Quick Last Minute Halloween Super Hero Shirt: Marvel's Wolverine

Need a last-minute idea for Halloween? So did I!  I was fresh out of ideas for Halloween after what has been a series of very fun and rather elaborate Halloween costumes.  This year I went simple and straight-forward: T-shirt + markers.

Supplies:
Solid print T-shirt
Permanent markers (or better yet, fabric markers)

Find a hero you like.  See how they make their costume.  Convert to a T-shirt.  Very simple, very satisfying.
I did Wolverine from Marvel's X-Men.  If you have to draw a lot, make sure you have a few markers available as you can run through them quickly.  Also, permanent marker, despite its name, does run if you wash the shirt.  Wash by hand to avoid too much running (and to keep other clothes from getting markered), or better yet do not wash the shirt until after Halloween.  

If you are looking for more elaborate costume ideas, see all the posts here

drawing 3D in 2D

 http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/06/3d-illusion-sketchbook-drawings-by-nagai-hideyuki/

Saw this on This Is Colossal and wanted to try it out.  So far have just done a couple quick doodles, but it's really fun!

Here you can see I have done two doodles in slightly different planes, so when one looks 'right' the other is slightly skewed.  The bricks in the wall are drawn normally, because the plane of the paper is the right plane for the wall, so the skewing occurs on its own!

If you use the side of the vertical side of the paper as a wall, you can just draw normally on it, and it will skew itself properly.  If anything protrudes from the wall, however, it has to be skewed in the drawing to look correct.  The fire hydrant top is very skewed if you look at it from straight on because it is drawn to look as if it is in front of the vertical plane of paper.  On the right is looking at the paper from the other side, to show how odd the paper looks if you don't have just the right angle.  It is quite frustrating to draw these without any sort of form to keep the paper bent properly, I need to find a good cardboard box or something to make a bent easel.

For another way to draw 3D in 2D, click here

Facebook Graffiti: Food

Some food I've drawn using the Graffiti app on Facebook.  A fun program to use, though admittedly the only computer drawing I've really ever done.  Would probably be a lot easier with a tablet and pen than a mouse, but if you're patient you can make some really nice color blending.  I frequently get bored drawing them before they are finished because of the limitations of trying to use a mouse to draw, but the times I can stick it out they look pretty nice. 

Emu

Emu: Cardstock and Ink.  Bird on the right is showing extra contrast. 

Jellyfish

Jellyfish.  Permanent marker on cardstock followed by some edits in Microsoft Paint.

Coloring Sheets: Grey Squirrels

Some Eastern Grey Squirrels.  Should print well landscape.  Hoping to do a series of coloring sheets over the summer!

African Violet Propagation

How to propagate African Violets:
African violets are easy to propagate by leaf cuttings.  Snip a leaf near the base of the plant (so that you have a good long stem on it), and place in a dish of water.  Make sure that only the stem is in the water, and the leaf stays dry.  Periodically add more water as the water evaporates.  It will take a few days or possibly weeks for the stem to sprout roots.  Once the roots are about an inch long, plant the leaf and stem in african violet potting soil.  Water occasionally.  The new plants do not grow very quickly, but as long as the leaf is green and fleshy the plant is still alive.  After a few weeks you will have a new plant!

For more details on rooting plants in a dish of water, see my Coleus Propagation post

For all my plant propagation posts, click here

Jade Propagation

How to propagate Jade plants:
Jade plants are another easy propagator.  I usually go for one of two methods: leaves or stems.  For leaves, I simply take a few leaves off, put them into dirt, and water occasionally (note that it can take up to 2 months for jade leaves to start sprouting roots if they are simply placed in dirt indoors).  For stems, I break off a small section (usually only a few inches, but larger should work as well) and put that in the dirt and water it.  Easy as pie! Not all of them will root every time (at least not for me) but each adult plant has plenty of leaves to spare.

For all my plant propagation posts, click here

Below: New growth from two leaves (left and center), and a longer stem being propagated.  

Oxalis (Shamrock) Propagation

How to divide Oxalis:
I have two great oxalis plants (a green and a red/burgundy) that I have been propagating recently for friends.  I suppose more accurately I have just been dividing the plants; they are propagating themselves.

It is very simple to propagate an Oxalis: simply dig up a few of the roots (they look like little pine cones), and replant them upright in a new pot.  I usually put them in with either the very tip sticking out of the dirt or just underneath the dirt (either way has worked for me).  The one tricky thing is that the existing leaves will wilt off these roots (I just trim them off), but don't worry!  Keep giving them water periodically, and in a few days to weeks they will sprout anew!  I have been mixing green and burgundy plants together to make mixed pots.
                                         
                                         For all my plant propagation posts, click here

Pirates and Dinosaurs

There are dinosaurs at the zoo and pirates at the science museum, so I drew these.