Active Fine Art Posts

How To: Create a Drybrush Painting of Bob Marley

I usually do step-by-step drawing tutorials, but I found drybrush technique to be fascinating and possibly superior to pencil drawing. Pencils are limited tools because they can only be applied with a point of some sort (with the exception of a graphite stick), while paintbrushes allow artists to think in terms of shapes instead of lines. If you look around the room that you are currently in, I guarantee you that you will not see anything that resembles an edge that a pencil gives you; the wo...

How To: Make a Canon Shutter Release Cable

This article will show you how to make a shutter release cable for a Canon camera. It took me about half an hour once all of my materials were gathered. I came in at a total of about eight dollars. It has three switches and buttons. The black button on mine triggers the auto focus. The red button triggers the shutter. Finally, the switch triggers the bulb mode, or long exposure. This can be used to take astronomical photos that show the movement of the stars in the picture. The release cable ...

News: Artist Converts Hummer Into Horse-Drawn Stagecoach

As a protest to American consumerism, NYC artist Jeremy Dean converted a Hummer H2 into a horse-drawn carriage "to show just how screwed and unsustainable the auto industry has become." Dean believes the gas guzzling SUV is the epitome of everything that is wrong with American consumerism. Whatever your political opinion may be, Dean's conversion is pretty striking.

How To: Make Abstract Faces Using Ink Pads

This video shows how to paint abstract-looking faces using ink pads. The ink pads I use are Tsukineko Brillance Ink Pads but there are other brands that do pointy-ended ink pads that will work just as well. They are great for quick and easy faces to use in your art journaling.

How To: 10 Ways to Get Rid of a Bad Mood (+ Meet Our New HowTo Artist, Yumi Sakugawa!)

WonderHowTo is pleased to introduce Yumi Sakugawa, who first graced our front page last week when featured in the David Lynch meditation post. Yumi is an artist and illustrator currently working on a 100-page graphic short story collection, and she's officially joined the WonderHowTo team as our lovely in-house HowTo artist. Yumi will be illustrating hints and tricks for the thrifty DIY spirit as an ongoing weekly feature—tune in at noon tomorrow for a first peek into her WonderHowTo World of...

News: Video Games vs. Real Life

Alex Lewis imagines what the world would look like infiltrated by video game characters in his digital montage series “Video Games vs. Real Life”. (P.S. If you like what you see, check out Lewis' t-shirt designs at Threadless).

How To: Sketch a human hand holding a pencil drawing

You may not know how to draw, but but don't let that discourage your from trying. This video will take your fears away and prove to you that anybody can draw if they want to! A little instruction is all anybody needs to succeed. But drawing hands is difficult, right? Sure, hands are one of the tougher parts of the body to sketch, especially when holding something, like the pencil in this drawing. But practice makes perfect, so don't give up.

How To: Recycle a pillowcase into a dress with Gianny L

Learn how to recycle a pillowcase into a dress with Gianny L! The sexy GiannyL demonstrates this DIY closet hack that's simple and cheap. All you need is an old pillowcase, some scissors, and some string. A small pillowcase dress is the perfect creation for any young lady. Watch this video and learn how to make it!

How To: Learn extreme macro photography tricks

Watch this quick instructional photography video and discover how to do extreme macro photography without having any real specialized macro photo equipment. Use a couple of your existing lenses to create a super macro lens. Practice these tips and improve your photography skills.

How To: Paint a landscape painting

Unlike many other video painting tutorials which are time lapse speed painting set to music, these lessons will actually teach you how to make a finished painting. These pieces will be small, simple and easy to follow. You may take bits and pieces of these lessons and apply them to your own work or feel free to follow along and create your own version of this painting. Learn how to paint a landscape painting by watching this instructional painting video.

How To: Use Your Shutter, ISO and Aperture

Learn the Basics of Shooting in "Manual" Mode on your DSLR In this first installment of Photography Basics, we will be exploring and explaining the basics of shooting with a DSLR in various shooting modes. This first webisode is intended to familiarize the user with the basic understanding and functions of ISO, Aperture and Shutter in order to produce more professional looking images.

Font-Face: Design a Typeface with Your Mug

If you've ever used a font editing program to create a font, you know that one generally shapes the various forms by arranging points on a screen with a mouse. But what if those points were controlled by something other than fine motor skills? Andy Clymer of high profile type foundry Hoefler & Frere-Jones was interested in exploring alternative methods for how a typeface is developed; hence, "font-face" was born. Font-face employs facial recognition to control the design parameters of a font....

How To: Paint a beached whaler seascape with Jim Ingraham

Painter Jim Ingraham shows the steps of painting a marine landscape in this video tutorial. Watch as a prepared canvas transforms into a seascape, complete with the beach, the ocean, and the sky. Render and mix paints as you go, this technique is not particularly rigid. Watch this video painting tutorial series and learn how to create a seascape.

How To: Draw an anime girl in Photoshop

In this video, we learn how to draw an anime girl in Photoshop. First, draw the outline of the face, shoulders, and neck using a light touch of the brush. Next, draw in the details of the face and then start drawing in the hair. Use different shapes and swirls for the hair, to make it thick and long around her face and body. Next, draw in her hand and arm. Use a darker brush to fill in the details and draw over the outline, to create the final sketch. Add in eyelashes and feminine details to ...

News: Artist to Schlep Mammoth Chunk of Ice from Greenland to NYC

It's an ambitious How-To project to say the least, or more specifically, an over-the-top political art installation by San Francisco artist Brian Goggin. You may have previously heard of Goggin for his "Defenestration" project—an installation of "frozen" furniture, being tossed mid-air from a San Francisco apartment building. But Goggin's latest project sounds significantly more challenging to execute, considering the elaborate game plan involved:

How To: Draw anime/manga backgrounds

Watch this video to learn how to draw backgrounds for anime and manga. "Miki Falls" manga creator Mark Crilley presents a tutorial on how to draw and color backgrounds for a manga-style illustration. The emphasis is on using color and linework to create the illusion of depth.

The Getty Museum Presents: How to Make Art from Ye Olden Days

Art Babble is a video network for artists and art lovers alike, launched by a group of curators at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The site is divided into channels, series and partners, with a wide variety of top notch videos from institutions far and wide. The Getty Museum has posted some especially fascinating content, most notably their series on modern artisans and craftsmen demonstrating antiquated art techniques.

News: Kim Joon's Naked Body Art (Possibly NSFW)

Wow, naked + batman + tattoo/body painting = some pretty "out-there" art... Korean artist Kim Joon has been fascinated with tattoo culture ever since his days in the military as a young man. Since, he has taken his obsession into the fine arts realm, treating the human body like a blank canvas. Interestingly, his images are not created as one might expect. No physical painting of the models is actually involved.

News: Polish Artist Recycles 300 Dead Computers into Giant Installation

Electronic waste (or e-waste) is becoming a bigger and bigger problem thanks to the rapid growth of technology. In 2009, the United States produced 3.19 million tons of e-waste in the form of cell phones and computers. It's estimated that 2.59 million tons went into landfills and incinerators with only 600,000 tons actually being recycled or exported. Recycling programs just aren't cutting it, so what's the next best thing? Art.

How To: Make a dainty victorian hat from a lampshade

In this tutorial, we learn how to make a Victorian hat from a lampshade with Gwen. You will need: a lampshade, scissors, acrylic paint, paint brushes, glue, a compass, and cardboard. First, take the compass and make the circle as wide as you want your hat to be, then trace your lampshade on the cardboard. Now place the small end of the lampshade around the large circle that you drew. Next, cut these circles out of the cardboard. Leave extra room, don't cut it out exactly on the line. When fin...