Drawing Different Types of Characters

After teaching the basics of kawaii drawing, the author decided that readers should learn and draw about the essential types of kawaii characters. There is a wide variety of them, and they all have variations within their type.

Essential kawaii character types:

• Girls
• Anthros
• Animals
• Fantasy creatures
• Pets
• Food
• Gothic characters

I decided to draw the food example the book gave, as I found it to look like the most detailed thing. It really wasn’t though, and the details were really easy to draw. The further I get into the book, the more I realize that the author wasn’t lying when he said this was a simple style of drawing.

 Anthros are humans in animal costumes. “Sometimes the costume is minimal; but oftentimes, it’s a full-body animal suit. The focus of most Kawai anthro costumes is the oversized, cute hood, which is drawn in the shape of an animal head.” (Hart, 49) They are one of the most common kawaii characters that people draw, and they’re really fun. You can use any animal, as long as you can make a person dress like it. The book had hamsters, tigers, wolves, pandas, rabbits, bats, cats, and deer, which is what I chose to draw.

If you were to draw an anthro character, what animal would you use?

Rolling on.

Today I decided to step it up a notch but also teach a more easier trick for Shasta. I chose 'roll over' and was pleasantly surprised to see that she caught on very quickly. I have noticed Shasta improving increasingly every day that I train her. She always gets very excited when the treats come out and will try to do anything you ask. But she still has tendencies to give up at times so there is still more room for improvement.
A tip I did not know about teaching a dog to roll over is that you should always do the trick on a rug or outside on the grass; "So you have a soft spot to roll over. If your older dog is reluctant to roll over, he may have a sore back."(Fogle 40)
This tip helped me make sure that we were on the carpet to it would not cause any harm on Shasta. I believe teaching her this trick on carpet gave her more confidence and caused a more positive result.
Another tip that efficiently helped with teaching Shasta to 'role over' was to pay attention if she is already laying on one hip. -"As he relaxes, pay attention to which hip he settles on. if he is resting on his right hip, he is already leaning to the right, making it easier for him to roll that way."(Fogle 40)
Fogle, Jean M. Tricks for Treats. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

By learning the tips to teach Shasta from the book Tricks for Treats, I have expanded my understanding what the dog needs to achieve tricks or any type of training. Does it seem like I am being to easy on her?

Focusing

"Focusing in perhaps one of the most important areas in photograph." (Gatcam 88). I couldn't agree more with the author. I truly believe the focus in a photo is an important way of giving a photo more meaning and makes the subject stand out more.

Over the weekend, I decided to take photos with my cousin, Trinette. On Sunday, we had a family gathering and decided to take photos outside and my great Aunt's backward was an absolutely nice place to take photos considering the fact that I love shooting around in nature.

In this chapter, the author teaches the reader to use a single-point auto focus, which is choosing a specific point for the camera to focus on. To do this, you must "select an AF point yourself by pressing the AF point button and turning the control wheel." (Gatcum 91). I chose the middle point because I just generally like to center my subject. This will be really helpful in the future when I choose not to center my subject.

Here are some results of choosing the center focus point:

Another thing that Gatcum teaches us is manual focus, which is focusing on the subject yourself instead of depending on the camera. He states that it is useful because, "...you may need to take over from the camera when low light and/or  low contrast make it difficult for the AF system to lock onto your subject." (Gatcum 88). This was very helpful since we took photos around the time the sun was setting. I also generally like taking photos in dark settings, so I will truly benefit from this tip in the future.

Here is a photo where I used manual focus:

Overall, the chapter on focusing gave me great tips that will help me in my upcoming photo shoots. I believe it's really important to notice these small details because in photography, every tiny detail counts when it comes to executing a photo well.

What do you guys think about the photos? Also, what setting do you prefer for taking photos; nature or urban? Let me know in the comments below!

Starting to Play Chords and Other Helpful Practice Tips

It has definitely been a while since I last posted about improving my guitar playing skills but now that I finally have some time, I'm very excited to continue playing.

I had continued to practice strumming and playing notes every once in a while after my first post, so this time I decided to focus on actually playing chords and also learning useful practice tips. Throughout this whole time, I decided it was easiest to do things in the order they are placed in the book, rather than jumping around and thinking I already knew how to do some of it.

The first chord I attempted to learn was the C Chord. To make the C Chord, it requires three of your fingers to be on three different frets, so it is a bit of a stretch if you have smaller hands.

The book included step-by-step instructions of where to place your fingers for the c chord.

The C chord definitely was a stretch for my hands!

"When your fingers are in place, press the back of the neck with your left thumb, and play the C Chord by brushing your right thumb across the strings with a smooth, quick downward stroke" (Evans, 34). I've been experimenting whether it is better to use a guitar pick or just my thumb to strum and this time, I was using a pick. However, it's definitely necessary to stroke the strings quickly and smoothly no matter which way you strum so that all of the strings come together to create the right chord. The C Chord is a little different than some of the other chords but it was fairly easy to get the hang of it. "The C Chord sounds best if the 6th string is not played, so try to start your thumb stroke with the fifth string" (Evans, 34). I played the chord both ways, with the 6th string (the thickest string) and without and I found that the C chord did in fact sound a little better when you start off with the 5th string. After I got the hang of the C chord, I decided to move onto other chords. Luckily, there was a chart in the back of the book that showed how to play many simple chords so I tried a few of those out. Some chords were easier than others just because some of them didn't require too many fingers and you didn't really have to stretch your hand out too far. For example, the E minor chord only requires two fingers to be placed on the same fret on two strings right next to each other.

Playing the guitar might just seem like you just have to strum a few strings for a while and then you'll be as good as people like Ed Sheeran, but that's not actually very accurate. In the book, they provided a variety of helpful practice tips that are basically essential if you want to properly play the guitar. "If you can, practise every day for at least 20 minutes. Regular daily practice is far better than trying to play for several hours once or twice a week" (Evans, 37). I thought that this tip was really important to remember because before I had purchased this book, I attempted to self-teach myself and I ended up practicing guitar for hours only a few times a week. When doing this, it really just resulted in me getting tired and discouraged of playing anymore. I am definitely going to start practicing almost everyday for smaller periods of time because it will be much more efficient. Another good tip that I learned is to be patient. "Make sure you can play each piece smoothly at the right speed before going on to the next tune. However, try to learn something new every week, even if it is a simple tune or a couple of chords" (Evans, 37). This is a useful tip for anyone trying to play any instrument, because I know I get discouraged and rush through things since I just end up wanting to be really good at guitar right away. However, I've realized that it takes time to really get good at it and it won't happen unless I put in the effort to do so. I feel as if I'm continuing to learn a lot about playing guitar with the help of this great book.

Going back to what I said about experimenting with different methods of strumming, do you think it is best to use a guitar pick or just your thumb to strum? Why?

Apple Crisp

Do you ever crave something sweet but try to stick to fruits? Well here is something that is both of these. It's called an Old Fashion Apple Crisp. It combines sweet flavors of sugar and cinnamon with apples. I used a recipe from one of my moms cook books that she home made. I chose to do this recipe because I have never made a kind of dish such as this. the recipe for it is:
-5 pounds of apples (your choice)
- zest if 1 orange and 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice/ lemon juice
-  1/2 cup granulated sugar
-2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
and for the zest of orange and lemon it said, "grade the fruit" which this would occur on the top when baked. At first I gathered all my ingredients and objects I needed, then i cut up the apples into pieces shown in the picture below. Then on top of these cut up apples i put the cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, some of the zest and the juice.

 I let these apples sit in the bowl while i made the crisp part of it. which for this i made to gather the indregiants for making this:
- 1 1/2 cups of flour
-3/4 cup granulated sugar
-3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup oatmeal
- 1/2 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
then i placed all of this into a food processor which molded it into a the crust texture. After this was made i took a baking dish, buttered the sides and bottom, then placed the apples on top of that then the crust/crumble on top. while i was getting this all set i had to preheat the oven to 350 degrees. i then placed the dish in the oven for an hour till the top was brown.

The final result turned out well said from my family. This experience helped me grow by experiencing a different type of task that had little step that needed to be done in order for this food to work. I think that I grew from this cooking project by just even practicing the little skills that were incorporated in this project. i find cooking really fun and an easy thing to do for others. this was a fun thing to do and it turned out looking pretty.

Rule #8 (The Rule Book)

This month I decided to look into Rule 8, Take an Interest in the Outside World, by downloading the Buzzfeed News app. The rule mainly covers how important it is to stay informed and take and outside interest in the world. I would usually just check the app 1-2 times a day as well as making the conscious effort to look up anything that I had questions about rather than just brush it off. One of my favorite quotes from the chapter was, “Taking an interest in the outside world is about developing you, rather than for the world’s benefit.” (Templar 19)

                My favorite thing about this rule was how informed it made me feel. It helped me gain knowledge of the world and an interest in journalism from reading some of the articles. I feel that it is very important to know what’s going on in the world despite only being a teenager. Even if an issue doesn’t seem to directly affect my own life it is still very important to someone else’s. I feel that having and interest about the outside world is also caring about the world. The book holds a similar statement, “The happiest, mot well-balanced, most successful people in life are those who are part of something. Part of the world.” (Templar 18)

                My grandma doesn’t like to watch the news because she feels that it is often too sad. Which is true, but avoiding something because it gives off a negative feeling doesn’t eradicate the problem itself. It only creates ignorance to these issues that lets them continue and worsen. I’ve been told many times that knowledge is power, and that power is necessary for change. I hold a device that can access basically anything and it seems redundant to not use it. We all have that potential for power, knowledge, and change so why don’t we use it?

What.

Shasta has gotten increasingly more comfortable with 'shake' since the last post but she is a very slow learner when it comes to anything new. That is why I decided that the next trick should be 'wave' because it builds off of 'shake.' Shasta has been through traumatic events so she is a bit off and needs to go slow.
While teaching Shasta how to 'wave', she showed many signs of confusion. She does not enjoy doing anything new or out of the ordinary, so it was difficult for her. After reading the tips from the book and repeating the steps for teaching her, she began to understand more but is still a bit fuzzy. She just wants to do 'shake' and me to give her the dang treat.
Although, she has improved. She still needs more practice.
A tip from the book that helped the most was "This time, move your hand up higher than you usually do for 'shake' so your dog is reaching up to get your hand."(Fogle 12)
Fogle, Jean M. Tricks for Treats. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
For the longest time, Shasta would just look at me very confused, or as I call it the "what" face. But she is getting much better at trying new things. Should I try and push her more out of her comfort zone?