Monday, April 21, 2008

Cartoon Drawing Tips For Kids

Cartoons are fun. Well almost. If you are like me you certainly love to watch cartoon figures. But drawing cartoons is another story particularly if you are not aware of the basics.

If the thought of creating beautiful cartoon characters gives you high, read on, here you will find some tips that you can readily use to improve your skills and reduce the time taken to create beautiful cartoon characters.

There are certain things that are same for every style of drawing, be it realistic drawing or cartoony, now we will go quickly through the basics before getting specific to cartoony style.


1. Select your tools wisely. Clean your hands before starting your drawing. The paper you use for your work should be of good quality. Low grade, off colored paper will make your drawing look pale. Your first sketch should be made with light lines and for finalizing you should use deep-colored and prominent lines --so choose your pencils carefully.

2. Many times beginners find drawing a smooth line difficult. Remember drawing smooth lines will be easier if you do not support your hand on your wrist like we are used to do while writing. Doodling and drawing some circular shapes just before you start will also help you to draw smoothly.

3. Learn to draw facial features and hand carefully. Hands are more difficult. Experts often judge a person’s drawing ability from how well he can draw human hands. So practice drawing hands with care.

4. Study about basic forms and proportions of human body. Learn about basics of human anatomy and various ratios of human figures.

As a cartoon creator you will have certain liberties, you do not need to bind yourself with strict body proportions rules. You can draw four fingered (Thumb + Three) hand that makes your work a bit easier.

But one challenge you will face while drawing cartoons --cartoon characters needs to be more expressive and certainly you have to create this expressiveness with some lines drawn with your pencil.

Keep in mind that three areas of human face that play major role to express emotions are

1. Eyelids (wide open, half closed, almost fully closed etc.),

2. Eyebrows (raised, normal, crooked etc.) and

3. Lips (forming downward bow, upward bow etc.).

Other than these you can also use, hair (properly combed or ruffled), garments (well kept or torn) to create characters that tells a story.

Hope you find this tips useful. Coupled with some practice these tips will help you to take your cartoon drawing skills to a new level. Enjoy the fun of drawing beautiful and expressive cartoon characters.

By Tapan Sarkar

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Saturday, April 19, 2008

Watercolor Painting Tips and Techniques

Watercolor can add a lot of life to your work of art. With some helpful tips you can master and perfect the art of watercolor painting. Transparency is the most promising and the most attractive characteristic of watercolor. The watercolor feels like a sparkle of light which the color of the paper shines through the paint. The watercolor seems to blend with the color of the paper and it creates an illusion of transparency.

Some tricks can best work and create the best illusion for your masterpiece. The watercolor trick that can make your painting lively. Lift paint is a trick that a watercolor paint can have. A wet tip can add light with your watercolor. While you are working with your artwork you have to keep in mind that you must work from light to dark. This will create an illusion that your artwork is coming to life.

The paper being used for your art work must have that high quality and excellent texture. A dramatic effect can be created in the final outcome of the painting. Water color paper must be chosen promptly to suite the type of scene you want to paint. You can choose from the following types of water color paper like rough pressed, hot pressed and cold pressed. You must also consider the size and weight of the watercolor paper. This involves the fibers of the paper that you will use. If these fibers are treated it will decrease the ability of the watercolor paper to absorb the water. Lighter paper must be stretched before using it otherwise it will wrinkle when the wet tip of the brush works with the paper.



When you are looking for the best type of watercolor paint that you will use you have to consider the capacity of the painter, whether he or she is still a student or a professional artist already. When you are already an artist who can work best with watercolor, you can use artist watercolor paints which have more vibrant colors to choose from. It is really a matter of taste. Though it is best that you use artist quality watercolor paint, but you can always mix and match the colors. You can try experimenting with colors that you use to depict your work of art in the liveliest mood. You can purchase watercolor paints in forms of pans and tubes. To make the paint more workable and accessible you have to use water in order for the dry paint cake can be easily managed in paper. You have to make sure that you have rinsed the brush before trying other colors. This must be done when you are working with a watercolor paint in a pan. If you will not do this, you will get ugly and dirty looking shades of colors. You can try mixing and matching your primary colors to come up with your secondary colors. There are still pre-mixed watercolor paints available inn the market.

You can avail such, when you visit hobby stores and see if you have your most favorite color, Purchase only a few primary colors and learn how to mix your own colors rather than purchasing premixed colors. When you become more experienced, you can then start incorporating more colors into your palette.

Mark Traston is an associate with Portrait Painting. The company specializes in turning a photo to painting. Each portrait artist specializes in a specific area including wedding paintings, pet portraits, and executive portraits.

By Mark Traston

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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Miniature Paintings - A Sublime Art

The art, culture and lifestyle of ancient and medieval India is best reveled through miniature paintings. The penchant for religion, divinity and regal aristocracy is ostentatiously illustrated in these paintings. Though miniature in form, the paintings had an innate beauty and distinctiveness that made them stand out of the crowd.

Crafted by the regional artists the miniature paintings narrate the stories of the bygone dynasties. Purely a brush work, these vibrant handmade paintings were the outcome of some dazzling minerals and vegetable colors. Gold and silver powders, conch shell powders and tiny pieces of semi precious stones were used in a miniature painting to make for the extra glow. It is for this luminous capacity, meticulousness and the universal appeal the miniature paintings are very popular even today.



The themes of the this class of paintings were generally taken from the scenes of Indian epics and religious books like The Ramayana, The Mahabharata, The Bhagvata Purana, Git-gobinda, Surasagar, Rasamanjiri and more. Images from folk legends, classical music codes and royal court scenes were also beautifully illustrated in the paintings. Glass, fabric, marble, paper, silk, velvet, leather and ivory panels generally served as the canvas for the paintings. Miniature paintings gave birth to some noted school of paintings namely The Deccan Schools, The Rajput and the Mughal Schools.

The Rajput School of Miniature Painting imbibed inspiration from the Krishna legends. The emphasis was more on the man and woman relationship and paintings were aesthetic portrayal of their emotion, love and passion. The lovemaking scenes of Lord Krishna and Goddess Radha are some of the finest specimens of the paintings. The Mughal School of Miniature Painting had Persian influence on them. The painters focused mostly on court scenes, royal portraits, natural scenes and landscapes. The Deccan School of Miniature Painting derived a kind of hybrid painting form blending several styles of painting. The paintings manifested exuberant and bold themes influenced from Turkish and Persian paintings.

For comprehensive information on Miniature Paintings and related topics, please visit Ethnic Paintings.

Rajneesh Dubey is Content Coordinator for http://ethnicpaintings.com This website gives you comprehensive informations on painting history, development, trends, popular painting styles, great painters, famous paintings, painting galleries and museums, painting tips, painting classes. In other words, this website is a treat to painting freaks.

By Rajneesh Dubey

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Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Pencil Sketches of Faces

Why is drawing faces such a great challenge for so many artists? We know we have the image in our head, and often times in our hands in the form of a photo, but we just can't capture it on paper with our pencils.

Have that ever happened to you before? You start drawing a face to find that when you're done, it's nowhere near the person that you're trying to draw?

The problem is that all faces are a unique combination of a set of features. When we take these features apart, we see that there are hundred and one different features. We all have different lips, different noses, different eyes, different ears, different hair, and different face shapes.

And when all these different features come together, it makes the task more difficult for the artist to capture the visual resemblence on paper.

Also, we have to take note of the age of the face that we're drawing. If you're drawing babies, the best time to draw them is when their asleep. Because you can't have them moving around when you draw them.



When drawing babies, keep the drawing simple with few lines and only capture the features of the face.

If you're drawing a child, the features are more defined compared to those of a baby. So you'll have to lock in the features with stronger and darker lines. But the skin is still smooth and gentle. Try not to add to many lines to the face of a child.

Teenagers are young adults. You may approach drawing the face of a teenager in the same way as you would approach drawing the face of an adult. The key to drawing a mature face is to capture the essence of the face.

That means capturing the personality of the face. Some people have a confident look. Some have a shy look, and some have a mischievous look and so on. Try to capture that in your drawing.

Finally, remember not to draw all your faces to look like hollywood stars. Human beings do not look like plastic in real life. So keep your drawings realistic by including any details that make your drawing look more human.

Darren Chow is the founder and developer of MyArtPassion.com, an online website that offers free drawing lessons, home study courses, and other drawing related resources. For more free resources like the one you've just read, please visit MyArtPassion.com for free online drawing lessons.

By Darren WK Chow

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How To Draw A Good Portrait

Drawing portraits can be exceedingly challenging for many art students. But why are portraits so hard to draw? After all, portraits are essentially the same as all other drawings, and are made up of basic shapes and forms. The key lies being able to execute proportions with exact precision.

When you take a closer look at a portrait, you'll observe that there are thousands of combinations possible for portraits. For example, there are noses with many different shapes and sizes. There are eyes with different shapes and colors. There are lips with different thickness and there are all sorts of little details (like eyebags etc.) that are different. This makes it difficult for the artist to apply a fixed formula when drawing portraits.

The same technique for drawing a fixed object, or for drawing still life, can be used again and again. The basic shapes and forms of a table or a chair is easy to duplicate.



But when you put together a combination of all kinds of different features on a face, it's a whole different set of challenge. The nose is too small, the lips are too thick, the eyes look all funny, etc. You get into all sorts of funny problems that you can don't get whether drawing other stuff. That's why drawing portraits can be such a challenge to many art students.

The way around this is to strengthen the drawing foundation. That means drawing by applying sound drawing principles instead of just following rigid formulas. If the artist can get the proportions right, the likeness of the person will emerge. There's no need for other complicated techniques. The artist just have to focus on getting the proportions right.

The other area of concern is that many art students do not have the maturity to make sound decisions about the portraits they are drawing. Note that drawing is not the same as photographing. The drawing need not be exactly the same as the subject. There is room for the artist to make decisions on how the drawing will eventually turn out.

Therefore, a good portraitist will always bear in mind the background and the essence of the subject that he or she is drawing. For instance, if the artist is drawing a business person, he may want to capture the shrewd look on the face. Or if he's drawing a model, he may want the drawing to look Hollywood style.

These are simple decisions, yet they have such a profound impact on the portraits. So good artists must use their judgment to make such decisions.

Darren Chow is the founder and developer of MyArtPassion.com, an online website that offers free drawing lessons, home study courses, and other drawing related resources. For more free resources like the one you've just read, please visit MyArtPassion.com for free online drawing lessons.

By Darren WK Chow

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How to Draw Cars - Beginner Tips & Tools for Success

Learning how to draw cars is not as difficult as you may believe. Many beginners when attempting to draw cars will fail at first because of that "I can't do it" mentality. They will see all of the details, the shadows and the highlights and become intimidated and lose confidence. In order to succeed, to really learn how to draw, you must remove all preconceived notions about drawing.

Learning how to draw is really a matter of breaking down what you see into smaller parts or shapes. You have to look at the picture as a smaller step by step process. When you break things down like this the problem at hand becomes easier to draw. But before you go off and start to draw those cool muscle or race cars, you really need to understand a bit more about the supplies you will need. How else are you going to draw those cool cars?

Having good supplies is definitely going to make it easier to draw and more enjoyable, but it won't make you a better artist. You must learn and understand the basics first. Quality equipment is an aid, but it is not a substitute for your skills or abilities.



The first thing you are going to need is a good surface to draw on. You will need a solid sturdy table, desk, or drafting table. Whatever you choose to draw on, make sure the surface does not wobble and is level. Do not settle for a cheap surface. It will only frustrate you and make things more difficult. Many artists like to work on a surface that is on a slight angle towards the artist which promotes a better posture. Being comfortable is very important.

Make sure you have good lighting. Learning how to draw cars is challenging enough. You do not need the frustration of poor lighting. Your lighting should be even so that there are no shadows or hot spots of light, so you may need more than one light source to draw with. There are specially made lamps for artists that produce light which mimics natural sunlight.

You can purchase these online or at art stores, but I have found that the professionally made lights for artists can be rather expensive. If you happen to live near a Home Depot or other home improvement center, try looking in their lighting department. I purchased my lamps there for under 20 dollars each.

As for what tools you should have on hand to draw with, there are no "One drawing tool fits all" formulas. You will have to experiment with different pens and pencils until you find the ones that are the most comfortable to draw cars with. It is probably best to have a variety of drawing tools on hand.

Many car artists have various pens, pencils, markers and even paints on hand to produce different effects. For instance, some car artists prefer to work with Prismacolor "Verithin" pencils for sketching fine lines and for light shading. Other artists prefer the convenience of mechanical pencils as there is no sharpening needed. Mechanical pencils are not the best for shading in areas however. So you see, having a variety of tools on hand to draw with is essential.

Paper is another item of personal choice. Again, you have to experiment. Just like pens and pencils, there are also a variety of drawing surfaces. Try your favorite pens and pencils on various surfaces. Drawing surfaces have different textures and thicknesses and your drawing mediums will behave differently depending on the surface and how you apply them. You may also find guides helpful to draw with. Some car artists prefer to use ellipses and straight edges to help create straight lines and circles, while others work free hand.

If you do not happen to live near any art supply stores, you can always purchase your supplies online. Just go to any major search engine and type in "drawing supplies" and you will find plenty of online shops. My recommendation is Misterart.com. I have been buying my supplies there for a few years now and my shipments are always delivered fast and in perfect condition.

I hope these tips and instructions have given you more insight on how to draw cars. The most important thing with drawing cars, or any art for that matter, is to never give up. Keep practicing. Practice every day if possible and keep a sketchbook of your work so that you can keep track of your progress. You will get the hang of this and learn how to draw cars.

Click Here for more resources on how to draw cars, including FREE step by step videos, a downloadable ebook, car drawing books and more!

Ralph Serpe is webmaster of: http://www.squidoo.com/howtodrawcars

By Ralph Serpe

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The History of Vampire Art

Vampire Art has a long history, Artist have always been attracted to vampires. Vampires offer that rare blend of seduction, and danger. This represents a great challenge for the artist to capture. Artists are also responsible for shaping our image of the vampire. Early books help make vampires popular and Hollywood completed our image of the modern day vampire. Early oil paintings of the 1800's have evolved into todays fantasy vampire art. Vampires have come a long way from their early legends and myths that came out of the Balkans and other parts of Europe

One of the best known early depiction of a vampire was Edvard Munch's "Vampire" in 1895. It is popular even today and is probably his most famous work other than "The Scream". This was by no means the first depiction of a vampire, but most earlier works were either engravings or ink. Munch's work represents one of the early paintings of what we consider the modern day vampire. Todays modern day fantasy art has much of its roots in comic book illustrations.

There are thousands of people who consider themselves vampires and live the lifestyle as such. They are part of a sub culture closely related to the gothic scene. They live eat and dress the vamp image. In recent years there seems to be a rise in female vampires. The image of the sexy blood thirsty dominating female vampire is very often found in modern fantasy art.

Just as the vampire is after eternal life, our fascination means we will continue to see them in paintings, books and movies. Vampire Art is a great source for hard to find vampire clothing, vampire jewelry and vampire art online.


By Steve K Smith

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Creating Art From A Piece Of Stone

Out of the many forms of art, artwork in stone is probably one of the most difficult to master. Art in stone is also one of the most impressive and durable crafts that one can create. Gifting stone to your loved ones conveys a hidden message of your undying love for them. Art in stone, as compared to other long lasting materials, is not overly glitzy, and does not shimmer at all but has a steady, strong and robust quality about it that signifies something that will last forever.

Taking up art in stone as a hobby or a profession is not advisable unless you are seriously committed to it as it requires a lot of time and patience. A simple carving of a man may take up to three weeks of daily work to complete. It is a much better idea to buy one or commission one from a crafter rather than trying your own hand at it.



Sometimes art in stone can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, but considering the amount of time it takes to make, the price seems to be justified. All carving has to be done meticulously by hand and only the most skilled craftsmen and artisans work their art in stone. A large soapstone statue can take months to fabricate before it reaches a store or a direct buyer.

When carving art in stone, you need to have a definite idea of what you want to make as well as the qualities of the material you are using. Softer, gentler features look better on soapstone rather than on coarser and harder rock or jade. The features of the material must be respected for a perfect piece of art in stone. If you launch into it with the idea of making your piece on any given piece of rock, you still might have something appreciable, but it will not be in harmony with the material.

Being carved in stone is therefore an apt metaphor for being ancient and unbreakable!

By Scotie Keithlow

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ABCs of Sketching - Part 4

Aspect 6: Tone, shades & textures

Tone, shades and textures make a drawing or painting come to live. They can be used to express 3D effects on a 2D medium. They can be used to describe the details of raw materials (e.g. metallic surface, glass, etc).

When drawing human beings, shades and tones can be particularly useful. A light and smooth shade can express gentleness, while a coarse, deep, and heavy shade can suggest age.

Shades can also be used to define lighting effects. Lighting effects affect the mood of the drawing and can be very helpful in describing the setting of the drawing.



Aspect 7: Planning

As you can see, the 6 different aspects described above are not isolated elements. They can combine to form many different effects that'll affect the overall quality of your drawing.

Therefore, it is important that an artist plan early how to execute a drawing or painting. Here's an example of how planning takes place:

1. Know what you want to achieve. This is important as only then will you know when a drawing is complete. Knowing what you want to achieve with a drawing or painting will help to prevent overworking a work of art.

2. Draw broad lines and curves lightly to form the overall shapes and structures of the drawing. Keep in mind the composition of the drawing. Choose drawing tools that allow you to make amends easily (like a light HB pencil).

3. Decide which areas are light, and which areas are dark. Also, think about the subjects that need to be defined and emphasized. How are you going to define them?

4. Use pencil marks to mark out these areas. Make notes if necessary.

5. Decide how you want to start working on the drawing. E.g. top to bottom, left to right, etc.

Once planning is complete, the artist can begin drawing. Note that it helps tremendously to constantly assess the drawing to ensure that the overall composition maintains its balance.

Darren Chow is the founder and developer of MyArtPassion.com, an online website that offers free drawing lessons, home study courses, and other drawing related resources. For more free resources like the one you've just read, please visit MyArtPassion.com for free online drawing lessons.

By Darren WK Chow

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ABCs of Sketching - Part 3

Aspect 3: Proportion

A quick search on the Internet reveals the following definitions for proportion:

  • give pleasant proportions to; "harmonize a building with those surrounding it"
  • symmetry: balance among the parts of something
  • adjust in size relative to other things

I've decided to emphasize the essence of proportion by bolding the keywords in the web definitions above. Proportions are often exaggerated in cartoons to create comical effects. You often see this is a special type of drawing called caricature.

You can keep drawings in proportion by using the measuring technique. More on that later on in this e-book.



Aspect 4: Definition

Definition in a drawing refers to the intensity of lines and color when representing shapes and forms. The artist has to decide which areas of a drawing to define in order to make a drawing more exciting to look at.

Some artists prefer drawing or painting everything exactly as they see it, so they choose to define every detail in their drawings. In modern art, many artists prefer drawing spontaneous drawings and may choose only certain objects or areas to define in a drawing.

Aspect 5: Lines & Curves

Lines and curves of a drawing can evoke powerful responses in the human mind. Entire drawings or paintings can be completed with lines only.

The basic use of lines and curves is to use them to describe and define shapes and forms. Besides that, lines and curves are also used to perform shadings to describe lighting effects.

A popular way to use lines is to describe motion. It is also not uncommon to see artists drawing the contours of the female figure with curves that suggest fertility.

Darren Chow is the founder and developer of MyArtPassion.com, an online website that offers free drawing lessons, home study courses, and other drawing related resources. For more free resources like the one you've just read, please visit MyArtPassion.com for free online drawing lessons.

By Darren WK Chow

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ABCs of Sketching - Part 2

What's the next natural thing to happen? With understanding comes better works of art. Let's start with understanding composition.

Aspect 1: Composition

The composition of a drawing contains elements such as line, shape, tone, texture, color, direction, size, proportion, and perspective. The combination of these elements makes up the overall look and feel of the drawing.

Decide early the subjects that are going to be included in the drawing. Draw out rough shapes as outlines for the subjects. This will let you see how the different shapes fit into the drawing, and you won't find yourself running out of space for some objects that you want to include in the drawing.



Aspect 2: Perspective

Perspective, simply put, is the way in which objects appear to the eye. Anyone with a keen observation of the objects in the surrounding has the potential to draw great looking pictures.

After that, it's all a matter of translating that mental image into visual form. The higher the level of skill and mastery of tools, the better the drawing.

Here, the artist has the power to choose from the many different ways to represent the image. Different mediums, different drawing tools, different types of paints, etc. He or she may even choose to represent perspective differently. Here's a quick example of how perspective can affect the drawing.

Objects that are further away always appear smaller. The further they are, the smaller they are, and they will keep on appearing to the eye as smaller objects until they disappear into the horizon.

In addition, details of the objects may be blurred or lost due to the distance.

If the object is of importance or if for some reason the artist wishes to emphasize the presence of the object, the perspective can be altered to bring the object to focus.

Darren Chow is the founder and developer of MyArtPassion.com, an online website that offers free drawing lessons, home study courses, and other drawing related resources. For more free resources like the one you've just read, please visit MyArtPassion.com for free online drawing lessons.

By Darren WK Chow

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ABCs of Sketching - Part 1

This article is the first of a series of articles that's going to introduce you to some of the basics of creating professional looking sketches. These techniques can be used alone, or implemented in various combinations to create the effect that you want.

"Why is it so important for an artist to learn sketching?"

Drawing in monochrome lays the foundation for greater things to come. You can move on to color pens, oil pastels, watercolor painting, acrylic painting and oil painting later on but without the skills to create the visual effects that you want, your progress will be limited.



This e-book is about building a strong drawing foundation. Without a strong foundation, the artist has no expressive freedom. Without control and mastery of drawing techniques and tools, they cannot express their ideas and vision in a satisfactory manner.

And that's the goal that every artist should keep in mind when creating a work of art.

It could be a few broad strokes, or it could be many fine lines. It could be patches of shades, or it could be patches of void spaces. It doesn't matter.

The important thing is to remember that a drawing or a painting is complete when the ideas are expressed to the artist's satisfaction.

You'll see these techniques re-surface when we move on to discuss more advanced drawing techniques. Meanwhile, do familiarize yourself with the techniques discussed in this e-book.

Ultimately, the goal we want to achieve here is to prove that anyone with a burning desire and a strong interest for art can learn to draw in no time.

Have fun!

Darren Chow is the founder and developer of MyArtPassion.com, an online website that offers free drawing lessons, home study courses, and other drawing related resources. For more free resources like the one you've just read, please visit MyArtPassion.com for free online drawing lessons.

By Darren WK Chow

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J Art - Japanese Pop Art

What is Pop art? Pop art as a movement started in the 1950s in Britain and the U.S. which takes its art from popular mass culture as opposed to the elite art world. Today the term can still be used for art as an expression influenced from the mainstream culture of the masses.

While Andy Warhol was making his Soup Cans famous in the U.S., a new and exciting art in Japan was starting to form and take on a course of its own.

Tanaami and American Influences

One of the first and most important of the Japanese pop artists is Keiichi Tanaami. He was educated at the Musashino Art University, and would take a designer job after graduation. It wasn't long before he left the company he worked for due to his busy schedule with outside activities. These creative activities included experimentations with animation, lithograph, illustration, and editorial design.



By the late 60s, Tanaami traveled to the United States where he had an influential meeting with Andy Warhol in his legendary Factory in New York. He was very happy to have met Andy while he was doing his silkscreens, and much of his work was inspired by Andy's style. Later, after moving to San Fransisco, the Japanese artist's work became very colorful and psychedelic. He even designed a cover for Jefferson Airplane.

Much of Tanaami's work comes from dreams and memories. He remembers as a child squeezing goldfish that were about to die, until their guts came out. You can see this in some of his goldfish sculptures. Gruesome and interesting stuff.

Manga and Anime

Perhaps the best known contemporary Japanese artist today is Takashi Murakami. He is attributed with the modern art style known as "superflat," for a blending of traditional art with newer concepts deriving, in part, from manga and anime. These artworks are known for their flat planes of colorful images.

While Andy Warhol in the 1960s was turning consumer products into art, Murakami is now turning art into consumer products. He says he knows how much the Japanese people love art, but very few can afford the upper class art. So he creates affordable art anybody can afford. His art comes in the form of toys, paintings, sculptures, dolls, and mannequins, T-shirts, videos, and any other type of product readily available for consumers. He also designed a Louis Vuitton handbag.

His art is often colorful and imaginative, such as the painting entitled "727." Some of his art is daring, such as his "My Lonesome Cowboy." The "Cowboy" shows an obvious reference to American culture with the lasso made from the, uh, fluids.

Graffiti and Childlike Figures

Like Murakami, Japanese artist Yoshimoto Nara derives his style from manga and anime. His work is usually done in graffiti-type painting and the characters are often cute and childlike, but which also possess dark characteristics. These characters come from a meshing of childhood memories and an input of contemporary style. What you get is a unique consumer art product.

There's an excellent British miniseries called Japanorama, which chronicles the host's seeking of Japanese culture in general. One of the episodes is all about J-Art and has the above artists and much more. So check it out, and don't forget to watch it with a nice hot bowl of Ramen.

Dan Kretschmer keeps a daily blog at http://www.vincesear.com


By Daniel Kretschmer

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Monday, April 7, 2008

Oil Painting

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil — especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body and gloss. Other oils occasionally used include poppyseed oil, walnut oil, and safflower oil. These oils confer various properties to the oil paint, such as less yellowing or different drying times.

As with most products, there is usually a large selection to choose from and invariably you are unsure of quite where to start, and this is especially the case when choosing an oil painting.

Think of practically any object under the sun and there will be an oil painting of it somewhere.

You can even get an oil painting of an oil painting; some artists will reproduce an oil painting of an old master. That's certainly a much cheaper option than buying an original!

I've actually had quite a few reproduced like this, including several old masters by famous artists that I particularly liked and one or two of paintings by not so famous artists. In fact, I'm building up quite a collection and sometimes the biggest problem is finding somewhere to hang them all!

You can even have your favourite photograph transformed into oil painting form and I have had a number of these converted to oil painting form as well. They look so much better than a photograph and also make the ideal gift.


Various Chinese artists will reproduce oil paintings and most of the paintings are actually very good. Original Chinese oil paintings though can always be detected by anyone with the slightest bit of experience. They tend to exaggerate the colours for some reason, maybe they think this looks more attractive, but the result is that you end up with colours that just should not be there. It is easy to see what I mean if you study one or two.

Sometimes the result can be almost comical. I remember an ostentatious friend of mine showing off an oil painting he had recently bought (which he probably paid a fortune for) but after a couple of seconds admiring it I turned round and told him it was Chinese. Well, I won't go into the details of the reply!

However, from the huge selection of themes available, my favourite will always be those based on the seashore.

The seashore depicts tranquility and calm, a naturalness unaffected by the effects of time. Various artists over the years have reproduced this in their paintings. Ivan Aivazovsky, the 19th century Russian artist, was one to note, with several excellent paintings including the appropriately named 'Seashore', 'Seashore.Calm' and 'Sunset at sea', all painted in the 1840's.

Aivazovsky actually created several thousand oil paintings in his lifetime and many can be seen in Aivazovsky Hall at the State Russian Museum, St Petersburg, Russia.

Hardly the same standard or quality as Aivazovsky, but still extremely desirable, is the painting 'Dunes' by the 1920's German artist Horst Alter. With his mastery of light it is truly one of my favourites. Other artists to note include Shchedrin as well as Adamson, the artist infamous for his oil painting of the seashore.

Many other great artists have included the seashore theme in their works. Tastes obviously vary among different people and what one person will enthuse over, another's reaction may be luke warm.

Time and research are the keys to locating an oil painting that one will admire for a lifetime. Never buy in a hurry just for the sake of buying, or simply to fill that empty space on the wall. An oil painting should be treasured, as well as admired.

I've made substantial use of the internet to locate such an example and indeed I've located many fine examples over the years.

Certain differences are also visible in the sheen of the paints depending on the oil. Painters often use different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired. The paints themselves also develop a particular feel depending on the medium.

By: Arjun Ryan

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

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Sunday, April 6, 2008

The Most Expensive Art in The World

Have you ever considered how much that piece of art in your home may be worth? Do you have an original piece of art by a little know artist or are you lucky enough to have an original piece of art by a popular artist? The art world is often falling over themselves when a popular piece is placed on the market and eager collectors are very quick to bring out their checkbooks in order to obtain this rare art piece for their collections. Here are the top 10 most expensive pieces of art recorded to date in descending order. Prepare to be amazed.

Please note: The prices quoted are take into consideration inflation from the original recorded auctions or private sales and is priced in millions USD. This list provides estimated prices only and is not intended to be an accurate record of art sales. This article is used to illustrate art worth in broad terms.

10. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II by Gustav Klimt - $89.1 Million

Adele Bloch-Bauer II was painted in 1912 by Gustav Klimt. Adele Bloch-Bauer was the wife of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, a rich industrialist of the time, who was a keen sponsor the arts and supported Gustav Klimt's work. Adele Bloch-Bauer was the only model ever to be painted twice by Gustav Klimt. This item was part of a set of two and Adele also appeared in the much more famous "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I".

9. Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe by Vincent van Gogh - $90.1 Million
One of the many self portraits Vincent Van Gogh created, this particular version is the most recognizable and popular. Painted in 1889, this piece created massive waves of excitement when it was placed at auction at Christie's, New York. Christie's only estimated this piece would sell for around $20 Million.

8. Dora Maar au Chat by Pablo Picasso - $97 Million
Dora Maar au Chat commonly known as Dora Maar with Cat was created in 1941 by Pablo Picasso. This wonderful work by Picasso features his Croatian mistress, Dora Maar, seated on a chair with a small black cat perched on her shoulders. As was often seen with his work, he uses wide swaths of contrasting color to draw out the subject.

7. Irises by Vincent Van Gogh - $97.5 Million
Irises is one of the most widely known pieces painted by Vincent van Gogh. This piece was one of his early works while he was at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France and was painted in the last year before his death in 1890. This item is currently on view at the Getty Museum in California.

6. Garçon à la pipe by Pablo Picasso - $113.4 Million
Currently owned by the John Hay Whitney's estate, it sold for $104.1 million at an auction in New York's Sotheby's in 2004. Sotheby's originally estimated a pre-sale price of $70 million. Many of the worlds art experts stated that the painting's high sale price has much more to do with the popularity of the artist than with the historical importance of the painting itself.

5. Bal au moulin de la Galette, Montmartre by Pierre-Auguste Renoir - $122.8 Million
Commonly known as Le Moulin de la Galette, this painting by the famous French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir was painted in 1876 at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Bal au Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre is a smaller version of an impressionist painting Renoir painted with the same title.

4. Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh - $129.7 Million
Once more, Vincent van Gogh appears on our list with one of the most expensive works of art of all time. This portrait of Gachet was created just outside Paris in 1890, and depicts his then doctor, Paul Gachet. Gachet, who took care of Vincent during the artist's last months. Gachet was an amateur artist and formed a good friendship with Van Gogh.

3. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt - $137.6 Million
The partner to the previously mentioned piece of art. This is the first portrait of Adel Bloch-Bauer Klimt and was painted in 1907. According to reports, it was sold in June 2006 for $135 million to Ronald Lauder for his gallery in New York City. At that time it set a record as the most expensive painting ever sold.

2. Woman III by Willem de Kooning - $140.2 Million
Abstract expressionist painter Willem de Kooning painted this print in 1953 and this fantastic piece is one of 6 paintings by Kooning in which the central theme was a woman. Woman III was sold by David Geffen in November 2006 to the billionaire Steven A. Cohen for a reported $137.5 Million.

1. No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock - $142.7 Million
At Last, we come to the most expensive art to date, No. 5,1948 by the artist Jackson Pollock. This abstract art, painted in 1948, was created on a 8 x 4 feet sheet of fiberboard, with large amounts of thick brown and yellow paint drizzled on top of it, forming a chaotic nest-like appearance. This work of art was sold by David Geffen in 2006 for $140 Million making it the most expensive piece of art ever sold.

So, as you can see, there is some incredibly expensive pieces of art out there being sold. Certainly, you are asking yourself "What about other pieces of older art?" All of these wondrous pieces of art in this list were painted after 1800. Any art prior to this date is usually in the hands of museums throughout the world. The Mona Lisa, for example, was insured in 1962 for approximately $100 Million. Taking into consideration the rate of inflation it is fair to assume that its current worth would be around $670 Million today. However, you are unlikely to ever see this majestic smile in Christie's or Sotheby's anytime soon.

If you have been inspired by these items and would like to see more. Amazingly you do not have to pay anywhere near these prices if you would like a copy of these items on your wall! You can discover wonderful reproductions of each of these items in many sizes, formats and mediums on our Arteblanche.com website. We have one of the world's largest inventories of art from the popular artists in this list to unknown artists and cover every aspect and work of art imaginable. We hope you have found this article informative and as inspiring as we did in writing this.

Sean Donahoe is the CEO and founder of ArteBlanche.com, one of the internet's leading art suppliers, which he runs with his wife Tamara. Arteblanche.com has a massive inventory of high-quality art poster prints, fine jacquard weave tapestries and highly-collectible and officially-licensed magazine covers from Rolling Stone Magazine, Time Magazine and Life Magazine, as well as many older and vintage magazines. From the most popular art and artists to the hard-to-find items, ArteBlanche has it all and it's ready for you now.

By Sean Donahoe

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