Easily my favorite socially conscious online shop from the great state of Massachusetts! SV is all about positive change through reuse, after all "you can't recycle the planet." I definitely encourage you to check the site out, they always have something new and exciting going on as well as great ideas on how you can make a positive impact on our planet. Right now they are supporting the victims of the California wildfires through a little button drive action!

The best thing about SV? You can help out while still getting some sweet shwag. I often get comments on my “make yourself heard” t-shirt featuring good ol’ bush with a fill-in-yourself speech bubble… Check it out.

I also scored a super sweet coloring book: The Color of Dissent! Nothing like coloring in your favorite revolutionaries, I need to break out that skin tone crayon pack!

click on the pic to get a better view

214 West Ridge Pike
(The Shoppes At Limerick)
Limerick, PA 19468

Phone:  

Today's birthday party at Emma's house.  They had kiddie pools and art stations set up. There was even beer there for the grown-ups (that's what I call a good birthday party).  Unfortunately, in the middle of today's party, I noticed Cade was shivering. I felt his forehead and he seemed a little warm. Polly let me borrow a thermometer and he had a little fever so we left early.  I felt horrible for possibly infecting everybody else's kids. Hopefully, we didn't spread too many germs while we were there.  In the pictures I took, you can see his eyes are dark and watery.  Poor guy.

Okay the final part of the tutorial is done ! enjoy XD remember i aint a pro but i am just teaching my own methods XD

This part of the tutorial teaches on clothes ^^ background brushes are from deviantart. since i can never draw backgrounds nicely T.T

NOTE: Click on the images for a LARGER view.

Remember to click for a bigger view XD hope you enjoyed all 3 tutorials ^^

May be a long winded one but it is more understandable XD

And the completed picture ^^

Miss out the first and second part of the tutorial? Click the following links then!

Photoshop tutorial for beginners - 1

Photoshop tutorial for beginners - 2

yay next part of the tutorial is done which is the hair part ^^ yes part 2 ~ and my way of doing it again >.< I know it is complicated , but yea my style >.< i am still an amateur , and this are for beginners . Another part of the tutorial on how to color a shirt and etc will be later on when i have the time. Enjoy XD i hope there wont be such harsh comments >.< though i want to improve.

*A-hem*

In this second part of the tutorial, we'll cover the basic techniques to coloring the hair.

When anime is concern, a character's hair must be beautiful at all times. Otherwise, that's not anime anymore.

NOTE: Click on the images for a LARGER view.

Step 1 - Coloring the Hair↓

Step 2 - Making the Hair Lines Visible Using the Shading Method↓

Step 3 - Adding More Strokes to the Hair ↓

Continue to the last part of the tutorial ...

Click here

Got a question in mind?

Go ahead and leave your questions at our comments' area. We're very active bloggers and we will attend to your need as soon as possible.

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Urgent! Do not email us and request for private tutoring sessions. We do not have such a service here.

This is a short tutorial i made for photoshop beginners um i am not a pro , and this is just my first tutorial i had ever made. Hopefully you guys will find it useful , this is just how i do my art. I have not done the second part which was the hair coloring etc ^^ i have no time at the moment.

I must warn you up front, this tutorial is suitable for absolute beginners. If you're in an advance level and beyond, please don't waste your time here.

Therefore...

Hope you guys enjoy it ^^ I tried my best but i aint a pro either gomen just an amateur ^^ I know i am long winded , but it is better than explaining it shortly and you wont understand a thing ^^""

NOTE: Click on the images for a larger view.

Step One - Familiarizing Yourself With Adobe Photoshop's Tools and Features ↓

For those of you who aren't sure what tools does what, here's a brief explanation.

Step 2 - Coloring the Skin ↓

Select the skin color of your choice. And then choose a brush to color it. In my tutorial, you'll learn how to use the following brush.

Step 3 - Adjusting the Skin Color ↓

Coloring with just the brush can never give you the smoothest texture of the skin. Now I'm going to teach you how to use the 'Opacity' function to determine the color of your skin, whether you want it to be darker or lighter.

Step 4 - Giving your Character Some Realistic Shades ↓

Next, you want to shade certain parts of the skin. Unlike pencil and pen, you can't rely on hand pressure to give you the best shades. You have to rely on selecting the right color to blend in with the original skin and the same time give it a realistic shade. Here's how you can do it...

Note: Remember, create shades at the at the right direction. The character I'm using now is wearing a hat. So the layer of shades should be beneath the hat, around the forehead to suggest the light's direction. Also, shades should be used around the arms and neck line to give it a 3D impression.

Step 5 - Enhancing the Layers and Shades ↓

Stick with me. We want to complete her skin together, won't we?

Step 6 - Giving the Face a Little Glow ↓

Moving on, we still have a lot of work with the face. If you notice, we've colored it too dark. Unless you intended to, then fine. But I'm thinking this lady needs a little glow. I'll show you how to lighten the skin.

Step 7 - Cleaning Up The Mess and Lines ↓

This part needs attention. I'm sure you've accidentally colored some parts. What to do? They are unavoidable. If you were to color diligently all the way, it will consume lots of time. So coloring ahead without holding back is what you should do. Because cleaning it up is much easier. Let's get on, shall we?

Step 8 - Coloring the Eyes ↓

After cleaning up the eyes area... Create a new layer "Multiply" and follow the rest of my instructions.

Step 9 - Shade and Color the Pupils ↓

Remember what I taught you about coloring the skin earlier? It applies here as well. Select a color and then proceed to coloring and shading around the pupils.

Step 10 - Enhancing the Eye Color ↓

The fascinating about anime is that the characters have gorgeous sparkley and lively eyes --- No?

Anyway, nobody likes 'dead eyes'. Let's do something about it.

Step 11 - Enhancing the Eyes x 2 ↓

Use your creativity to create the eyes using the step 12. In my case, this is my outcome. I'm sure you can do better. Just follow your art instincts.

Step 12 - The Final Touch ↓

All right.. If you really want to know how I did that... Here's how...

This is the first section of this tutorial.

If you'd like to find out how you can create ripples for the blouse and the rest...

Click here ---> "Yes, Mira! I want to learn more!"

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Got a question in mind?

Go ahead and leave your questions at our comments' area. We're very active bloggers and we will attend to your need as soon as possible.

.

.

.

Urgent! Do not email us and request for private tutoring sessions. We do not have such a service here.

Tell me Henry "is soooooo cute, Mom. I want us to have another baby in our family."

And then, a few days later, tell me that when you are a "big man" you want to "get married when Henry gets married, so you can always live together."

--William, age FOUR IN JUST SIX DAYS as he would tell you

These little gems tide me over when I hear the usual din, like, "Moooooooom, Henry isn't sharing!" and "Moooooooom! Henry pulled my hair!"

Halfway? That means that my toilet is cutting down on 50% of the overall water I use everyday! All this time, I thought that I was wasting water with every flush, when it turns out that, in reality, I was conserving water! Which got me to thinking, "could it be that my mom is more eco-friendly than I give her credit for?".

The reason I asked this question was because she also informed me that the shower head I currently use in my bathroom was ... you guessed it ... low-flow! There it was, I felt guilty every time I took a long shower (I have a lot of pain in my back, and the warm water helps it), just to find out that I wasn't using as much water as I thought. Who knew?

Which brings me to my point. Are there ways to conserve water in the bathroom, without having to replace your current appliances? After doing some research, I was amazed to find out just how easy water conservation can really be.

1. Fix leaky faucets and pipes. You can do this with a simple turn of a wrench. Sealing leaks can save up to 20 gallons of water per day, which can equal up to 7,3000 gallons per year! If tightening your pipes doesn't work, you can always use a adhesive leak spray.
2. Cut your shower time by, at least, 2 minutes. By taking a shorter shower, you will use less water per day, which can save up to 700 gallons a month, which equals up to 8,400 gallons per year.
3. Use your toilet for its intended purposes only. Flushing items that don't belong in a toilet (such as cigarette butts and candy wrappers) wastes a lot of water. By ending this practice, you will flush the toilet less, conserving between 400 and 600 gallons.
4. Displace the water in your toilet's tank. By placing a plastic bottle filled with pebbles or dirt, you will conserve up to 10 gallons per day, depending on how much you use the toilet.
5. Set your toilet to only fill about 1/4 to 1/2 capacity. The less water your toilet needs to fill up, the less water it will use upon each flush.
6. Using food coloring, check your toilet for leaks. Place a few drops in the tank (make sure to use a highly visible color), and wait for 30 minutes. If any food colors has leaked into the bowl, then locate and repair the leak immediately.
7. Reuse cold water from the shower. You can use the cold water that comes out of your shower head to irrigate plants, or even reuse it to flush the toilet, which can also conserve up to 300 gallons per month (a whopping 3,600 gallons a year).
8. Harvest rain water for irrigation purposes. This conserves a lot of water, since rain, as we all know, is a renewable resource. Best of all, it's free, and only requires a small investment in a rain barrel.
9. At restaurants, use your leftover ice to water a plant. This may sound silly but, as you know, ice is made of water, and every ice cube you throw away is wasted water.
10. Wash clothes only when you have a full load, and keep the number of washings to a minimum. An average wardrobe only needs to be washed every so many days. Personally, I only do my laundry once a week.

By following these simple tips, you will not only be conserving water, but conserving money as well, which means you will, finally, be able to afford those new Energy Star or low-flow appliances!

What about the idea of coloring books for adults? The Japanese seem to be much more interested in allowing people to remain creative and express themselves long after they leave the playground. They have developed a line of adult coloring books that has taken off in that country.

There are books for people who are looking to relax, such as this meditative coloring book:

Or how about learning human anatomy while being a bit creative, with this book called Coloring Guide to Human Anatomy by Alan Twietmeyer and Thomas McCracken:

Or even an electronic coloring book aimed specifically at men by the makers of Nintendo DS :

You can find a fabulous article here about the whole exciting topic. There are links to the books as well. Who knows....you might find your inner child on one of these creative pages!

*Wear: A JUSTICE fashion line. [psfk]

*Memory loss: I swear this was previously mentioned on the listenerd. EMI is wading into the world of vinyl reissues.

*Literature: The Indie Rock Coloring Book, Colour It Red, benefits the (RED) campaign. Also:The Indie Rock Connect the Dots book includes homages to Elliott Smith and Sleater-Kinney. [p-fork]

*Deals: Nickelback has signed a 360 deal with Live Nation for between $50M and $70M. Personally, I am not a fan of the band Nickelback. [getty images]

*Stats: Everybody hates music critics. (For me, it's all the big words they use.) But we'll take music recommendations from our friends!

*Listen: NPR posts a live set from a Fleet Foxes gig in Washington, DC. [music slut]

*Mental health: There are people paying to see Bon Jovi play in Central Park, even though it's a free concert.

*Off topic: Urlesque gathers a linkbaiting list of 20 bloggers they would like to see in bikinis. WITH ONE GLARING OMISSION.

*Question: Who does not want a GUN for a CHANDELIER?

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Before:	After:

If you want to know why I went for this new look, I'm going to have to back up a little.

There comes a time in every man's life when he has to make a decision about what to do as his hair begins to turn gray. For me that decision came sooner than it does on average. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life looking prematurely aged, so I started looking at coloring as an option.

Maybe not surprisingly, most of the women I knew said I should go to a colorist rather than do it at home. So I tried that a few times, but I wasn't impressed with the results. Especially not at the prices they charged. Finally I stopped for a while to regroup.

By this time, head shaving was starting to become a big fad, even among guys who weren't naturally balding. This fact got me to thinking that maybe an at-home coloring was worth the risk. After all, if it didn't work out, I could always shave and start over.

Well, guess what? :)

To make a long story short, I did mess up somehow and my hair turned blue. I'm talking about Marge Simpson blue, you understand. Now in some companies that might not be a problem, but I didn't know of anyone where I worked who had blue hair. (Or pink or green hair, either.) So I went ahead and shaved.

As it turned out, I actually liked the way I looked with a shaved head, and I would have been happy to keep it, except for one thing. Because my hair is still mostly dark and my complexion is naturally rather pale, I have a very obvious shadow where my hair grows. No matter how close I took it, it still looked like I'd forgotten to shave for a day or two. Some of the advice I got from online forums suggested that this shadow would disappear over time, but that turned out not to be the case with me. After giving my new look a 30-day trial, I decided to grow it out again.

After a bit more thinking, I concluded that a flat top with shaved sides and back would go a long way towards hiding my gray. I had sported this look once before in my life, but I was living in Texas at the time, near a barbershop that was known for its quality military cuts. Now, however, I live in an area where very few barbers know how to do such a cut, and fewer still can do it acceptably. I lucked out in finding one through word of mouth, so I went ahead and took the plunge again to mark the start of the hotter summer weather.

Seeing myself in the mirror at the completion of my haircut, a cut I had not seen on me for many years, was a strangely refreshing feeling. Even more fun - and actually one of the top reasons I enjoy this kind of haircut so much - was rubbing my hand over my head, feeling the contrast of the perfectly flat deck with the smooth back and sides.

As I go about my day, I find myself looking in the mirror more often, and it's because I like what I see. I look tougher, more virile, and more athletic. I reflexively stand straighter when I see my reflection out of the corner of my eye. I have to go in fairly often for maintenance cuts in order to keep my haircut looking sharp, but it's well worth it. And sure, I get some positive comments, but in the end I find myself not caring too much either way what others think. The enjoyment I get from being a jarhead outweighs that.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal Comic:

A few hours after I saw psychoex's car in her driveway I was at my friend's house talking about what just happened when she called. "I saw you in front of my house," she said, "I think you should stay away from me." Her voice was imperious and judgmental. The therapist had told me that, in being caught in a lie, she would try to twist the blame on me so it would be better to end things without telling her that I knew she had been going behind my back. That was no longer an option it seemed.

"Funny," I replied. "I was thinking the same thing." If it had been an emergency, if he had broken into the house, even then I could have believed in her. But her voice made her feelings clear and always has, as much as she tries to deny them. I hung up.

She called back a little later. My friend said don't pick up though I didn't yet have the willpower. "Why did you take a photograph of his car?" she asked.

"To remind myself that you're a liar."

She denied she was a liar, just like she felt that sleeping with psychoex while thinking about getting back together with me was a sort of cheating, which felt a little like this:

That was when I lost my temper, though both my friends and my therapist wonder why I didn't lose it earlier. Just hours earlier I had sent her a link from the Art of Intimacy about doing fun things together instead of looking for other people and she had told me how she liked the idea and wanted to keep it up. That disconnect, the space between her promises, her words of love, and her behavior, was too great now to bear. "You're a liar," I said. "You told me you had a migraine and couldn't see me tonight because you were going straight to bed. You told me that you were going to call me after work and you didn't pick up the phone. You told me you would never see him again and if he came to your house you could call the police. Instead he is in your apartment with you right now. You are a liar."

She interrupted to say something similar to "I don't have to justify myself to you."

"No you don't. But you've lied to me repeatedly for the past months and I don't need to take it any more. You insult me for getting therapy. You abuse my trust then chose to give your time to him. You use me then ignore me. I hope you get heIp and someday have a happy life, but as it is you can not be a part of mine." I gave her a few seconds to respond, then I hung up on her. My friends in the room actually applauded.

Our relationship was dead. Her lies had mortally wounded it, but I had put it out of its misery. There is no blame, the failure is both of ours. My only victory is that, at the end, I wasn't a monster and for the past month I both respected her and learned to respect myself.

My name is Jay David Ramos, and I'm a digital color artist.

I am coloring/have colored for publishers like Slave Labor Graphics, TokyoPop, Harris Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and Marvel Comics just to name a few; on titles like 15 Minutes, Jack Hightower(color assists), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Vampirella, What If: Civil War, Young Avengers Presents: Hulkling, Army of Darkness/Xena: Warrior Princess Vol. 1 crossover, Ultimate X-men, New Warriors, and Avengers: The Initiative (Secret Invasion Tie-In) among others.

This blog is going to be the place where I post news regarding my work, behind-the-scenes look at how I color, maybe some tips and tricks here and there, and just about anything that concerns comics.

I also have plans to post videos and interviews of other comics creators, so watch out for that.

I'm usually very busy, so please bear with me if I can't update as often as I want.

Until then, cheers!

-- JDRamos

Here are some colouring sheets:

printable coloring pages

bible coloring pages

birthday coloring pages

online coloring pages

princess coloring pages

spring coloring pages

easter coloring pages

school coloring pages

kids coloring pages

butterfly coloring pages

disney coloring pages

animal coloring pages

coloring pages to print

horse coloring pages

preschool coloring pages

bear coloring pages

cars coloring pages

cinderella coloring pages

mouse coloring pages

flower coloring pages

cartoon coloring pages

dragon coloring pages

fairy coloring pages

dinosaur coloring pages

kitty coloring pages

free coloring pages

fish coloring pages

dog coloring pages

baby coloring pages

I'll write some new posts in due time. Until then, I'm going to continue looking like this kid:

Consider the graph above, 11 nodes with connections between some of the nodes. We would like to color the nodes of the graph such that no two nodes that are connected have the same color. That's a very general question, but it has a very interesting result as it applies to the graph above.

Consider just five nodes connected in a ring. Including all rotations, reflections, and color transpositions, there are 240 different ways of coloring those nodes. Now, when you start adding nodes internally, you would assume that the colors of the internal nodes would influence the coloring on the boundary. If there were one node connected radially from the center to all five nodes on the outside, the boundary coloring can not include whatever color the inside node is colored. Boundary colorings in the 240 that include the color of the inside node are therefore eliminated.

What's fascinating to me about the above graph is that there are enough ways to four color the whole graph such that any one of the 240 possible boundary colorings will occur. Any one of them. The internal graph might as well not exist, given how it influences the coloring on the boundary. Very, very interesting.

Of course, I checked that by hand, and I might've made a mistake so feel free to check me : )

Me: "Hi, baby. How are you?"
GP: "Good. What color makes brown?"
Me: "Umm, I don't know. Do you want to say bedtime prayers over the phone?
GP: "Yes. . . . " halfway through the prayer, she breaks off--'Are you in my bedroom? Can you make sure we use the same words that are in the prayer in my room? (The difference being the word "Guard" vs. "be with")
Me: "Yes, honey. BE. . . "

We finish her prayers.. . . "AMEN!"
GP: "Mommy, what color should I make the princess' hands and feet?"
Me: "Why don't you color her hands and feet the same as her face?"
GP: "Oh. Red. Okay. Bye!"

She's so funny.