The Creative’s Corner

Ed Beard Jr. Part 5 of 5

Here’s the last of this series by Ed. In this lesson he goes over multi-character scenes.

Have Fun,
Jeff

art

Here’s part four of a five part drawing series by Ed. In this lesson he goes over drawing mountains and background characters.

Have Fun,
Jeff

art

2007 was the first year in the U.S. that the number of prints from digital files exceeded the number of prints from film. There were over 14,000,000 digital prints made, compared to fewer than 10,000,000 prints from film. The industry is a little worried that people are not printing every digital image they take, but there’s a simple explanation. Most people shooting film use negative film, and it’s just simpler to go to a processor and have a print of each negative instead of printing the film, taking it home, looking at each negative and going back to the processor to have specific prints made. With digital you can see what you have without printing. You can also make your own prints or e-mail them to people without ever printing them. So I wouldn’t ever expect to see as many prints from digital as from film.

Also, a recent survey of 1,000 Professional photographers shows that the use of digital cameras is increasing. In 2006, 82% of images were digital, and in 2007 that number rose to 89%. Remember, this is for professional photographers, not photography in general. In that same time frame, the number of professional photographers who use the Internet for some aspect of their business has risen from 47% to 83%.

photography

Keep it simple. I just say this, “On (date) I sent a (manuscript or article) to you titled (title). Would you please update me as to the status of my (manuscript or article)? Thank you for your time.Sincerely,
Jeff Colburn

That’s all you need to do. It’s short, professional, the editor can read it in a couple of seconds and you don’t sound desperate or threatening.

Have Fun,
Jeff

writing

Here’s part three of a five part drawing series by Ed. In this lesson he goes over drawing soft feathers and talons.

Have Fun,
Jeff

art

As you may remember, in my last article about my neighbors I talked about my Naked Neighbors. Now I want to show you some pictures of even wilder critters. All of these pictures were taken on or near my house. All photographs © 2008 Jeff Colburn

Here’s a freshly molted Cicada on the top, and it’s old skin on the right. The picture on the bottom shows his right wing fully extended, while the left wing is still expanding. He will soon fly off, and with his millions of friends make a deafening noise as the call for mates before they die.

This is one of several types of Praying Mantis that I see around. I almost stepped on this poor guy as he was on the steps.

There are several types of Tarantulas around. I’m not crazy about spiders, but for some reason these 5-inch critters don’t bother me. They do have large fangs, but their bit is about a poisonous as a bee sting. They usually prefer to run away from you, but I did have one chase me once for about 20 feet. I was trying to get it out of the road and was stomping near it to chase it to the curb. When it got to the curb it turned around and chased me back across the street. I guess it was payback.

While I’m not crazy about spiders, I really hate scorpions. I’ve found them on the floor, walls and ceiling. They can get through the smallest cracks, and some (not this one) are poisonous enough to make an adult very sick and kill a small child.

This is some kind of Caterpillar. It had disguised itself by using it’s silk to make a tube of leaves, then it pulled this tube around wherever it went.

There are many kinds of mushrooms that grow around the house. These were growing out of a railroad tie that makes a wall around a garden area.

Skunks look cute, and when they walk they waddle, but I do my best to keep away from them. I have no desire to be sprayed by them, or get bitten by a rabid one.

I was amazed to get this shot of a coyote. Once in a while you can see them pop out of the forest, but by the time you get your camera to your eye, they’re gone. It’s like they can make themselves invisible. I shot this picture, but before I could get another shot he ran off the road and into the forest.

I like snakes. This Gopher Snake showed up on our deck one morning and hung around for just over a week. One of his smaller friends showed up a day later. The one in the picture is about 3 feet long, while the smaller one was half that size. I used to catch this kind of snake when I was a kid, and would keep them for a while. I built a special cage to hold them and would feed them things like crickets. It was a lot of fun. However, my mother didn’t share my joy of snakes, which is why the cage was in the garage.

We have other neighbors, like: Tarantula Wasps, Raccoons and Javelina, but I haven’t been able to photograph them yet.

Have Fun,

Jeff

All photographs © 2008 Jeff Colburn

Here’s part two of a five part drawing series by Ed. In this lesson he goes over drawing metal, chrome and feathers.

Have Fun,
Jeff

art

Writers will often ask what a publication’s response time is. After years of experience, I suggest that you add at least a month to what’s posted in the publication’s or publisher’s, guidelines. If you haven’t heard anything after this extra month, then send a polite follow-up letter asking for an update. If no response time is listed, I would give them one to two months before sending a follow-up.

Have Fun,
Jeff

writing

Here’s part one of a five part drawing series where Ed goes over drawing clouds, sky and fabric. I’ll post the other parts soon.

Have Fun,
Jeff

art

You should always read the publications or publishers guidelines to be sure, because I’ve seen some pretty strange things in guidelines, but the standard is Times New Roman set at 12 point.

Wonder what some of the strange things are that I’ve seen?

• The manuscript must be printed on the back side of paper that’s already been used. If the back side of any page is blank the manuscript will be rejected. This was for a publisher of environmental books.
• Margins twice the standard size.
• Paragraphs: must be indented, must not be indented, must be separated by one line break, must be separated by two line breaks.
• There must be two spaces after a period. (This is an old throwback to the days of typewriters.)

Have Fun,
Jeff

writing