Sunday, December 18, 2011

Celebrities As Role Models For Your Children

There has been much concern that has developed in recent years about the effect that seeing so many celebrities up close and personal might be having on our children.

So many times famous people like movies stars, music stars, and sports stars live lives that can seem so glamorous and trouble free to our kids. We seem to think that all they see are the advantages that they have.

While it is true that with so much celebrity exposure, this could be a factor in leading children in one direction or another. With television and all that is available to view, children can often be exposed to some things that they should not be. Many channels that we can have access to with satellite and cable, can have content that is inappropriate for some.

Some music and concerts that have adult lyrics can make kids feel more grown up when they sing them. The skimpy clothing that is being worn by young female celebrities and pop stars have little girls as young as five or six wanting to imitate their style. While there is nothing one can say about what other people wear, it is ultimately parents who buy the clothes our kids wear.

Young boys that see their favorite sports star wearing designer clothes and two hundred dollar pairs of tennis shoes may not fully understand that their parents might not be able to afford these things. Many young people have resorted to stealing and worse to get these items.

In recent months especially, there have been incidents where some of the celebrities that our kids love to imitate, have gotten into some serious trouble. In many of these cases these celebrities are paying the price for their actions.

Although it is a sad thing about what many of these young and famous are going through, it is at least good that our children also get to see that there are rules to abide by and sometimes it does not matter who you are.

In being fair to celebrities, there are many who pride themselves on trying to be better role models for their young audiences. As parents we must realize that how our children turn out in life is in large due to how they are raised at home and the time and effort that we put into them.

So if our children end up in trouble of some kind or are heading down the wrong path, it is not fair to place the blame on some celebrity we do not even know. After all, we are the ones who are responsible for our kids, not celebrities and how they live their lives.

How to Draw People - Cartoon and Realistic

Drawing people be it realistic or cartoon-like can be challenging. But the pure joy you can have from creating drawings of people is really awesome. Here in this article you will find some tips that will help you to create drawings of people that are not only beautiful but also full of life.

Pay attention to various proportions: To draw a realistic human body you must have clear understanding about the sizes and proportions of various body parts. Things like: a man is around 7 head high, width of human body at the waist is little more than one and half times of his face and things like that. A good anatomy book meant for figure artists can be very useful for this purpose.

When drawing cartoon characters you can override many of these guidelines, but to break rules in style you first have to be aware of them.

Draw eyes to express the state of mind: Eyes express the state of mind so be careful while you are drawing eyes. Eyebrows and lips are equally important. Make a habit of observing people and how they express their emotion through their facial expression. This practice is very useful and will enrich your character-creation-toolkit.

Hands are not too difficult; you just need to practice more: When drawing your character do not avoid drawing hands. Properly drawn hands separate a good figure artist from mediocre ones so practice drawing hands diligently. Use your own hand as a model and draw from various angles, this will give you a very good practice.

While drawing cartoons you can reduce the complexities by drawing four fingered --three plus thumb -- hands. Or you can make your character wear gloves that will make your work even easier.

Why shadows are important: Shadows can add depth to your scene. But drawing elaborate and accurate shadow takes time; instead add some shadowy patch near the feet of your character. If you do not add shadow at all your character may appear to be floating in mid air.

Practice drawing from real life: Initially when you start drawing it is easier and natural that you will be drawing from other's sketches or photos, but as you start becoming good at your job you must start drawing from real life. Real life gives you the freedom of choice and rich variety.

Negative space drawing will make your work easier: Negative space drawing is drawing space that is not part of your intended drawing subject. Or in other terms it is basically nothing but drawing the out line of your subject. You may find this approach useful because it lets you concentrate on the overall form without getting bogged down into the details of the subject.