Word Thou Art

      I know a lot of people ask this question, and I thought that I'd address it since the last two posts were about art. And before you get too excited, this won't make your writing blossom into something truly amazing and gifted overnight, though that is every author's dream come true. This will simply help you to get better at writing with practice.   Like everything else, if you want to become a master, you'll have to practice! But I know that these tips will help you to at least become a better storyteller by just making you pause and realize, you can do simple things to make your story jump off the page at readers!        Tip #1- Synonyms     So, this first tip, which is something that I love to do when I'm writing or editing one of my stories, is synonyms. Readers find it tedious to have the same word, no matter how good it might sound, continue to pop up through the same sentence. For example, "Jackie dashed toward the door, feet dashing against the st

      Warriors is one of my favorite book series, and even though not many people that I know have read it, some of you might have heard of this series. It's really about a large group of wild cats that live in the forest, moor, near a river, and in a pine forest. I absolutely love to draw the cats from this series but find myself wistfully browsing through other artists' work on this subject. For years I have wanted to get specifically into the profession of drawing out cartoon animals and characters so I can illustrate my own books, but first, I started out with real-life cats. This was very hard for me, because like any over-enthusiastic artist, I just wanted to jump right into drawing cute cartoony cats instead of the boring real deal. If you have a huge problem with impatience on this subject, trust me when I say I've been there!     I also know how important it is to continue to draw from real life!     Animals are in general, much easier for me myself to draw. Their

      I absolutely love to draw in a cartoon style. If you don't know what a cartoon style is, the simple definition for a cartoon is this, " make a drawing of (someone) in a simplified or exaggerated way." Whether you make the eyes bigger and more beautiful or accentuate your drawing's rather angular features, you're making a cartoon when you draw something that has crazy proportions and is out of the box.      And that's where I have to stop you. Yes, drawing cartoons or fantasy art is awesome, but it also takes practice.      How do you practice drawing something that isn't real, or has features that aren't ordinary? The answer to that my friends is that you need to practice drawing in real life. This will be a two-part series that I'm going to do, and this part is for humans.      Now, honestly, I'm just starting to draw my own humans, but I have enough practice in the area of drawing fantasy animals that I can tell you the steps to becomin

       Romance is a huge topic for those of us who sometimes just need a good love story, even though we ourselves don't have any romantic interests!     I for one found the perfect outlet in actually writing my dream romance. I decided to take the bull by the horns and said, "Why not? If I don't have it in real life, why not make one that reflects what I want my romance to be? Besides, there aren't any good romances anymore. " And that's what I did. I find solace in the great twists and turns found in a relationship, and beauty in the struggles that a couple goes through before truly realizing that they can and will make their relationship something even more than friendship.      After all, don't you want to marry your best friend? The person who will love and cherish you through all your flaws, and the man (Or woman in boy's cases) that understands you and knows what makes you, you? You don't want a fake friend who only thinks you look cute, you

When I first started to draw, I had absolutely no idea what to do with half the supplies that came in a simple pencil set. I didn't even know what the HB, 3B, 5H, or anything on the pencils meant! But now that I've learned what they mean, how to use them, and how much better your art can get, I'll explain the basics of a simple pencil set.       Pencils     Each set of pencils is unique, and when you get them, you might be wondering, (Like I did) what on earth does each number mean? Well, first of all, the letters are very important in order to understand the numbers. H is the letter used for lighter tones in the grayscale of graphite. And yes, artists' pencils are usually graphite, so you don't have to worry about lead poisoning if you accidentally prick your hand. B is the darker tones for your pencils, and the higher the number, the darker your pencil. On the other hand with H pencils, the higher the number is, say 5H, it gets lighter and is best used for tracing

So, I've been thinking about art a lot lately, and how sometimes I really just want to burn it and throw its ashes into the wind.   I sometimes literally hate my work that much, and when I keep failing it gets harder for me to continue onwards, pressing through the mind-numbing art block to the sunny rays of gorgeous artwork that everyone else seems to possess. It feels something like this,      Don't know if you're out there fellow artists who do this, but I cannot tell you how important it is... NOT to do this. Yes, I know, you feel like your art is disgusting, worthy of death by fire or grinder, or being eaten by Jumba the scientist. I cannot tell you how many times I've been there and beyond that point. I have literally gone for months without drawing anything because I can't get into the groove of drawing or can't work out my own style that mirrors all of the other styles I love. I just give up and wait a while for inspiration to hit me.     This is not an