Baseball Pitching (Post 4): Preventing injuries

Preventing Injuries

One of the biggest ways to improve your pitching and increase the amount of time you are able to pitch is to prevent injuries especially to your elbow.

How Do Injuries Occur?

Injuries can be caused by various actions, such as wrong form. When practicing incorrect form, it can increase in arm injuries to the elbow’s UCL is from incorrectly thrown “sliders” in which the forearm dangerously supinates at release, forearm is what stresses the UCL (Clark 68). On correctly thrown fastballs, the forearm safely pronates after release. On correctly thrown curveballs, the elbow safely hinges after a karate chop motion after release. On change ups, the arm also as it does on a fastball. Unfortunately, young pitchers throw too many “sliders” in which the forearm dangerously supinates at release. Pitchers would be much better off developing a cutter instead of a slider so the arm can safely pronate after ball release (Clark 68).

By turning your wrist to get the ball to spin, you can hurt yourself so it is important to take care of your arm

How to Prevent Injuries

The Biggest way to prevent injuries is to keep you and your arm conditioned throughout the entire season. This also helps you recover faster 

Source:

Clark, Dave. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2006. Print.

How to build a quick and easy Survival Kit

When going out into the wilderness it is always good to be prepared even a simple plastic bag fill with important items can be the difference between life and death... Making your own little survival kit is quick and easy. "Recommended items include needle and thread, compass, knife, snare wire, flint and spear with so tinder."(Wiseman 29). My little survival kit cost me around 10 dollars, it includes duck tape, flint steal, compass, sewing kit, mirror, to signal for help, small knife and mini-fishing kit, with a few hooks weights and 30 feet of line, all of which weighs about and ounce. "It is important to only bring what you need."(Wiseman 19). I bring this kit with me when ever I go out hunting, camping etc. This kits can be made at home with stuff around the house or you can purchase pre-made ones at your local sporting goods store. With that knowledge in mind would you consider making one of these little items, it might save your life. 
 
Work Sited
John Wiseman (Author). “SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere Paperback – November 11, 2014.” SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere: John Wiseman: 8601411364013: Amazon.com: Books, Collins, www.amazon.com/SAS-Survival Handbook-Third-Surviving/dp/0062378074

Choosing the right knife for the job

Throughout my "adventures" I have always tried to be as prepared as possible, which includes bringing the right tool for the job. Perhaps the most important tool is a knife, one of the oldest tool known to man. But choosing the right knife is often where people go wrong especially in a survival situation. "A multi-bladed knife is a useful tool, but, if you carry only one knife, you need something stronger." (Wiseman 35). This is referring to knifes like a Swiss army knife which is a useful knife around a casual camping trip but in a survival situation is the wrong option because it is very brittle. The best option is a full tang bush craft knife, which is bigger and much stronger. Remember a big nice can do anything a little knife can do, maybe not as well, but a little knife can't do everything a big knife can do. "You are only as sharp as your knife"(Wiseman 35). The knife up top has not been taken care of or sharpened though it looks awesome it is all but worthless in a survival situation. Looks are not everything, just because a knife looks cool does not mean it will work well. The bottom left knife was $10:00 at a flee market, the all black knife is a $20:00 dive knife. The best choice of knife I found was the fixed blade "Gerber", that was the knife that I used to make my snares in my previous blog, so you know its quality. With that in mind would you consider changing your choice of knife you take into the woods.



 Work Sited
John Wiseman (Author). “SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere Paperback – November 11, 2014.” SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere: John Wiseman: 8601411364013: Amazon.com: Books, Collins, www.amazon.com/SAS-Survival Handbook-Third-Surviving/dp/0062378074

ASL: Talking About Actions

ASL: Talking About Actions



The final chapter I read out of Christopher Brown's The Art of Sign Language was about actions. How to use them, and common signs associated with them. I show a small handful of the signs I gathered from this Chapter below.

1. "I want to wish you a good visit."
2. "Where do you live?'
3. "Please try to continue working."
4. "Remember to pay for your laundry."

Brown provides helpful little bits of information throughout his text related to general ASL proficiency. These have been of great help throughout my IRP. One of these helped greatly, and helped me realize a lot about body language in ASL, "Remember that when signing, you are engaged in a conversation, just like normal speaking. Use expression and body language to portray your point. This gives your signs more meaning." (Brown 115).  She continues on, speaking about things like moving your body with your hands, and mouthing your words (Brown 115-116). This knowledge has been of great help. As I have gotten more familiar with my signs, I can slowly improve to sign like someone skilled in the language.

How does body language translate from ASL to normal speaking, and how important do you think body language is?

Brown, Christopher. The Art of Sign Language: Phrases. Vol. 2, Thunder Bay Press, 2003.

By Noah Crissey

Referee's Hand Movements for Contests

Knowing the referee's hand signals are VERY important during a match for scorekeepers, viewers, and the people in the match. There are a handful of signals and have changed over the year or decreased somewhat. Some are very obvious but some need explaining. "Looking at the referee's hand movements are essential to the fighters in the match and can gain one persons advantage" (Wilson 111). In my personal experience, the referee's hand signals help me know what is going on and what is happening during the match. These signals can give an advantage or disadvantage to one fighter (Win or Foul point).

Wazari (Half Point): Person who thrown or had a 10 second pin get's a half point. Another half point means a win.

Mate (Stop): This means to stop the match

Ippon (Win): Whoever gets the max points when the match is over wins, however another way to get an ippon is by a solid and clean throw or a pin for 20 seconds.

Shido (Penalty): The person who receives the penalty has the finger pointed on their side. A person can get a max of 3 penalties, if the person goes over 3 then they are disqualified or lose the match automatically. Penalties can be giving out for touching below the hip when standing, hitting, choking when it is forbidden, etc.

Osaekomi: When the referee uses this signal, this means that one person is in a hold down or someone is pinning and the timer starts until 20 seconds or when the person gets out. If the person applying the attack gets to 20 seconds, he or she automatically wins. The opposite of this is Toketa which means the person has broken out or lost the hold.

Referee's also need to be in training for about 2-3 years and can start as early as junior year in high school. "Always obey the referee's rules at all times off and on the mat" (Wilson 112). The hand signals are mainly for score keepers to keep track and see who earns the point or loses it.

Unfortunately, this is my last post and I hope you guys had fun reading my blogs! If you guys are thinking about doing Judo, come talk to me for more information!

  

 USJF. Judo For High School And College. George L. Wilson, 1975

ASL for School and Home






In Christopher Brown's The Art of Sign Language, many examples and common phrases are given for a number of different scenarios and situations. In the next chapter, Brown delves into common phrases used around the house or at school. I can be seen performing a few of the many gestures learned from this chapter below.

1. "Would you like a toothbrush, toothpaste, or towel?"
2. "The telephone is on the table under the window."
3. "The paper, pencil, scissors, and crayons are in the basket."
4. "The letter came in the mail today."

I have stated in previous posts how Brown has provided a number of step by step pictures for each of the signs he shows. However, in this chapter, as the signs got more complicate, he began providing arrows on this images. This helped me greatly for sign like "Fire Alarm", where the arrows greatly aided me in understanding the sign (Brown 112). In addition, the instructions below each step that previously had little impact have grown to be a valuable asset in this chapter. For example when understanding the word "came" for the sign "The letter came in the mail today", Brown's instruction helped clear up something that could not be portrayed through motion arrows, "Index fingers rotate around each other in motion towards the body." (Brown 110). This is just one example of how the instructions were of great aid.

Muscle memory played a big roll in learning a lot of ASL. How big of a role do you think muscle memory has in numerous other things, like playing instruments of engaging in sports?

Brown, Christopher. The Art of Sign Language: Phrases. Vol. 2, Thunder Bay Press, 2003.

By Noah Crissey

Java: Switches

Throughout my time programming, there have been many times where I needed to get an input from a user, and depending on what they inputted, I needed to run different code. There are multiple ways of accomplishing this, however some methods are faster than others and much easier to work with.

In most programming, the way to do this would be to use a lot of if and else statements, chained together. The first if statement checks if a certain value is true, and if so, it runs the following code. However, if the value is false, it goes on to the else statement, or else if statement. The else statement runs the next code without question, however the else if statement acts just like the first if statement. This means that you can chain lots of these together to test for different possible inputs, and only the code for the user's input will be run.

As you can see, this option will get long and confusing as more options are added due to the difficulty to read the code. There is so much extra code that is required that the code that is more important is easily lost. Barry Burd, a computer science educator with a PhD, wrote that lots of if statements seems wasteful and "why not create a statement that checks the value of [a variable] just once and then takes an action based on the value it finds?" (Burd 132). Luckily, there is a simple solution to the problem. Several years ago, a new feature was implemented into Java that allowed switches to replace the complex if and else statements. This new method was short, simple and easy to use and understand, plus it was scalab.e This meant that if there was anything that needed changes, it would be easy to change.

As you can see in the second image, each if statement has been replaced by a case statement inside of the switch. The switch defines what variable to check, and the cases define what options the variable can be. Burd explained that "the computer checks the value of the [inputted] variable. When the computer determines that the [inputted] variable's value is 2, the computer checks the case of the switch statement. The value 2 doesn't match the topmost case, so the computer proceeds to the middle of the three cases. The value posted for the middle case (the number 2) matches the value of the [inputted] variable, so the computer executes the statements that come immediately after case 2" (Burd 133). This was still a problem for me, because if a user inputted text such as "strONGly agRee", the code wouldn't recognize it. To solve this, I decided to first make the variable lowercase, then checked for all lowercase answers as there is no way to ignore the case of each answer as I could in the first method.

Other than that, this method is extremely useful and much easier to use! The code is simpler, easier to understand and easier to add on to if future changes are necessary. All of this adds up to make switches a great addition to the programming language, and something that should be taken full advantage of!

Have you ever tried to repeat a task over and over, only to get tired of it before you were even done?

Works Cited:
Burd, Barry. Java for Dummies. 7th ed., John Wiley & Sons, 2017.

Winter Outfit Basics

Winter is typically a time where you can throw on some sweats and an oversize hoodie and call it good. But, if you feel like dressing up, it is sometimes hard because you cannot usually wear a skirt and tee shirt due to the climate. In this post, I am going to show you how to dress for winter while keeping warm.

For a feminine style, there are a few recommendations from Liliana Vazquez, the author of the previously mentioned book The Cheap Chica's Guide to Style, Vazquez mentions that a statement necklace and a cashmere sweater are a necessity during winter (Vazquez 134). Statement necklaces or earrings can be found for low prices at places such as Forever 21, Charlotte Russ, and Icing. A statement necklace/earring can elevate a look from basic to dinner chic with a simple piece of jewelry. Along with that, a cashmere sweater is a classic winter basic that is stylish while keeping you warm.

 In this picture, I styled my friend Emilee in black jeans, a black top and a statement over sized jean jacket for a winter photo shoot.

For the masculine style, the style can range from super high end to basic street style. Necessities for someone with more of a masculine style include dark blue slacks, a dark red button down collared shirt, and a quality down coat. Investing in a high quality down coat can save you money in the future. Think about it this way: would you rather buy a new $50 coat every year or invest in a $250 coat one winter and use it every winter for the next 10 years? investing in clothing that is essential is the smartest way to be a savvy shopper.

For both style types, I would recommend a black vest along with either a creme, navy or red quarter zip sweater. These two articles of clothing are staples in outfits when you have nothing to wear. They will also keep you warm during outside events or a nice dinner party.

I am wearing a creme cashmere sweater along with a black vest, ripped jeans and black boot heels for a holiday dinner party.

Winter colors typically include burgundy, dark navy blue, black and creme white. throughout the winter time, stores that sell apparel such as Target, Macy's  and Nordstroms advertise these colors, making them iconic colors that are fit to wear during the cold season.

This is an advertisement from Macy's winter collection, showing how the colors of winter can be influenced by marketers 

Overall, winter is a great time to express yourself in a new way and the only way to find your personal style is to experiment with new things and switching up the basics every once and a while.

If there is anything that sparked your interest, comment! What is your favorite winter go-to? When do you typically try new winter outfits?

Source: Vazquez, Lilliana. The Cheap Chica's Guide to Style: Secrets to Shopping Cheap and Looking Chic. Gotham Books, 2013.

Building Mecha Kits: Topcoat

Fadila Soehedi
Mecha Model Guide for Beginners, Derick Siu

If you've been keeping up with my blog posts until now, you can hopefully tell by now that we're almost finished with the process of building our figure. I've already built the model, put on decals and stickers, and weathered it. By now, it looks almost ready to display! All we need is a little cherry on top that actually isn't a cherry... It's just a top coat for your gunpla.

What exactly is a top coat? A top coat is basically an extra layer of clear plastic you apply to your model to protect its decals and weathering affects since these can easily rub off. There are three types of top coats, that being a gloss, semi-gloss, and flat clear coat. These can "dictate the final look of your kit and ultimately affect your overall presentation of it" (Siu 42).

Flat clear top coat spray can

The differences between these three top coats are very basic and self-explanatory. Gloss being a coat that gives a smooth and shiny surface, mostly being used for car and motorcycle models. Semi-gloss gives your model a look that's neither dull nor shiny surface, it's somewhere between there. Finally, a flat coat gives your model a rough surface with no reflections of any sort, these are mostly used with military models. These can all be to top off a gunpla, but the most commonly used ones are the semi-gloss coat and flat coat.

Comparison of different top coats on spoons on pg. 42
Gloss (left), semi-gloss (middle), and flat (right.

Before applying a top coat, you must be aware of the hazards that the substance holds. First, it's extremely flammable, you'll want to be in a well ventilated area that's dry yet slightly cool. Second, there's an abundance of chemicals in it, be sure to avoid any contact with skin and do not ingest or inhale the particles! With these in mind, please be careful when handling and be mindful of the precautions you should take.

Relative distance of how you should spray your kit
(featuring: my hand)

When you apply a top coat, you'll want to spray the front, back, sides, top and bottom of the model with the coat of your choice.  You'll want to apply a coat to every side about 3 times with 5 minutes of drying for each coat so keep in mind how much you'll be spraying. Doing this will ensure a solid barrier of protection for the plastic as well as make the effect of the coat more visible.
Be sure to shake the can before you spray! While spraying, you'll want to spray as if you're simply spray painting something... If you haven't done anything like that, Derick Siu helps by explaining that, "a suitable distance for spraying is 6-10 inches. Slowly move the can horizontally across the model, releasing the nozzle once you have fully passed the piece" (Siu 53). Spraying in this manner evenly spreads the particles coming from the can, avoiding bubbles and dripping. 

When you're finished applying the coats, you will want to give it about 24 hours to cure. The ending result should be a marvelous and detailed intergalactic military-grade battle robot thing that's been shrunken down into a mere figure that YOU made! With the top coat sealing the deal, you're now completely finished with your model kit! As for me, I think my model turned out really nice seeing how I used methods from the book and a little background knowledge. I've certainly picked up a thing or two from the book that I'll most likely be using in the future.

What do you think? Is all the time and effort required to build a decent-looking gunpla really worth it in your eyes? Please give me some insight to help me determine if I'm using my time wisely or not!

Siu, Derick, Mecha Model Guide for Beginners (Volume 1), CreateSpace Independent Publishing           Platform; 1st edition, 2013

Using the most of your suitcase

Traveling can be stressful, especially if you are packing last minute. In this post, I will show you how to pack most effectively and how to bring the essentials.

Here is a display of essentials when packing for a trip

Primarily, determine what the weather will be like during your stay. You don't want to pack shorts and tee shirts for the mountains. For hot climates, pack at least one pair of jeans and leggings, and mostly shorts. for cold places, pack jeans, thermal clothing, long sleeves and jackets.

This would typically be my suitcase for a one day trip to a warm place. In the suitcase, I have Converse, mom jeans, a Tower Records tee shirt, toiletries and a swimsuit.

Second is how to pack these clothes effectively. I am going to use a week long trip to California as an example. California is known for its hot weather and beach feel. But contrary to belief, California can be cold at times. Packing around 4 pairs of shorts and 3 pairs of  jeans or other warm pants because if you go out at night, you do not want to be stuck in the shorts you wore for the 80 degree middle of the day weather. In Liliana Vazquez's book that I have mentioned in previous blog posts, she describes packing essentials in a key part of the book, saying "Pack for one extra day in case of an incident or anything unexpected such as if your flight gets delayed and you must spend an extra night, or you spill on your clothes." (Vazquez 139). To continue on this topic, you must take into account the clothes you are flying in in. that counts as your outfit for day one of a trip.

Packing for a trip will always set the mood for your whole vacation.

Next, no matter how much you would like to bring your entire closet, you cannot fit it all in one suitcase. Pack at least an outfit that would be appropriate for a nice dinner, pajamas for each night, along with your day clothes. Packing only what you need is crucial. Start by laying out what you absolutely need such as pajamas, toiletries, and cosmetic and hair products. Then, pack your pre-chosen outfits. if you cannot fit an outfit for each day in your suitcase, you need to cut somethings out such as outfits that require bulky layering or multi-garment outfits. This should cut down the size of the suitcase immensely.

When preparing for a trip, the way you arrange your clothing is a major factor that goes underestimated. I find that folding then rolling into a tube is the best way, because it is easy to stuff together. However, that is what works best for me. For someone else, they may find that folding on top of each other is best or just stuffing everything in wherever it fits is most effective.

To summarize overall, to lead the most effective packing for one's trip, I would say to only pack what you need, lay out each outfit before packing, and pack for the appropriate weather. Thank you for reading and I would love to hear what you would like to read! How do you best prepare for a vacation? What is the number one problem you face in your style? What would you like to see next?

Source: Vazquez, Lilliana. The Cheap Chica's Guide to Style: Secrets to Shopping Cheap and Looking Chic. Gotham Books, 2013.

Bigger, Leaner, Stronger: Supplements

        Bigger, Leaner, Stronger: Supplements

      Now that weightlifting is such a cultural norm, you have probably heard of most of the different kinds of things you can take, good or bad. One Idea that has stayed prevalent in the idea of weightlifting is that you have to take a lot of protein, with most of the sources coming from food and from "whey" a powdered substance that is added to drinks that adds protein to the mixture. To quote Michael Matthews, "Using protein supplements such as whey, egg, and casein powders (your three best options) isn't necessary, but its convenient." (Matthews 235) In the rest of the article, Michael Matthews talks about the different kinds of protein stimulants in depth, mostly about powdered supplements. To make a long story short, Mathews describes what the protein is actually doing in your body, and how to stay away from the bad and low quality whey or casein products because they have harmful fillers in them. For my project, I will be using all natural vegan protein, that has no sugar and is high in protein. I have not ever taken protein with a diet before, so i have no prior knowledge on what is the best types of protein and so on but for now, I would recommend the best ranked or best reviewed protein supplement you can find. 

 

         Work Cited

         Matthews, Michael. Bigger Leaner Stronger: the Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body. Oculus Media Group Llc, 2015.

Child Psychology.

In these past posts I have talked about many things varying from Behavioral theories to the guidelines for therapists.  This last post is a recap in a sense.  I will be showing you the reason for child psychology.  Children are all apart of us.  whether you relate to children, enjoy their company, or do not, children are the future of our world.  Therefore the way we treat and raise this generation is vital to how healthy this planet will be come 15 or so years.  This is where psychology comes in.  Parenting is perhaps one of the most significant jobs out there today.  Molding the young minds of the future is extremely important.  However, parents cannot do it alone.  Psychologists are here to help all different types of people, and ages, through their problems.  As Cullen states at the very end of her book, "Positive psychology can offer a lot to the process of finding each other" (Cullen, 208).
This quote symbolizes the importance of psychology in everyone's lives.

Below is an image of a child and I as I earn experience for what I one day hope shall be my job, a Child's Trauma Psychologist.

Do you believe Psychology is a vital asset to the human population at this day and age?

CULLEN, KAIREN. INTRODUCING CHILD PSYCHOLOGY: a Practical Guide. ICON BOOKS LTD, 2018. 

30 Minute Sketching - Keep it Simiple

30 Minute Art - Sketching
By Alwyn Crawshaw

We've finally made it my final blog of this book, in this meeting I will look into Crawshaw's final major tip on sketching keeping it simple and quick. How he puts it into words is that "a non-painter sees everything, but an artist sees only what is important to his or her sketch" (Crawshaw 41). Using a few methods can bring up the habit of simplifying things more. For the most effective way would be too use only a long hold, as making it difficult to draw would drive you to putting in too much detail or putting any irrelevant details (Crawshaw 42). 

For this final drawing I will finally time myself to the 30 minute limit, it will be a simple small forest with a dirt road. I used a 2B pencil too put in detail and make out the drawing, while buffering it with a 6B pencil to make quick and quality shading. Coming out was this final product.

Alwyn Crawshaw's 30 Minute Art book, has probably been the most helpful tool I've gotten to improve my capabilities in drawing. To finally end off I want to know what has been the most helpful system of knowledge whether it is a book, website, or video?

The Nimzo-Indian Defense

For my final blog, I've decided to look at the different kinds of defenses. Since I've been looking on how to attack my opponents and being able to achieve victory. Now I'm looking at the types of defenses to protect my king from being lost. There are many types of defenses for ex: Nimzo-Indian Defense, Queen's Indian Defense, and etc.

1st 

For the Nimzo-Indian Defense, the black side will have the upper hand due to the fact that it's protected at the end. However everything has a weak point, the king will have limited space to move around which means it would be much easier to get cornered and be checkmated much easier and faster. But with each protecting pieces played correctly it will be easy to defend and protect the king from danger. First up white will play its most second common move for white which is c4. Which then leads to Nc3, where the Knight on the white side will move towards the center in order to threaten the black side. Then the black side will have to move the king in order to be safe, which means the king will have to castle. So because the king is now in the corner its more protected because there are other pieces surrounding it to protect itself. This is shown in the text when it said "The Nimzo-Indian Defense is a very active defense for Black.  

2nd

3rd 

Which then finally leads to the whites king to castle himself so it can protect its king from danger also. Now since there's nothing much left for black to do since this is basically the end of the defense. However according to the book it could continue like this, " 8 a3 Bxc3 9 bxc3 dxc4 10 Bxc4 Qc7"

Work Cited 

Snyder, Robert Michael. “Chess for Juniors: a Complete Guide for the Beginner.” Chess for Juniors: a Complete Guide for the Beginner, David McKay Co, 1991, pp. 179-184.

Question: Whether you play chess or not how would you defend your king from getting captured? 

Rotations, Spirals, and divisions with ellipses (Concept drawing)

Rotations for hinges can be accurately drawn using the techniques in my last post with ellipses drawn on surfaces by drawing along ellipses. Drawing a shape on any of the axis's presented by the ellipse can represent a door at any angle of the swing as an example.

To subdivide an ellipse, draw a half circle parallel to the ellipse drawn on a surface. Divide this half circle into even “pie slices” with a protractor or just eyeball it. Then, draw parallel lines through the intersecting points of the circle over to the vertical line of the ellipse, and then connect them to the other end of the surface following the vanishing point. Mark the intersection of the ellipse and the lines previously drawn and connect them to the center for perfect divisions on the ellipse. According to Scott Robertson, “being able to subdivide am ellipse will help with drawing things like spiral staircases, equally spaced links on a tank tread, hour positions on a clock, or teeth around a gear” (Robertson 16). These techniques are shown in this drawing of a gear that I drew. 

Question: What careers go with the style of concept drawing and drafting?  

The Vertical Concept

The vertical concept is one of the most versatile and effective patterns in the passing system. Like the drag concept it is a two man game concept, it is also installed day one because the techniques are used in other passing concepts. "This concept puts extreme pressure on the deep areas and allows attack on any defense with with a high degree of confidence in a completion." (Gonzalez 74). Although some of these concepts might seem advanced for high school players, as long as they practice the concept will not be to hard to grasp. Below is a diagram of the vertical concept structure.

 Now that you know what the vertical concept is do you think you would ever use this play? If no then what would be your reason?

Bigger, Leaner, Stronger: Fueling your body

                 

             Bigger, Leaner, Stronger: How to eat properly 

       An important part of bodybuilding and staying fit in general is to eat healthy and stay fit. In the book Bigger leaner and stronger, the author Michael Mathews sheds light on eating healthy with this quote: "Some people say it's 70 percent of the game, while others say it's 80 or even 90 percent. Well, I say its 100 percent."(Matthew 75) Michael Matthew also says that "the building blocks of a great body are more like pillars than puzzle piece. Weaken one enough, and the whole structure collapses."(Meyers 75) I agree with Mathews points because to become bigger,Leaner and stronger you need to eat good food as "Fuel" to become Bigger, Leaner and Stronger. I start my meal prep with healthy foods, mostly protein based. In the image below, I make Chicken Afritada, a Filipino dish that mainly consists of Chicken, Tomato, Potato and Rice. This meal is lean and full of protein and carbohydrates. I recommend that if you were to start a diet in order to get leaner and stronger, that you prepare yourself foods that will allow you to obtain the right nutrients that your body needs.

Work cited

Matthews, Michael. Bigger Leaner Stronger: the Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body. Oculus Media Group Llc, 2015.

Layering

Guide to Coloring~ Layering Colors 

Why color a picture with just one color when you can use three or more colors and tools to create a great layer effect! Layering is a way to artistically combine different media on top of one another to create a mixed-media piece. Layering incorporates different tools like markers, pencils and pens into one single picture. One thing to keep in mind when layering is that it is all about experimenting, all brands of markers, pencils and pens are slightly different in their colors and quality, so this is where you would experiment what color best layers with the other (Couch 77). Only by experimenting can you determine what different layering combinations work and which you like.

Before starting to layer on your picture you should do some test experiments. Some things that work best when layering include gel pen on colored pencils, gel pen on markers or colored pencils on markers. Here are some examples from the book...

Here are some that I did. Both 1 and 2 are gel pens layered on markers and 3 and 4 are gel pens layered on colored pencils. For my colors, the gel pens worked best on the colored pencils but still have a nice and dark impact on the markers. It brings a tint and shade sort of layering on the markers.

One last thing to consider, "...is whether the entire piece will include layering or whether just a specific area will and are you going to use a combination of markers and colored pencils over the entire piece..." (Couch 79). You should always know exactly what colors you are going to use to layer and where because if you decide to layer some colors on the spot, some just simply will not look layered due to the colors not quite fitting together.

Step 1

Step 2

For my picture here I decided to use colored pencils on a marker. First you would use your lighter color (my marker) and color in the picture lightly. Next you shade with the darker color (for me this was my colored pencil). As you see the picture in step 2 got a bit more darker and you can see the layers.


Lastly you can add a third layer with a nice alternative or corresponding color. I did this with the use of a dark blue metallic gel pen. This gave the drawing a nice shiny layer.

Step 3 is the last and optional step.

Here is another example I did. I used the same tings as before. First a light marker and then a darker colored pencil. Lastly the optional step by adding some dots with a gel pen. The gel pen accents create highlights and more dimension to the picture (Couch 80). Gel pens or even a third layer are not required at all, but to give your drawing a more lively image you can add them in small parts where necessary to create the little layered illusion.

Do you think layering adds another dimension to a picture? Do you prefer any ways  to layer your colors or coloring tools?


Couch, Peg. New Guide to Coloring for Crafts, Adult Coloring Books, and Other Coloristas!: Tips, Tricks, and      Techniques for All Skill Levels! Fox Chapel Pub Co Inc, 2016.

Ellipses and Circles (Concept Drawing)

Drawing circles in perspective:

                Ellipse anatomy- An ellipse has a minor and major axis, the minor axis cuts the ellipse in half across its narrowest section, and the major axis cuts it on the widest section. When it comes to drawing circles in perspective, which turn into ellipses, the major axis should be ignored since it would almost never cross the actual center of the circle. The minor axis on the ellipse will always point towards the vanishing point to make a circle. This makes the minor axis like the axis to a wheel.

                Placing ellipses on surfaces- according to Scott Robertson’s rules, to draw an ellipse on a surface, “the minor axis is always perpendicular to the surface on which the circle will be placed” (Robertson 73). To place the ellipse on a surface, first draw a minor axis perpendicular to the surface edge, then draw an ellipse around the minor axis, then draw a box around the shape and match the angle of the ellipse up to the angle of the box, which should match with the shape of the surface this is all on. 

Basic shapes using ellipses on surfaces

                Where are some examples of where you could use this technique in a drawing?

30 Minute Sketching - Still life

30 Minute Art - Sketching
By Alwyn Crawshaw

Further through the book, Crawshaw recommends making quick still-life drawings in order to practice/improving your ability to make fast sketches (Crawshaw 32). He also says to be "bold and positive" avoiding outlines as it will lower the quality of your sketch making it look "weak and lifeless," (Crawshaw 32).

This is my first still life sketch I've made and it came out well, took me a little over half an hour so it wasn't truly 30 minute art but it's probably the fastest I've ever made a drawing in.

The still life was actually pretty fun and relaxing to make, I'll definitely be making more from now on mostly of flowers they are very beautiful to sketch. Now being further in I'd like to know what you've been sketching, specifically into still life's and how have you been enjoying it?

She's a star makeup look

       For my last look I decided to do the "She's a star" look from the Lauren Luke Looks book.

For this look I used:
-The 24K Nudes
-Revlon photo ready foundation     
-The falsies volume mascara
-e.l.f eyeliner pen
-e.l.f eyeshadow brush
-e.l.f blending brush
                                        















This look can be totally customizable, you can either do this look step by step or change the colors, skip steps. You don't have to exactly do what I did. Makeup is a was to express yourself, so add a little bit of yourself to this look.

      The first thing I did was prime my eyelids.

Thee Next thing I did was put  gold eyeshadow on my lids,

When putting the gold eyeshadow, you want to apply it "all over the eyelid, right into the inner corner and out along the crease, extending slightly at the outer corner"(Luke 165).  As you can see in the photo of how I did it.  Also MAKE SURE TO BLEND THE EYESHADOW! Not blending the eyeshadow will make it look like a blob of gold(or whatever color you choose to do)  and that does not look very appealing.

       Next, I added brown and a little bit of black on my outer corner to add depth to the look.

You can chose to do this step first then add the gold or do it the way that I did it.  I personally like doing the brown and black first, but I wanted to try this way.


For my brow highlight I used the white eyeshadow.

In the book since she did a full face, she the same white eyeshadow for her brows and put a little of it on her nose(that being the nose highlight).

    Now time for eyeliner. Applying eyeliner is definitely still  struggle for me but I get the gist of it, so if I keep practicing and practicing then I will be able to get that "perfect" winged liner.

When applying the winged eyeliner  you want to start from the middle then extend outward and end with a little flick. Then from the center extend that to the inner corner, but not to far. You can go back and make it as thick as you want or as thin as you want.

That is the end of the eye look. 

This look for me was fairly simple and pretty easy to achieve, I would definitely do this look again. 

After reading this post and seeing how I achiever the "she's a start" makeup look, would you recreate this look?  Would you do anything different?