Month: April 2018

Drawing The Sabertooth Cat And Other Fantasy Creatures

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Fantasy art deals in stretching the boundaries of the elements of composition to bring the subject as close to reality as possible. Book covers and illustrations help bring to life concepts such as dragons, dinosaurs, serpents, ogres, elves, and dwarves by making them look real, and thereby believable. The component of proportion, therefore, is given more attention; texture more precise; lines more meaningful; and colors more expressive. As far as making things as real as possible is concerned, it is the fantasy artist’s goal to make everything more real than reality itself, because fantasy shall always remain fantasy.

In the same way, creatures extinct today join the ranks of their fantasy counterparts that never truly existed. The only advantage the former have over the latter is that it is much easier to recreate them through the expert systematic studies available to us today. We can, therefore, come authentically close to rendering a dinosaur than a dragon, or a sabertooth cat than a werewolf.

Like the dinosaur, science has been the first to recreate the sabertooth cat in stunning detail. And the most intriguing characteristic of the sabertooth cat was its oversized canine that may have grown between three to five inches long, or more. They were said to have been plunged into the prey instantly after the sabertooth pounced out of an ambush. This provided the cat with the opportunity to munch on the victim alive even as the latter struggled in vain to freedom.

Calculate the height from the top of the cat’s nose to the bottom of its chin: this length would make a suitable length for its great canines. Artists have taken the sabertooth canines and have overused and oversized them to terrorize spectators more. At one hand, giving a tremendous length for these cutters may rob away the drama of its apparent menace and instead give the illusion of being rather cumbersome and too unwieldy for the beast. This is also a common mistake in rendering dragons, wherein the artist tends to stud the creature with too many horns until it already appears too heavy for the dragon to take to flight!

The sabertooth cat may have stood, more or less, at the same size of the Indian lion. Yet drawing it comparatively smaller is also good. The sabertooth came from a time when smaller is better; the Neandertal, their contemporary, will attest to this. Though short, it was packed with muscle.

Heavy, exaggerated musculature has never been absent among fantasy creatures. It has, in fact, come to accent the fantasy creature, be it a dragon, a dinosaur, a werewolf, a kelpie, or even a serpent. Muscles build excitement. A viewer can always expect action in the appearance of a creature with its muscles bulging. It is therefore not difficult for the artist to suggest action by indicating muscles alone.

Lastly, the sabertooth had legs shorter than the usual big cat, and had no tail. This will suggest that the beast was not a runner. Tails provide a creature balance when it has to make turns while running at considerable speed. A sabertooth cat did not go on a running match with its prospective prey; it instead made use of the ambush.

Drawing Courses Online

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If you’re seriously looking for a drawing course online that actually works, then you’ve chosen the right article to read! I’m a retired businessman – pushing 70 – with an abiding affection for art, among other things. However, being totally honest, I must admit that I can’t draw worth a hoot!

Recently, though, I’ve been reconsidering that, so this essay will be a short story about how I sorted through the many choices available to learn drawing online and reached a viable decision.

Now, before I continue, just let me say that I have over 40 years of business experience, so if you’re willing to concede that I probably know what I’m doing and can successfully determine the best option, then maybe you just want to go check it out for yourself. If so, feel free to jump ahead to the Resource Box on the bottom and click on the links there. Otherwise, please read on …

Okay, back to my story. After spending so many years of my life in schools, the U.S. Navy, and business, I can assure you that I can doodle with the best of them. I just can’t draw worth a dime! Not that I haven’t tried. Often I’ve put pencil to pad, brush to canvas, only to view the amateurish, sometimes comical, results with disappointment.

But I also know how to accomplish something when I’m properly motivated to do so. Step one is to commit to giving a 100% effort to help yourself. Step two is to find and apply the optimum expertise needed to complement your efforts and direct them successfully to help yourself!

And so I turned my attention to looking for expert help. I found that there truly is no shortage of art instruction available for consideration, both online and on campus. The key issue is finding some that work. Two major factors to analyze here are the drawing techniques being taught and the instruction methods used to teach them. Both components are needed for successfully learning to draw.

What I discovered were many online drawing courses emphasizing what to do, but considerably fewer also teaching how to do it and do it well. I feel that it is important to know that somebody can do something, yes, but if I’m seriously considering something for myself, I want to feel confident that I can do it! Don’t you?

Alright, moving on, for me to actually learn how to draw, I know that learning what to do and how to do it are essential factors. But, I also know that, realistically, the speed and ease with which learning occurs are also important elements that will contribute to my achieving success. And thus, after more evaluation, the options dwindle.

What about price? That’s important too, right? I’m not talking ‘cheap’ here, as too often I’ve found that cheap correlates with crap! But I am talking bargain, you know, best deal, most value for the least money!

Finally, I like assurances … sure things … guarantees. I like to know that if for some unforeseen reason things don’t go just as expected, then I come out no worse than I went in. I call that ‘Peace Of Mind Buying.’

OK, were any drawing online course options left after completing my analysis? You bet! I even gave it extra credit because it’s a pencil drawing course and therefore teaches drawing with an instrument I’ve been writing and doodling with for over 60 years! So, if you’re seriously looking for an art course online that actually works, then click on the links in the Resource Box below to get the full details.

Resource Box James Nelson is currently President of JuJam Enterprises Incorporated, owners and operators of numerous websites covering various subjects, all of which focus on the common theme of “Helping People Help Themselves.” If you want to learn more details on the drawing course online selected by the author, Click Here Now!. Or, you can visit their art focused website at http://www.CherArts.com/.

Get Reviews On Scale Drawing And Desk Drawing

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A scale drawing is a drawing that represents a real object. The scale of the drawing is the ratio of the size of the drawing to the actual size of the object. Plans are usually type of scale drawing, meaning that the plans are drawn in specific ratio relative to the actual size of the place or object. Various scales may be used for different drawings in a set. An architect’s scale is a specialized ruler. It is used in measuring from reduced scale drawings, such as blueprints and floor plans. It is marked with a range of calibrated scales (ratios).For accuracy and longevity the material used should be dimensionally stable and durable. Scales were traditionally made of wood, but today they are usually made of rigid plastic or aluminum. Architect’s scales may be flat, with 4 scales, or have a symmetric 3-lobed cross-section, with 6.

An engineer’s scale is a tool for measuring distances and transferring measurements at a fixed ratio of length. It is commonly made of plastic and is just over twelve inches (300 mm) long, so that the measuring ticks at the edges do not become unusable by wear. It is used in making engineering drawings, commonly called blueprints, in scale. For example, “one-tenth size” would appear on a drawing to indicate a part larger than the paper itself. It is not to be used to measure machined parts to see if they meet specifications. The engineer’s scale came into existence when machining parts required a greater precision than the usual, binary fractionalization of the inch as in the architect’s scale for houses and furniture. They were used, for example, in laying out printed circuit boards with the spacing of leads from integrated circuit chips as one-tenth of an inch.

A drawing desk is in its antique form, a kind of multipurpose desk which can be used for any kind of drawing, writing or sketching on a large sheet of paper or for reading a large format book or other oversized document or for drafting exact technical illustrations. The drawing table used to be a frequent companion to a platform desk in a gentleman’s study or private library, during the preindustrial and early industrial era. More recently engineers and draftsmen use the drawing board for making and modifying drawings on paper with ink or pencil. Different drawing instruments (set square, protractor, etc.) are used on it to draw parallel, perpendicular or oblique lines. There are instruments for drawing circles, arcs, other curves and symbols too. However, with the gradual introduction of computer aided drafting and design (CADD or CAD) in the last decades of the 20th century and the first of the 21st century, the drawing board is becoming less common.

A drawing table is also sometimes called a mechanical desk because, for several centuries, most mechanical desks were drawing tables. Despite of Computer aided drafting, many graphic designers, artists, architects and even some structural designers still rely on paper and pencil graphics produced on a drafting table. Modern drafting tables typically rely on a steel frame. Steel provides as much strength as the old oak drafting table frames and much easier portability. The steel frame allows mechanical linkages to be installed that control both the height and angle of the drafting board surface. The drafting table surface is usually covered with a thin vinyl sheet called a board cover. This provides an optimum surface for pen and pencil drafting. It allows compasses and dividers to be used without damaging the wooden surface of the board. A board cover must be frequently cleaned to prevent graphite build up from making new drawings dirty. Some drafting tables incorporate electric motors to provide the up and down and angle adjustment of the drafting table surface. These tables are at least as heavy as the original oak and brass drafting tables and so sacrifice portability for the convenience of pushbutton table adjustment.

Mechanical 2d Drafting And Mechanical 2d Drawing

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Mechanical 2D Drafting is creation of accurate representations of objects for manufacturing and engineering needs. You can also say that mechanical 2D drafting is unique process of creating accurate representations of objects for manufacturing and engineering projects. With the help of mechanical 2D drawings we can define the clarity of the projections.

Mechanical 2D drawings fully and clearly define requirements for concepts or products, and are usually created in accordance with standardized conventions for layout, nomenclature, interpretation, appearance, size, etc. Mechanical 2D drafting essentially has to accurately and clearly capture all the geometric features of a product or a component and thus convey all the required information that will allow a manufacturer to produce that component.

Mechanical 2D Drafting include services such as drawing from abstract sketches, paper to CAD Conversions, Image to DWG formats ,mechanical parts and components, assembly drawings, fabrication drawings, piping diagrams, translation to other 3D Software etc. One extension of 2D drafting is 3D wire frame. Each line has to be manually inserted into the drawing. The final product has no mass properties associated with it and cannot have features directly added to it, such as holes.

Mechanical 2D Drafting and 2D Drawings services includes following services:

Mechanical Cad Drafting
Conceptual Layout
Machine Design
2D View of Assembly
Individual Part Drawings
Correction or Modifying Existing Drawing
Diagram of P & I

Mechanical 2D drafting systems are a big improvement over traditional hand drafting, doing away with all the complications of scale and placement on the drawing sheet. Your engineering problems can often be solved most effectively by outsourcing your mechanical 2D drafting services to best outsourcing services Provider Company so that they can solve your technical issues using latest software. When time is the main issue for you and you are facing new technical challenges, you can quickly and easily get the help of experienced CAD team of your best outsourcing partner.

Using The Drawing Toolbar In Word

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When I worked at a local video store I would often make posters to advertise various promotions using the Drawing toolbar in Microsoft Word. These were fairly basic graphics but they served a purpose. One such poster attracted the attention of my youngest son who asked me to show him how I created these drawing objects. I showed him how to transform a blank page into an amusing full-size drawing object in no time at all.

First of all I pulled out a circle on the page. At this stage the size of the circle was not important; I just kept it a comfortable size to work with. Then I pulled out another, smaller circle which I positioned in the centre of the original one. I highlighted this inner circle and filled it black. I made a third, even smaller circle, which I positioned on the inside edge of the black circle in the north-east compass point position. This is a basic cartoon eye, complete with white spot of reflection.

To make the eye an individual object rather than three separate ones, I held down the Shift key and selected all three circles. Going to Draw/Group I converted the eyeball into a drawing object that could be resized and moved as a single unit. I highlighted the eye and copied and pasted to make a pair, which I positioned side by side. I pulled out a small ellipse for a nose, which I slid into position under the eyes.

To make a mouth I went into AutoShapes/Basic Shapes and selected the crescent. This appeared upright on the page so I used the rotate tool to take it through ninety degrees and make a crude smile. I positioned this under the nose and then grouped all the objects together to keep the elements of my face in position.

The next stage was to make the head – a simple portrait ellipse pulled out onto the page. I highlighted this and selected No Fill so that I could see the face through it when positioning and sizing. When I had positioned the head satisfactorily around the features of the face, I selected the head ellipse and filled it Tan. This move caused the face to disappear beneath a solid block of colour but, with the head still selected, I clicked on Draw/Order/Send to Back. This brought the features of the face to the front and I highlighted and filled the nose in Tan as well, but left the smile white.

I went back to AutoShapes/Basic Shapes and selected the Block Arc shape. Again this needed to be rotated through ninety degrees, and after I’d done this I resized it to make a basic ear shape. I filled this Tan and positioned it on the side of the head, resizing and repositioning until I was happy with it. I used the Send to Back function again so that only the curve of the ear was visible. Just as with the eyes I made an identical ear with Copy and Paste. There was another stage this time, however, as I wanted a mirror image for the opposite ear. I did this simply by selecting my new ear and going to Draw/Rotate or Flip/Flip Horizontal. I positioned the flipped ear as I had with the first one and used Send to Back to hide the unwanted parts. Et voila a basic smiling face.

I added a flat cap to the face by pulling out a pair of ellipses, positioning a long narrow one at the front for a peak. Having grouped and resized these I positioned them on the head and that was the end of the drawing part of the operation.

Using the Shift key I grouped all the separate parts of the drawing and reduced the size of the head till it took up only a small area of the page. I copied this and pasted it so I had two identical heads, which I positioned side by side and then grouped together. I used copy and paste again to make four heads, which I lined up and grouped again. I created eight and then sixteen heads all in a row, and then grouped and copied the entire row and pasted it, lining it up below the original one. I continued pasting until I had filled the entire page with identical smiling cartoon faces.

Not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but a good demonstration of how to use the drawing tools of Microsoft Word. My son soon picked up the techniques and he produced a very similar page with only minimal prompting from me. And during the creation of this image he familiarised himself with such functions as pulling out shapes, fill, group and ungroup, rotate, send to back, resize autoshapes and flip.

Obviously, as Word is not specifically a graphic design application it does not have the capabilities of a dedicated drawing program. It does though have a very useful and easy to use toolbar that can create drawing objects to add style and colour to your documents. There is a lot more to the drawing capabilities of Word than the cartoon faces I created, and learning how to use them will demonstrate that Word is far more than a computerised typewriter

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