Kit-N-Kadoodle

pagekaren:

we are all aware that marriage is only one step on the road to true equality but please do not dismiss how significant the legal right to marriage is, when us federal state and marriage laws guarantee couples over 1200 different legal protections including:

• hospital visitation when there’s been an accident or illness
• the ability to obtain “family” health coverage
• taxation and inheritance rights
• their role as parent of their children and better stability in the lives of their children 
• even protection in case the relationship ends

marriage is a big deal. it is not the final deal. but it is something to celebrate [insert ten thousand rainbow and crying emois]

My soon to be wife can finally have health insurance and not pay 120 bucks For a simple Checkup! BOOYAH

(via yakfrost)

heartofatinman:

tanoshindekouze:

This is a gentle reminder that while the Supreme Court Decision to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states is a wonderful thing, the backlash will likely lead to an increase in violence against LGBTQ people in states where same-sex marriage was previously banned. Note that these states also have some of the loosest gun regulations in the country. If you are LGBTQ and living in one of these states, please be very careful and stay safe. Be in contact with your friends often so they know you’re alright.

Let’s also remember that while the threat of violence is far worse, there are still states where you can be fired or denied employment because your LGBTQ. We made a giant leap forward today but we still have a ways to go.

Now back to the celebration!

This had been on my mind all day…

(via heartofatinman)

queen-markov:

bisexual, pansexual, and asexual 

Paaaan!

(via ifmyheartwasacompassyoudbenorth)

helgesonart:

I little while back I got a great question on facebook, and I figured I’d share my reply. As always, these are my personal views, apply critical thinking. 

Q: I see that your girl sketches, traditional sketches in general, have a structure that brings out a lot of great shapes once you render the final lines. How much time do you dedicate to the structure? I find it hard to balance between structure and gesture. If I focus on structure I feel my drawings come out stiffer and lifeless. But most times when I focus on gesture I feel like my lines don’t help the final drawing.

A: It’s exactly as you say, too much focus on structure leads to boring and lifeless drawings, and too much focus on gesture leads to flimsy and inaccurate drawings. The trick is finding a balance, this is very difficult and something I struggle with continuously. As you say, being too loose initially will maybe give you a flowy base, but essentially useless as you move on to the next step of the drawing, where those initial lines can’t be used as a guide to start placing the major shapes and forms. The trick is to bring a sense of structure, proportion and anatomy at the same time as you’re putting down your more loose gestural lines. The difficult thing is, and this took me a long while to understand, all the skills, the structure, gesture, shape-design, shadow-shapes, anatomy, you kinda need to think of it all at the same time! You can practice all of them individually with focus, but in the end you need to learn all of them to such an extent that you can freely and effortlessly switch between them in your head. Every pose requires different tools. For example, when you have a lot of foreshortening, drawing out the cylindrical and box-type forms will be very helpful. For another pose which is easily readable you can be more gestural. In another case you can focus only on the light and dark value-pattern. In the end I just bring my entire arsenal of drawing-ability for every pose. Currently I am focusing a lot on creating shape-flow!  IMO, my structure and anatomy are my weak-points, even though I spent about two years studying it intensely with Glenn Vilppu’s drawing-manual and anatomy-books by Hogarth and Peck. I also have done a lot of life-drawing, and each time I would isolate on various weaknesses and focus on practicing on those. I’ve done A LOT of boring non-sexy structural drawings, which look nothing like the model, but mainly just wireframes and boxes and cylinders. It’s part of learning and shouldn’t be glossed over. It can be tempting to dive straight into doing sexy drawings, but I feel it’s necessary to spend time doing some boring-looking foundational drawings too.

Something very close to my heart is shape-design. Essentially I am trying to reduce all those complex forms and bumps into easily readable and appealing shapes. The distinction between form and shape is very important. In essence you want to avoid symmetry and parallels. There are four principles of shape design which I use. 1: Straight vs. Curve, 2: Tapering, 3: Rhythm and 4:Size Variation. I keep these in mind like a mantra, but at some point I reach a state of flow and they become sub-conscious.

Someone from the academic tradition of drawing will focus very much on the abstract shapes, constantly measuring, gauging and comparing whichever landmark is useful using straight lines making them gradually more smooth. I find this is helpful when drawing from a model, and bring some of that observation as you’re putting down your first gestural flowy lines.

Also something which I am conscious about right now is increasing depth using size-variation. So the closer something is to the viewer, the larger it’s perceived. I have a tendency to flatten things on the image-plane.

A few years ago I met with Glenn Vilppu at a drawing-workshop, and the advice he was giving me was not useful, because he kept on talking about spheres and forms etc, which is cool and useful in general, but not what I needed. Vilppu rarely talks about shape, and even though I have profound respect for him and his methods (I couldn’t draw without him) there comes a time to kinda break away on your own. I also don’t find his drawings very appealing, they feel too gesturally conceived and fleshy. I really like what Alex Woo is doing, and Dave Pimentel and Griz & Norm.

What you don’t see in my posts is the amounts of failed drawings, I’m cherry-picking the ones which turn out decent. I’d say my success-ratio is somewhere like five bad drawings for every good one. I am constantly searching for failures and learning-experiences, the frustration is something you learn to deal with over time.

caffeineraven:

Because I figured, “why not”

So, before you start your print, it’s best to have an idea. I mean you could do it freehand but whatever, you know? This is a sketch I did a little while back for a painting I was thinking of doing. I chose to make a print ‘cause I thought I could get some interesting effects using ink. I could still totally make a painting out of this, who knows? That’s creative freedom, baby. This sketch was made in an 8″x10″ sketchbook.

Since my printing plate was 16″x20″, I redrew the sketch on newsprint in the same dimensions, refining the drawing and figuring out some shadow placement. As you can see I added a little more motion to the cape and gave the body some more heft.

This drawing was then traced onto the plate (a piece of plexiglass) with permanent marker, then flipped. This flip side is where the ink will go, so I don’t end up making a mirror image of my original drawing. I also wrote notes to myself on the marker side, such as alignment for registration (more on that in a minute), color choices a la paint-by-numbers, etc. The writing also helps me remember which side to ink on. If the letters are backwards, I’m good to go.

“Registering” a print is a system to consistently align the plate with the paper each time they go through the press. Our lab uses a rather lo-fi version involving a partial cardboard frame, tape, and handwritten notes to remind ourselves which corners should line up.

I’m using a reductive technique, which means that colors are mixed through layering with each successive print, rather than mixed prior to inking.The ink is applied to the plate with a variety of techniques, most commonly using a brayer, which is pretty much like a heavy-duty paint roller made out of rubber but don’t you dare scratch it or ding it or else it’ll be RUINED FOREVER. Using a brayer typically results in the most intense and consistent color. (in this case I used a tiny brayer for the red which looks streaky, but I knew I was going to color over it)

(I also don’t have any pictures of the press, or the inked plate, or any in-process shots because I wasn’t even planning on making a mini-tutorial until I was already almost done with the print. mea culpa.)

finished adding the reds and yellows, then started adding a hand-mixed purple (carmine red and pthalo blue), which turns out darker and more neutral than pre-mixed purple but is softer than black. I nixed the brayer and went ham applying the ink directly with different-sized brushes, thinning it out with lithotine to get more fluid effects.

Finally, the lines and darkest values were added in black, and pre-mixed tan ink for the ground. The black had the unintended effect of flattening out the purple and some additional blue, but thems the breaks. Live and learn.

Ready for the show!

(color-correcting is a bitch.)

Thanks for reading! :)

#My friend is awesome guys! #just a sexy lady wearing souls, no big deal.