Free Guitar Lesson - 1

The first step to start learning guitar is to feel the guitar :-). Yes, One of the good way to start with the guitar class would be to draw the Guitar in your notebook by looking at a real guitar. This drawing would enable you to learn about the shape & parts of the guitar.

The drawing here was done by me directly using sketch pens without any pencil drawing :-)

The main hallow wooden frame that makes the main part of the guitar is termed as the 'body' of the guitar. The body in one way lookes like a human body with a little bit of tummy :-)

On the frontside of the body is the 'Bridge' that has the 6 strings anchored over it and 'Sound Hole' that is normally round in shape. It is over this Sound hole, you should pluck the strings so that the sound is clear.

Just like our body, the instrument has a 'neck' & 'headstock'. But, the guitar's neck is very long like an ostrich :-) The neck has a series of 'frets' that refer to the piece of metal piece itself on the neck and the space on the neck between two metal pieces in the neck. For a Right hander, the Left hand fingers will be placed between the frets while the Right hand fingers pluck the strings over the Sound hole/Rosette.

The headstock has the 'tuners' and 'nuts'/'pegs'.The 6 nuts/pegs act as the brain in its head that control all the 6 strings . Just as six senses are controlled by human brain, the 6 strings are controlled by the nuts/pegs in the guitar's headstock :-)

A guitar has 6 strings only. Even if the guitar is very very expensive, it has only 6 strings :-)

If you are a Right-hander, the left hand should be placed over the neck and the right hand should be used for plucking the strings over the sound hole on the body. The other way to look at holding the guitar is to have the thickest string towards your face and the thinnest string towards the floor.

Do Elephants Never Forget ?

The above painting was done by me on Chart using paint & brush. This was one of the interesting elephants that was drawn completely using black color paint. If you want any drawings of elephant, you can mail me the photo of the elephant, i would be able to draw it and send it across to you :-)

Along the lines of the painting of elephant, i would like to share some interesting info that I came across about the famous saying that elephants never forget . It seems that it has been backed by science. Refer to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1285532.stm

It is interesting to see that Humans forget things as they grow older though they are enriched with vast experience of life. But, on contrary, the elephant's memory is so good that it is able to recognize the enemy/friend & also lead the entire herd while becoming more & more old.

Do Ostriches bury their heads in the sand ?

The above painting was done by me using black sketch, paint & chart. It also involved initial pencil sketch before proceeding with the brush. If you want any specific ostrich painting, send me the photo, i would be able to draw it and send it to you :-)

Since i have been talking about my Ostrich painting, i would like to share some interesting fact that i came across about the famous myth that during fear, Ostrich would bury its heads in sand thinking that it would hide its whole body. It does this to mis-direct the enemy so that its enemy might think that to be a bush . Hahah !! It seems that the male ostritch puts the eggs in shallow nests in sand and move it around to protect it and this might be a reason for a distant viewer to think that the Ostrich is burying its heads as soon as it saw him :-) Refer to http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1644/do-ostriches-really-bury-their-heads-in-the-sand

Man fighting with Lion

This is another painting that i did using black paint, sketch & brush.

Man is still fighting with humans who are like animals in modern society. No idividual/group can be blamed for this. The evolution of the human being bears the responsibility for this err as Man evolved from animals :-)

It is highly probable that the next evolution will continue to have the characteristics of man & degrade their peace even if they have hi-fi brains compared to the current human evolution ! :-(

Vinayagar Chathurthi

Today, i got some sketch pens of Faber Castle brand in BDA Complex . I checked for the paint box , but it was not available. I came up with a small greeting card for 'Vinayagar Chathurthi'.

This was also drawn directly in one shot using the sketch pens without doing any kind of initial pencil drawing :-). I felt very much exited & enjoyed drawing this.

Vinayagar chathurthi is a famous Hindu festival in India. It is the Birthday of Lord Ganesha(Elephant headed God). He is worshipped first before any form of God . Whenever you enter a temple, you will find Lord Ganesha to be the first God before any other God/Godesses. It is celebrated very grandly in Maharashtra. People throughout India make lot of sweets. It is good business time. Some will buy/make big idols and immerse in the river/sea to represent the cycle of creation & dissolution in nature.

People worship him before beginning any activity.

Interestingly, i have started the activity of Drawing with his Greeting card without my own actual intention . Sometimes, God will sit in your tongue/mind and somehow he has been in my mind that i have started this activity with Lord Vinayaga without my actual intention :-) Thankyou Lord .

Happy Vinayagar Chathurthi !

The Dragon & Apple Tree

'An Apple a Day keeps the Doctor Away' & It seems that even the dragon is aware of it :-)

With this tiny post, i have started the journey of drawing ... Zooooooooooooooooooom !!

Today evening, i missed my bus and hence went to the library. I initially checked few technical books. But, well, it was boring as i have already spent lot of time from morning in technical stuffs. So, i tried out some cartoons after a very long time. I never thought that i would be having the drawing-touch while i started with the dragon . But, slowly within few minutes, i realized that i still have the magic-touch in me. The feeling was something like, i have this skill by default in me. I did not use an eraser while drawing this. 'The dragon & apple tree' was drawn at a single shot in 25 minutes timeframe.

Lemme know your comments !

Painting

Long Long ago, there was a boy who drew lot of cartoons and filled many notebooks. He intially drew a Sun rising between 2 mountains. He learnt initially from his mother. Later he g(d)rew a Coconut tree near mountains with a House beside the river bed with boat. His trademark was 4 people with round head & stick-like legs/hands will be present in most of his drawings & 4 birds will be flying over the house/trees. Initially, to develop his drawing skill, knowingly/unknowingly he was trying to replicate some drawings/personalities . Later he started to draw real stuffs & tried to get perfection . His father identified his interests and joined him & his brother to Painting & Swimming course during the summer vacation. There he learnt to use brush, mix colors & did painting on charts. It enabled his transition from his notebooks to charts. If i could remember correctly, his first chart painting was a 'Pot with shadow on the floor'. He started to make his own greetings cards based on chart with his painting . But, once he joined college he did rarely look back into painting. Now, he is looking forward to start his favourite activity of painting ! That boy currently finished typing this tiny post :-)