How to Write Better Songs

By Harrison Welshimer

How is it that some songwriters reach the level of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash or Joni Mitchell while others languish completely unknown? It comes down to two things.

First, the best in the business understand that their paycheck depends largely upon their network. But what this article is about is the second aspect: pure songwriting ability. Everyone can learn the first, even if you're an introvert (trust me, if I can do it, you can). But becoming an expert songwriter takes devotion bordering on insanity. Part 1 of this two part series covers three aspects you can start implementing into your songwriting today.

4 Ways To Overcome Artist's Block

By Joanne Perkins

1. Draw inspiration from past experiences

A great way to kickstart your motivation is to go over memories of past experiences. This can be especially helpful if you use your memories in creating your works. Think about times in your childhood and events throughout your life that you're particularly fond of. Many artists take their past experiences and channel them into creating wonderful works of art. Whether you do this or not, reliving past experiences can help you feel motivated and inspired.

6 Ways To Improve Your Painting Skills

By Joanne Perkins

1. Practice

If you want to be a good painter, you should be prepared to invest a lot of time and effort into it. By practicing regularly, you'll build up your skills and learn new things along the way. Do some painting every single day, even if it's just half an hour here and there. The more you practice, the more mistakes you'll make; the more mistakes you make, the more opportunities you have to learn something new.

4 Nifty Tips to Choose the Right Animation Studio

Businesses nowadays use animated videos to grab customers. Gradually but surely, animation has surfaced as a crucial marketing tool. However, the task of bringing sketched characters to life is one that requires hard work and of course, skilled hands. This is the reason why people seeking for 3D character animation services need to be careful and choosy while selecting animation studio. However, with so many studios claiming to be the best in the market, it is not easy to pick one. So, how are you going to find one? Here are few tips that will help you to get the right one.

3 Mistakes to Avoid in Animation

There are three mistakes that amateur animators do, and if you spot them in videos from YouTube, then you know the animator is a beginner, so don't be so hard on them. But be warned, people who make mistakes don't know they are doing them, and nobody is telling them, so, how would you know if you are doing things correctly?

Only Action with no Anticipation or Aftermath

Taking the example of the amateurish animators posting videos on YouTube, have you noticed the problem has to do with the unnatural movement of the characters? That happens because there is no anticipation or aftermath

This Reality Is Life, And This Is What It Comes Down To

Earl Nightingale once said that not one man or woman in a hundred on the street could name what life comes down to with ease and understanding easily. Well, I can do it in one simple sentence: What we genuinely focus on, we genuinely get. But it is what comes after that simple sentence that is the real meat of the article. Think, we do become what we think about, but more importantly, what we genuinely focus on, we genuinely get without exception.

Sure, many, including myself at one time, gave total and powerful "lip and jaw service" to "we become what we think about". But, the difference between me and most others is that I have expanded and deepened the meaning in my mind and spirit to come down to focusing my mind and spirit like a magnifying glass with the sun shining through it to start a genuine fire if you get my thinking and being, here.

4 Benefits Of Painting Landscapes

1. Heightened appreciation

Painting landscapes gives you a heightened appreciation of the natural world. It enables you to see the world more closely and to understand it finer points and intricacies. Many people don't fully appreciate the beauty of the natural world around them because they don't take the time to look at it more closely. When you paint a landscape, you're challenging yourself to inspect part of the natural world so you can effectively depict it in your painting. You have to see what the world around you is made up of.

2. Getting outdoors

5 Ways to Improve Your Mix

FIVE METHODS THAT WILL DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE YOUR MIX.

1. Editing

Before you jump into the mix make sure you edit every track. Solo each track and listen for pops, humming, background noise etc. If you have recorded any vocals or live instruments delete or mute space where the sound is not used in the arrangement. When compression is added to the mix all background noises, headphone bleed, and click tracks will potentially become more noticeable. To be safe, edit and delete any extra tracks not being used.

Drumming Practice Techniques

Notes:

This document assumes the use of a small standard right handed drumkit setup.

Approach

Being a right handed player, one approach I have found most useful of late is changing my right hand hi-hat to left hand or playing 'open'. At first it may feel odd or alien if you have been playing the traditional cross handed technique for years previously. I was perhaps unaware that my right hand was stronger and faster than the left and that the weaker hand was preventing me from achieving certain goals, in particular noticing a flaw in my paradiddles it was the left side that was letting me down.

4 Ways To Decide What To Paint

1. Find something you've never painted before

If, for example, all of your paintings are of summer landscapes, why not try a winter landscape? If you always paint cities, why not paint the countryside for a change? If you always use oils, why not give watercolours or acrylics a go? Many artists get stuck for something to paint because they're used to painting the same thing again and again; they find they can't do anything else with what they already know. Think outside of the box; expand your horizons and explore new things. You'll soon find that there's always something you've never tried, so go ahead and try it.

5 Things To Know About Underpainting

1. Colours used

Many artists used to use monochromatic underpaintings. The reason for this was to give substance and volume to the different aspects of the painting, as well as to enhance the contrast between darker areas and lighter areas. However, any colour and any colour of combinations can be used. It's worth experimenting to see what different effects can be produced by using different colours and colour combinations for your underpainting. Many choose to use lots of different colours as a sort of template for layers to be painted on top.

13 Fast Facts About Acrylic Paint

1. It is less than a century old. The first type of acrylic paint to become commercially available was actually polymer-based house paint, which became available in the 1940s.

2. It was only in the 1950s that acrylics were made commercially available. After that, they took off in popularity and they're remained a top choice for many artists ever since thanks in part to their great versatility.

3. Acrylic paint does have lots of its own characteristics, though it can easily be manipulated to resemble oil paints or watercolour paints. Many artists therefore use this type of paint as a substitute for oils or watercolours.

5 Common Character Archetypes in Cartoons

Whether we're looking at Shakespeare or SpongeBob, there are common character archetypes that appear in stories across time and cultures. Archetypes are characterized or classified by the role they serve or their purpose in a story. The classical archetypes of a good story include the protagonist and antagonist, the mentor, the sidekick, and the love interest. Let's take a closer look at these five archetypes and how animation studios bring them to life.

9 Tips to Practice Guitar Like a Pro

How to practice guitar like a pro

Most of us, at some point have considered practicing boring at some point in our time as a guitarist. Well, it turns out if you think practicing is boring, you're not doing it the right way. Correct practice, is fun and directed towards a particular goal of achieving or improving a certain skill. You must focus entirely on your practicing. Here are a few tips and guidelines towards fulfilling and useful practice sessions. Make sure that you follow all of them simultaneously.

10 Quick Tips About Piano Practice

The very first piano lesson takes careful planning and pacing. Students listen attentively while you go over the material with them. They understand the importance of good posture at the keyboard. Children remember to sit tall, while arms hang loosely from the shoulders. Songs sound great but when the child goes home, parents tell me that their kids do not know how to practice. Hopefully, these 10 tips will help!

10 Simple Music Marketing Tips For Indie Artists

We live in a strange time. With the internet exploding in exponential chaos, we find almost all aspects of our lives are splintering to take new shapes and forms because of this hyper-connectivity. The music industry-and the artists creating within it-finds itself in a place of constant change. Finding target demographics is now a breeze with the multitudes of analytic software available. Music has changed from primarily physical product to almost completely digital. Traditional marketing has turned to social media marketing and branding for guidance.

How to Make Bass Guitar and Bass Drum Cut Through the Mix

TECHNIQUE 1: COMPRESSION AND GATING.

For bass, you can really squeeze the signal and still have the audio sound good and healthy. With a lot of compression you may bring up the level of unwanted noise at the parts the bass isn't playing, so remember to edit those parts out or use a gate to silence them.

For the kick drum, especially with a live recorded drumset, you can really tighten it up with a gate. Try setting the ratio to 100:1, having a pretty short attack time and have a 200 millisecond release time. (It varies per song.) It's important to blend this once long decaying kick drum into the overhead mic(s) to have a natural drum sound and not to make the drums sound too gated and dead. After using a gate on my bass drum I usually don't apply compression but if you want, throw on a compressor and use a slow attack time and fast release, and then visa versa, see which one makes your particular kick drum sound punchier and cut through the mix more.

What Steps Should You Take in Order to Become a World Class Photographer?

Photography is a wonderful art that has no boundaries and limitations. The thing about this art form is that anyone can practice it; all you need is a camera. But while it might sound quite straightforward, mastering this art is a tall order. But the good thing about any art form is that you can always learn till you attain expertise.

So, what's the most basic element vital to becoming a better photographer?

To become a photographer of professional level, you have to understand that you need to focus on three important aspects:

5 Quick and Easy Tips on How to Take an Awesome Selfie

With the release of Kim Kardashian's new book "Selfish" dedicated exclusively to her selfies, it's clear to see that the selfie trend is here to stay! Who wouldn't like selfies - it's like a mini photo shoot where you're the model, photographer, lighting director, makeup artist and stylist! Whether you're posting selfies to show off your amazing makeup or your outfit of the day, here are some tips that are sure to have your Instagram followers double tapping and your Facebook friends pressing the like button.

Top 5 Reasons Not To Get A Heart Tattoo

Thanks to all those celebrities out there, youngsters have now found a new way to show their love for art, and that is tattoos. Over the years, tattoos have gained widespread popularity among the young, especially as a symbol for love. Heart Tattoos have been adopted by people all over the world to reflect their love. Most people find beautifully drawn hearts an extravagant way of professing their love, but that doesn't mean that love is the only reason behind getting a tattoo. A lot of people get their skin tattooed to signify something totally different. Hearts can be just a simple way to depict your emotions for a thing or remembrance for an individual, or just because you think they are a fashion statement.

4 Ways to Speed Up Your Animation Working Time

One of the most important things ever in any project is the ability to save time. Perfectionists need to save time, so they can improve their work. Directors need to have the project ahead of time to review the work again and again and handle any changes before the deadline. Big studios need to be ahead of schedule.

So, here comes the bummer. Who is the one with the responsibility to deliver an animation on time? Well. Bad news. You. Yes, you, the Animator. The fate of humanity rests on your shoulders, think of yourself of a Hero on a journey that needs a couple of tips to make the adventure more enjoyable and short.

5 Advantages Of Digital Paintings

1. Paint on the go

One of the best things about digital painting is that you can do it wherever and whenever you want. All you have to do is get your iPad out and get to work. Whether you're on the train, waiting for the bus or just lying on the settee, you can just get your iPad out and continue working on your painting. You don't have to worry about getting lots of equipment out and putting it away once you're done; everything's packed into a handheld device that's easy to carry and can be used anywhere you want.

2. Less equipment, less mess

4 Watercolour Painting Tips For Beginners

1. Transparency

One of the key properties of watercolour paint is that it's transparent. This is important to bear in mind, because it means that you can see through the layers of paint. It also means that you can't cover mistakes up by going over them - try to go over a mistake and you'll still be able to see the paint you're trying to cover up. Watercolour paint's transparency gives paintings a sort of ethereal quality, which is why many choose to use it.

5 Easy Ways To Expand Your Knowledge Of Art

1 - Read, read, read

There is a ton of literature about pretty much everything to do with art out there. Head to your local library and you'll find plenty of books on art. But where do you begin? You don't want to start by reading up on a very specific branch of art. Instead, find a book for beginners that's very broad and offers more of a general overview of art without going into too much detail. You want a book that explains things clearly but is still informative and interesting. Look online as well for books on art. If you're keen on practising art, you'll find plenty of useful books and guides for beginners, as well as plenty for more advanced artists.

5 Tips for a Speedy Recovery After Laser Tattoo Removal

Many people have tattoos that they regret getting. Fortunately, advances in technology have made it possible to remove these past mistakes from the skin. Laser tattoo removal involves fracturing the colored pigments of the tattoo with a machine that emits a high-intensity beam of light. To prevent skin infections, changes in skin texture, and other undesirable side effects, it's crucial to follow all aftercare instructions provided by your dermatologist. Use the following tips to make your recovery as quick and painless as possible.

The Art of Paper Sculptor

Kids have been fond of flying kites and of creating paper planes. Simple and innocent - these paper planes can be very easy to make. A basic origami, a simple draft fold, or some cutting, bending, more appeal folding and shaping-these are all the elements of a draft sculptor. Just when you think it is just paper and folding, lo and behold, the next thing you will see is an impressive paper art.

This is the art of manipulation of form with the goal of forming a 3D image or structure. An artist can use various techniques-curving, folding, shaping, or cutting. If he has the skills in origami, this can also be used in letter sculpture.

Priming a Model For a Life Cast

Life casting is all about working with a live model. Be it casting hands, feet, face, torso or the entire body, having a primed and amenable model is an essential asset that a life caster just cannot do without.

Therefore, unlike clay modeling or plaster casting, where the lifeless 'model' is yours to do with as you wish, life casting requires you to properly prepare and instruct the model to avoid any complications or disturbances later on.

Following are a few pointers on the same:

8 Terms to Know About Internet Video Production

The best Internet marketing videos can generate long-lasting and profitable traffic to your online store or website. On the other hand, a bad video could tarnish your reputation and alienate your target audience. No matter your reason for creating an Internet video production, in order to make a video that people actually want to watch, you need to have a baseline level of knowledge. Here are a few terms you should know in order to create the best Internet videos.

Top 11 Anime to Watch

If you're into anime, you've probably already seen all these.

But if you aren't... you MUST try it! Anime is NOT like your regular cartoons. These stories are unique, chock full of intense characters, and beautiful animation.

Action, drama, sci-fi, psychological, horror, apocalyptic, comedic, what it means to be human, humans merging with machines, the meaning of life. Anime's got it all!

You might have seen Pokémon or Sailor Moon. There's many more complex storylines and characters than that. Much of anime is a reflection of Japanese and modern society's reaction to globalization and technological changes of the 21st century. So don't be surprised to find intense themes in these stories. It might even be a bit difficult to completely digest the meaning of some of these anime.

So... there's my pitch. By the way, I have only recently gotten into anime, so feel free to suggest other great anime in the comments below!

5 Reasons to Use Animation to Reach Younger Audiences

As an advertiser, you know the importance of capturing your target audience's attention with appealing and relevant ads. For years, static ads have been good enough to do just this. However, in today's market, animated ads offer an exciting and effective way to garner you the kind of customer attention you need to successfully grow your company, especially if you wish to target younger audiences. Following are a few of the reasons that using animation to reach younger audiences is the smart move to make.