Bill Kaulitz

I'm doing an art trade with someone on deviantart, and she wants me to draw Bill Kaulitz from Tokyo Hotel. So I go to google for some reference pictures, as I've never seen the guy, and at first I was confused because he looks so much like a girl, and I started thinking 'could Bill be a girl's name?' But I soon discovered for myself that he is in fact a 'he.'
So there are many varying pictures of him, capturing varying levels of his masculinity, but mostly he's the most girly/pretty man I've ever seen (despite the punk rocker look).

So this will be interesting.

Sneaky sneaky puzzle

My art book told me to do this puzzle where you take this clump of jumbled boxes,

and rearrange them in order. For most of it, you're just sitting there going 'what IS this?' and then at the end you're like 'oh you sneaky.'


























I thought I'd share that since this marks the beginning of my re-learning-to-draw-via-magical-art-book phase.

Some Philosophical Fragments

Drawing helps you distinguish between what you see and what is there.

Let me explain. When someone attempts to draw for the first time, they're usually not happy with the result. We've all been there, we've all seen that happen. Well I believe that drawing and learning more or less go hand in hand. In thorough learning, there are three steps: being presented with information, processing/connecting it, and then explaining it back in your own words. It is the same with drawing (or any kind of art): sensing information, examining/interpreting it, and portraying it back to the world.

Interpreting things and making your own art are the easy parts. It's the first step, paying attention to the things you see, that takes a lot of scrutiny. There can be a big difference between what you see, and what is there, just as there is a difference between what you are taught and what you learn. Each step affects the next like a chain reaction, or an assembly line.

The first step takes a total sense of reality. You must learn to recognize the details in correlation with each other, exactly as they are. The second step incorporates the sense of imagination, wherein your thoughts exaggerate and subtlify things to your heart's content. You can think something up that makes absolutely no sense, or you can stick to the comfort of logical boundaries. Either and any between is your choice. The third step must combine the two, so that what you want to portray is evident, while how you want to portray it shows meaning.

So how do you learn the first step? With the third step: you draw. The three steps are a circle that, if followed, will wear a deeper and deeper groove of skill and wisdom with time. You see things, your mind interprets, you attempt to draw it, you interpret the drawing, you look again at things, interpret them, draw, and so on. Practice makes perfect, always.



I have drawn you a diagram.

I suppose in reality, the second and third step sort of happen simultaneously. The second is very subtle otherwise.





Attention to detail and the will to improve are how I taught myself what
I know. And I'm nowhere near perfect, but every artist is on a journey. One of my personal philosophies is that the only bad artist is one who never changes. As long as you are progressing, you're on the right track. Where you go from there is up to you.

你好

I've decided to speak Mandarin for you.

大家好。 我的名字是Laura Jones。 我的中文名字是熊宇文。 欢迎来我博客。
我喜欢做了几个艺术。我喜欢做画 和 缝制衣服。我常常绘草图， 我也要做时装设计。下个五月我毕业了。这个八月的时候我就要去大学， 学中文和时装。我知道我中文不太好，可是我日后希望进步。


Hello everyone. My name is Laura Jones, my Chinese name is Xiong Yuwen. Welcome to my blog. I like to do many kinds of art. I like to make pictures and sew clothes. I often make rough sketches, and I also want to be a fashion designer. I graduated last may. This August I will go to college, where I will study Chinese and fashion. I know my Chinese isn't that good, but I hope to someday improve.


This was just for fun, really. I haven't used any Chinese all summer, and I need to brush up in order to test out of the elementary course. For those of you who are fluent in Mandarin, feel free to correct anything. For those who aren't...well the characters are pretty.

再见

The Mandarin Duck

This is what a mandarin duck looks like



















It has sort of become a personal mascot for me. It's an artistically beautiful creature, querky (being a duck) while at the same time it is named after my second language, Mandarin. I feel this creature represents me as an artist, not just in the general arts, but in the art of language and culture and the way the world works. They say that math and science make the world go round. Well so does art.

Me Treasure Trove

Here are some of my favorite pictures, regarding fashion, that I collected off the internet. This happens when I spend my time on Google rather than doing schoolwork.



























Here a runway model appears to have been 'sawed in half.' But if you look closer, you can see a skirt in between.














This picture was all about brides being 'attuned to nature.' I thought this was really fun.


























This is Reece Witherspoon in a gorgeous watercolor print gown. When I saw this I loved it immediately because of its subtle color blending and flowy presence.

























This one I love more for the movement than anything. I've actually attempted drawing this, but there's no need to show that here. Anyway, I'm absolutely captured by still pictures that embody a complete aura of motion.

























I'm a big fan of ballet costumes. Actually, I'm a big fan of ballet period. But combine the two and you have a pregnant plethora of elegant emotion (see what I did there?).





















I'm an avid fan of otherworldly arts, including oriental, middle eastern, african and indian. The list goes on. Anyway, one of my constant habits around middle school was drawing on myself, whether with sharpies or pens or whatnot. I mostly did it out of boredom, as is the seedling for many great works of art, and it mostly resulted in black filigree down my arm, rainbow-checkered shins, and things like roses and eyes at random. Nowadays I don't do that so much, but I've grown to respect the people who do what I did, just with much more grace and presentation skills.


























I would wear this dress in a heartbeat. The necklace, too. I'm a big fan of simple ideas with meticulous detail, as is shown in this dress with it's simple color scheme and intricate design.

Also, empire waists are most flattering on me.


























While my wedding is something I don't forsee within the next decade, being a girl I still fantasize about my dream dress. This is about as close as you get to what I have in mind for myself. Being on the shorter side, I imagine something simple, close-fitting and figure-flattering, without being to skimpy or pageant-girl. This is the exact silhouette I want: strapless, fitted around the hips, and a slight elegant flare with a train, but not some tacky mermaid with toulle spurting out from my clenched knees like a furious faucet. The ruffle around the bottom I think would add a little height, and the only thing I would add is maybe a little empire waist band. Otherwise, this fits in perfectly with my simple-but-detailed preference.

And so, like a runway show, I have ended with a wedding dress. This is just a taste of things that represent my personal style and perspective. Later on we'll see more of my whacky, spazzy, and a little bit tacky side.

Until next time.

Hello New Blog

So I've decided to start a blog about my artistic life. Here I will share with all of you my interests, goals, failures, and creations as an artist. More later.