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PapercuttingsPapercutting is an art form that has been seen all over the world, adapted to regional styles based on cultures. It should come as no surprise that the Chinese have the earliest forms of papercutting currently known to us as the 'ancestor to paper' has been found in China. This was dated as far back as 2nd century B.C. and is considered as important as their discovery of printmaking, gunpowder and the compass.Papercuttings5 months ago in Artisan Crafts More Like This
~Thessatoria's It's Your Life
Naturally as paper spread throughout the world this art form evolved, spreading all over the Far East through to the Middle East. For example Japanese Kirigami where origami folds are cut and Indian Sanjhi.
This art form is popular to this very day, take renowned British artist Rob Ryan, which I am sure many of you here would have at least seen his work before! His work has been seen printed over everything you can think of, kitchenware, clothes, books and probably more!
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A short history of QuiltingSince the history of quilting could easily fill a book and has in fact has filled many books, I'm going to keep this rather shorter. As it is a short overview there will be things left out that the more historically minded might miss but there are so many facets to quilting that I cannot include it all.A short history of Quilting5 months ago in Artisan Crafts More Like This
First of all some definitions to help you understand the terms I use:
- Patchwork is the sewing together of many pieces of fabrics to create a new larger piece of fabric that can then be used to make a quilt or a garment or anything else the maker chooses to make from it.
- Quilting is the layering of two fabrics with a filler layer in between that is then covered with lines or patterns of sewing stitches to hold the filling in place. In modern times it also often refers to a piece of patchwork that is given a backing and a filling and stitched through. In this article I will use both meanings.
Quilting has been around for at least 5000 years if not longer and used to pad fabrics for ma
A Look at EmbroideryWhat is embroidery?A Look at Embroidery5 months ago in Personal More Like This
Embroidery is a sub-genre of Needlecraft. It is broadly defined as the art of decorating fabric or similar materials with a needle and thread (or yarn).
The applications of embroidery are as wide as imagination allows. It has been and still is widely used to decorate all manner of clothing, from wedding gowns to hats. Embroidery is used to make rugs, adorn quilts or even to make pictures out of.
Embroidery first found its roots in ancient China, around 500-300BCE. The need for stitches to mend, tailor and reinforce cloth led to the development of many new sewing techniques. The decorative potential of these stitches was quickly realised, and soon the art form of embroidery was born. Each culture has its own history, tradition and style of embroidery, each as beautiful and captivating as the next.
Today, machine embroidery has lessened the prevalence of hand embroidery, but there are still many individuals who practise it, both as hobbyists and pr
Origami - Art of Paper FoldingOrigami is an art form that transforms paper into a sculpture through paper folding and sculpting techniques. Thus, cutting or gluing paper would not be considered to be origami, but 'kirigami' instead. The name 'Origami' is Japanese, in which 'Ori' is the Japanese word for folding, and 'kami' the word for paper.Origami - Art of Paper Folding5 months ago in Artisan Crafts More Like This
It is generally believed that origami originated from Japan, but, as there are few records, this is not certain. Nevertheless, Japan developed origami into an intense art form that still exists to this day.
In the past, instructions for origami were passed down in spoken form and not written down. Some say that origami first originated in China in 1st Century, in which paper was then brought to Japan by Buddhist monks in 6th Century. Others claim that paper was made in the 8th Century by the Arabs, with Moors bringing the art of paper folding to Spain in the 12th Century. Spain then spread to South America, and as trade routes developed, origami was thus introduced to Europe a
Photography vs. paintingThe late 18th and early 19th century was a time of rapid social change, maybe more so than ever before in a timespan of a mere hundred or so years. Coming on the heels of the First Industrial Revolution followed the Second Industrial Revolution, which gave us the assembly line, the rise and fall of many markets, high unemployment rates, and the birth of the middle class. Advances in medicine lead to a higher life expectancy and lower child mortality rates, and Sigmund Freud shone a bright spotlight on the human mind, essentially marking the beginning of psychology as a serious science. Technology was rapidly changing and evolving, and with it so did social values.Photography vs. painting4 months ago in Personal More Like This
It is this time period that sees the birth of abstract art. It started off with the paintings of Manet, whose technique involved painting in patches of color, rather than the layered technique that was common and accepted for the time. Monet (similar name, different guy) focused on the color and the way light plays with the s
Art Clay JewerlyArt Clay Jewerly5 months ago in Art Features More Like This
Art Clay! There is a couple of kinds of it that you can use to create many diffrent types of fabulous thigs, not only jewerly. Here, you can see brilliant jewerly pieces done with Art Clay Metal (generally silver, this time) and Polymer Clay.
Quilts on dA - A FeatureQuilting is one of the many Artisan crafts that takes a lot of time to get a result so even avid quilters don't submit many deviations in the course of a year. As a result there are not as many quilts submitted to dA as for example polymer clay and jewellery items. To introduce you to the many variations in quilting styles and subjects on dA I've split them up into several subsections.Quilts on dA - A Feature5 months ago in Artisan Crafts More Like This
Single patch quilts
A one patch quilt is a quilt that uses a single shape to create the whole quilt - so just squares or rectangles etc.
3, 4 and 9 patch quilts
These are quilts that have a unit that is split into 3 or 9 subsections which can be a single piece of fabric or several sewn together to create part of a pattern.
Appliqué quilts
Appliqué quilts are quilts that have most if no
Food As Art“So all you have to do is take a photo of your lunch and you get a DD?”Food As Art5 months ago in Personal More Like This
“Food isn’t even art”
While I’ve been fortunate enough to have never encountered such comments, I’ve heard from older hats around dA than I that this is the sort of criticism they have received when their deviation has gained enough popularity to draw wider attention around the site.
Now, it would be easy enough to dismiss such notions by pointing out that art cannot be defined. It is a fluid entity, forever being shaped, changed, challenged and expanded. Art is usually considered to be anything produced by skill and/or imagination: to exclude an entire medium from it can only do a disservice to this wonderful entity.
But that’s too easy.
Instead, I’m going to take some time to explore all the creative aspects of culinary arts that make it a medium as worthy of the title ‘art’ as any. Not only is food art, it's everything in between.
Food is s
Prosepoetry: A History and FeatureBefore we dive into the article, here are two things you should look for:Prosepoetry: A History and Feature8 months ago in Projects More Like This
Dotted Underlines reveal interesting facts when hovered over.
At the bottom of the article are features!
Prosepoetry: A History
In the beginning there was prose and there was poetry. Prose was well-suited for the telling of stories, fiction and non-fiction alike. Similarly, but usually more succinctly, poetry can deal with the same subject matter, but with a wider array of phonetic and aesthetic tools at his or her disposal for the writer. Enter the prosepoem: a composition written as prose but having the concentrated, rhythmic, figurative language characteristic of poetry.
Sometimes a prosepoem is inaccurately described as purple prose, when the two are actually very easily distinguishable from the other. Purple prose is something to be avoided because of its loquaciousness, or its use of unnecessary and convoluted vocabulary. Prosepoems may have some aspects that appear to have the
Brief History of ClaymationClaymation is a method of animation where clay figures are filmed using stop-motion photography.Brief History of Claymation3 months ago in Animation More Like This
Claymation (clay animation) dates way back to 1897, when the material plasticine was introduced to the artistic world. In this article, we will briefly explore the history of Claymation!
(scene from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas)
So.. where have you seen this method used before? Films such as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, and Chicken Run were all made using Claymation. TV shows such as Wallace and Gromit, Gumby, and Bob the Builder also use this method.
Sammy Squid: Turns The Other Tentacle by SuperDaddytv
In terms of notable clay animators, Jan Švankmajer is someone worth talking about. Švankmajer created his first film in 1964 and has impacted the film and animation world
A (modern) history of dA emoticonsIntroA (modern) history of dA emoticons2 months ago in Customization More Like This
As you wander around deviantART pages, there is noticeably one art medium that invades almost every element of the site. Whether it is the deviantART galleries, journals, news section, comments, forums, chatrooms, avatars or even dA profiles, it is hard to find a spot that hasn't been infiltrated by a familiar set of small, coloured, pixel circles. The art form I am talking about is of course the emoticon and throughout the past 10 or so years they have been happily adopted by deviantART and its community.
Although emoticons can often be spotted on a wide range of other instant messengers (IMs) and social media sites, deviantART has come to house a unique branch of these miniature art pieces. Whilst the majority of these alternative sites opt for simple, predominately yellow emotes with a range of basic expressions, the art community here at dA have stretched the art form far beyond its natural boundaries and developed entirely new styles of emoticons
Dreamy Theodor KittelsenAs I've previously promised, after the articles about Sulamith Wülfing and about John Bauer, the time comes for an article aboutDreamy Theodor Kittelsen6 months ago in Traditional More Like This
Theodor Kittelsen.
Generally...
...Theodor Severin Kittelsen, being a great representant of the Golden Age of Illustration, is one of the countless artists who received more attention and appreciation a long time after their death. I don't say "proper attention", it's still far from it.
His depictions of Scandinavian folklore creatures are said to be equally cannon to the trolls portrayed by the definitely more famous John Bauer. But, unlike Bauer, Kittelsen didn't focus just around trolls (which are, you must admit that, most of Bauer's creations - although his sudden death at young age is
Eadweard MuybridgeSo Eadweard Muybridge, why should all animators know his name? He is an English photographer who moved over to America. So what is a photographer doing in our Film, Animation and Flash month?Eadweard Muybridge4 months ago in Film More Like This
Well his photography is really quite unique for the time, he set up multiple cameras for his shots in order to capture motion in the form of stop-action photography. He was also known for creating the zoopraxiscope, which plays a series of images in order to create the illusion of motion, in other words very early animation work! These series of images were on disc that were spun and projected, so the images loop in sequence. Kind of like your first generation animated gifs!
His photography work and his zoopraxiscope helped people to study in detail how things move. From the way people walk, jumping, running through to horses galloping. And as a tutor once said to me, if you can animate a horse, you can animate anything. These images surprised many people, such as when a horse runs, there is a pha
Golden Age of IllustrationGolden Age of Illustration11 months ago in Traditional More Like This
When in the second half of the 19th century newspapers and illustrated books became popular and widespread thanks to improvements in printing technology, many artists found their base to spread their skills. The official time span of the Golden Age of Illustration is said to be from 1880s to 1920s, but it varied a little bit between Europe and America.
While European illustrators were influenced mostly by the Pre-Raphaelites, Art Nouveau and Post-Impressionists (especially by Les Nabis, a group of Parisian artists), their American colleagues focused around Howard Pyle's Brandywine School of American Illustration in the Brandywine Valley.
Amongst the most popular artists of this time we find Arthur Rackham (UK), Howard Pyle (US), Ivan Bilibin (Russia), Theodor Kittelsen (Norway), Edmund Dulac (France), John Bauer (Sweden), Beatrix Potter (UK), N.C. Wyeth (US), Sul
The Tales of Beatrix PotterThe Tales of Beatrix Potter9 months ago in Community Relations More Like This
Cold winter evenings or blustery Autumn days had the soundtrack of my Mother's voice reading Beatrix Potter books out loud when I was younger. In fact, the wonderful children's books were the epitome of my childhood. The illustrations were just perfect and the stories, whilst simple, were mysterious and adventurous in their own way. Beatrix Potter was born in 1866, South Kensington, London. She was said to live a lonely life, being educated at home by a governess and so perhaps that's why she delved into a fantasy world of rabbits, geese and other traditional animals.
Beatrix's illustrations come from her copious studies of her own pets, and the animals that roamed the gardens of the places in which she holidayed as a child. The fascinating fact was that Beatrix's illustrations became greetings cards before her books were created. I see her drawings on cards in shops now and I always thought that it had developed the other way around. Her first boo
10 Things a Photomanip Newbie Should KnowHi all,10 Things a Photomanip Newbie Should Know8 months ago in Projects More Like This
I wanted to talk for a moment to our newbie photomanipulators or even older photomanipulators who are out of the fray. How are you? Welcome to the inner circle.
Here are some things that you (and all photomanipulators) need to know about dA and the photomanipulation community.
1. Stay in touch with the Photomanipulation CV (currently me, ^Aeirmid).
Watch me. No, that's not an ill-formed plea for pageviews, favorites, or watchers.Actually, I rarely even post art anymore.
I am the Community Volunteer (CV) for photomanipulation, which means I regularly run contests, feature art, share news, post Daily Deviations (DDs), and do other things to support the community. It is in your best interest to watch my journal because I post every photomanipulation-related update there. This information is important to you so you can learn about upcoming events, changes in rules, new groups, and other news.
2. Watch :devcommunity
Ray HarryhausenRay Harryhausen, a name you may not know or remember, but his works, you should most certainly seen at some point in your life! He is a stop motion animator, who animated for some classic movies between the 50s and 70s. To name just a few, think Clash of the Titans, Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts!Ray Harryhausen3 months ago in Animation More Like This
At a young age, Harryhausen actually was not into fantasy or creatures that much. But over time as he watched films, read novels, seen paintings, visited museums and marionette shows, his interest for that area developed. Having tried model making in school, he developed his skills and at the age of 18, he won himself an award at a local competition.
Having seen and thoroughly enjoyed The Lost World and King Kong, this all naturally clicked into place as a revelation to him. He loved fantasy and creatures!
His earliest professional works were of dinosaurs and his is work was very well received. By the time that unfortunate chapter in history took place that
Culinary ArtsCulinary ArtsCulinary Arts3 months ago in Artisan Crafts More Like This
Culinary is the art of preparing and/or cooking foods to be as pleasing for the palate as it is for the eye.
Not many types of art can claim to be as nourishing for your soul as they are for your body. Culinary arts is appreciated by everyone in the world because it is highly linked with our survival. Also, if you think about it, it is one of the most accessible forms of art around. You probably even subconsciously practised Culinary Arts several times without knowing it.
Example: someone told you to assemble a plate of cheeses, meats and breads? I'm sure you didn't just throw everything on a plate, somewhere in the back of your mind you styled it to your liking.
Style and photograph your piece
To be able to share your culinary art creations with the rest of the world, you need to be able to photograph it. The way you present your piece is important.
Muses of the MastersBeautiful, captivating, inspiring, complicated and often misunderstood - the women who became muses for their masters had more in common with the artists who painted them than might be seen on first glance.Muses of the Masters6 months ago in Art Features More Like This
These women from all walks of life often reviled and looked down on in their own time, have transcended their humble beginnings through canvas and paint to inspire and utterly captivate their audiences.
Elizabeth Rossetti (née Elizabeth "Lizzie" Siddall) 1829 - 1862
Elizabeth Siddal 1860 Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Born in 1829 Lizzie was first "discovered" by the artist Walter Deverell in 1849 who had close associations with Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Less than 2 years later, Lizzie was sitting almost exclusively for the jealous Rossetti.
Lizzie's life with the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was turbulent and complicated, much like her relationship with Rossetti who d
PE - Artisan Crafts ABC II E - HLast year `MyntKat did an excellent work putting together an Artisan Crafts ABC for #projecteducate, however the Artisan Crafts are so extensive, diverse and ever-growing that there's still much to cover. In this new Artisan Crafts Week we will explore some different crafts, techniques, materials and popular themes to expand your knowledge of this addictive world. This list is still not complete, and we invite you to share with us your knowledge.PE - Artisan Crafts ABC II E - H11 months ago in Artisan Crafts More Like This
Artisan Crafts ABC: A - D | E - H | I - M | N - R | S - V | W - Z
Artisan Crafts ABC II: A- D | E - H | I - M | N - R | S - V |
PE - Artisan Crafts ABC II I - MLast year `MyntKat did an excellent work putting together an Artisan Crafts ABC for #projecteducate, however the Artisan Crafts are so extensive, diverse and ever-growing that there's still much to cover. In this new Artisan Crafts Week we will explore some different crafts, techniques, materials and popular themes to expand your knowledge of this addictive world. This list is still not complete, and we invite you to share with us your knowledge.PE - Artisan Crafts ABC II I - M11 months ago in Artisan Crafts More Like This
Artisan Crafts ABC: A - D | E - H | I - M | N - R | S - V | W - Z
Artisan Crafts ABC II: A- D | E - H | I - M | N - R | S - V |
Still Life PhotographyStill Life Photography is much like Still Life art in general, in the sense that the photograph (instead of a canvas) depicts inanimate objects and subject matters overall. Often, objects are grouped together for this portrayal, which the photographer exploits to really create a fantastic composition. Photography allows the artist more of a chance to arrange the objects for capture easily.Still Life Photography4 months ago in Editorials More Like This
However, Still Life Photography isn't as easy as it sounds. One must think about the lighting, composition, and other matters to really make the photograph attractive and engaging. This is similar to Still Life art, in which Still Life Photography is founded upon.
You could say that Still Life Photography is influenced from the romanticism of traditional painting techniques. Still Life isn't simply the arrangement of objects, it is the presentation and illustration of the natural world, something more than a simple record. Photographs represent more than just what is there, they represent ourselves t
PE - Artisan Crafts ABC II A - DLast year `MyntKat did an excellent work putting together an Artisan Crafts ABC for #projecteducate, however the Artisan Crafts are so extensive, diverse and ever-growing that there's still much to cover. In this new Artisan Crafts Week we will explore some different crafts, techniques, materials and popular themes to expand your knowledge of this addictive world. This list is still not complete, and we invite you to share with us your knowledge.PE - Artisan Crafts ABC II A - D11 months ago in Artisan Crafts More Like This
Artisan Crafts ABC: A - D | E - H | I - M | N - R | S - V | W - Z
Artisan Crafts ABC II: A - D | E - H | I - M | N - R | | S - V |
History of Wedding PhotographyThe 1840s was the beginning of wedding photography. There was little commercial photography at the time for the wedding day itself. Instead, it was all about creating memories of the wedding day. As the photographic equipment was limited (i.e bulky and heavy), wedding photography remained in the studio for more than a century. In the 1800s, the only kind of wedding photography there was was a daguerreotype portrait on a tiny copper sheet.History of Wedding Photography4 months ago in Editorials More Like This
With limited resources, photographers used glass plates, tin sheets, and copper sheets for their photographs. One of the very first couples were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840. Couples who were poorer did not hire a photographer to record the actual wedding, or to capture them in pose for formal wedding photos. Instead, photographers captured them before or after their wedding, out of formal wedding dress and into their best formal dress. These were always taken in a controlled environment, like a studio, and the photographer would position
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