Hamilton was reshaping the image of the vampire with her own take on the vampire mythos in her Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter fantasy novel series. While Hamilton's work draws on traditional vampire and fairy lore, her interpretation of these subjects brought new dimensions to the genres, influencing the direction of urban fantasy over the past two decades.Reading Laurell K. Hamilton focuses upon Hamilton's two bestselling series, the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series and the Merry Gentry series. The volume is intended as a resource for leaders of book clubs or discussion groups, containing chapters that examine Hamilton's role in the current vampire literature craze, the themes and characters in her work, and responses to Hamilton on the Internet. The book also provides a brief overview of Hamilton's life.

    Work in the spirit of the laws of attraction to visualize the life of your dreams. Follow the journey of twelve artists, each who will set a personal dream or intention. Witness the process that each artist takes, as they create a mixed-media piece that sows the seeds of their intention. Step-by-step techniques for a variety of mixed-media processes accompany each piece of finished art. Read about how their lives changed as a result and learn how to set intentions of your own using the bonus tear-out "dream-prompt" cards.

    That's what makes them a challenge to battle--and a challenge to draw! But if you're determined to sketch 'em all, then this book is a great start. It's packed with tips to get you drawing the newest Pokemon characters. So sharpen your pencil and get ready to go!

    Using this unique Japanese system, artists can plot and cross-section elements on a matrix diagram to create an infinite number of original characters, creatures, and multiformed beasts. Angels, demons, dragons, monsters, and robots are all included in this book, along with descriptions of costumes and personalities for each.Manga Matrix is unlike any other manga instructional guide and is an invaluable resource for both the budding artist and the polished professional.

    A Must Have for the Metal Gear Solid Collector!!EXCLUSIVE TO THE COLLECTOR’S EDITION GUIDE: A lithograph by Yoji Shinkawa, an art gallery, an exclusive hardcover and additional content.THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO 100% COMPLETION: All missions, all side quests, all secrets, all collectibles, all Achievements and Trophies – at your fingertips!TURNKEY WALKTHROUGH: An at-a-glance, map-based walkthrough steers you through the entire adventure supported by annotated hi-res screenshots.ALL GAME SYSTEMS DECODED: Statistics, diagrams and analysis from our experts provide a comprehensive understanding of all game systems and features, including the Mother Base management metagame. A WEALTH OF EXTRAS: Includes an extensive story recap, a poster covering the immense game area and much more!DEVELOPMENT: Developed directly with Kojima Productions in Tokyo. MAINTAINING TRADITION: From the same team that brought you the highly acclaimed guides to Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.QUALITY CONTROL: Carefully designed to avoid unnecessary story spoilers.

    White takes the reader step by step through the process of making natural soaps for family, friends, and for profit. Easy to understand and master. This second edition includes extended directions for first time soap makers, new recipes, how to make soap in small and large batches and a guide to using essential oils. Includes tips and advice for how to cut and cure soap, how to sell your soaps, packaging and labeling, and how to set up at a craft fair or market. Over 45 soap recipes from luxurious to economical.

    Each spread in the book features a beautiful drawing by one of 8 professional illustrators, with a description and comments by the illustrator as well as a companion exercise. Each exercise includes suggestions for various mediums or mixed-media solutions, advice on how to approach and execute the drawing, as well as professional tips. The book also includes exercises designed to spark new ideas and increase creativity.

    In Encaustic Workshop, it becomes much more: a dynamic medium where anything goes and the possibilities are endless.Packed with step-by-step techniques, helpful tips and diverse examples of completed works, Encaustic Workshop brings all the accessibility and excitement of a mixed-media workshop to your own workspace. If you're a beginner, you'll find everything you need to know to get started. If you're a more advanced crafter or fine artist, you'll discover things you never knew you could do with encaustic.Instructions and photos will guide you as you learn to:Apply, layer, color and carve wax to create artwork rich with texture and depth.Create collages that combine encaustic with papers, fabric, found objects, image transfers and more.Experiment with charcoal, inks, watercolors, pastels and other mediums to create unexpected effects in the wax.Then, complete step-by-step projects and an extensive inspirational gallery will show you how you can combine the techniques you've learned to create more complex works.Sign your creativity up for this Encaustic Workshop--then just melt, paint and play!

    His work recalls a parallel universe of 1950s Golden Books and the whimsy of Lewis Carroll. His cheery bunnies, rendered in the glowing hues of children's books, are likely to be carving slabs of meat rather than frolicking in the forest. Ryden's work mingles superb technique with outre images to create a world of strange and disturbing beauty.

    You must first approach the subject with the proper sense of perception, with the ability to visualize the finished print before you commit a scene to pixels, but still be flexible and spontaneous. Master Fine Art photographer Vincent Versace has spent his career learning and teaching the art of perception and how to translate it into stunning images. In Welcome to Oz,  he delves into what it means to approach digital photography cinematically, to use your perception, your camera, and Photoshop to capture the movement of life in a still image. Features: Adapt your workflow to the image so you always know how best to use your tools Turn a seemingly impossible photographic scenario into a successful image Practice “image harvesting” to combine the best parts of  many captures to create an optimum final result Create black and white prints that have the look, feel and “richness” of traditional silver prints without ever leaving the RGB color space 224 pages.

    This volume, prepared by an expert in the field, is devoted exclusively to just that. With its clear, concise text, its almost 200 excellent illustrations, and its overall life-drawing approach, the book provides valuable guidelines on how best to portray faces, features, and heads. There is probably no better instructor to turn to than George B. Bridgman. He brings to the subject both his expertise as an artist and his fifty years' experience as lecturer and teacher at the Art Students League of New York. Throughout the book, he places as much emphasis on perspective and planes as on anatomy. In this way, you'll develop a more precise understanding of each feature, the head and face in general, the relationship between features, and the relationship between a specific feature and the face or head. Mr. Bridgman's consideration of the head includes such topics as the head at eye level and below eye level; planes of the head; and round and square forms. Four features — eye, nose, mouth, ear — are dealt with in detail. Sections on light and shade, comparative measurements, and principles of cube and oval construction further enhance the scope of the book. The finely executed drawings complement the textual material, illustrating all important concepts.  Of special value is the author's inclusion of the work of famous portrait artists. Vermeer, Hals, Rembrandt, Reynolds, Louise Elisabeth LeBrun — these are the people who made portraiture a master art; and you'll be able to study, up close and at your leisure, the qualities that let their work achieve the status it did.

    This definitive anthology enables you to learn from some of the genre's biggest names as they share their wisdom on developing horror that will shock and excite readers and editors alike.

    The quick brushstrokes of the Impressionists suited his temperament, as did his heavy use of impasto. This helpful volume shows many of van Gogh's best loved works, including the famous self-portrait with a Bandaged Ear, painted after he had cut off part of his ear in a fit of madness, Sunflowers, which were to him a symbol of power and beneficence, and The Starry Night, a painting which clearly expresses intensity and mental turbulence.

    Your ultimate tablet experience is just one step away - selecting the applications, or apps, that provide exactly the entertainment, education, and functionality you desire. And that's where this guide will help you: finding the gems in Amazon's App Store. The App Store contains a breathtaking array of games, entertainment, utilities, and tools. Even though there are more than 700 apps described in this book, the bar was set very high--only a small percentage of the available apps are profiled here. Only those apps that deliver outstanding functionality - and whose developers have demonstrated a serious commitment to their customers - have made it into this reference guide. Nobody enjoys spending time weeding through apps that don't deliver the promised features (or contain hidden features you'd rather not have installed on your Kindle Fire). So what are you waiting for? Let's get started! Contents: INTRODUCTION ► BOOKS AND COMICS ► COMMUNICATION ► COOKING APPS ► EDUCATION ► ENTERTAINMENT ► FINANCE ► GAMES ► HEALTH AND FITNESS ► KIDS ► LIFESTYLE ► MUSIC ► NAVIGATION ► NEWS & MAGAZINES ► NOVELTY ► PHOTOGRAPHY ► PODCASTS ► PRODUCTIVITY ► REAL ESTATE ► REFERENCE ► SHOPPING ► SOCIAL NETWORKING ► SPORTS ► TRAVEL ► UTILITIES ► WEATHER ► WEB BROWSERS BOOK LOVERS, REJOICE! INDEX

    Do you like cats? And want to learn simple color pencil techniques fast? - Then this book is for you :) “I'm just saving those for a special occasion”. “They are too hard to color.” “I don't know where to start!”.Are your coloring books still sitting on the shelf? Have you had a creative block? It's when you open a coloring book, flip through black and white pages and just put the book back on the shelf.You don't have to be overwhelmed, frustrated, or feel like you have to do some hard work. Those are the very feelings we want to escape when picking up a coloring book in the first place. Coloring was supposed to be easy and fun, right..? Adult coloring books became so popular these days. Many of us has now bought enough coloring books to gather a mini collection which would last for a year of daily coloring. But here is the thing: most of us, grown-ups, have no idea how to color!“So how do I color?” - this is the number one question asked by people who pick up a coloring book. Adults want need examples, a step by step guide, or even a short crash course in coloring. That's just how adult brain works. Sometimes we have no more than half an hour to spare. When you don't know where to start, it becomes frustrating. When you have to put in a lot of thinking and effort into something that was supposed to be fun, this whole coloring thing becomes not that exciting anymore. This book provides easy to follow, step-by-step examples, and coloring basics. Get a walk through the coloring process with an artist. "How To Color Adult Coloring Books - Adult Coloring 101: Learn Easy Tips Today. How To Color For Adults, How To Color With Colored Pencils, Step By Step Color Pencil Examples Of Cat Coloring Pages"