How to Draw Comic Book Characters

Josh always wanted to learn how to draw. As a child he would spend hours scribbling away. His parents always saw his true potential and invested a lot of time and money in helping him perfect his skills. They got him all the possible drawing tools, got him enrolled in drawing classes, they even took him to museums and places with serene views for inspiration. But Josh had already found his passion, he only wanted to draw comic book characters, and thus, began his life long affair with creating comic books. Today he is a successful comic illustrator and author.

If you are reading this, I presume you have some talent for sketching and drawing. In any case even if you aren't exactly Van Gogh, you can still learn to draw comic book characters. Once you have the practice and skills, it is fairly easy to draw comic characters.

Drawing Comic Characters

Exposure
Before you begin to draw characters it is very important that you go through as many comics as possible. This is essential to understand the various drawing styles and techniques. Part of the journey to perfect any talent is to practice as much as possible. Keep sketching and trying out different styles but along with this, it is equally important to find and keep your signature style. Try not to imitate but discover your own trademark stroke. It will also help if you can take drawing lessons from a trained professional. Even if you yourself are pretty skilled at sketching you must go back to very basics because drawing scenery and human forms is very different. Human figures are not everyone's cup of tea.

Methods
There are mainly two techniques to draw characters from a comic book. One is where the image is drawn using blocks much like the human wooden mannequin, which is used to teach art students, the other method is the use of long strokes to create the profile of the figure. The basics of line art drawing for any raw sketch is drawing dark straight lines to mark the major bones in the body. While drawing these characters, one must remember that these figures are highly exaggerated as compared to other types of sketches of human forms.

Detail
To draw these characters in action, for example punching, crouching and jumping, keep in mind that the muscles alone can't help you create the movement. The bone structure must be exaggerated so that the muscles can appear sturdy. Keep in mind little things like the hands etc., especially when drawing female characters. The nails of male characters are drawn square and the nails of female characters are drawn oval.

Movements
To make the movements more prominent, remember that other facts come into play, for example, to show a kick you have to make the air seem as if it got lifted and don't actually show the impact. The reader should only see the aftereffect of the kick and not the kick actually happening. What I'm trying to say is that if the character is kicking the ball then his leg must appear as if he is bringing the leg back after the kick and the ball should be just gaining height in air.

Once you have perfected the art to draw comic book characters, remember to tell the villains apart from the good guys by their costumes. That means the mean guys should have such costumes, that by just looking at the figure you now he is bad. Usually the goods guys are more charming looking whereas the bad once are more rugged and mean in appearance. Now that you have the basics under control do enough research so that you can draw characters with ease and finesse. Happy sketching!

Striped Bass Fishing Tips

Fishing is one of the most favorite pastime and hobbies for many people. Be it a warm sunny morning or a cloudy afternoon, the ones who are really enthusiastic about fishing, just pack their fishing gear and head to the countryside lake for some fun! Apart from being a hobby, fishing actually is a technique, in which you gain expertise over a period of time and with experiences of success and failures. I have addressed fishing as a technique, because sometimes the method of fishing varies from fish to fish. For instance, fishing tiny fish is done in a different way, whilst, the way for fishing a larger chunk is different!

Have you heard of striped bass fishing? Well, if you are a regular fisher and have spent some time in the fishing circles, then you might have heard of it! Striped bass is actually a long and quite a huge fish, that reside in the coastal areas of the Atlantic ocean, adjoining America. However, there are many other areas where this fish is found. It is amongst the highly preferred fish species in the activity of sport fishing and has been taken to various other habitats, other than the Atlantic ocean. Fishing for striped bass is altogether a different issue.

Fishing Tips for Striped Bass

The first thing you need to remember before going for a saltwater striped bass fishing is the difference between striped bass fishing and fishing for other fish. This is the mistake most people make and then gain nothing, but waste a lot of time! Also keep in mind that, striped bass is a creature that flourishes in a group. You would very rarely find a striped bass wandering alone into the water. Therefore your success rate might vary considerably. One morning you would get a few, but the other day, your net might remain deserted. Moreover, striped bass is a great fighter! It may not fight and struggle to get out of the net, but once it comes up, handling it might turn quite a challenging affair for the beginners. Do not forget these facts, otherwise you might lose a deal, which almost reached your hands. The following are some general tips on fishing for striped bass.

Tip 1
What do striped bass fish like to eat? Well, they like many things to eat, but, to attract them quickly, you can feed them with spoons, sardines, anchovies, streamer flies, etc. However, the best way of bringing them in your range is to, provide the freshest bait available. Apart from this, live eels and other large sea creatures are a good option for striped bass fishing bait.

Tip 2
Striped bass fish like to swim in flowing, clean and clear water. They do not prefer muddy and unclear water. You can always find striped bass fish swimming with their nose pointed towards the water current. Therefore you can hold your fishing bait into the direction of the water and the fish would definitely be pulled towards the food. If you intend to catch several fish at a time, then you need to look into clear waters for a group of stripers. If you find a group, you should slowly move towards them, otherwise if they smell your presence, they might swift in deeper water.

Tip 3
Generally, fall is the best time to go around fishing for a striped bass. The reason behind this is the temperature of water that reduces considerably in winter. Specially deeper into the water, the temperature is freezing cold and therefore stripers reach the shore or swim on the level of water to receive warmth. But if you are planning to catch some striped bass fish in summer, then always keep a depth measurement device with you, to find out how deep are the striped bass fish swimming. This is because, in the summer season striped bass fish tend to swim into deeper waters.

Tip 4
If you are going to fish the striped bass in freshwater or a lake, then you need to remember this useful tip. The technique of catching fish remains the same. However, for quicker success, you need to search for an area, where the water is quite clearer and look on for places, where the striped bass fish generally feeds itself.

Fishing for striped bass is usually common sense! You need to know their habits, their preferred habitats and most importantly be careful at every stage. Following the above mentioned striped bass fishing tips would make things easier for you. Striped bass is actually an endangered species. Probably the reason is, excessive fishing! To conclude, I would like to say that, fishing is a pleasure activity for us, but a life claiming calamity for the fish. So control the fishing activities. Believe me, that is the best way to contribute to their survival!

How to Build a Pontoon Boat

The design of a pontoon boat -- also regarded as a party barge -- is quite an inexpensive build compared to other boat designs. It comes with a sophisticated form of shallow draft that reduces its risk of submerging. This, indeed, is the reason why a number of big vessels are equipped with pontoon boats for emergency situations. In the United States, pontoon boats are popular for serving as rental boats to ferry people across rivers. Moreover, their user-friendly structure and maneuverability through most water bodies label pontoon boats an ideal fishing-cum-sightseeing vessel.

Before Building the Boat
Building a pontoon boat is not tough, though it is not easy as pie. It, certainly involves work, and an elementary degree of understanding the mechanics of assembling the boat. The basic structure of a home-built pontoon boat is like a catamaran or a trimaran boat, where the platform is used as a dock. All one needs is quality material, a blueprint of the boat, and undoubtedly, hard work.

There are three important points with regard to building your own pontoon boat:

• Design
  Sketch out a concrete plan for the boat. There are small-, medium-, and large-sized cruisers that one may build; however, considering that you are a novice, we begin with a small-sized pontoon boat with just the basic, absolutely necessary design.
• Location
  Prefer a location that is close to the waterfront and where your boat-in-the-making may be moored safely.
• Material
  While building the boat, ensure you choose the right kind of material. Some may suggest using PVC pipes for pontoons; however, aluminum pontoons are always advisable for use. Aluminum is sturdier; a hydrodynamically sound metal that promises safety and serves you for long.

As far as the material-buying activity is concerned, stores dedicated to boating material ought to have the hardware. To make the task easier, frequent boating departments lined near water bodies. If you are a regular at scanning online stores, punch in the name of the hardware or material that will be required in the search bar, review, and add it to your cart! You may visit their forums, read reviews on products, take a look at their ratings, scour the details of the material, and finally get to the cash counter once you are thoroughly satisfied. For those who think online it is, a word of caution: Document your purchases. See to it that you receive what you order.

Building a Pontoon Boat
Step [i]Step [ii]Step [iii]Step [iv]Step [v]Step [vi]Step [vii]Step [viii]Step [ix]Step [x]Step [xi]Step [xii]Step [xiii]Step [xiv]

*Use the tabs provided above to navigate through the procedure.

Schematic Diagram


Note.- The roman numbering convention has been used alongside the labels in the diagram and the procedure, respectively, with an intention to facilitate comprehensibility.
Frame Hardware

• 2 Rows of Aluminum Pontoons (type 5052 H32 aluminum; the rows being 12'-0" each, 36'' in diameter)
• 10 Aluminum Hat Cross-channels (6'-0'' cross-channels extending from one pontoon to the other, each measuring 2.5" thick and 4" wide)
• Boat trim (2'' x 4'' for a 6' x 12' cruiser)
• Stainless Stern and Bow Trim Corner Caps (4'' high and 4'' wide)
• For Anodized Aluminum Tube Railings (24'' high and 1" diameter)
  (a) 4 Railing Corner Caps (3'' thick)
  (b) 4 Aluminum Braces (10'' high)
  (c) 10 Pontoon Rail Risers ('' thick)
  (d) 2 Hinges for the Gate (9'' in length and 2'' wide)
• For Plywood Decking
  (a) 3 sheets of 7-Ply, '' Plywood Decking (for a deck that is 6' x 12')
  (b) '' plastic slip-proof vinyl carpet

Enhancers

• 1 Seat (with swivel and an adjustable pedestal)
• 6 Webbing Attachment Straps (1'' thick)
• A Pair of Sidelights
• 2 Pontoon Fenders
• 2 - 4 Deck Cleats
• Trolling Motor
• Prefabricated Foldable Deck Ladder (A 4-step ladder would be just fine)

Fastening Material

• Epoxy resin (2 gallons), screw gun, hammer, Cordless drill with '' drill bit
• Marine Carpet Glue (2 gallons)
• Jacks
• Pontoon Deck Joint Tape (50'-0'' long roll, 2" wide)
• 3'' Stainless Fence Bolts (A pack of 32)
• 1" Stainless Deck Bolts (A pack of 100)
• U-shaped Trowel ('' thick)
• 80-grit sandpaper
• 1 Foam Brush (2'' wide)

Note.- This small-sized cruiser capacitates for 3 to 4 individuals. Burdening the boat with more than the number mentioned may hamper the buoyancy of the boat.
Procedure

[i] Aluminum Pontoons: Parallel the two rows of aluminum pontoons on a flat surface. The internal distance between the two, when placed, should be 3'. The pontoons must be fabricated with type 5052 H32 aluminum. This aluminum/magnesium alloy displays resilience to corrosion, courtesy of the moisture that the metal comes in contact with.

[ii] Aluminum Hat Cross-channels: The two rows of pontoons must then be connected with the aluminum hat cross-channels 18'' center to center. The adjacent gap between every cross-channel should be 18''. Cross-channels reinforce the pontoons for enhanced support and reliability.

[iii] Plywood Decking: Remember: Your marine-grade plywood has to be sanded and sealed before installation. You are to use a 7-Ply '' marine-grade ply. In accordance with its thickness and consistency of layers, seal the plywood. Saw the plywood sheets according to the size you desire for your boat deck, and place it on the cross-channels. Drill holes through the plywood and cross-channels for 1" stainless deck bolts, every 12'' across the deck. Don't fasten the bolts yet. Now, sand the plywood surface and its edges with 80-grit sandpaper. Dust the plywood post sanding. Using a 2'' wide foam brush, seal one side and the edges of the marine-grade plywood with epoxy. Let it dry completely to switch over to the other side of the ply. Repeat this process 5 to 7 times to save your deck from premature deterioration and warping. Needless to mention, this process would consume a considerable amount of time.

Once the sealing process is complete, run a strip of joint tape on each cross-channel. Install the plywood decking over the joint tape to secure it to the cross-channels. Fasten the deck to the cross-channels with 1" stainless deck bolts. Fill the peripheries of the fasteners (bolts) with epoxy resin, wherever necessary.

Now, apply a '' plastic slip-proof vinyl carpet with marine carpet glue on the plywood. This, sure, would do a good turn to your deck as this would prevent slippage. You must consult a fabricator before carpeting, to check whether the carpet should be laid before, or after the aluminum tube railings are installed. To camouflage the raw edges of the ply, carpet, and the cross-channels, a boat trim is applied to refine the look of the deck. Attach the trim to all four sides of the boat. Use trims that are inherently equipped with bumpers and grab handles.[ Cruise Back ]
Note.- The illustration shows only a patch of the deck being covered with '' plastic slip-proof vinyl carpet; however, the deck is to be carpeted completely. This approach is used purely for illustrative purposes.
Consult a fabricator to ready the aluminum railings for your boat. Ideally, the components mentioned in this section should be attached to the tube railing. However, the fabricator may have a different take on the said issue and may suggest another feasible way to construct the railing and boosting its reliability. Consider his inputs, as well.

[iv] Anodized Aluminum Tube Railings: The fabricator will measure your deck, and accordingly construct the anodized railing for the boat. An anodized railing promises strength and longevity, thereby appearing well-groomed in the bargain. With regard to the positioning of the railing, a 2'-0'' distance from the rear and front end of the boat, respectively, should be maintained. Thus, your railing will span 8'-0'' of the total 12'-0'' of the plywood decking.

[v] Rail Risers: To span the life of the fence railing, as well as the vinyl-boosted ply, rail risers are used. The risers are U-shaped with circular edges. They are positioned in a way that the circular edges, seat the base of the rail, and the U-shaped depression encircles the 3'' stainless fence bolt. Preferably, 5 rail risers across the length and 2 across the width of the pontoon deck are installed.

[vi] Aluminum Braces: Your boat's rail is braced with aluminum braces to provide the much-required support to your rails. It nullifies the probability of rattling. The brace is then drilled and fastened with bolts onto the railing and through the deck.

[vii] Railing Corner Caps: Railing corner caps are used to strengthen the dimensions of the railing. The radius cap is drilled through and bolted down to the deck.

In the meantime, until the railing is ready to be installed, you may work toward assembling the rest of the hardware and enhancers.[ Cruise Back ]
[viii] Webbing Attachment Straps: Use three webbing attachment straps on both the pontoons to provide your cruiser with an enhanced hold. A 1'' wide strap must embrace the pontoons through their circumferential surface extending through the cross-channels on to the deck. Fasten the strap with epoxy resin, followed by drilling 1" stainless deck bolts for a sustainable and solid grip.

[ix] Deck Cleats: They provide deck support and facilitate an easy way to slip a tie-down through two holes at the base. For all those keen fishermen and women, cleats come in handy. Just slip the fishing line through the holes at the base of the cleat, with a bobber attached to fetch a catch! Attach deck cleats on all four sides of the deck with the help of stainless pontoon deck bolts. You may leave out the stern (rear) corners of the boat, and attach the cleats at the corners of the bow (front section) of the deck only.

[x] Sidelights: To increase the quality of visibility for navigation during the dark hours, install sidelights at the front corners of the deck. However, do not place the pair at the edge. Space the sidelight 1'-0" away from the deck corner. Sidelights are a must as they are proven aids to navigation.

[xi] Trolling Motor: Install the trolling motor; it would adhere to the outboard setup of the pontoon boat. The trolling motor is installed at the stern (rear) of the boat. Just use the hand-held remote controller to start the motor, and maneuver the boat.

[xii] Seat: Mount a seat amidships (in/toward the center) of the boat. To redefine comfort on board, choose a chair with armrests and an adjustable backrest. A swivel and an adjustable pedestal ought to be a part of the seating package in order to cruise in comfort.[ Cruise Back ]
[xiii] Pontoon Fender: Knot the hanger string of the pontoon fender to the topmost rail. Position the fender in a way that its string length extends through the deck to the pontoon rows. Fenders are an important inclusion to the boat design, as they keep the aluminum railings from damage when docking. They serve as cushions that brave the docking impact while mooring the pontoon boat.

[xiv] Foldable Deck Ladder: Hinge a foldable deck ladder to the hat cross-channels with the help of 1" stainless deck bolts. You needn't worry about the storage of the ladder. When not in use, it may be pushed backwards to the frame of the pontoon.

Make sure you adhere to all the safety regulations. Stock an essential pack of gear, such as life jackets, throwback rubber rings, ropes, whistle, and a bell aboard. A light-duty pontoon trailer would tow the boat into the water. However, practice is an absolute must, when you are keen to perfect your skill of plowing your pontoon boat through the waters with considerable ease. Prefer having a mate accompany you to help draft the pontoon boat. Have someone guide your movements. To wrap it up, you may be a bravado at heart, but when it comes to casting the pontoon boat, assistance, indeed, is insisted!