Wordle Review

Hello Everyone! 

Have you ever wanted to make a list of words look cool and interesting? Then Wordle is the perfect choice for you! Wordle is a website that generates word clouds from the text (words) that you provide. Your days of boring-looking lists of words are over. Simply enter your text, and Wordle will create a beautiful masterpiece of your words for you. You can also generate more than one word cloud with the same words. Did I forget to mention that you can also use the images you create however you want?! How cool is that!

I got introduced to Wordle in elementary school. We were doing a project for Thanksgiving about the things we were thankful for, and our teacher decided that we would each make a word cloud using Wordle for the project. That way, our work could be displayed in the hallways since it would look both neat and cool.

With the new school year starting in about a month (for students in the US), I thought it   would be a good idea to tell you all about another way to decorate. For example, if you were decorating your notebook for science class, you could create a word cloud using science related words, print it out, and glue it on the front cover! Not only would it jazz up your notebook, but it would also serve as a good indicator as to what subject the notebook is for. I haven't personally done this yet, but would like to do it sometime in the future. Also, if you don't feel like brainstorming and creating your own word cloud, you would probably be able to find one online that someone else created and shared.

Below are two word clouds I made about this blog. They both have the same words, but I made two of them to show you how the overall design can vary a lot.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and please let me know if you used Wordle to make your own word clouds!

-Silvia

The Water Lily Pond by: Claude Monet

Hello Everyone!


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"The Water Lily Pond" by: Claude Monet is one of my favorite paintings! I really like floral-type paintings and designs, so I love this. A little background: this is a part of a series of paintings Monet painted of different views of the water lily pond near his property in Giverny, France.  Monet is part of the impressionism art period, which originated with a group of 19th-century artists in Paris. Characteristics of impressionist art include small, but distinctive brush strokes, focus on lighting (many impressionist painters have created many versions of the same painting through different lightings), pure colors, and more. Above is one version of the painting. I'm pretty sure there are versions where the lighting is brighter.

I decided to create a simple version of this painting (below). It is not nearly as detailed as the original painting, and I added some additional elements to the one I created. This probably only took me around 6 hours to complete (I worked on it for two days, for only a couple hours each day).

That's all for today! Thanks for reading!

-Silvia

DIY Inspiration Boards

Hello!

Today's post is mostly going to be about inspiration. According to Merriam Webster, inspiration is something that makes someone want to do something or that gives someone an idea about what to do or create: a force or influence that inspires someone. Most of the time when you create something, it's because you've been inspired by something else. For example, I used to not bake at all. It just was something I hadn't really done before, and I didn't even really feel that I should try it. But after watching some baking shows, I felt that I should try it too. Now, I really like to bake!

Inspiration can come from anywhere. Today, I'm going to show you how to create an inspiration board. An inspiration board is basically a place where you can map out things/ideas that you like or are interested in. It can really help you with combining things you're interested in to come up with great ideas! I know some authors create these boards to help generate ideas before they write. Inspiration boards can be as simple or elaborate as you want. Remember, this is a way for you to be inspired. Choose what goes on your inspiration board according to your interests and preferences. As to how you can create your board- that's also completely up to you! Here are some options that I know have worked for people before:

1. Pinterest- Many people find this very easy to make inspiration boards. However, I don't do social media and have therefore never used this.

2. Word Document- You can make a mini collage on here using pictures off the internet.

3. Poster- You can do SO MUCH with this option. You can cut out pictures from old magazines and glue them on, hand draw things, print out pictures off the internet and glue them on, and more. Also, poster doesn't have to mean that you have to buy the huge ones they sell in stores. You can use a regular sheet of paper or some old cardboard at home for this too. But I'll warn you that this may be a little more time consuming than some of the other electronic options. Below is a picture of an inspiration board I made with my friend last year. We used an old piece of cardboard and glued on pictures that we cut out from magazines.

I hope you found this post useful, and please tell me if you tried this out and made your own inspiration board! What techniques do you use for brainstorming?

-Silvia

Art Supply Wish List (Top 5 Items)

Hey Everyone!

Today I'll be sharing some art supplies that I hope to get sometime in the future.  Art supplies can be very expensive, so I mostly use basic materials (pencils, paints, markers, etc) to create my artwork. Also, I don't really go to craft stores, so most of my "art supply shopping" goes along with my "school supply shopping". I personally think that buying any art supplies you're in need of during school supply shopping time is a great idea, because you'll be saving a lot of money because of the deals. Anyways, I've heard great things about all of these products below, so I hope to try them out myself one day.

1. Washi Tape (Source)

Ok, I know some of you washi tape lovers are probably sitting there gaping at the screen right now. You're probably thinking something along the lines of,  "She SERIOUSLY doesn't have washi tape?!" But, it's true. I don't. I don't really hang up my artwork or design anything using tape, so I haven't really felt like I needed washi tape. However, I would like to try doing things with it and see how it works for me.

2. Posca Pens (Source)

Posca pens are basically paint based markers. Artwork made with these look very cool, and I would really like to use these in the future. I know Miss Zali makes a lot of her artwork using these pens. They come in a variety of colors and sizes.

3. Punches (Source)

I've always wanted to have punches to help with decorating things. I think they are very efficient and easy to use. My top two punches are the flower and star ones.

4. Prismacolor Colored Pencils (Source)

Prismacolor colored pencils are of very high quality, and that can easily be seen in the quality of your artwork if you use them. These colored pencils are known to produce a very thick and rich color, and are pretty durable. I have used these at a friend's house before, and I really love the smooth texture they produce when you use them. However, they are pretty expensive compared to the regular colored pencils you are probably used to using. The smallest sets usually start in the $15-$20 range and the price goes up the bigger the set you want. I personally think I will start small, and buy bigger sets later if I think they are worth it for the artwork I do.

5. Sticker Maker (Source)

I don't know exactly why, but I think these are really cool. I know there are printers out there that can create stickers, but we don't have one of those at my house, so I would really like to get something like shown above. Also, I'm pretty sure these aren't too pricey, so that's good. :)

What's on your art supply wish list?

-Silvia

5 Ways to Design a Basic Leaf

Hello Everyone!

Today, I thought I'd share another drawing tutorial with you. Along with writing posts, I've also been making some changes to my blog regarding its physical appearance and features. My friend helped me by putting up a contact form that you can contact me through if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, and you can also follow this blog by email to not miss out on any posts. I just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of this. Now let's get going with the tutorial!

Have you ever had to draw leaves and felt that the standard leaf template that most people use (shown in the image to the left) is getting too boring for you? I have a solution! I've created 5 ways to design a basic leaf. Hopefully, this tutorial will give you more ideas on how you can design your leaves to look more unique and fun! For all the designs, I've used a basic teardrop shape for the leaf portion (see below). I haven't added a stem for any of the designs I created, because that part is really easy for anyone to do.

1. Leaf with Leaves

This design may seem a little hard, but it's really not. Notice that it's basically a couple of rectangles with basic leaves on them (teardrops with a line through them). Simple, but elegant.

2. Grid

For this one, you can really get creative and color in your squares in a way that can make your leaf pop. I recommend sticking to a pattern, and continuing that for the whole leaf like I did above.

3. Checks and Dots

This is a really easy way to deck up your leaf! Try out other designs to fill in the spaces if you like this format and get bored of the checks and dots.

4. Leaves Within a Leaf

This again is very easy. Just teardrops, lines, and dots.

5. Flower Power

Are you drawing leaves for a flower? Then this is perfect for you. It's fast, easy, and will give a very nice look. You can even fill in the blank areas with polka dots or something else if you want.

That's all for today! I hope you got some inspiration. I would recommend that you sit down and doodle a bit. Combining different designs that you liked from these 5 designs will definitely help you create a more interesting and pretty looking leaf.

Which design did you like the best?

-Silvia

"I'm Glad I Did" by: Cynthia Weil

Hi!

Since I have summer vacation right now, I have a lot of time on my hands to do things I like to do like create artwork and read books. I recently read a book that I initially thought would be okay, but actually turned out to be really great. Here's my review of it:


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Have you ever picked up a book thinking you'd give it a try, and ended up reading the entire book in one sitting? That will probably happen to you for I'm Glad I Did by: Cynthia Weil. It's just that good. Although this book is historical fiction, the majority of it is realistic fiction, so you'll probably be able to connect to it better and find the story very engaging like I did!

Meet JJ Green, a sixteen year old girl who has just graduated from high school. Yep, she's smart. She's from a family of lawyers, and her parents expect her to become a lawyer too. However, she wants to get into the music industry, and live her dream of being a songwriter. Her parents don't approve of this, because they think the music industry is meant for lowlifes, and believe JJ is too smart and shouldn't degrade herself to that kind of career.

When JJ defies her parents' wishes by getting a summer internship at the great Brill Building, she starts to appreciate her choice of not staying low, but actually rising up to chase her dreams. Shortly after, she and songwriter Luke Silvers co-write a song that the extraordinary Dulcie Brown agrees to sing. Dulcie Brown isn't as renowned as she used to be, but JJ is determined that the single will help bring her up again.

Through a series of events (including a person falling out a window), JJ's life is nearly shattered. When she investigates deeper, she learns that there are lots of secrets regarding some of the people she has encountered through her internship so far. JJ is determined to find out everything before it's too late.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars