How To Draw Monsters

http://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-Monsters-Step-By-Step-ebook/dp/B00AEAMCPM/

Now, nearly every type of sport fish found in the world’s rivers, lakes and oceans has been caught with an artificial fly on a classic fly rod. New companies spring up every year, offering everything from ultraexpensive custom cane rods to mass-produced plastic reels. A growing market, fromAnchoragetoAuckland, in TV shows, magazines, videos and books feeds the growth and popularity of fly fishing.

From the most famous book ever written on the subject, Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler (1653) to Norman Maclean’s modern short story A River Runs Through It (1976), much legend and lore has been passed on over time.  It is the stories told – about fish, rivers, flies and characters – that have provided the greatest allure of fly fishing.

There is a strong tradition of skill and technique built on centuries of casting.  There is a huge culture of addicts and aficionados, each with a unique theory or philosophy on catching fish on a fly. The sport draws scholars and preachers and farmers alike. They form a society of perfectionists dedicated to the art and science of matching wits with a tiny-brained fish.

Part of the charm of fly fishing lies in the fact that truth and fantasy are blended like scotch and water. The size of a fish, where it was caught, and what was used to catch it are all subject to change, depending on the circumstances. Relying on a seasoned fly fisher to fully reveal the methods and materials of her success is a gamble at best. The real truth comes with hours spent on the river. You have to get out there and do it yourself.

Tying the perfect fly is one of the long-standing challenges of the fly fisher’s craft; to master it is a great achievement. To fool a big, wily trout with it is something close to greatness. To share it is to give away part of one’s soul.

The longer one spends learning and pursuing fly fishing, the less one knows.  Along the way, however, the rewards get sweeter and the memories grow priceless.  If you have the temperament to fiddle with small knots and big tangles, the patience to stand by a river and wait, and the commitment to learn the finer points of an age-old pursuit, then fly fishing may be what you’re looking for.

It is inexpensive to get started. You can purchase a complete starter package, including rod, reel, lines, flies and an instructional DVD for about $200 from a major outdoor sports store. On the other hand, you can spend $1500 on a state-of-the-art carbon fiber rod.

The fly fishing market is alive and well, but there is one major concern. The numbers of fish, in fresh- and saltwater the world over, are declining. It may be a sign of human neglect or climate change or something else, but for fly fishing to thrive, the fish must survive.

If you get involved with this sport, sooner or later you’ll be part of the bigger picture. You’ll find out how to contribute when you get your fishing license just by reading the regulations.

For a great, natural experience that challenges the mind and enriches the soul, there is nothing that compares to a day of fly fishing.

Good luck!

Click here to learn how to fly fish.

One of the most important traditions and customs in old school Muay Thai begins with the Wai Khru/Ram Muay.

• The Wai Khru/Ram Muay is a pre-fight ritual that pays respect to teachers and all those important to the fighter.  The Wai Khru/Ram Muay is performed by both of the fighters prior to their bout and is, in fact, mandatory in Thailand.  It is also one of the most important and time-honored traditions of Muay Thai.
• The mongkon is a circled adornment worn on the head as a charm to bring good fortune.  The mongkon is also thought to keep the wearer from danger.  The mongkon is worn for the entire performance of the Wai Khru/Ram Muay and removed by the fighter’s corner person or trainer prior to the fight.
• Amulets and charms are deeply regarded in Thailand and are often thought to have magical or supernatural powers to help fighters keep out of harm’s way.  Most amulets have been handed down through generations or are family heirlooms.  Fighter’s amulets may consist of a dhagrut, pitsamorn, waahn, prajied, or a pirod.

Muay Thai is referred to as the Art of Eight Limbs as the hands, knees, elbows, and legs are used to attack and defend.

Techniques you will want to become familiar with in Muay Thai are:

• Round kicks, which can be targeted to the head, mid section and torso, or legs.  A round kick can not only knock an opponent unconscious, but could ultimately end a fight.
• Push kicks or front kicks are targeted to the solar plexus, mid section and hips.
• Punches – including the jab, cross, hooks, and upper cuts.
• Knees can be thrown at the mid section, thighs and legs, and even the face.  Techniques for knees are clinching or throwing long knees to catch an aggressor.
• Elbows are the most deadly of the Muay Thai weapons and can cause serious injury.  Targeted areas of elbows include the eye socket and top of the head.

Muay Thai fighting is known for the footwork.  In a proper muay stance, the posture you execute will put you in a constant ready position.  The proper stance and footwork is essential to learning Muay Thai.  If you do not have a proper stance and footwork, you will not be in a position to attack or defend.  Without basic movements, hands and arm positions, and footwork, it will be almost impossible to expand on your skills.

Muay Thai is a beautiful and highly regarded martial art and sport.  The skills you learn in Thai boxing can help you become a healthier and more confident person.  You can use Muay Thai to develop yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Click here to learn how to fight Muay Thai.

There are lot of times when an artist will buy a set of charcoals even if he’s an ink artist.  He may do this out of curiosity or perhaps is simply replacing a graphite pencil with a charcoal stick for making doodles, and then when he starts to draw with it, the whole thing smudges off, the whole paper turns gray, and then he tries the harder one and learns that he couldn’t even sharpen a charcoal pencil properly.

This is because charcoal is more like a pastel than a pencil, and its sensitivity increases as the charcoal gets softer. A compressed charcoal pencil is labeled H and B, which stand for hardness and blackness. The higher the B score, the softer it gets, and that’s how it goes for hardness too, and some charcoal pencils are simply labeled with soft, medium, and hard.

There are more kinds of charcoals aside from the charcoal pencils. There are uncompressed charcoals available, most of which come from willow sticks and vines.  They can be erased very easily and have a dark gray tone.

Another one is compressed charcoal sticks. They produce darker tones. These are usually thick edgy sticks which come in a variety of shades.

For you to know how to draw with charcoals, you have to learn what comes first and what to do  from there.

So first, you must make an outline of your drawing with very light shades. If this is a problem for you, you can always start with regular pencil for outlines and indentions, because these lines will be overlapped later on anyway.

When you already have your outline, make indentions for the shades. You can use hatching or simply make an outline of the shades, so basically this is contour lining.

Now if you used hatched lines, you will probably produce a rough textured image.  To achieve this, smudge the lines carefully with your finger, or use cotton if you prefer. Rub it until the lining patterns of your line shading turn hardly distinguishable. Redo your cross hatching if you want to strengthen the shade and just repeat the smudging afterwards.

If you make an outline of your shade patterns, it means you intend to make a soft textured 3D looking image.  You will be using the wide points of your charcoal and the stained cotton. Anything you used to smudge your markings, because you will be playing with black, gray, and fading tones until you achieve the contrast you want. Do the heavy shades first, and I will advise you to use a cotton to dab the dark tones and by the use of that stained cotton, you can achieve your gray tone, just go over your drawing at least  three times and remember to redefine the portions that should be obvious to easily distinguish the drawing.

To finalize your drawing, redefine the light shades or highlights by carefully erasing this portion. Expose the bright color of the paper to achieve proper light tones. Having a kneaded eraser will make this finalizing easier rather than a regular eraser for graphite pencils. Do not use rough or hard erasers, because it might ruin your paper and leave a mark that can’t be undone.

In performing these steps properly and in order, you will have no problem handling it.  Remember to keep practicing all the time.

Click here to learn how to draw with charcoal.

1. It all starts with drawing a ball- When constructing the human head, it helps to sketch out a ball figure first, and form the rest of the head shape from there.
2. Proportion – The key to a successfully drawn realistic face is mastering the correct proportions for each type of face. The proportions for a man’s face are the most important proportions to be learned. From there you can tweak the other proportions to fit the right size according to age and sex.
3. Angled vs. Curving lines- As a general rule, men have angled features and women’s faces are made more of soft curving lines and strokes.
4. Forehead- Forehead size is a good way to portray differences between ages and sexes. The younger individuals are, the larger their foreheads are as a standard. This is seen in babies, who have larger foreheads that seems to shrink as the individual grows older. Between the sexes, the male appears to have a shorter forehead than the female in general.
5. Eyes- The differences between drawing men and women, adults and children, lie in the eyes. Children’s eyes appear larger than an adult’s in proportion to the head size, and you can tell the person is advanced in age because of wrinkles around the eyes. Between men and women, women tend to have rounder eyes and thicker eyelashes than men.
6. Stroke weight- One tip to making your drawing look more natural is to vary stroke weight within one stroke. Strokes that are all of the same weight don’t look too natural, so draw with thick and thin stroke weights.
7. Avoid “scratching” strokes and outlines- Smooth, long, single strokes looks the most natural and appealing in a drawing. Unless you are trying to convey texture, avoid using scratching strokes, especially when making outlines.
8. Giving depth to your drawing-The difference between a drawing that looks flat and a drawing that pops out more lies in the shading of the drawing.
9. Throwing proportion out of the window- Since we’re talking about realism in drawings, correct proportions are just an ideal. Not everyone’s face follows the guidelines, so you can give a face some character by deviating from the standard proportion.
10. Drawing faces from different countries- You will notice that eye shape, nose shape and brow structure change across people of various continents, so pay attention to the changes to those parts of the face when drawing people from all parts of the globe.

Click here to learn how to draw faces.

Cupcakes have really gained so much popularity, especially after shows dedicated to cupcakes such as TLC’s DC Cupcakes have started showing people how exciting it is to make cupcakes. The entire process takes a lot of hard work and patience, but the exercise of creativity involved can be cathartic just as eating a beautifully decorated and wonderfully tasty cupcake can be uplifting.

You don’t need to be an expert to bake and decorate cupcakes that will make your friends and loved ones happy. With the help of this guide, you will be able to come up with scrumptious sweet treats that are perfect as presents to family and friends for their birthday celebrations.

• Learn simple cupcake recipes that are easy to follow and that are guaranteed hits and tummy fillers for both children and adults.
• Learn to present your cupcakes as gifts to your loved ones even with the simplest decorations such as chocolate shavings, sprinkles, and paper toppers.
• Find ways to create playful designs following specific themes that are very beautiful to look at but are actually very easy to execute.
• Take cake decorating to another level by playing with fondant and creating interesting designs that even kids can do.
• Learn how to you can make your own personalized home-baked gift that the recipient will surely appreciate and be happy with.

Decorating cupcakes isn’t as hard as you think it is. With just some simple materials, you can come up with pretty cupcakes that you’ll find too cute to eat.

• If you’re making a cake for kids, make the decoration colorful. Kids are attracted by colors and shapes. Decide on a theme and work around it. Once you have chosen a theme and color scheme, find matching cupcake liners, sprinkles or confetti, and food color for your frosting or fondant toppers.
• If your child likes certain cartoon characters such as Sponge Bob and Friends, Winnie the Pooh, Superman, Dora the Explorer, and the Disney Princesses, the easiest way to decorate a cupcake is to look for stickers of these characters and turn them into paper toppers. All you will need are wooden skewers, a glue gun, and a piece of cardboard to stick the stickers on, and voila! You now have paper toppers for your cupcakes. Remember to use the dominant color used by the character to color your frosting to tie your cupcake decoration together.
• When decorating for adults, you may choose a more subdued color scheme. Adults will usually pay more attention to the actual flavor, so go for rich cupcake recipes such as red velvet with cream cheese frosting. Place a paper flaglet on top with a birthday greeting written on it, and you’re good to go!

Click here to learn how to decorate birthday cupcakes.

The weavings dedicated for Aida cloth are always even in proportion to allow counting and stitch measurement numbering. There are two types of cross-stitches, counted cross-stitch and stamped cross-stitch.

The key element in creating a compelling art figure in the cloth by means of grouped stitches is making sure that the number of stitches in all directions is even and uniform in appearance to come out with a patterned image.

Going back to the two types of cross stitch, they actually use the same cloth to apply the threads. The difference is in the way the images are being patterned in the cloth.

Counted Cross Stitch – refers to counting stitches in the cloth to create a pattern of images based on a separate paper pattern which consist of symbols corresponding to the shade of thread to use. The pattern for this type of cross-stitching method is also represented in a tiled manner for easier counting.

Stamped cross-stitch – Refers to the cross stitch method where the pattern is already printed on the Aida cloth, which is a lot easier to follow. The appropriate colors of the threads are sometimes already indicated in the stamped cloth. There are some that are stamped with grey markings and the colors are noted on a separate key.

Being one of the oldest forms of embroidery in the world, cross-stitching varies its form and design patterns from one culture to another. Folk museums feature artistic fabrics embroidered with shapes and designs derived from a cultural legacy.

The oldest recorded piece of cross-stitch work is on display at the Museum of Pilgrim Hal in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was created by the daughter of Captain Myles Standish, Loara Standish, who is also a pioneer of Leviathan stitch.  This piece is circa 1653.

Centuries ago, the art of cross-stitching was mainly used for embroidering and embellishing dishcloths, doilies and linens. Not until the modern era has it evolved into a piece of stitched work of art.

Fashion designers even use the same method in applying complicated embroidery designs into their collections to showcase an artistic approach rather than using printed cloth.

In the United States and Europe, there are many guilds dedicated to cross-stitching as a world-class collaboration for creating large pieces of cross-stitch masterpieces.  These are showcased like paintings in art galleries across the continent.

The main component in creating a beautiful piece is the mercerized cotton threads that consist of six strands which are slightly twisted that can easily be separated. The modern forms of cross-stitching even uses other materials like pearl cotton, silk, rayon and Danish flower threads. These are the kind of materials used for large and complicated patterns, mostly done by professionals and master embroiderers alike.

Click here to learn how to Cross Stitch.

It’s Good for the Planet. While crafting might not be the first course of action that comes to mind when you think of ways to take care of our planet, you’ll be surprised at the impact that recycled crochet can make. Not only will you be keeping materials out of the landfill, but also lessening the demand for the manufacturing of new materials. Sadly, whether you buy yarn made from natural or man-made fibers, current manufacturing practices often leave a lot to be desired when it comes to using environmentally friendly methods.

It’s Cost Effective. Have you ever gone to your local craft store and drooled over expensive specialty yarns that you know you can’t afford? This is a way to still have similar materials. You’ll be amazed at the bargains you can find at your local thrift store once you start to use a bit of imagination. This guide will show you how to turn what may be a fashion nightmare into something truly beautiful.

It’s Fun! If you’re the sort of person who enjoys shopping at sales, digging through clearance bins, or clipping coupons, this is another way to experience the excitement of the hunt. You not only get new yarn to work with and an eventual end project, you also get the satisfaction of telling friends and family just how you made your beautiful projects.

It’s Easy. No need to buy a fancy spinning wheel or learn complicated new procedures. To make recycled yarns, you’ll usually only need a pair of scissors and a seam ripper.

You’ll Become More in Touch with Your Materials. By the time you’re ready to start using the yarn you’ve created, you’ll be intimately aware of its weight, texture, stretch, and strength. You’ll know just what to make with it, instead of throwing it in a closet for years and forgetting that you purchased it in the first place!

So now that you’re convinced, you’re probably wondering what your options are. Here’s a quick tour of the world of recycled crochet:

“Plarn”: This is a term for a crochet-able strand cut from materials like plastic grocery bags, bread bags, or other similar things that would normally end up in the trash.

Scrap Fabric Yarn: Just about any old piece of clothing or other worn out fabric item can be cut into strips and then used for crocheting. Old t-shirts, jeans, sheets, and even old boxers are all fair game!

Recycled Sweater Yarn: If you’re more comfortable sticking with more traditional fibers, that doesn’t mean that you should discount the idea of using recycled materials. Instead of going to the craft store and buying new yarn, why not get some that looks identical at a thrift store? To do so, all you need to do is peruse the sweater aisle and look for something to unravel and give new life to.

No matter what type of fiber you decide to work with, you won’t be sorry that you decided to get to know your materials on a deeper level. Times change, but some things never do.

Click here to learn how to Crochet Recycled Materials.

There are also many benefits beyond the physicality of riding, which include improvements in vocalization, an increase in self-confidence, a feeling of belonging for people who often don’t have that luxury, and many more.  The ability of a handicapped person to control a 1,200-pound animal gives them the strength and courage to be their very best.  The results of therapy riding are immediate and consistent.  I’ve seen kids take their first steps and I’ve heard kids say their first words – all with the help of our wonderful therapists, the horses, and of course, the lesson instructors.

Though we consider the horses to be our most useful tool in improving the riders’ lives, we also use special equipment to help the riders achieve their goals.  Most of this equipment is worn by the horse as part of its tack (which means the saddle, bridle, stirrups, etc.).  There are many different tack pieces that volunteers become acquainted with; but apart from tack, the processes of mounting, lessons, and dismounting differ vastly from the processes at your everyday barn.  Volunteers are schooled in the methods of therapy barns so they can help riders reach the maximum results.

I bet all this sounds great, right?  Well, one thing to keep in mind is that therapy barns are fueled by kind-hearted volunteers.  The volunteers participate in lessons, fundraising, horse shows, events, and various other activities.  Horse therapy simply cannot exist without the help and time of the people of the community.  That being said, costs are kept as low as possible at therapy barns, which makes room for scholarship programs for riders whose families need a little extra help.  The majority of the money raised at therapy barns goes toward caring for the horses facilities and rider scholarship programs.  All this to say, if this sounds interesting to you, we’d love your help, and if you know someone who could benefit by riding but is worried about the cost of weekly lessons, we can help them out.

The last thing that’s important to understand about a therapy barn is that it’s a safe haven.  Many of the riders live difficult lives, under the scrutiny of their classmates and co-workers.  The barn is a place where they are accepted unconditionally.  They are able to excel in a sport and spend time with their friends and families without the worries of the judgmental public eye.  Everyone involved at a therapy barn becomes one big family that shares the same goal – improving the lives of those who need our support the most.  And our family is always open for new members to join.

Click here to learn how to be an Equine Therapy Assistant.

The first thing is to tell your parents.  They may know people at work who have kids and are looking to go out for dinner.  Tell everyone in your family such as grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc. because they too will tell people they know.  If you go to church, mention that you are looking to babysit to the people there.  If you are a regular they feel like they know you already; you get your foot in the door.  And again, they will spread the word.  The best opportunities come from word of mouth.

Another option is to look in the local newspaper.  These jobs will most likely be in your area.  The younger you are it is important your own parents know all the babysitter details such as what time to be there, and what time to have you picked up.  In fact, your own parents might want to meet the parents of who you will be babysitting.  Besides, you are not an adult yourself if you are 12-17 years old.

The internet is another place to look for babysitting jobs in your area.  The internet will also allow you to expand your search if you are looking to drive to another city.  You can look for a “ritzier” neighborhood because if you land a continuous babysitting job with one family, they may be giving extra bonuses.

The local employment agency has resources; you can register in their office.  They can offer you constant babysitting jobs; however there probably is some sort of commission involved.   At least you will have a paycheck coming in.

Finally, depending on how serious you are about babysitting, you might want to get a babysitting permit.  Parents look at this and feel you would be more qualified than others.  They see this as being responsible; you went through all the trouble of getting certified because you have a passion for it.

If this is a passion, then babysitting at a younger age will give you experience for when you are older.  The more you work with kids the better.  You can volunteer in kids’ programs or be a scout leader; you will meet parents of the kids and perhaps develop a relationship where they ask you to babysit.

Word of mouth is the best way to get more babysitting jobs.  When you do a good job, they will come back and one day you may land a permanent babysitting job.  Kids can be a handful so be sure you have passion for it.

Click here to learn how to be a babysitter.