Category: Art

Childrenx92s Art Supplies

Are your children enthusiastic about the arts? Do you see budding artists in them? Encourage your children to be the best they can be. Fire up their creativity. Provide them with the tools to help them realize their dreams.

Children’s art supplies include basic art materials such as art paper, pens, coloring materials, sketch pads, brushes and clay. Most of these are available in art shops or even from art dealers. These art materials are perfect for your little artists as they are child-sized, washable and non-toxic.

How and Where to Find Children’s Art Supplies

For moms who want to develop the artistic inclinations of their children, there are a lot of quality art materials available online.

The Internet hosts many online shops that include children’s art supplies in their catalogues. On these sites, you can find a wide array of choices. There are starter kits for young kids and complete art sets for older children. These shops also offer miniature art equipment to suit your children’s needs. Online shops also offer art supplies at discounted prices. You can order anything you want with just one click and have your purchases delivered to you promptly.

Children’s Art Supplies Safety Tips

Although most children’s art supplies are safe, there are some objects, such as scissors, bottles and other items that can hurt your children if handled improperly. Make sure that you supervise young children in their art activities. Teach them how to use the scissors correctly. Keep breakable bottles at a safe distance from their work area. Keep a close eye on items that have small parts, lest your children swallow and choke on them. After your children have finished creating their masterpieces, be sure to keep all art materials far from their reach.

You can leave older children unsupervised in their art activities. However, in buying them art supplies, check for non-toxic materials.

Celebrity Caricatures

Perhaps one of the best ways to learn caricature is to practice drawing celebrities. This allows you and other people to really see if you satisfy the first prerequisite of a caricature drawing – resemblance. Celebrities are very easily recognizable so anyone can judge your talent.

Start with your favorite celebrity – the one you always watch on TV or see on magazine covers. Since you probably look at this celebrity all the time, you will already have a repository of his or her important details such as the hair, eyes, eyebrows and mouth. Research pictures of that celebrity either from magazines or online, and try to get an image in different poses and angles, because this will help you add dimension to your caricature. Observe what particular hairstyle that celebrity always sports, because this may be one of his or her most distinguishing characteristics. Remember that the hair frames the face, so it can do a lot to either make or break your caricature’s resemblance with its subject.

Keep on drawing celebrity caricatures because if you get really good at it, you can turn it into a fulltime business. Celebrity caricatures are usually sold for at least $10 (for smaller versions), but if a magazine or publication buys your drawing, you can earn hundreds.

A caricature business is as good as how you market it, so come up with clever marketing strategies for your services. You can do this for free by creating a blog on the Internet. Simply post your caricatures for other surfers to see. You can also send in your caricatures to local magazines, and tell them they can use it without a fee. They may feature it and you could gain exposure and positive feedback.

Famous Architects

Hundreds of thousands of architects specialize in the field of architecture—a field with roots that span centuries. However, only some architects leave their mark in the art and science of architecture. Such architects are famous; people who have achieved brilliance and excellence in their designing of buildings, structures, and monuments besides many others.

Famous architects have left their mark in the world in many ways. Today the most impressive buildings that we see are inventions of their creative mind. We admire their work, while students and other architects study them.

To honor such architects, several awards exist. The American Institute of Architects, Royal Institute of British Architects, and other organizations reward prizes to dedicated and excellent architects. The most prestigious award is known as the Nobel Prize of Architecture or the Pritzker Prize. Created in 1979, it is awarded each year to architects for their outstanding work.

Architects like Aldo Rossi, Rafael Moneo, Luis Barragan, Philip Johnson, Tadao Ando, Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto, Albert Kahn, Antonio Gaudi, Carlo Scarpa and many others have created a place for themselves in the architecture field.

Each of the aforementioned architects is special; such architects have influenced the world by their ideas, thoughts, and beliefs, and created structures based upon their own beliefs. Belonging to different countries, they have studded the world with beautiful monuments.

Philip Johnson was the first architect to be honored with Pritzker Prize in 1979. An influential American architect, his most amazing structure remains the glass house in New Canaan. Tadao Ando, a Japanese architect, has won many prizes too, such as the Pritzker Prize and Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Among the most famous architects, Frank Lloyd Wright comes to mind immediately. His works have been held to be a brilliant and important contribution to our culture by the American Institute of Architects. Strongly individualized works belong to Antonio Gaudi, Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto, and others.

Architect Luis Barragan’s house and study in Mexico City is held to be a UNESCO World Heritage site. Alvar Aalto’s works were highly acclaimed too. They were in tune with the contours of the land and were made up of natural materials like wood, brick, stone, copper, and many more.

Right from the beginning, prominent architects have created stunning works of art. From Marcus Agrippa and Leonardo da Vinci to modern day architects, architecture has produced outstanding architects who have influenced the field by their unique ideas and created stupendous monuments for the world to admire.

An Introduction To Free Desktop Wallpaper

Free desktop wallpapers are available for use on computers with a desktop kind of user interface. It is a background pattern in the computer, against which menus, icons and other elements are displayed. The free desktop wallpapers are found in either JPEG or GIF file formats. They can be used with Microsoft Windows, Macintosh Mac OS, Linux and other operating systems. Usually, each of the operating systems has several pre-installed wallpapers for the user to use. Once these wallpapers start to get boring, then the user can turn to the Internet to download free desktop wallpaper for use on his computer.

The images that are used to create free desktop wallpapers are usually raster graphics, which have the same size as the display resolution of the computer. This is to enable the free desktop wallpaper to fill the whole background of the computer. As most of the screen resolutions of computers are proportional, images scaled to fit a different sized screen is found to be in the correct shape. Although wide-screen monitors have different aspect ratio requirements for the free wallpaper, the images that are designed for standard monitors can be scaled to fit to the monitor without any loss of quality.

Some free desktop wallpapers are found in double-width versions. This is for use in multi-monitor computers where the image appears to fill two monitors. The smaller images can be tiled to act as wallpapers in the computer. If the joints of the images are obvious, or if the images are repeated too many times, then the desktop wallpaper may look very repetitive. Otherwise, if skillfully done, then the effect may look reasonably good.

The styles of free desktop wallpapers are as varied as people are. They can be made using photographs, 3D renderings, abstract patterns with complex gradients, or drawings. It is always better to have plain areas in the wallpaper to facilitate a better view of the icons. Wallpapers are also created categorically, like of cars, holiday photos, movies, pets, etc. However, those in business and IT departments prefer to use corporate logos or plain backgrounds.

3D Desktop Wallpaper

In computers, 3D (three-dimensional) means an image that provides the perception of depth. If such images are made interactive and the users become involved with the scene, the experience is described as virtual reality. For viewing and interacting with 3D images, you normally require a special plug-in viewer for your web browser. To gain the experience of virtual reality, more equipment may also be necessary. The process of creating 3D images can be divided into three phases: tessellation, geometry, and rendering. In the first phase of tessellation, models are made of individual objects using linked points that are made into a number of individual polygons or tiles. In the second phase, the polygons are transformed in various ways and subjected to lighting effects. In the third and final stage, the transformed images are rendered into objects with intricate detail.

Digital Blasphemy is one of the most popular websites for 3D computer wallpapers, created by Ryan Bliss and contributors. Images are available free in versions typically up to 1024×768 resolution, while access to a dedicated server containing higher -resolution images is available to members for an annual fee.

Among its various artistic styles are computer-generated planetscapes, fractal terrain, space scenes, abstract patterns, and Poser-generated humanoid characters. The image of particle systems created with the help of complex computer-generated lighting effects is one of its most famous offerings.

Its free gallery is updated with new wallpaper each month. Subscribers can download new wallpapers more frequently, and have free access to its complete collection of 3D wallpapers created over the last eight years, which comprise more than 600 images, including Widescreen, Dual-Monitor, and Triple-Monitor versions of some wallpapers. If you like, you can be a member of other sites like MikeBonnell.com. They will also offer you attractive 3D desktop wallpapers, some for free.

African Wildlife Art

Wildlife art is considered as one of manx92s earliest art forms because some of the carvings that have been found in archeological sites predate written history. This art form inspires an appreciation of the relationship between man and nature. However, wildlife art can depict other things depending on which country or place the artwork comes from. An example of this is how Native Americans associated different traits with different animals. Another example is what wildlife art represents in Africa.

Wildlife art in African culture

One of the most common themes in African art is that of a male with a weapon or an animal, which is used to give honor to ancestors, because animal ownership in Africa connotes honor and power. Sculpting a horse together with the likeness of an ancestor gives honor to that ancestor. This is because in African culture, ownership of a horse signifies power and wealth, as riding a horse x93elevatesx94 the rider to a higher position compared to other people. With regard to other animals, the interpretation of what they depict can also depend on which tribe made the sculpture. Interpretations of the same animal may vary among tribes.

Multiplicity of meaning

On how Africans view wildlife art, it can be concluded that this kind of art tends to carry a multiplicity of meanings that depends on which tribe made it or for what ritual it was used. This fact has made it very difficult for Western observers to understand this art form in Africa given the numerous x93permutationsx94 of meaning that this art form may carry.

Wildlife art is one of the earliest art forms that man has created. Such an art form has been used by most cultures. However, different cultures interpret wildlife art differently from other cultures. This has led to a seemingly endless list of symbolism that cultures assign on art that depict animals.

Animation

Simply speaking, animation is the process of making films, movies, videos or computer games in which drawings or models of people and animals seem to move. The illusion, in fact, is created by the consecutive display of images of static elements. In the case of film and video production, it refers to techniques by which each frame of a film or a movie is produced individually. There are various methods of generating these frames. It can be done with the help of computers, by photographing a drawn or painted image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model unit, and then photographing the result with a special animation camera. When the film is viewed after stringing the frames together, “persistence of vision” creates an illusion of continuous movement.

Generating such a film is usually very labor-intensive and tedious in “traditional” animation. In the case of computer animation, however, the process is much less labor-intensive, and generally much cheaper. The other advantage of computer animation is a bigger margin of error, because the use of digital files helps to undo any mistakes up to a certain number of steps.

Although animation has been mostly used for entertainment, now it is being increasingly used as instructional animation and educational animation to support explanation and learning.

The “animated cartoon,” as developed early in the last century and refined by Walt Disney and others, requires up to 24 distinct drawings for one second of animation.

Animation being a very time-consuming and often very expensive process, most of animation for TV and movies is done in professional animation studios. The field of independent animation, however, has existed at least since the 1950s, when animation was produced by independent studios or individuals. Many independent animation producers have now joined the professional animation industry.

Limited animation is a method by which production can be enhanced and costs decreased by taking recourse to “short cuts” in the animation process. This method was pioneered by UPA and popularized (some say exploited) by Hanna-Barbera, and adapted by other studios as cartoons moved from movie theaters to television.

3D Animation

3D animation deals with electronically produced computer-generated 3D imagery used in motion graphics and digital special effects. In this case, the animator creates a design style or concept that tries to visually interpret and convey the required information using both new and traditional animation techniques.

The 3D animator will have to be well-acquainted with 3D animation applications and software, film and video production techniques, production processes, digital special effects, art and design movements and methodology, typography, styles of performance and dramatization, film and broadcast genres, technical scripting, health and safety regulations for the film and broadcast industry, and an understanding of budgeting and scheduling processes.

The job of the 3D animator is to design and realize original concepts, character and content creation. The animator, therefore, is responsible for devising and communicating creative ideas and accurate technical information. They have to provide the client with detailed estimates of costs, and work within the budget and schedule.

Each assignment will have different demands. So it is imperative that the animator should have a good knowledge and experience of animation software and broadcast processes, as well as a broad knowledge of technical scripting and digital technology used in broadcasting. The designer must be able to respond with innovative concepts and practical solutions for each assignment. The assignments may be of any kind, from designing a spinning top to re-creating mythical weapons.

To succeed in 3D animation, one must have a thorough understanding of computer-generated processes and applications to be able to achieve creative responses to design briefs within the restrictions of budget and deadline. He/she will be required to possess a passion for design, good communication skills and a good understanding of broadcast, special effects and character animation. Last but not least, he or she must enjoy working as a team member under pressure.

In addition to being able to demonstrate high standards of computer-generated imagery and animation techniques you will need to have a good knowledge of art and design movements and imagery, creative problem solving and innovation, and the understanding of how to deliver design concepts and processes.

Art Colleges

If you’re thinking of going to an art college, you have many choices. Besides location and curriculum, it’s likely you’ll need to choose the type of degree or certificate you’ll receive at the end of your studies. Here’s some basic information of the types of programs you can expect from art or art-oriented colleges. There are four-year colleges, two-year colleges, two-year community colleges and vocational/technical colleges.

A four-year college or university usually offers the Bachelor Of Arts (BA) or bachelor of fine arts (BFA) degree to undergraduates. Larger institutions also offer Masters and Doctorate degrees as well. The BA degree is for generalists – you’ll have to take courses in all areas of the liberal arts, such as English, foreign language, history, philosophy etc. Although you can declare an art major, the BA you’ll receive is structured to give you broad knowledge of many academic areas. You will also be required to take courses outside your major, such as science or math. The BFA is a specialized degree that focuses on the arts, where about 2/3 of your course work will be within art or design studies. There are also entire schools dedicated to art. At these schools, all the degrees offered are art-related. At an art-focused college, you can immerse yourself in the arts pretty much exclusively (that is, with very little coursework offered outside the arts).

Community colleges generally offer two-year degrees (associate’s degree) or some type of certification (like that required for jobs like emergency medical technician). These institutions are generally more affordable than four-year colleges, and the credits you earn in a two-year program can be transferred to a four-year school. A community college is a great place to test your wings – you might even find a certificate program that will get you into the art-oriented job market in just a few semesters.

If you like the idea of a highly focused art college or program, then you should consider a vocational/technical college. At one of these schools, you get exactly what you need to know to work in a specific field. You won’t be required to take courses outside your major, and likely will be more employable in a shorter period of time. If, for example, you know you want to be a graphic artist, you may be able to find a vocational/technical college where you can study just that, no more, no less.

Think carefully about your goals and ambitions before choosing an art college or program of study, and be sure to choose one that meets or exceeds your expectation.

Business Card Printing

Business cards are usually printed on a four-color press. A card is referred to as a ‘four over zero’ when it is a full color in the front, without a back. It is called a ‘four over one’ when it is a full color in the front, with a black and white back, and a ‘four over four’ when it is a full color in the front and the back.

But before you thinking about the printing, you need to determine which aspect of the card is most important to you. Most likely, you will be concerned about the quality of the cards, limited as you might be by a particular model of a printer. So if your card has an image on it, printers say it is best to use glossy paper. On an inkjet printer, this will ensure the print looks as good as the real image. The paper cost is double when compared to ordinary paper, but the quality is superior.

You must, however, remember that inkjets have a strange way of zooming the print output, though only slightly. While this may not affect the clarity of the print, it might cause each of the next rows of cards to be slightly offset. While this does not happen in the case of laser printers, the best way to tackle it is to use the Scale field while setting printer calibration. Also, do not forget to set the desired print quality and color options in the Print dialog.

Textured paper is a good idea if you want to give the card a unique look. It is not something companies use often. One thing to remember, however, is that glossy and textured cards are not compatible with laser printers.