relaxing-with-chocolate:

Oh Japan how you never stop amazing me with your sweet treats ♥

compassionalert:

http://undertheinfluenceabovetheclouds.tumblr.com is dealing with  lot; let them know we care. 

Orange Alert -  possible suicide risk

Please only ‘like’ this post if you are responding to it, so that we can tell who has been helped and who still needs help. If you are not responding but want to help, please reblog rather than ‘like’ to avoid misleading us about who has been assisted.

Please visit compassionalert.tumblr.com for more alerts like this.

mswyrr:

goldenalbatross:

fire-kissed:

adriofthedead:

fairy-wren:

expressive peregrine falcons

(photos by sdwildgene)

Thespian falcon.

#to fly or not to fly—that is the question #whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the gusts and winds of outrageous fortune #or to take wing against a sea of fish and by opposing eat them 

TO FLY - TO SWEEP, 
NO MORE; AND BY A SWEEP TO SAY WE END
THE HEARTACHE AND THE THOUSAND NATURAL FLOCKS
THAT FISH IS HEIR TO: ‘TIS A CONSUMMATION
DEVOUTLY TO BE WISHED. TO FLY, TO SWEEP;
TO SWEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM - AY, THERE’S THE GRUB:
FOR IN THAT SWEEP OF DEATH WHAT STREAMS MAY COME

when we have molted off these mortal feathers,

must give us pause. there’s the respect

that makes calamity of so long meals.

for who would bear the winters and famines of time?

th’poacher’s wrong, the large bird’s contumely,

the pangs of despised love, the daylight’s delay,

the insolence of prey, and the spurns that

patient merit of th’unworthy take,

when he himself might his quietus make

with a bare bird claw? who would fardels bear

to squawk and caw under a weary life,

but that the dread of something after food,

the unrelenting hunger, from whose clutches

no hunter returns, puzzles the will.

and makes us rather bear those ills we have

than fly to others we know not of?

thus hunger does make fools of us all.

(Source: translucent-moons)

compassionalert:

http://happiness-is-on-my-to-do-list.tumblr.com (SI and Suicide Trigger Warning) has been very suicidal lately. Please send her some love.

Red Alert - very high or definite suicide risk

Please only ‘like’ this post if you are responding to it, so that we can tell who has been helped and who still needs help. If you are not responding but want to help, please reblog rather than ‘like’ to avoid misleading us about who has been assisted.

Please visit compassionalert.tumblr.com for more alerts like this.

mooderino:

This is something I struggle with, and I’m not speaking about poorly written characters, I’m talking about the kind of story that starts off slow and then builds. I’m going to go over some of the problems I’ve encountered (in my own and other people’s works) and then later I’ll go into some solutions which I’ve thought of (but can never seem to implement in my own stories).

If your story has a normal guy (or gal) and then through the story things happen and they change, that is a legitimate story structure. But if at the start your character has many negative traits, and by that I mean they predominantly DON’T want to do stuff (they’re shy, they’re aimless, they’re afraid of taking a chance) it can make for a very slow, pedestrian start to the book. Obviously you want to provide a contrast, show their transformation, but boring is boring, whatever the reason.

Often writers use one (or all ) of the following excuses:

Read More

that70srpc:

I find that, when writing bios, it’s really helpful to look at a list or a chart like the one above. Picking two or three traits from each chart and building a character based around them will give you a really interesting bio, because they will serve as a reminder that characters need depth and dimension.

Independent and clever.

VS.

Independent, clever, pretentious, and stubborn.

The first combination doesn’t come with any flaws, whereas the second will provide a more dynamic character.

dredsina:

[Part 2.5]

Here is a quick draw-over I did recently of some student storyboard work. The particular sequence at hand was a first attempt at storyboarding, which I was quite impressed with. I had a few notes and ideas for her, things I felt she could look to incorporate into her storyboards as she moves forward, that I believe will help take her work to the next level.

I focused on a single panel to clearly illustrate the principles. Below is a step-by-step progression of my draw-over.

1. Original Panel From Student Sequence:

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dredsina:

dredsina:

[Part 3]

These next few tip sheets examine the elements of design; line, shape, space and value, and how to incorporate them into your storyboards to help direct the eye and clarify information. The focus here is not the cinematics of stroyboarding but the execution of idea to paper and ultimately how to utilize design principles to achieve desired results in an efficient way within a given panel or shot. Storyboarding is not necessarily about drawing ‘good’ but drawing effective.

NOTE: There are two other elements of design, texture and color. However they would only be used in rare cases with storyboards and when employed probably wouldn’t be for design purposes but most likely for clarification (I.e. using colors to keep track of specific objects of similar size and shape in a given sequence, such as stones or gems, that each have varying story-specific trajectories).

Below are a few examples of how incorporating varying line thickness into a panel can help clarify not only the information presented, but the depth of the shot.

[Click to expand]

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fornax:

Alright so here is a very wordy/slapped together tutorial for how I study faces! Specifically for how I go about identifying and translating traits into less realistic versions. Hopefully my random notes make some sense, but if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an ask!

I used Chris Pine because I haven’t drawn him before, and I figured it would make the process more genuine.

Full resolution here!

(Source: kreugan)

dredsina:

I decided I would post it on my main blog too

No apologies

dredsina:

I was asked to draw a tutorial on making the body out of basic shapes, and I realized I used line segments for the limbs and spine…but that’s pretty basic, eh?

dredsina:

[EDIT: If you’ve clicked here from another blog, I’m here to tell you I fixed all the links, so if you had tried the broken links before the jump, they should work now.]

[Taken from a post by briggsy@ashtons on the ConceptArt.org forums. There are many more links in the original thread, but I abridged it in a sort of futile attempt at brevity.]

Archive.org has been around for years, but there has been a HUGE influx of new art titles in the last few months. To search, make sure you select “texts” in the second box. To download, click “FTP” and save to disc either the pdf or the (generally much smaller) DjVu file. Both consist of page images with linked text files, which means that the text is searchable.

Bridgman, George B., 1939. The Human Machine.
http://www.archive.org/details/humanmachinethea009564mbp
Bridgman, George B., 1920. Constructive anatomy
http://www.archive.org/details/constructiveanat00briduoft
Blake, Vernon, 1927. The Art And Craft Of Drawing
http://www.archive.org/details/artandcraftofdra027904mbp
Crane, Walter, 1914. Line & Form.
http://www.archive.org/details/lineform00cranuoft
De Laszlo, 1934. Painting a Portrait.
http://www.archive.org/details/paintingaportrai000674mbp
Eastlake, Sir Charles Lock. Methods And Materials Of Painting Of The Great Schools And Masters
Volume One
http://www.archive.org/details/handbookofpainti01kugliala
Volume Two.
http://www.archive.org/details/methodsandmateri011267mbp
Guptill, Arthur Leighton,1922. Sketching and Rendering in Pencil.
http://www.archive.org/details/sketchingrenderi00guptuoft
Holmes, C. J. 1920. Notes on the science of picture-making.
http://www.archive.org/details/notesonscienceof00holmuoft
Poore, Henry Rankin, 1903. Pictorial composition and the critical judgment of pictures.
http://www.archive.org/details/pictorialcomposi00pooruoft
Ross, Denman Waldo, 1907. A theory of pure design; harmony, balance, rhythm.
http://www.archive.org/details/theoryofpuredesi00rossuoft
Ruskin, John. The elements of drawing (1920 edition).
http://www.archive.org/details/elementsofdraw00ruskuoft
Richter, Jean Paul, The literary works of Leonardo da Vinci (Volume 1 and 2).
The same illustrated edition of Leonardo notebooks that was reprinted by Dover.
http://www.archive.org/details/literaryworksofl01leonuoft
http://www.archive.org/details/literaryworksofl02leonuoft
Stone, Irving And Jean, 1962. I, Michelangelo, Sculptor (Michelangelo’s Letters).
http://www.archive.org/details/IMichelangeloSculptor
Whistler, James McNeill, 1909. The gentle art of making enemies, as pleasingly exemplified in many instances, wherein the serious ones of this earth, carefully exasperated, have been prettily spurred on to unseemliness and indiscretion, while overcome by an undue sense of right.
http://www.archive.org/details/gentleartofmakin00whisuoft
Ludovici, Anthony Mario, 1912 - The letters of a post-impressionist; being the familiar correspondence of Vincent van Gogh.
http://www.archive.org/details/lettersofpostimp00goghuoft
Gauguin, Paul, 1919. Noa Noa. Translated from the French by O.F. Theis.
http://www.archive.org/details/noanoatranslated00gauguoft
Vasari, Giorgio. Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors & architects (complete in ten volumes).
http://www.archive.org/details/livesofmostemine01vasauoft
to
http://www.archive.org/details/livesofmostemine10vasauoft
Clark, Kenneth, 1952. Leonardo Da Vinci An Account Of His Development As An Artist.
http://www.archive.org/details/leonardodavincia013645mbp
Hind, Charles Lewis. Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.
http://www.archive.org/details/drawingsofleonar00leonuoft
Mount, Charles Merrill, 1955. John Singer Sargent - A Biography.
http://www.archive.org/details/johnsingersargen000439mbp
Marillier, H. C. 1912. The Early Work of Aubrey Beardsley.
http://www.archive.org/details/earlyworkwithpre00bearuoft
The later work of Aubrey Beardsley.
http://www.archive.org/details/laterworkofaubre00bearuoft
Quennell, Peter, 1955. Hogarth’s Progress.
http://www.archive.org/details/hogarthsprogress011296mbp
Clapp, 1916 - Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo, his life and work.
http://www.archive.org/details/jacopocaruccidap00clapuoft
Panofsky, Erwin, 1955. The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer.
The classic study of Durer
http://www.archive.org/details/lifeandartofalbr000686mbp
Strange, Edward Fairbrother, 1906. Hokusai, the old man mad with painting.
http://www.archive.org/details/hokusaioldmanmad00strauoft
Whistler (lots)
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=whistler%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts%20AND%20collection%3Atoronto%20AND%20subject%3A%22Whistler%2C%20James%20McNeill%2C%201834-1903%22
Clark, Kenneth. The Romantic Rebellion.
http://www.archive.org/details/TheRomanticRebellion
Clark, Kenneth, 1949. Landscape into Art.
http://www.archive.org/details/landscapeintoart000630mbp
Panofsky, Erwin, 1955. Meaning In The Visual Arts - Papers In and On Art History.
http://www.archive.org/details/meaninginthevisu010505mbp

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horrormoans:

horrormoans:

How to Draw the Proportions of the Adult Male (by Sycra)

Reblogging this again because I’ve watched it twice and it’s helped a lot. Seriously, if you’ve been having issues with anatomy and what things simplified, watch these videos, they’re a huge, huge, huge help.