Coloring Inside the Lines

Home Decorating Tips

2011-08-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

Is your bedroom wall looking bare? Do you watch home decorating shows and say how do they do that?

Well I am going to show you simple ways to spruce up your home. These tips are very budget-friendly and will really brighten up your home.

Idea 1: Chalkboard walls

This is a great idea for those individuals who have a home office or study: This is a great way to keep a fun calendar and all u have to do it use chalk for the lines for dates. Or in the kitchen for shopping lists and other things.

Step 1 - Choose a wall and prep the wall for painting

Follow cleaning and prepping instructions on the paint container or simply wipe the wall to remove dirt with a mild soap and warm water. Then tape off the area using painter's tape for your chalkboard you can mark off a square, rectangle, or and shape space you want.

Step 2 - Paint Your Chalkboard

Now apply a blackboard paint for walls and allow to dry according to the paint containers instructions.

Step 3 - Decorate

You can add molding to your board for decoration, if you want to. You can even use stickers.

More soon.

Eco-friendly Ideas for artists

2011-08-09T17:21:00.000-07:00

With everyone trying to become more eco-friendly, I decided to offer some tips on being an artist:

Power down your computer:

This is great when you're having artist block.

Change your light bulbs:

This a great way to save power for anyone. Energy saving bulbs can seriously reduce your energy uses. Changing bulbs at your workspace is another great way you can save energy.

Tutorial: Working to make your own pin on badge insert

2011-08-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

This is a tutorial to make a badge for a pin-on badge insert. You can buy a set of insertable snap on plastic badges from a store and print out the design with a printer.

Seed Bead Hair Pin

2011-08-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

I bought a medium bag of seed beads from my local fabric store and I made a bracelet that I wanted for some time. Now I have no idea what I am gonna do with it after. So then one day I was styling my hair and saw that my hair pins were all plain looking. So then seed beads and pins equals fun time.

I used one hair pin.

Then I used a glue gun and covered the top half of the pin with glue then I quickly dipped it in the seed beads and waited for the pin to dry and dusted off the extra none sticking beads

Then, voila! Hair pin boring no more!

Art projects to pass time

2011-08-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to spiff up your living room with some new art but hated the prices of random wall art in stores?

Well, I have a great suggestion on how to make your walls sing with new art and add a new edge to your home with custom wall art.

Many people have cans of spray paint or wall paint that are just lying around house. So why not recycle the leftover paint and make your home look prettier. And all you'll need is a frame, some paint (wall paint/spray paint), and some cardboard, and imagination.

Step one: Choose your color.
Step two: Choose a frame.

Step three: Let your imagination go wild by painting various designs on the cardboard.

Step four: Allow the paint to dry for at least 30 minutes.

Step five: Frame the art and enjoy your new masterpiece.

Abstract!

2011-07-20T04:33:00.000-07:00

Ever seen paintings that have a large amount of paint splatters or various shapes?

Well, those were probably abstract paintings.

You can create an abstract in many ways:

1. Dripping paint on a canvas in various ways
2. Painting various shapes in various colors.
3. Or simply let your imagination go wild on the page

Photography tutorial 1

2011-07-19T18:05:00.000-07:00

Hey there, this is one of my first posts about the art of photography. I personally have an interest in photography and i decided to do a tutorial on photography because we sometimes need pics to paint or draw from and post online.

There are some things to take into consideration when taking pics to draw from or just for fun.

1. Photo quality
2. Lighting
3. Camera quality

Photo quality is easily explained. If you take a bad picture, it's may not be good to paint to from or to post online. This can range in how blurry it is to little or too much lighting.

Lighting: that's glaring or a pic that is too dark is usually just as bad as a blurry one.

And camera quality can cause all of the previously mentioned issues.

That's all I have for now.

More to come.

Drawing Inspiration

2011-07-19T17:52:00.000-07:00

Ever looked up at the sky and saw saw a cloud that looked like a bunny?

Well, looking at the clouds and finding shapes is a fun way to pass the time sometimes, but it is also a great way to get art inspiration as well as get over artist's block.

You can sit outside and draw out the shape you saw in the sky. You can even adapt your artwork as the clouds change.

You can even just paint the sky as you see it: cloud bunnies and etc.

Tutorial 3: Pencil Grades

2011-07-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

There are different grades of drawing pencils that range in hardness and softness.

Hardness: The "H" that you see on a pencil stands for the hardness of the graphite.
Blackness: The B stands for darkness of the graphite of a pencil

2 HB: This type of pencil is the most common among schools and most people have come in contact with this type. This pencil has medium softness and hardness.

Pencils range from 9H to 9B. 9H has an extremely hard graphite to 9B which is the extremely soft graphite.

Choosing art supplies

2011-07-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

When choosing art supplies such as drawing or sketching pencils or paints, one needs to consider many things.

Things to consider:

1. Artistic level: beginner, intermediate, or advanced
2. Budget
3. Quality

I'll explain each in depth below:

Artistic level

Begineers are people who are just starting out and either have a mad passion about drawing and can already draw or are the people who want to draw but can't really draw.

Either way, a beginner needs to focus on honing their skills (which any level artist needs to do). They need to master the various basic steps of drawing.

They need to practice sketching, shading, and learning their tools.

Beginners should'nt really bother spending hundreds of bucks on the professional level colored pencils or markers but should start with the art supply they can find in any store with an art section.

Good starter tools for beginners are: student grade colored pencils, drawing pencils that range from HB to 8B (i'll explain later), plain computer paper, and a decenly priced skecthbook.

Budget

This is how much you afford to pay for art supplies because not every one can afford to spend hundreds on supplies when you can spend 10 or 20 bucks on student grade products and get both a large pack of colored pencils or markers and get a sketchbook too.

Quality

The quality of art supplies sometimes depends on the price. The more expensive option is sometimes better.
For example, in colored pencil that are more expensive can lay down more vibrant color and has a creamier and smoother consistency.

However, student grade supplies can be just as good.

Remember: An artist's tool does not define the artist.

Tutorial 2: Art Notebook

2011-07-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hi, again. This is less of a tutorial and more of good advice. I like many people need to stay organized and cannot take the search for papers and other theings that easily get misplaced. I also cannot stand having a great idea for a painting or something really cool and having something on tv pop up or have someone distract me from my artistic brainstorm and having that idea go poof. Even writing it down can result in lost notes and frustration.

To fix this, I keep a little notebook with me, something you can find in any store in the school aisle. Little notebooks like this are pocket sized (4 x 3 in.) and are great for jotting down ideas or even making little simple sketches in.

However, sometimes, you may want to draw something on the spot. So in that case you will need something along the line as a field sketchbook like a cute little 5"x7" hardcover sketchbook (my preference) to quickly pencil in a landscape sketch or etc.

Tutorial 1: How to give presence to a character

2011-07-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

When drawing one can utilize various line weights to give different effects on a characters presence.
And in the this post I am going to teach you how to do that.

A character with a thick heavy line on the outside of the character gives the character a "here I am" appearance and means that the character is not meant to be in the background.

*sorry, I don't have an example. Picture the thin-lined example but with way thicker lines.

Similarly, A character with a thin line can easily slip into the background behind text or other graphics.

Also, a character with no lines can definitely slip into the background and offers a lighter if not slightly whimsical appearance.

2011-06-27T05:56:00.000-07:00

Meet one of the first in a series of hamster ninjas that I will be uploading: This little guy is called Blue. I know. Obvious. But cute, isn't he?

Videos on how I made him coming soon.

Where art and silliness meet

2011-06-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hi,

This is my first post on my blog, Coloring inside the lines. I want to show how to do some art tutorials like drawing different characters, designing your own characters, using art programs, and even desigining your own skateboards. The board thing will come later through a video series.

Enjoy,

Lime Green Colored Pencil