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

Hi everybody; Marisol here. I’m sick today, so I didn’t prepare a real tutorial. I haven’t posted in a while because I bought a Nintendo DS (yay!) with my tax return, and I’ve been sick. I think I have a cold or the flu, but I rebound quickly. Let me update you on a few things, though.

This has been quite the interesting week for Alex and me. Monday, our linguistics class was cancelled, so we went and sold some movies and got a Super Nintendo! Yay! Too bad there was no AV plug.

Finally, today, Alex and I were about to get attacked by some angry guy in a purple Ford Ranger. It was my and Alex’s turn at the stop sign, so it was our turn to go. Well, Mr. Purple Truck decided to pull out in front of us as we were going through the stop sign. He honked at us even though it wasn’t his turn to go; Alex honked at him. The guy in the purple truck pulled over, swung his door open, and was rushing up to our car ready to fight! Alex drove off and we thought the guy was gunna follow us to fight! People… sheesh! Crazy, crazy people.

Okay, so our week wasn’t that eventful. Oh well. Good stuff, anyway. Tala should tell you guys about HER week!

Okay, so someone recently asked me about shading techniques and how to not make drawings seem so sketchy. Well, I have some tips to offer. Ready to begin? Awesome! Click to read more …

Tags: Art Tutorial, Blending, blending tutorial, crosshatch shading, how to blend colors, How To Shade, shading, Shading Tutorial, traditional Art

Some days, I wonder why I even bother to wake up; today is one of those days. The coffee pot died, the washer is dying, and the basement toilet is getting worse thanks in part to Alex for flushing the toilet paper holder thingy. To top everything off, I have a load of homework and articles to do, and my beloved best friend hasn’t spoken to me in four days and I don’t understand why. Alex and I have yet to receive an explanation. I texted her and called, but she won’t answer her phone at all, let alone kindly acknowledge the fact that I text messaged even though it costs me a huge sum of money. So, another weekend and more money out the window.

Once upon a time, when I was little girl in old country…

I don’t know where that came from. There’s way too much noise here today and I can’t think straight. My parents are fighting and I’m sitting right in the middle of it all. Why? I have nowhere else to go currently. My computer desk in my room is all cluttered with a lot of stuff that doesn’t even belong to me (spring cleaning, so my room is a storage depot), it’s freezing in my basement (the heater is on the fritz, too. Burning hair anyone?), and my niece is in her room. Sometimes, I just wish I could b*tchslap them all, scream “shut up,” and go on my merry way. I want a car BADLY, then I can escape.

How about a tutorial, guys? I think a tutorial would work; I need to keep my mind off things. Alex did an arm tutorial yesterday, which I was going to do today, but I will shelve that for awhile. How about we work on the lower half of the anatomy and create legs? Legs are fairly easy to draw, so this will be a simple tutorial. We’re just going to draw straight legs today, no bends or movement yet. Ready to begin? Since I’m short on time and have a lot of things to do, I’m going to use an art tutorial I created for another website last summer.

Click to read more …

Tags: Anatomy Drawing, Art Tutorial, Broken Appliances, Chewbacca, Digital Art, drawing tutorial, How to Draw Legs, Leg Definition Drawing, Leg Drawing, Leg Drawing Tutorial, Leg Sketching, Patron Saint of Appliances, Pencil Drawing, Photoshop, Scanner, Simple Leg Tutorial, Sketching Tutorial, Star Wars, traditional Art, Traditional Art Tutorial

Alex and I, I think, feel very lucky today. Yesterday, there was an apartment fire at the place we were going to live at. Unfortunately, someone lost their life–very tragic! God needed an angel by his side and unfortunately… however, the fire occurred at the apartments that Alex and I were originally going to live at! If we were there, we’d be dead or homeless right now. I’d say we are lucky. May God bless this girl’s family and I hope her family remembers recover from their injuries.

I’m suppose to be studying for a Linguistics quiz right now, but I’m very far behind on things. I have six articles I need to write for Demand Studios, two blogs for Divine Carol/Country Living, help Alex with some of his blogs (if he would ever sign online and let me know where he needs help at) and I need to come up with a ten page paper for my other job. Yes, for my tutoring job, we need to write papers to be reviewed. We also need community service. What is that? That place is ticking me off something horrible and I’m terribly close to quitting. If it wasn’t for the fact that I like working with the International students, I would leave. But, I guess I should be grateful for the fact that I have a job, that I’m not amongst the unemployed. But everything is looking desperate anymore. C’est la vie. However, yesterday, Alex and I developed a plan that would fix the economy for awhile… now if we could run for joint presidency…

On Valentine’s Day, the best possible thing happened. *Jumps around excitedly.* Pitchers and catchers reported for spring training! YES! The baseball season is right around the corner (Go Yankees! Go Cubs!)! Woohoo! And today is the Daytona 500! I hope my beloved Denny Hamlin wins! He’s my Sunday boyfriend, unless he races in the Nationwide Series on Saturday, then he’s my Saturday and Sunday boyfriend. All my boys of summer are back. Feel the speed, smell the green! Boogity, boogity, boogity! Let’s go racin’ boys! Play ball!

As mentioned, yesterday was Valentine’s Day. Alex and I went out to breakfast, went to the mall, took a long walk, had smoothies, went for dessert, went to Borders, and watched a movie called Towelhead (if you haven’t seen this movie or read the book, I recommend you do). It was a simple day, overall. I like simple, but I guess there’s a part of me that yearns for more romance. I guess I’m just a hopeless romantic at heart: always hoping for more.  I guess the romantic side of me is the side that wishes for “the next step,” even though it scares me at the same time. I’m very afraid of that “next step” because of the drama it will cause. I’m tired of drama, fearful of monster in-laws, and all the meddling. Thinking of that “next step” makes me anxious–good and bad. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t want a whole big shabang, instead, eloping sounds nice. Think of the money we’d save! But, taking that step is just a distant and frightening thought. I’m not going to bother with it any longer. But, I’d give up my heart for him, since he already owns it.

So what kind of tutorial shall we do today? I’m not exactly sure what I have to offer today. Since I haven’t had time to draw in awhile, I’m going to have to use a tutorial I did over the summer for another website. Let me see… how about how to draw elf ears? I promised an ear tutorial a long time ago, so I guess this counts. Click to read more …

Tags: Angles, Art Tutorial, Baseball, Bewitched, Boogity boogity boogity Let's go racin' boys, Chicago Cubs, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Daytona 500, Denny Hamlin, Digital Art Tutorial, drawing, Drawing Ears, drawing tutorial, Ear Drawing Tutorial, Ear Tutorial, economy, Elf Ear Tutorial, Elf Ears, Face Tutorial, films, fires, How to Draw Elf Ears, how to draw faces, How To Shade, Jimmy Wayne, Major League Baseball Spring Training 2009, Matt Kenseth, MLB, Movie TOwelhead, Movies, New York Yankees, romance, Shading Tutorial, Sketching Lines, Sketching Tutorial, Towelhead, Towelhead movie, Tracing Tutorial, traditional Art, traditional drawing, Traditional Shading Tutorial, Tutorial, Valentine's Day

It’s me again, what a surprise, huh? Now I am officially convinced that I am the last writer left on this website. Alex promised me the other day that he would be participating more, but that has yet to happen. But then again, I am not surprised by that, nor am I not surprised by Tala’s absence. As I sit here typing this, I see tumbleweeds bouncing across the workplace desert. I can call out to Alex and Tala, but I get is a lonesome echo-echo-echo-echo, which somehow reminded me that I need to print my Borders coupon. I get free coffee, yay! life is better when there is free coffee, that is a lesson I learned very early on in life. So kids, enjoy your coffee!

I’m sitting at work today, bored as hell. Why? No sessions (THANK YOU LORD!). This is good, since I can now write a post. When I signed on the computer today, I saw a lovely email from someone who ordered something from me on Ebay. Her item didn’t arrive yet and I shipped it over a week ago. Her solution? Send her another DVD. Pardon? I was only selling one to begin with, so how can I send another if I only had one? Once the item is shipped, it is out of my hands and I cannot predict what happens from that point on. I am an innocent victim to a horrendous mail crime, I tell ya!

On Monday and Tuesday, I watched the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, and I gotta say, I was happy that the Sussex Spaniel won Best in Show. Being a spaniel person–my 16 year old Cocker Spaniel passed away almost three years ago–I am happy to see when the those floppy eared, soulful-eyed, and sweet puppies win something. Stump was a cute dog and an old man–70 years old in dog years– and he kicked all the young dogs’ butts! How do you like that? Never underestimate the power of the elderly.

In honor of the dog show, I’m going to show you to create dog fur. I probably should show you how to draw the dog first, but this is me and I like to do things backwards. Fur is an easy thing to draw because all it is is a bunch of lines that are packed together, much like hair. Hair was fun to draw, right folks? I hope so. So shall we begin with drawing the fur? Let’s go! Click to read more …

Tags: Art Tutorial, Bookstores, Borders Books, Dog Drawing, Dog Show, Dogs, drawing, Drawing Dogs, Drawing Fur, Drawing Guidelines, drawing tutorial, EBay Rant, Free Coffee, Fur Tutorial, Realism Tutorial, Realistic Drawing, Realistic Fur Tutorial, Skecthing Tutorial, sketching, traditional Art, Traditional Art Tutorial, Westminster Kennel CLub Dog Show

I think about weird things when I’m stressed and/or angry. It’s been one of those weeks again, but I will spare you all and not go into detail. All I know is that things aren’t getting any better for me.

While I was brushing my teeth this morning, a thought crossed my mind (and I assure you, I didn’t hurt myself thinking). When I was in fifth grade many moons ago, a friend of mine (whom is now in the Air Force) and I took an art class at one of the local community centers. The art program at our elementary school honored us with free art classes because we were considered “gifted artists” (I wonder what happened to me ). Every Wednesday, she and I would make the pilgrimage over to the Center of Visual and Performing Arts for our two hour art classes. I remember that this was when Beanie Babies were big, so most people brought Beanie Babies to draw (not really; Nikki and I were the only one’s under 50). Our art instructor didn’t find this amusing at all; she wanted us to learn how to draw serious art. Click to read more …

Tags: Art, Art Class, Art Teacher, drawing, How to Draw, How to Draw Sunflowers, Shadinh, Sunflowers, traditional Art

Good morning, everyone, if you consider this a good morning. It is currently a balmy 18 degrees out with six inches of fresh powder covering my lawn. The Chicagoland area was inundated with snow last night, and even though it’s pretty, I don’t like it. I’m not a fan of snow; only on Christmas. Christmas snow is magical.

It’s currently really early for me, too. I could not sleep a wink last night for some reason, yet, I was very tired. Personally, it sucks. I’m very tired and I have that somewhat dizzy feeling I usually get when I’m very tired. It sucks more because, today, Alex and I are suppose to go back to Artist’s Square to do some antique shopping. I better get a lot of coffee in me, or else I’m not going to survive the day.

*Yawns*

I have an idea. How about instead of me rambling on about how tired I am, how about we do another tutorial? We’ve done hair–digital, long, short, and medium length–eyes, lips, but we haven’t structured a full face. I have three methods for structuring a face: anime style, unfeatured, and features first. Today, I’m going to use a style that I’m totally unaccustom to: unfeatured. This is going to be scary.

*Rubs eyes and yawns again*

Now, dearest Mari, what is an unfeatured face, you–our wonderful, yet mysterious viewers–may ask. The answer is simple, my friends. An unfeatured face is a face structure you draw BEFORE adding the eyes, nose, and mouth. I usually draw all my facial features before, THEN add the face around it, then a friend of mine–who is totally annoying me at the moment, but that’s a rant for another time–pointed out that, sometimes, my faces look goofy because I do things that way. Well, poo on him. To each their own, I suppose. But anyway, that is besides the point. So, I figured I’d try doing the face structure FIRST, then add the features. Now every character I draw kinda looks like Jennifer Aniston. Hopefully, this will not be the case for you!

Additionally, for this tutorial, I apologize for my shading looking very dark and askew. My family, for some reason, has an aversion to using lights in my house. I think it has to do with NIPSCO raising the electric bill 50% or something. Eep!

Now for the tutorial!

FACE STRUCTURE Click to read more …

Tags: Adobe Photoshop, anime, Art, Artists, Crown Point Indiana, Digital Art, drawing, Eyes, face, guidelines, Lips, midtones, Nose, Pencil Art, Pencil Drawing, Photoshop, photoshop elements, Photoshop Tutorial, shading, traditional Art, Tutorial, wings

Awhile back, I promised that I would create a lip tutorial. Well, I finally arrived at that time. Lips are essential to drawings involving people. Sure, you can draw just a straight line, but on realistic drawings, a straight line can look pretty silly. So, we’re going to create lips and smiles and frowns. Lips are great. With lips, you can kiss, and kissing is nice. Hehehehe. Well, are you ready for the tutorial? Let’s go! Click to read more …

Tags: art books, circles, Digital Art, drawing, drawing books, electric erasers, lines, Lips, Photoshop, traditional Art, Tutorials

Hiya! Marisol here with another tutorial for you, oh mysterious viewers. As you may recall, I’ve shown y’all how to draw hair, how to draw eyes, how to color using Adobe Photoshop, but I’ve yet to show you how to shade… oh noes! I wonder why I haven’t yet, I mean, shading IS very important, especially since shading is needed to make a drawing have depth. Anyway, what good is a drawing if it just has eyes and good hair (which reminds me, I still need to do a lip tutorial and a nose tutorial)? So how about we learn to shade? Click to read more …

Tags: Adobe Photoshop, Celebrity Drawing, Pencil Sketching, Photoshop, shading, traditional Art, traditional drawing

Part One of the Hair Trilogy

Part Two of the Hair Trilogy

How to Draw a Long Hair Explosion!

Hello to you all! This is the last hair tutorial from me for awhile. I got really carried away with the drawing, but I created a bunch of new hairstyles that I’m going to put on my characters. Today I’m playing around with long hair. The really great thing about long hair is that there’s really no limit to what you can do with it. And long hair looks so… cool. *(^_^)*

Lengthening the hair on a character means only one thing… HAIR EXPLOSION! That’s right. Bangs, strands, flips, curls, and dos can go all over the place.

I really, really love drawing long hair. Hair can have a fine, coarse, or wirey texture. People with drier hair have all sorts of curls that flow and bounce all over the head like they’re taking over the joint. Wetter hair is long and free-spirited, blowing whereever the wind wants to take it. Some hair-owners try to make their hair symmetrical and pretty, while others let hair go wherever they want it to. The wilder the hair, the more interesting it is to look at.

I’ve seen cartoon hair in three styles. The most common seems to be the angle look, since the really sharp edges of the angle show up really nice on a cartoon. Figure one shows the basic principles of the angles. Lazier artists draw huge gobs of hair and then fill these gobs in with lines. But these gobs of hair can look really great, especially if colored well. You can see the gobs of hair in figure 2. They have a really nice cartoon look to them. But if you’re going for a much more realistic look, you might want to try drawing each strand individually. There’s really no limit to how realistic you can make each strand of hair, but you should keep two things in mind. The more realistic you make your hair, the more realistic you should make the rest of the character. Also, the more realistic you make the hair, the longer it will take to draw the entire head of hair. Really, there’s no limit to how detailed you can make a head of hair.

Figure 1                     Figure 2

Click to read more …

Tags: anime, Art, bangs, cartoon, cartoon drawing, comb, curly, Digital Art, do, draw, drawing tutorial, forehead, hair, hairbrush, hairstyle, how to draw cartoons, illustration, manga, paintbrush tool, scalp, sketch, sketching, spikey, spiky, strands, traditional Art, Tutorial, widow's peak