How To Improve Your Realistic Portraits Using 'Frisket Film' Lesson

Frisket film is available at many art and hobby stores, generally wherever airbrushing materials are sold.

It is essentially a clear, low-tack sticker.

It can be cut easily with scissors or exato knives and applied to paper, drawin over, then removed.

Use it in your drawings to achieve clean, precise lines and both positive and negative shapes.

To preserve a highlight: such as in an eye, or anywhere else that requires a lot of medium and needs to be kept white. Draw the eye, including the shape of the highlight.

Trace the highlight onto the frisket film, cut it out, and apply to the paper. Use a piece of paper to tamp it down, not your finger.

Work up the eye completely, including placing the pupil with darkest dark you can, then use an exacto blade to very carefully lift the frisket.

You may need to re-shape the highlight, but if you've done it well, it should be perfectly white.

To create a positive shape: Whenever you draw a light-toned object sitting on a dark background, it's a good idea to preserve the shape of the object so that you can lay the background in cleanly, without making directional strokes or outlining.

Simply draw the object, trace it onto frisket, cut and place the frisket, and lay the darks in right over the top.

To create solid darks, blend over the medium with a tissue or cloth. Spray the background with fixative before you peel up the frisket to minimize smudging.

To create negative shapes: When you have a dark object sitting on a light background, follow the same procedure, but use the frisket that is left after cutting the shape.

You can also create straight lines of contrast by laying frisket on one side of the line.

This technique comes in particularly handy when you're drawing shelves, counters, tables, boxes, or other man-made objects.

Want To Learn More...

Learn how to draw portraits like a master with our latest portrait mastery drawing course.

It's just like having your own drawing teacher guide you step-by-step along the way without the expensive price tag.

No more smudgy mess with black and white that looks like a first grader whipped up in art class.

"Portrait Mastery" is generously illustrated showing you step-by-step just how to create a real life portrait.

Click here to learn more

Warm Regards

Chris Elmore
Drawing Made Easy

Your Insight of the Day 11/12/14

4 Lessons For Authors From NaNoWriMo to Use All Year Long

4 Lessons For Authors From NaNoWriMo to Use All Year Long By Arthur Gutch, Thu, Nov 13, 2014 @ 10:00 AM Every November writers around the world go through an unusual rite of passage -- NaNoWriMo. Short for National Novel Writing Month, this event (known as NaNo to those who experience it) pits person against machine, daring writers to complete a 50,000 word short novel in one single month. Those who finish that word count by midnight on November 30 are said to have "won" NaNo, although it's a moral victory at best, as you only win a certificate to print out and bragging rights. It takes some great tactics to win NaNo, but they're habits and techniques writers can use just as much during the rest of the year.  Read more »

How To Keep Textures Distinctive In Your Overall Drawing Lesson

Keep textures in your drawings distinct by utilizing different blending techniques for each.

In general, for smooth skin, lay down tone with graphite and blend with a chamois.

For hair, use charcoal and blend lightly with tortillons.

Clothing, though, varies so much from fabric to fabric that there are no hard rules or even rules of thumb to apply.

The key to drawing and blending clothing to your specifications is experimentation.

Because every drawing paper has a slightly different texture, there's no getting around the need to experiment to get a clear idea of how different tools look on your specific paper.

Even extremely smooth papers have texture, however, and that texture can be used to your advantage when drawing woven fabrics such as that in suit coats.

Use charcoal for the darkest lines and shadow shapes and graphite for the body of the jacket.

Don't use graphite in the darks unless a light touch with a very soft graphite pencil will suffice; once you press down hard, the tone turns silvery instead of getting darker.

As you lay down the mid-tone of the jacket with the graphite, allow some of the pencil strokes to show to render a more textured look which will contrast nicely with the smooth skin of the portrait.

Darken shadows with a charcoal pencil. When the midtones and shadows are placed, blend over the entire jacket with a piece of a paper.

You can experiment with tracing paper, computer paper, another piece of the drawing paper....anything you wish.

The paper will smear the tone without smoothing it much, so you'll get a unique texture for the fabric that picks up a lot of texture from the drawing paper.

After blending, pick out lines with the kneaded eraser and sharpen edges of contrast with a sharp charcoal pencil.

Buttonholes, seams, stitches and other fine details are brought out as finishing touches on the fabric, though it's wise to prepare for them before you begin laying down tone.

For example, you may wish to preserve whites for stitch lines or threads by using the indentation method, which requires clean paper.

If there are buttons or other man-made objects on the jacket, preserve them before you begin shading by tracing the shape onto frisket film and sticking it to the paper.

It will take longer, but the finished product will be polished and professional.

Want To Learn More...

Learn how to draw portraits like a master with our latest portrait mastery drawing course.

It's just like having your own drawing teacher guide you step-by-step along the way without the expensive price tag.

No more smudgy mess with black and white that looks like a first grader whipped up in art class.

"Portrait Mastery" is generously illustrated showing you step-by-step just how to create a real life portrait.

Click here to learn more

Warm Regards

Chris Elmore
Drawing Made Easy

Insight of the Day 11/11/14

Should You Really Bother Taking the Stairs? article by Team Beachbody

Should You Really Bother Taking the Stairs? And, if you are taking them—should you climb one or two at a time to burn the most calories? FIND OUT

Mental Cleanse Call Recordings - Chapter 8

The recorded audio for the 3 PM ET call:
http://mffaudios.com/audios/2014-11-05-3PM.htm

The recorded audio for the 8 PM ET call:
http://mffaudios.com/audios/2014-11-05-8PM.htm

Now we move onto Chapter 9.

NOTE: We will be purging our member database this weekend 
to cut down on our server mailing resources.

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To stop receiving these notices, click on the Profile tab 
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To unsubscribe from these announcements, login to the forum and uncheck "Receive 
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Regards,

Insight of the Day 11/11/14

Lemon Fish with Puree of Sweet Peas - Healthy Food Tip and Recipe

Today's Recipe
If you don't know what to have for dinner tonight ...
The combination of lemon flavored fish with the sweet peas in this recipe is a great way to enjoy a Healthiest Way of Eating meal in just 25 minutes. The peas are a not only a great alternative to rice but add extra health-promoting nutrients and flavor as well. Enjoy!
Lemon Fish with Puree of Sweet Peas
Prep and Cook Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:

• 1-1/2lb cod filets (thick cut)
• 3 TBS finely minced lemon rind
• 4 TBS fresh lemon juice
• 3 TBS chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 tsp salt
• pinch cayenne
• Pureed Peas
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 4 medium cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1 TBS + 3 TBS chicken or vegetable broth
• 15 oz frozen sweet peas
• 4 TBS sunflower seeds
• salt and white pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F (200C).
2. Chop garlic and let sit for 5 minutes to enhance its health-promoting qualities.
3. Mix together minced lemon rind, lemon juice, chopped parsley, salt, and cayenne.
4. Rub cod filets generously with mixture and place in baking dish. Place fish in oven and bake for about 10-15 minutes.
5. While fish is baking, heat 1 TBS broth in a 10 inch stainless steel skillet. Healthy Sauté onion in broth over medium heat for about 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until translucent. Add garlic and continue to sauté for another minute. Add 3 TBS broth, peas, sunflower seeds, salt and pepper, and heat for about 3 minutes.
6. Puree pea mixture in blender, scraping the sides with a rubber spatula from time to time to mix well.
7. Serve cod with peas. If there is a little juice in the pan, you can drizzle it over the fish and peas.

Serves 4 Serving suggestions: Serve with

• Tomato Dandelion Salad

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In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Lemon Fish with Puree of Sweet Peas
Healthy Food Tip

Can you tell me more about the goitrogens, soybean agglutinin (SBA), and phytates found in soy products?

"Goitrogens" is a term that is seldom used in peer-reviewed research studies, but in past years it was used to refer to substances that could interfere with thyroid metabolism, production of thyroid hormones, and could potentially cause the thyroid to increase in size (a condition called goiter). No large-scale human research studies have been conducted that examine the thyroid-related effects of long-term consumption of whole, natural soy foods consumed in ordinary amounts. Studies in this area have mostly focused on rats fed dietary supplements containing soy components like isolate soy protein or soy isoflavones.
In the human studies that we have reviewed, only one repeated finding has given us cause for concern when it comes to adult consumption of whole soy foods and thyroid-related effects. That concern involves individuals who regularly consume soy foods while at the same time following a diet that is deficient in iodine. That combination of iodine deficiency and regular consumption of soy foods may increase risk of thyroid problems above and beyond the risk posed by iodine deficiency alone. (Iodine is a mineral that is essential for production of thyroid hormones by the thyroid gland.) If you are an individual who is at risk of iodine deficiency, I definitely recommend that you consult with your licensed healthcare provider before making the decision to include soy foods in your Healthiest Way of Eating.
Soybean agglutinin (SBA) is a protein- and carbohydrate-containing molecule (called a glycoprotein) that also falls into the category of substances called lectins. In legumes (including soybeans), lectins might play a key role in allowing certain soil bacteria to work together with the roots of the soybean plant. There are hundreds of lectins found in legumes, and even though researchers aren't yet certain about their function, it is likely that most of these molecules play important roles in cell-to-cell communications occurring within the plants.
How SBA affects human health is a more complicated question that has yet to be clearly answered in research studies. Adverse reactions to food lectins are well documented in scientific research and sometimes referred to under the heading of "food intolerance." For this reason, we'd place soybeans higher up on the list of foods potentially able to cause adverse reactions. But it's also important to note that the research on SBA is clearly mixed in terms of benefits and risks, and that large-scale human research on whole soy foods is still non-existent in this area. SBA and other soy lectins appear to have inflammatory effects under certain circumstances and anti-inflammatory effects under others. They also appear to have different effects on different types of cancer cells when studied in extract form in laboratory settings. From my perspective, no strong conclusions can be reached at this point with respect to SBA and soy lectins, except to reinforce awareness of soy food in general as potentially more likely to cause adverse reactions in susceptible individuals.
Soy also contains phytate (also called phytic acid) that can sometimes decrease mineral absorption, including absorption of the minerals calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc. Each of these minerals has a role to play in our health. Traditional methods of soybean fermentation appear to lower the activity of phytates found in soy. With cooking alone, there is more debate about the changes in phytate level. I have not seen any research that would support avoidance of whole soy foods for the sake of optimizing calcium, magnesium, iron, or zinc status. But I have seen research suggesting that highly processed soy foods-like commercially produced soy milks-may best be fortified with minerals like calcium in order to assure healthy mineral absorption. All of the precautions listed above are important considerations when deciding the role of soy foods in your Healthiest Way of Eating.

Your Insight of the Day 11/10/14

Bob Proctor Friday Story: How a bucke of ice changed my paradigm

Last August, I returned home from Kenya after visiting with many of the 6,500 children we are supporting to receive a daily education as well as access to clean water, sanitation, healthcare, and nutritious food for the entire community. After seeing firsthand the transformation that was happening in these children’s lives, I came home with a heightened sense of urgency to speed up our ability to impact even more children and their communities.
At the same time, I started hearing about the Ice Bucket Challenge on Facebook. My initial response was, “I hope I don’t get personally challenged because the last thing that I want is to get a bucket of ice-water dumped over my head!”
But as the weeks passed, I started to become enthralled by what was happening on Facebook and the amount of money that was being raised for ALS.
I got so engaged that literally the first thing I did every morning was to go online and see how much had been raised thus far. And then I’d call my friend and colleague and we’d talk about this phenomenon that was happening.

• Did you know that from July 29 – August 29, 2014 – the IBC raised $100 million compared to $2.8 million during the same time period last year?
• Did you know that over 2.5 million IBC videos were posted on Facebook?
• Did you know that 30 million people participated in the challenge by uploading their own video, commenting or liking a post — generating 3 million new donors?

The success of this campaign was unprecedented.
I was completely blown away. And the thing that inspired me most was witnessing what is possible when a lot of people come together for a cause and everyone does a little bit.
I ultimately did get challenged by Mary Morrissey to take the Ice Bucket Challenge and of course I said yes, created my video and made a donation. And this experience completely changed my paradigm of what was possible.
Prior to the Ice Bucket Challenge, the Unstoppable Foundation’s goal was to raise the money to educate the next 5,000 children in one year.And that seemed pretty audacious considering it took us 5 years to provide an education to 5,000 children EVERY DAY in the sub-Saharan Africa.
And while that’s a great leap, we know the need in this area of the world is huge. There are millions of children waiting for an education and barely surviving a life of extreme poverty. Uneducated children impact all of us. When nations deny an education to all children, it is a breeding ground for terrorism, war, political unrest and global epidemics — things that put everyone at risk.
Over the last few years, we honed our model, identified amazing implementing partners, and built the capacity to scale our impact and accomplish in one year what it took five years to do.
We were ready to take a big leap forward in our ability to impact even more children and their communities.
And after seeing the huge success of the Ice Bucket Challenge, I thought,“There’s absolutely no reason why our community of partners and supporters couldn’t come together and raise the money to educate 5,000 children in a fraction of the amount of time of our initial goal.”
That thought moved me into action. I met with some of our partners who care about this mission and we brainstormed ways that people could get engaged with this mission virally that would be fun and consistent with whom we are as an Unstoppable community.
The one thing we all agreed on is that every single one of us are where we are today because of the inspiration, support or sometimes prodding, of someone in our lives who believed in us — whether it was a teacher, a supportive parent, a minister, coach or a mentor. And how grateful we are for these individuals and the role they have played in our lives.
And yet, how often do we actually tell them that their love or support fundamentally made our lives better? We celebrate birthdays where all you have to do is not die for 365 days, and yet we go around in life with people who have significantly impacted us, and we never tell them.
This sparked our big idea – wouldn’t it be great to be able to publically acknowledge these “heroes” for the profound difference they’ve made in our lives.
And at the same time, publically pay it forward as a way of thanking them for their support by becoming a hero to a child in need.
That’s how the Unstoppable Hero Toast was born.
Here’s how it works:

1. TOAST YOUR HERO. Create a simple, heartfelt or funny video making a toast to your unstoppable hero — someone who you admire and has made a positive impact on your life. Pour your favorite beverage whether it’s a green juice, sparkling water or a glass of champagne. Let your personality shine through and have FUN!

2. BECOME A HERO

On your video, pledge to pay it forward and help a child in need by going to UnstoppableFoundation.org and making a donation to help a child receive an education for a day, a month, or a year. Every dollar counts! It only takes $1 a day to provide an education to 1 child. In doing so, you’ll become a child’s hero and change the trajectory of their life forever.

3. NOMINATE THREE FRIENDS

End your video by nominating three friends to Toast their Hero and Become a Hero in the next 24 hours.
When you’re finished filming, upload your video to Facebook so the whole world can see your toast! Be sure to “tag” your hero, the three friends you’re nominating, and the Unstoppable Foundation so we can enjoy it too. Be sure to use the #UnstoppableHeroToast when sharing.
That’s it.
And just by participating, you’re already a hero by helping us to raise awareness of this critical mission to ensure every child gets access to an education.
What I know for sure, is that if everyone does a little bit, we can solve this basic human rights issue.
As Margaret Mead so eloquently said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Please go to UnstoppableHeroToast.org, check out Bob Proctor’s toast and then Toast Your Hero and Become a Hero and help us collectively change the lives of 5,000 children.
Cynthia Kersey
CEO & Founder, Unstoppable Foundation
www.UnstoppableFoundation.org