writes.
If you don’t think you have any artistic abilities, think again. If you have any desire at all to create art but just lack confidence in skill and execution, taking a class on watercolor painting would be an excellent springboard to develop your artistic skills. Watercolor painting is perhaps the most forgiving genre of art, giving you a chance to comfortably develop your skills. Class will focus on basic techniques like how to properly load your brush with color, typical brushstrokes to make, and how to blend water colors already on the paper.
Artist Won’t Allow Disability Sidetrack His Goals
Florida resident A.J. Brockman devotes every ounce of his being to art. Bound to a wheelchair by spinal muscular atrophy, Brockman can only move his facial muscles and three fingers. He uses one finger to paint using software programs like Corel Paint and Adobe Photoshop. His work is lifelike and in high demand. During 2012, Brockman expected to make as much as $70,000 from his paintings.
Using the creative skills he had developed through the years by practicing and taking classes, Brockman decided that he wanted to advance his career through the visibility he would receive by painting a portrait of the Obama family. He knew that it would make headlines during the election year, and his manager said that he could personally meet President Barack Obama to present him with the portrait.
The highly realistic portrait impressed the president and made it on the front page of The New York Times. Brockman prefers to be known for his art rather than his disease. “I’ve never seen myself as ‘the guy in the chair,’” he said. “I refuse to let it define me.”
You don’t have to share Brockman’s disability to share his passion for art. Don’t put it off any longer — enroll in a class on painting to stretch your creativity and learn the techniques you’ve been longing to master. Embrace Brockman’s eagerness for the present to devote yourself to what could become your greatest passion. Painting classes will offer tutorials for all levels of artistic expertise. Lessons will cover everything from portrait painting to landscapes, depending on your interests.
Onion… painter’s best friend
Why do they always say that Onions are painter best friend?
Onions help to remove paint odor. They are cheap and you can easily buy them from the supermarkets.
Painting your house for the new year? Prepare some Onions.
Preparing onions to absorb paint fumes:
- Select large, fresh onions – about 3 onions per painted
- Chop up them into small pieces
- Spread them out on plates or thick cardboard and place them in the freshly painted room.
- Leave the onions for 1-2 days, or until the pieces are shriveled up and dry.
Painting Obama
Indian painter Jagjot Singh Rubal gives final touches to a painting of re-elected US President Barack Obama, which he plans to mail to Obama as a gift, in Amritsar on November 7, 2012.
AFP PHOTO/NARINDER NANU (Photo credit should read NARINDER NANU/AFP/Getty Images)
Stan Lee recalls humble comic beginnings
Every accomplished artist has to start somewhere, and comic magnate Stan Lee is no different. His first job in the comic book industry was going over artists’ drawings with a giant eraser to remove all the pencil marks.
Lee’s improbable rise to editor at Marvel Comics is something of a Cinderella story, serving as inspiration to many art students looking to break into the world of comics. However, Lee doesn’t glorify his early days in the industry.
“We just hoped that a book we were drawing would sell so we could keep our jobs and pay the rent,” he said. “We never for one minute thought there would be schools where they teach this.”
While Lee and his cohorts at Marvel worried about making money from their drawings, many students pursue a career in comics because they idolize Lee and the characters he created.
“You see Stan Lee and everyone knows who he is,” art student Dan Glasl said. “Every kid has this part of their life where they’re this awkward, geeky sort of kid. And Spider-Man is the character every kid can put themselves into.”
Get started telling your own stories by enrolling in a comic or cartoon drawing class. Through in-depth lessons, you will develop the skills needed to craft a visual masterpiece. Learn how to create expressive drawings that, when coupled with dialogue, will combine for a compelling story. You will receive instructions on sketching comic figures, costuming, and drawing realistic action sequences