Hey guys! Sorry Alex and I haven’t been around. Just in case you’re wondering, yes, we’re still in school. The semester ends July 31, then we have a month off. I’m still without a scanner, so that really, really sucks. But, I do have a dream I’d like to share. So please, bear with me! Click to read more …

Tags: Baby Ducks, bugs, Dreams, Killers, Murderous baby ducks, Raid

Hi everyone, Mari here. Happy 5th of July. Yesterday in America, Independence Day was upon us.

Again, let me begin by saying that I apologize for my lack of posts. I am still without a scanner and a desktop computer, but eventually, the money will be there for both. I’ve also been bogged down with articles for Demand Studios, but I’m starting to get faster with those. Once I get $70 together, I’ll be back and posting regularly. I promise. Click to read more …

Tags: All My Children, Cruelty, People, Personal, SoapNet Forum

Hello everyone! Marisol reporting in.

I haven’t been posting how to draw tutorials lately, and I apologize. As many readers must know, once warmer weather approaches, as does yard work. I’ve been busy planting flowers, weeding, and cutting grass, so time to myself is very rare. Besides yard work, I’ve been working really hard writing articles for other websites, and I’ve been busy with research for the Milton course Alex and I are taking this summer for graduate school.

Speaking of school, the head of the English department contacted me this morning and informed me that I should be considering the beginning aspects of my thesis if I plan on graduating very soon. Nyah? Already?! I have to choose an overseer this week, and that professor and I need to sit down and create an outline for my thesis. Frankly, I’m not ready yet. Simply put, I don’t have a concrete topic yet. Furthermore, I’m terrified! I’ve been having a panic attack today and trying to contact Alex to talk me down, but he’s difficult to get a hold of because his phone is always OFF! I always hope I never need him to save my life, because if I did, I’d be dead before he’d even know I called him. Seriously, trying to contact him is that bad.

During my hiatus, I’ve developed several projects and how to draw tutorials that I am going to post on Sketching House, however, I seem to have several problems. Click to read more …

Tags: Acer Monitors, Brusheezy, Digital Art How-To, Digital Art Tutorial, Digital Coloring, Digital Inking, John Milton, traditional Art, Traditional Art How-To, Traditional Art Tutorials

Tonight, I started writing about Photoshop brushes and the different types there are, as well as some the techniques you could use while drawing with those brushes. Then, I suddenly realized that talking about Photoshop brushes isn’t as important as other things in life.

For once, I actually realized my own mortality tonight.

It’s really hard to articulate what I am truly feeling right now, especially since the feelings came suddenly. As many of you know, I post on a soap opera forum, and according to my profile, I’ve been posting there since June 12, 2008. For some reason, I don’t remember posting that long, but that is besides the point. Throughout my time on the forum, I have met several great people who I am honored to call “friends.” Each person has his/her own quirks, obsessions, and stories, and I find it great that many of the people are willing to share their life struggles. Many of the women I’ve talked to are cancer survivors or are trying to beat the disease right now. At first, I would read their stories and comment with kind words, meaning every bit of encouragement I offered. For awhile, some of these women were just words and a screen name, but the more I talked to them and saw the people beneath the text, I realized how real each person was. For me, their words became words of wisdom; words to ponder. One lady who’ve I’ve spoken to the past few weeks has really caught my attention. To me, she seems so strong and courageous, even when the stakes are down. I admire how she uses humor and her good nature to explain her feelings and her pain, and I’ve come to look forward to posting with her. However, while taking a shower tonight, my thoughts wandered to the soap opera board and my heart suddenly ached and tears fell from my eyes like a sweeping shower. The possibility of “what if she’s no longer here” crossed my mind and I felt so sad for her, her family, and all of us who have grown to love her. I hate that line of thinking– what if– but it crashed upon me so hard that I couldn’t help but feel anguish for thinking that way and for wondering that. I felt a huge void, one I haven’t felt since my sister passed away fourteen years ago. Except, the difference between now and fourteen years ago is that now, I realize the importance of life and how short life really is. Click to read more …

Tags: Anal Cancer, Cancer, Cancer Specialists, Death, Farrah Faucet Cancer, Life, Liver Cancer, Nature, Survival

Hopefully, these images aren’t as blurry as they appear.

Hello everyone! Mari here. Boy, have I been busy! Between cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning (as well as yard work), I haven’t had time to breathe, let alone post anything. However, the past two weeks, I have been working on the above two images in order to show you what effects you can achieve by using downloadable Photoshop brushes. The majority of the brushes used were found on My Photoshop Brushes, a site I mentioned in a previous post. As I mentioned before, I love unique brushes simply because the default brushes are dull and don’t have much leeway when it comes to creating awesome images. For instance, if you want flower petals floating around, there isn’t a default brush for that. For example, there’s a grass brush in the default brushes, but it faces one direction or comes out in a string of multi-colored clumps that look like confetti at a parade. By searching a brush database, you can find a grass brush that suits your needs if the default brushes don’t work for you when learning how to draw. Click to read more …

Tags: Default photoshop brushes, downloadable photoshop, downloadable photoshop brushes, Flower Petal Brushes, Obsidian Dawn Photoshop, Obsidian Down Brushes, Photoshop Brushes, Skin Brushes

I believe EVERYONE has potential in them to create art of every and all forms. Even those who don’t draw, who draw rarely or just feel they can’t, with practice end up drawing great pictures! I’ve seen a girl in my class go from drawing silly, to developing her own style, applying what she learned to her artwork and BAM! She made some great pictures. Then there was Anthony, a kid who had never drawn before for anything, and went from making stick figures look good to making an animation that was noteworthy. The point being, anyone can grow with a little practice!

I like to point out someone who, at first, didn’t really do a lot of drawing when I asked him. He spent five hours just coloring something, and though his coloring was good for cell shading, he wanted to do much more. ^-^ He knows how to use Photoshop and outline with the pen tool, but when he got this new program to help with poses and proportions, and blending with photoshop brushes, his artistic talent just grew!

Click to read more …

Now that it’s summer, I’m happy to say that I can draw daily. I’m in my element once again; woohoo! I haven’t done a lot of traditional art recently simply because I haven’t found my groove with that yet (I lost it over the LONG semester). However, digital art hasn’t been much of an issue, especially since the image is literally right in front of me instead of flat on a table. For those who don’t use a Wacom tablet, believe me, there is a world of difference. Especially when learning how to draw. Sometimes, stores like Best Buy offer a “Try Before You Buy” deal if you ask the sales associate (the hardware is hooked up to one of the in-store computers); if you’re curious, try this.

Anywho, but most of us use programs like Paint.net, GIMP, or Photoshop to create digital art. However, a lot of the default brushes, I find, are not as helpful as one may hope. Personally, I do like the airbrushes because of the soft colors and the softened look to the images, but sometimes, I need a little more than default brushes. Now, occassionally, I use Paint.net and GIMP, but I haven’t in awhile. So today, I’m going to focus mainly on Photoshop. So, Photoshop users, are you tired of default brushes? I am; so I’m going to show you some of the best places to find brushes for Photoshop. Here are my top three. Click to read more …

Tags: Art, Free Gimp Brushes, Free Photoshop Brushes, Gimp Brushes, Photoshop, Photoshop Brushes, Tutorials

Hello all! Tala here and it feels GOOD to say that I passed both my math and CGT class with flying colors. It wasn’t easy, it took a lot of studying and practicing, and major dedication hours in both classes, but I managed to pull it off. And what do I have here? My little animation project that I’m posting. Now, let me say this is my first full attempt at something like this, I’ve never done anything like this before but it was a lot of fun. It was all drawn on the computer using Photoshop CS2, then each picture was taken and put into flash. I’m not too great with flash, but I think I got the animation part. Some parts go fast, others look sloppy and the voice may not be completely fitting to the animation, but Click to read more …

Alex and I visited the Richard Driehaus Stained Glass Museum at Navy Pier. At first, this wasn’t our intention, for we were going to Navy Pier for some enjoyment. The weather started out good, but within an hour’s time, the sunshine gave way to heavy rain and thunderstorms; we had to stay inside and walk around the indoor mall and conference area. Thankfully, the rain led us to a diamond in the conference center: the Stained Glass Museum.

Alex and I posing in front of a funhouse mirror.

Upon the first impression, the Richard Driehaus museum was just a small dark room, but the entire conference hall was filled with the stained glass pieces. For those who don’t know, Richard Driehaus is a philanthropist from Chicago. His museum features Tiffany glass wall art, chandeliers, and windows. Most, if not all, of these pieces are from Driehaus’ personal collection (thank you for sharing!). Most of the pieces Alex and I saw were breathtakingly beautiful. Here are some of the images from our trip. Click to read more …

Tags: Angels, Chicago, Museum, Navy Pier, Navy Pier Attractions, RIchard Driehaus, RIchard Driehaus Glass Museum, Richard Driehaus Stained Glass Museum, Stained Glass

Woo! After several months of suffering, Alex, Tala, and I are back! The semester is finally over! Alex and I could have been back sooner, but we had the paper from Hell for our Chaucer class, and that zapped us big time. But it’s over now! New tutorials will be posted soon! As soon as my scanner is done being tempermental, I have a tutorial on bird wings. Later, I will be posting pictures from my and Alex’s trip to Navy Pier, where we visited the Stain Glass Museum–very beautiful! So, I will show those pictures, and Alex and I will offer some commentary on them.

In other news, we are still working on updating the site, so please be patient. Changes will come sooner than you think, so keep your eyes open. We’re still also looking for suggestions for updates, so please send us some. The suggestions can include anything from what you would like to see on our site or ideas as to how we can make our site more user friendly. Anything goes! Please help us out; this site is here for you!

There’s a brief update for now. Tonight, hopefully my scanner will work. Enjoy your days!

Mari

P.S: Alex, if you’re floating around here somewhere, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all day (since 11 this morning; it’s now 7:30). Please gimme a call!

Tags: Returning, Thoughts