Go to

#creation

Kak-narisovat-kota-karandashom-pojetapno-1

Did you know you can draw a cat in five steps? Follow us and see for yourself! First, you need to determine where the cat’s head is going to be on your paper. Then, draw a big oval with a smaller oval inside and two lines for the cat’s neck. Next, add two parallel lines right above the smaller oval – the cat’s eyes will go between them.

Step two – draw two more ovals for the cat’s eyes, add the ears and try to shape the face to be more catlike. You can see a cat’s face coming together already in the picture below.

Step three – the nose. At this stage, it can be a simple triangle. Our main goal right now is to make sure everything looks even and level, with no elements being askew or looking “weird”.

Step four – adding more details and definition to the cat’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Don’t rush and take it one thing at a time – work on the ears first, then move on to the eyes and finally, to the nose. Use the picture below as a reference and try to mimic what you see.

Finally, in comes hatching and shading! Make sure you have pencils ranging from 2B to 6B at the ready, look at the reference picture below and try to copy the light and dark areas. Look closely and pay attention. Use the 6B pencil for the darkest areas and the 2B pencil for the lightest. That means you will use the 6B around the eyes, mouth, and ears, and the 2B for the eyes themselves. Don’t be nervous about making a mistake – you can always fix it with your eraser.

That’s it, you just drew a cat! Want to learn more? Then our drawing course is just the thing for you! https://www.drawplanet.cz/kurz/kurz-kresby/ Join us at Draw Planet to learn to draw things, animals, people, and much more step by step. Simply click the link, register, and start learning! 😊

tOGO3-dbBcI

A beautiful, unique interior is something we all dream about, and surely many people have thought at some point – why don’t I paint something awesome on my walls with my own hands? The problem is, you immediately realize that you don’t know how – you’ve never done it before and perhaps you feel too left-handed to tackle something like that by yourself. But then, professional artists and designers are so expensive that ultimately you give up on that dream and slap on some wallpaper because it’s much easier. But what if you decide to fulfil this dream after all?

A wall is not a sketchbook – you don’t draw a random doodle that you just thought of on a wall. Choosing the right wall art image is almost as difficult as creating it – it has to match the style of the room, be in line with the room’s purpose and carry a certain emotion. There can be other purposes to it too, like making the room seem taller or hiding crooked walls. Most often, wall art is seen in children’s rooms because it brings them the most joy, especially when it’s their favourite cartoon characters on cute animals decorating their walls. 

But don’t despair, you can still decorate your wall with your own artwork, even if you aren’t exactly a professional artist!

Step 1. Choose your picture and determine how big it’s going to be. In this guide we assume that you are at the point when you already know where exactly your picture is going to be and why. The internet is overflowing with billions of pictures, but we suggest starting with something on the simple side – don’t attempt to paint a giant flaming dragon just yet.

Step 2. Prepare your wall – experts work on smooth, clean, well-painted surfaces, so take care to smooth out your wall and choose a colour that will work as a background for your wall art.

What kind of paint can you use?

Step 3. Get your supplies: paints, brushes, etc. Get two types of brushes: large flat brushes for big, wide strokes (you can go for natural or synthetic) and small, round brushes for details. Make sure to get  some cups and containers to clean your brushes and mix colours – get the single-use kind if you don’t want to sacrifice your dishes. As for the paints, all experts agree that you should only use matte, water-based acrylics – they are easy to mix and apply and they won’t smudge once dry. Mix white acrylic paint into your colours to achieve the desired shade. To achieve the desired level of liquidity (a consistency resembling sour cream with 15% fat content is ideal), simply add water, but be careful and don’t get too carried away – you could end up with ugly spots on your wall when the paint dries. Some artists like to cover the entire finished painting with an extra layer or two of matte acrylic wall coating just to be sure.

Step 4. Print out 5–10 copies of your template in black and white to create something like a sketch. Choose the background colour carefully – the same colour can look very different on a white or green background, so take care to choose colours that work well together. If your chosen painting contains lots of repeating elements (like leaves), it’s a good idea to make simple stencils before you begin.

Step 5. Now use a pencil to lay down a basic sketch on the wall. Avoid black pencils – they are very hard to erase and tend to leave ugly smudges. A soft coloured pencil is a much better option here since you can correct mistakes simply, with a large soft eraser. The better your sketch, the easier the painting stage will be. People who struggle with spatial orientation can use a grid – draw it on your printed template and on the wall. It will divide the image in smaller pieces, making it easier for you to transfer it from paper to the wall.

Step 6. Grab your acrylics and start painting! Always mix your colours right before you use them since acrylics dry very quickly. Don’t forget to repeat strokes to give your painting a more natural, three-dimensional look; just make sure to let the previous layer dry before going over the same spot again. Hold your brushes perpendicular to the wall. Use small brushes to correct any mistakes and move from the large brushes at the start to small brushes towards the end, adding the smallest details last – this way you can easily create volume, reflecting sun, and other natural effects in your wall art.

 

That’s everything you need to know to paint your own wall – good luck! And for those who would like to learn more about interiors, we invite you to register for our amazing interior design course where you will learn how to work with a floor plan, how to combine colours or even how to use a computer to create your interior in 3D!

62258331_2368780329835476_3138336799370248192_n

How do people take good photos of their artwork? And how do they publish them online?! Keep reading to learn their secrets!

Being a good artist is not enough these days – you also need to know how to make your art look good online. Photos of your art need to be as good as the artworks themselves to make the best impression on the viewers. Luckily, this article will help you take better pictures and teach you how to post them on social media and get the engagement and audience they deserve. 

Lighting

Good lighting is the number one factor in photographic quality. If you don’t have professional lighting equipment, use daylight to take photos of your artwork. Don’t rely on interior artificial lights – instead, take your picture outside, to the balcony, or at least place it close to a window. Avoid using a flash – it will create a strong reflection that never looks good. 

An overcast afternoon will offer the best possible lighting conditions (outside, of course). It is key that the light hits your artwork at an angle, not directly from above!

Photographing large paintings is a bit more difficult since it is likely that the lighting will be uneven. Luckily, there is a simple trick to help – place a large sheet of white paper next to the side of the painting with less light hitting it. Don’t worry about unwanted items in your frame – you can edit them out later.

You can showcase a picture simply by photographing it, or you can choose to get more creative and create an entire composition with brushes, pencils, paints and other items strewn around your artwork. Look for inspiration online and adapt the ideas that you like to suit your style and work.

Take time to learn to photograph and present your work in an attractive way – trust us, it will pay off! After putting so much effort into your work, it would be a shame to have a sloppy online presentation that doesn’t do it justice. 

Got nothing to present yet? Choose one of our courses and learn to make amazing artworks worthy of online presentation with us!

 

IMG_7051

Our newsletter!