Antiques and Collectibles

If you’re a beginner at art, and you are interested in drawing people, then learning how to draw cartoons is a possible first step to take.

Cartoons won’t really give you a realistic looking image of a human being, but they will give you the foundation of drawing out the structure of a human shape, and it will be more fun than more traditional exercises.

There is also a lot of information online to help you with drawing cartoons and so you can make good progress in a short amount of time.

Learning to draw cartoons of people is often easier than drawing animal cartoons, because people essentially have the same basic shape and structure.

Animals have a wide range of shapes and sizes, and while some might be simpler than others, there isn’t much about animal shapes that is universal. But when you draw people, there is the standard oval shape for a head, rectangles for legs and arms, and of course the same balance of two arms and two legs.

When you start learning drawing people of people, it’s often best just to start with structure and focus your energies on drawing stick people. This sounds overly simple, because after all who hasn’t drawn hundreds of stick figures before?

But the point of this exercise is to concentrate on the drawing techniques of keeping the image symmetrical and to maintain proper proportions. Usually, it is a good idea to draw a line down the center of the stick figure to help ensure that everything on the left matches what’s on the right.

The next step when drawing cartoons of people is to go beyond rounded stick figures. This means really looking at the human shape and at all the bones there are in our bodies, specifically in the arms and legs.

To draw anime you need to look at the joints in our arms and legs and make the necessary bends to the structure of your stick figure. Add rectangles to fill out the thinness of your stick drawing and with a little detail in clothes and the face, you’ll have created a simple cartoon person.

If you consider yourself to be a serious artist, then learning how to draw cartoons might not be for you. But if you are a beginner looking for drawing tutorial and who wants to have fun as you draw, and gain some necessary skills required for drawing any type of image, then you might find drawing cartoons to be useful.

If you start with cartoons, then you can learn the foundation of creating realistic objects by getting the hang of symmetry and proportions, and learning how the body actually looks.

A great way to combine a hobby with starting your own business is to collect original autographs. It will be more than just profitable for you as you’ll enjoy what you are doing which means double the pleasure. Autographs are taken from a lot of popular people whether they are athletes, movie stars or heroes. A lot of people choose to buy autographs that are on postcards, papers, shirts, and any other item that is autographed.

James Bond autographs have emerged as something very popular due to the onset of the James Bond DVD collection. Sean Connery played the agent for six films before George Lazenby, a TV commercial actor, landed a single role when Sean Connery was done with it. Roger Moore was the guy that was always identified as the huge replacement for Sean Connery. Timothy Dalton used to be a famous stage actor that then went on to play James Bond for two of the Bond films. In recent years Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig injected new life into the franchise making James Bond autographs popular for a new generation of collectors.

When it comes to music autographs, Led Zeppelin autographs became more valued after their drummer John Bonham died. They are known to be a huge sales record holder worldwide but very seldom do they make appearances, which contribute to the increase in value of their autographs. Not to mention their disbanding when Bonham died. They were hailed by the Rolling Stone magazine as the heaviest band of all time and one of the most enduring bands in the entire rock history.

Carry On Autographs are another popular item. On the autographs are pictures of actors of the said comedy series like Kenneth Williams, who performed in the series for 26 episodes. Sid James was also recognized as the highest paid actor in the series with a whopping ?5,000 per film. Patsy Rowland made a name for herself due to ten Carry On films. A lot of the cast became comedy icons making Carry On autographs very collectable and valuable.

Vintage Hollywood autographs are a rewarding experience for any autograph collector. They hold extreme value and popularity as they are becoming hard to find. The autographed images of timeless stars have always been well-valued by many. Clark Gable was popular for playing the usual role of a lovable rogue masked with some charm and kindness. Spencer Tracy is another who won back-to-back Oscars for two films namely Boys Town and Captains Courageous. Judy Garland who did not become a start not until she was included in the Wizard of Oz and Gene Kelly who played his first every MGM film with Judy Garland entitled For Me and My Gal in 1942

Formula 1 autographs have also gained popularity due to it becoming a huge television event with 600 million people every season. A few of the most famous Formula 1 autographs are signed by Michael Schumacher, who is a Formula 1 record holder and Fernando Alonso who will also race in the Scuderia Ferrari 2010.

All these and more are just a few of the interesting options you can find if you are an avid autograph enthusiast.

Postcards have been a great way to communicate for over a hundred and fifty years now. Postcards have been a popular medium for so long due to a number of points. One such reason these days is the free postcards that you can locate on the web have made it inexpensive and easy to print and mail. And collecting postcards is the third largest hobby in the world after stamps and coins. Many people like to collect souvenir postcards from places they visit as a great way to visualize their past vacations.

Postcards started gaining popularity in the early 20th century when many countries around the globe began creating postcards with photos and images of their country’s most scenic places and things. The first Eiffel Tower postcard was printed in 1889.

These days, there is virtually no limit your collection of postcards from almost every country around the world. Whether you are traveling to South America, North America, Europe, Asia or Africa, you can collect souvenir postcards from there with beautiful landscape or other pictures of the places you visited on your trip.

Some of the souvenir postcards can be worth a lot of money due to where they are from; the older the postcard the better its worth. There are people who focus on collecting postcards from a particular country or continent; some prefer a particular style of postcard, some enjoy collecting postcards of a particular theme whereas others collect souvenir postcards from around the world in many varying styles.

If you do a lot of traveling, postcard collecting could be a great hobby for you. You can simply purchase souvenir poscards from your various destinations, and in no time at all, you can build quite a collection. But if you are not much of a traveler but still have a hobby of collecting postcards, you can easily get them online. One o the best online source for postcard collectors is eBay.

Souvenir postcards include images or pictures of historic buildings, expositions, vintage cars, trains, celebrities and sports personalities, historic figures and many other pictures. Many of the people who collect postcards have a huge variety of collectables from years or decades past which can be worth a lot of money.

People interested in collecting postcardsshould take utmost care when preserving old postcards and make sure there is no damaged caused to them due to anything like environmental issues or rough handling. They should not be exposed to chemicals which could harm the post cards for ever.

Postcard collectors are also referred to as deltiologist (It comes from a Greek word which means collector of small pictures or writings).The turn of the 20th century saw a great splurge in postcards. More than a billion postcards were sold in a year in the United States alone.

You can find antique, vintage or souvenir postcards in numerous locations such as auctions, estate sales, even local flea markets or garage sales. You can also look for advertisements of postcards in the classified section of the paper to find collectors looking to sell their collections to make a bit of money. In addition you may like to take a look at this resource if you are looking for free Christmas postcard templates this Christmas season.

Most postcards are printed on cardboard but you can find some vintage and old postcards printed on metal, leather and wood. These can be real keepers!

In today’s world, conserving our resources is more important than ever. If you’re a crafter, then you can save money and be environmentally friendly by using ordinary household items as crafts for your projects.

Ordinary items around the house like coat hangers, CDs and DVDs and old clothing often end up in landfill sites when they can be used to make functional and attractive items for your home, office or garden.

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Tin cans can be used for a number of special projects after their contents have been emptied. Turning tuna or cat food cans into candy containers is a practical craft project that is so simple that anyone can do it. After you’ve washed the can thoroughly, paint the outside white.

Punch two holes near the top edge on opposite sides and use light weight craft wire or a pipe cleaner to make a handle. Now the can looks like a little basket. To cover the wire, you can use felt or pretty ribbon.

To decorate the outside of the can, you can use stamps, stickers, glitter or more craft paint. Line the inside with plastic wrap, paper doilies, or colored cellophane. The candy container will look really pretty and artist once you put the candy inside.

Napkin rings are an attractive addition to any table even when you’re having a casual family dinner. Save your silver napkin rings for formal occasions and make paper towel tube rings for every day. This is so easy, and is one of safest crafts for young kids to do. You’ll need an assortment of dried beans.

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If you want a flashier look, you can use plastic gem stones. You’ll also need an empty paper towel tube, glue and scissors. Cut empty paper towel tubes into 1-1/4″ rings. Use the glue to attach the beans or gems to the entire surface area.

If you want to make a simpler looking napkin ring, cover the paper towel roll with shelving paper in a pretty pattern before cutting the roll into pieces.

Old or unwanted CDs and DVDs often end up in the trash because people don’t know what to do with them. Instead of adding them to a landfill, use the shiny discs to make decorative crafts for your home.

Here’s a simple way to turn CDs and DVDs into fun and easy gifts crafts that the kids can do. Collect some old discs, metallic string, glue, and gem stones, beads, beans or shells. Whatever is attractive to you is fair game for art and craft projects!

Glue two discs back to back with the shiny sides facing outward and loop the metallic string through the middle. Decorate the discs with the gemstones and shells, and voila, you will have pretty, reflective ornaments that you can hang anywhere!

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Everyday household items like towels, sheets, pillowcases, canisters and coasters can all be made at home using items that normally would end up in the trash. By turning waste into fun and functional crafts, you’ll save money and protect the environment from being cluttered with unnecessary garbage.

So, turn on your imagination and have a great time while filling your home with unique, one-of-a-kind, handmade items.

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to frame your own photographs, pictures and any other artwork you desired? Picture framing can actually be fun and with the right framing tools and instructions you can do it yourself.

Most of the instructions will start off with how to cut a mat board, as many people feel that is really the first step in picture framing equipment.

framing supplies
If you do decide to use a mat board, then you will need a good quality mat cutter and ruler. Start by marking the borders that need to be cut on the back side of the board and make sure that it will completely cover all edges of the picture by subtracting about 1/8 of an inch from the size of the image (length and width). Then attach your mat by applying only two pieces of acid free tape to the top edge.

In order to figure out the amount of frame moulding you will need, simply measure the artwork and the mat that you want to use and then add an additional 3 mm (0.118110″). This ensures that the artwork will fit into the finished frame easily.

Along with your other framing tools you will need to include a mitre cutter, as the 45 degree angle cut needed for the frame is one of the most important steps in making a frame.

Add the length and width together, then multiply by two to give you the overall length of the frame that you will need. You will also have to allow for those mitre cuts, so multiply the width of the moulding by ten and add this to the total needed for the wood picture frames.

Cutting one side is easy, but cutting the other sides so that they are the same all the way around is harder. Be sure that your measurements are accurate.

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Another item you are going to need among your other framing equipment are clamps, as tightly clamping the frame is essential in order to have a solid frame. You want to use clamps that will allow you to see the four corners all at the same time, as it makes aligning the frame easier.

A pushmaster is another piece of framing equipment that is good to have, as it allows you to tap the V nails into the wood much more easily. You can push the nails in by hand but is generally easier if you use some type of mallet to tap in the nails. It will make the job easier.

There are a number of peopleindividuals who are born with creative talents and yet do not utilize this ability in their lives. This could be due to a number of them were not fostered to show their artistry when they were kids. Additionally, since time has modernized greatly, parents should enhance their children for creative thinking by anticipating their capabilities. Creativity provides a wide range of advantages to children such as enhancing their managing abilities, increasing their intelligence power and makes them capable of solving difficult situation. Individuals can enhance artistry in their kids by giving them a wide range of resources including a suitable environment,suggestions, Art Supplies, Foam Board, coloring books and so on. There are a number of other things which parents can do to promote creative thinking in kids.

Parents and lecturers are the ones who can help children make great use of their abilities. Children should be provided with an environment that will allow him to be himself and investigate new things. If a kid is given pencil and coloring book and left in his room undistracted, he will get all the time on earth to craft his thinking on paper. This is the way parents can identify the capability of their kid. Parents also need to provide children with unique suggestions and if possible, involve the kid in resolution processes.

Moreover, a kid should not be felt pressured and should be provided ample time to explore the prospects. Pastimes like coloring and reading should be introduced as the parents contribution are essential in enhancing a child’s artistic talents. As a kid matures, it is essential to remove things like coloring books from his hobbies. Coloring books does not offer much to enhance a child’s abilities as it simply contains creations of some other person. A kid should be fostered to create his own pictures and color them. Moreover, children should not be criticized for their creations as it can diminish his capabilities. It is always important to foster them for what they have created to boost their morale.

Clay can also be used to enhance artistic talents. Additionally, elders are required to notice kids when they are using these things and they need to ensure that the kid does not start putting clay in his mouth. Paint also gives wonderful delight to children to mix out the various colors and experiment with them. While playing with the various colors, when a kid has made a new color, he will feel encouraged to attempt mixing new colors and observe the results of each mix. This will enable them to learn the color theory better with an adult supervision.

Creative kids have huge benefit over the noncreative ones. Creativity assists them to work out a huge variety of answers to situations and these kids are often the cleverest ones. They are more curious concerning things and are eager to learn new things everyday. Moreover, children will develop interest in many different areas and this will be beneficial in their studies and their learning abilities will be boosted also.

If you’re an artiste or crafter, then no doubt your special projects make perfect gifts crafts for your loved ones. Nothing shows how much you care more than sharing something close to your heart.

Whether you paint, knit, do woodwork or love doing a variety of art and craft projects, people love the uniqueness of handmade items.

craft ideas
More and more people are getting into aromatherapy, and everyone wants their home to smell clean and sweet. You can make beautiful potpourri holders without spending a lot of money.

Save your empty jars or look for decorative bowls in discount stores. Many dollar stores now sell bowls made of frosted or cut glass that look quite beautiful. If you’re making the potpourri holder for a special occasion like Christmas, then you can get bowls that are already festively decorated.

Simply fill the jar with sweet potpourri, cover the top with a lace doily and secure the doily with a pretty ribbon or an attractive elastic hair band. Don’t use a floral potpourri like eucalyptus, as some people find the scent too strong.

Go for something sweet like vanilla or cinnamon. If you use a cream or ivory colored doily, these crafty gifts will have an antique feel and will look attractive in any room.

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Mulled wine is a delicious and easy to make beverage that people can enjoy when the weather gets cold. It also makes your home smell absolutely scrumptious. You can whip up a batch and pour it into wine bottles for unique, crafty gifts for the grown ups on your gift giving list.

You’ll need 1, 750 milliliter bottle of full-bodied red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz (something fruity works best), 1 cup of clear apple cider or cranberry juice, 4 tablespoons of honey, 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 3 cinnamon sticks, 3 pieces of whole star anise, 3 whole cloves, 3 peppercorns, and a large sliced orange.

The star anise will add the flavor of licorice, the peppercorns will add a bit of spice and the rosemary will give the drink a familiar holiday taste. Slowly bring all the ingredients to just below a simmer and leave it at that heat for about 20 minutes.

Some of the alcohol will cook away, so don’t worry about it being too strong. Remove the cloves, star anise, rosemary, cloves and oranges. Once the mulled wine has cooled, pour it into sanitized wine bottles and decorate it with a homemade label that advises the receiver to heat and add a shot of brandy before serving!

Candles can be used for a number of crafts that are suitable for any occasion. You can buy candles in jars very inexpensively at discount stores. Download free graphics from the internet and make individualized labels for the jars.

If you don’t have a color printer, then a copier like Kinkos can make a nice label for you. Stick the label on the jar and you’ve created a unique gift personalized for a special someone in your life.

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In these tough economic times, we all have to cut corners every way we can. Even if you’re on a strict budget, you can still give beautiful gifts to your loved ones.

With a little imagination, you can make lovely, thoughtful gifts crafts that everyone will appreciate.

Card games are so popular today that some people argue that Poker should be considered a sport. Thousands of players assemble at high-stakes games broadcasted on ESPN, which is one of the main arguments that make it sports-worthy. Yet, as comedian Daniel Tosh points out, “If poker is a sport, we should put it into the Olympics.” While the jury is out on whether these highly publicized, highly watched games should be on par with athletic games, the undeniable truth is that cards have survived hundreds of years as popular family games, gambling games and individual entertainment games.

Part of the success of card games is their portable nature. These small 2.5 x 3.5-inch cards make ideal travel games for families on the go. They were also used during wartime, since soldiers could easily throw them in a box or into their pockets. The simplicity and versatility of the card deck is another factor, since one pack of cards can be used to play hundreds of different games. At www.pagat.com, there are lists of rules for everything from 3 Card Poker, 500 and Baccarat to Blackjack, Chase the Ace and Old Maid. Cards can be played as drinking games, gambling games or just for fun, which can really change the whole feel of the occasion. The combination of chance, strategy and mathematics has long since fascinated us, making cards one of the most enduring games of all time.

Today’s family games often involve boards, in addition to cards. For instance, the eighties saw a rise in popularity for the trivia board game Trivial Pursuit. Most of the action itself centered on specially made game cards that asked trivia questions, rather than in numbered black and red cards. Dibs, Don’t Quote Me, Scandal Monger, Scene It, Smarty Party and Wits & Wagers are other trivia card board games that have taken America by storm. Quiz game shows furthered along our love for trivia card games throughout the eighties, when we all imagined we could be on Family Feud or Jeopardy. Some amateurs at home may dream of mastering their peers at trivia and one day going on a game show where they can win big cash and prizes. Then again, some of us have no illusions and simply love to dominate — err, dazzle — family and friends with our unsurpassed knowledge.

Magic the Gathering card games have caught on like wildfire with kids in Generation-Y. These kids, who normally adhere to computer games and video games, are allured to these collectibles, since they also grew up on Pogs and Pokemon cards. In Magic the Gathering, fantasy artwork is blended with mathematics and strategy. Kids pick “spells” and “lands” cards and have their wizards engage in battles. There are many complex rules within the game and the cards present a language of their own, which has created an almost cult-like following. It may not be one of the family games, but Magic the Gathering has at least attracted a new generation of kids to the classic game of cards.

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If you go to any Art Show you will see many landscape paintings. Landscapes seen at Art shows are descendants of members of the Hudson River School, an art movement begun in the Victorian era of the 19th century. It was the time of luminaries such as R.W. Emerson, H.D. Thoreau, J.Wesley Powell and John Muir. The conservation movement was just beginning. The Hudson Valley was seeing a growing population, wilderness falling under the plow. Some artists, conscious of a shifting balance started painting the natural world around them, bringing landscapes front and center in the art world.

The founding member of the movement was Thomas Cole. Some of his more popular works “The Voyage of Life” (painted twice) and “Course of Empire” are a series of paintings with themes of mans relationship to nature over time. These are some of his most allegorical pieces. Yet Cole is most prominently associated with the Hudson River School. Having moved to the Catskills, Cole often captured on canvas the beautiful Hudson Valley. With his canvases depicting Romanticism and Naturalism, Cole aspired to create a new form of landscape paintings. He took on Fredric Church as a student. Church’s paintings of “Niagara” and “Ice Bergs of the North” drew vast crowds, and garnered much attention. Inspired, decidedly motivated by Cole, Church and Asher Durand. The Hudson River School was born and an art movement emerged.

It was a time of exploration and settling of the west. Some of the followers of the Hudson River School traveled through the country, recording in oil paint the sights before them. Albert Bierstadt and William Bradford both painted the western landscape. Bierstadt and Bradford both visited Yosemite. Bierstadt painted “Cathedral Rock” and “Yosemite”. William Bradford, painted fiery “Sunset in the Yosemite Valley”. Paintings such as these of the natural world into the national dialog

Thomas Moran was also a religious experience because it was capturing “God’s Handiwork”. This view of the natural world was a budding concept shared by Emerson, Thoreau and many others, including John Muir who wrote “God’s First Temples-How Shall We Preserve Our Forests” in 1876. About this time Moran joined one of the first expeditions into the Yellowstone Mountains. Moran’s work contributed to the movement that resulted in Yellowstone becoming the first National Park.

Art can change the world. Photographs, paintings and the images and ideas the written word suggests in a reader can influence the course of a nation. Members of the Hudson River School movement painted the veneration they felt for nature and helped relay that feeling to the public and its leaders. These artists helped contribute to the preservation of this country’s wild spaces.

An Art Fair is a good spot to discover new talent At many, the artists are scrutinized by gallery owners. Here the value of the art may still fluctuate dramatically, but the artist has found at least one person to vouch for them. Other Art Fairs may be open to anyone willing to purchase of booth. With the advent of digital photography and desk top printing nearly anyone can market their photographs. Regardless of the quality of the photograph, there are other issues of quality that should be reviewed or the purchased photograph may fade away in a year or so. The buyer need be aware. Here are some suggestions when looking at photographs.

First and foremost; Does it appeal to you? Don’t invest too much time analyzing why something is appealing. Maybe the boulder is the spitting image of Aunt Annie’s backside; making that connection might ruin the warm fuzzy feeling. Art is personal. If it is a big cash outlay, a second visit might be needed to make sure it wasn’t just the enchilada and margarita doing its magic.

Once moved by a work there are several questions that should be discussed. discovering the medium is important. Was the photograph taken? Here’s the key- find out if it’s digital. There are many different types of printers and many different types of paper that can be used for digital prints. Up until recently most papers had a major issue with image fade. The quality of desktop devices and papers has improved and now images can last from 15 to over 100 years typically displayed. Does the artist understand about paper and printers?

This points to several important questions. Are the prints pigment based or are the prints dye based? Pigment holds up better in light and is more resilient. Dye-based prints don’t run or bleed as much improving.

What kind of paper is the photograph printed on. Often the ink or pigment is specifically tailored to a certain paper and printer. These are factors the photographer should be well versed in. If he or she isn’t articulate concerning the longevity issue, then think twice before buying.