2D Animation: Benefits & Usage

Entertainment and Education in 2D & 3D Animation

2D animation brings a lot of memory, whether you are twenty years old or forty years old. The moving characters, fantabulous voiceover and excellent timings of events became the part of one’s childhood memories. Keeping in mind the message of story, entertainment remained at the core of their making. Unlike 3D animation it does not give an original-like experience, but human mind is more imaginative than one can think of. 2D animation fosters the imaginative power of its viewers and creates an imaginative world around which a wonderful story is weaved.    

2D animation remains simple in its creation because it is not as complex as the 3D animation, but it takes same efforts in making animation whether it is 2D or 3D. It means if you are skilled enough in animation, or in picture making, you know how to use shadows or light and dark tones in order to make things live in making 3D animation or drawing.

Things get changed in our everyday life. You know that button-based mobile phones were introduced nearly 20 to 25 years ago. Now, we have gone through a drastic transformation, mobile phones have become a great ‘weapon’ – Ha! Ha! – instrument, which has captured the entire world in itself – the information you are looking for is just a touch away. You need to know that the market of digital cameras, music systems, even small computers, calculator, watches and most recently the tablet computers vanished in the tsunami of technological transformation. But 2D animation, even after the introduction of 3D animation or various other forms of children entertainment such puppetry or muppetry, its charm remains intact. You might have heard that “Necessity is the mother of all inventions”, but it seems when it comes to animation 2D animation is the final goal of children-learning and entertainment. However, 3D animation has achieved a great feat in learning-based animation. It is very easy to have children understand maths, geography and science concepts in 3D animation, instead of 2D animation. So, there is a thin but very strong line between in 2D animation and 3D animation. 2D has taken the responsibility of entertainment, whereas 3D is educating children in this modern ever changing technological age.

Due to its simplicity, 2D animation is the favourite platform of online game making. Look at the Candy Crush, Snakes & Ladders and other such entertaining games, all of them are made in 2D animation. The characters used in 2D animation can be changed as per the convenience; on the other hand it is not as simple as in 3D animation. 2D animator needs to apply its knowledge and skills of drawing and animation in order to develop a whole new fantasy world. On the other hand with limited options you need to use the original world as your inspiration.

When it comes to choose between the 2D and 3D animation, for entertaining purpose consideration of 2D animation is important. In order to have a concept understanding 3D animation works wonder for maths, science and geography, however, subjects like economics, languages, history and political science and be made understood using 2D animation in e-learning using voice-over & dubbing of concept.                        

 

Graphic Designing: A Continuous growth of Industry

Designing of Children Books to Mechanical Tools

After the inception of computer, graphic designing became very popular. It was one of the first among the list of enterprises who generated jobs in a large number across the world. As the generation of computers is getting enriched day-by-day, so is the case with graphic designing. New software are coming with updated versions and they have made things easy for graphic designers. This piece of writing is dedicated for students who wish to make career in graphic designing because it is full of potential. 

The term graphic designing includes business cards, book covers, page layout, product labels, logos, website layouts, banners, etc. It communicates ideas in a visual way. These ideas could be as simple as logo designing or as complex as a book page layouting.
Let’s go step-by-step. I am going to give you some unique and powerful tricks that will definitely work.

You need to get enrolled in a professional graphic designing institute. It should be a basic level studio. You don’t need to spend lakhs of rupees in learning this art. Then buy a good computer, which can hold CorelDraw, Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and other such software. Now, get a good Internet connection. Whatever you learn from the institute, browse it on the YouTube to compare what you have learnt and what difference you see in theory and practice. Be careful, learn that much only, which you have been already introduced. You might get confused. Slowly and steadily things will get unfolded in front of you.

Always keep in mind, your patience is a key. You cannot learn everything overnight. Practice a particular step innumerable time, every time you will learn a new thing and you will come across a new problem. Try to find out the solution of your problem. Do not move further without finding the solution of previously erupted problem. Spending a lot of time with problem will help you improve your skills and later you will master it.

Dip into difficulties, try hard. You will surely come out and with a great difference, which you will notice in yourself. Your risk taking ability will soar high, and you will find solutions to situations, faster than others. However, you need not to compete yourself with an individual. Compete with the abilities of that individual. Work hard and prove yourself that you have been growing a skilled individual.

You need to keep in mind that you cannot master entire software, because you will use same tools again and again. Other tools might be made for some other field or industry. For example, book publishers use CorelDraw for designing General Books, Academic Books or Children Books and on the other hand the same CorelDraw is used by mechanical engineers for designing their tools. They use completely other tools, given in the software, than the tools used by book designers.

A range of jobs you can execute in graphic designing are brochure designing, portfolio designing, catalogue designing, corporate pitch decks designing, advertisement designing, prospectus designing, packaging box designing, prospectus designing, box designing, logo designing, label designing, diary designing, book cover designing, banner designing, poster designing, leaflet and pamphlet designing.

Step-By-Step Drawing Book: Learn How to Draw

How to Draw - Step by Step Drawing for Kids and Beginners

Drawing is the first step of learning, be it at home or in school. Children start making doodles on the things at home and depict their internal feelings through various expressions. It is the natural way of their development both physically and mentally. What they see and how they see it matters a lot because it builds their imagination and it is considered the source of learning and acquiring knowledge. Drawing, with its various benefits, builds a strong foundation for children. Let’s discuss them.

1.  Gross and Fine Motor Skills: Development in motor skills of children is very important, it defines how well a child would be able to write well in his/her coming years if the gross and fine motor skills are fairly managed by parents at home through various drawing, colouring and pattern writing exercises. One can easily understand the difference between gross and fine motor skills through a very simple example if a child draws a line or a circle not accurately, but in its resembling shape, it is an example of gross motor skill. When a child masters that skill and start making a perfect line or a circle, it is an example of fine motor skill. A child starts writing haphazardly, but after practising for a year and more. His/her handwriting improves to such an extent that the child starts writing between the lines. Fine motor skill is the specialised movement of a hand or one can say the movement of the wrist, because it helps us throughout the life whether it is writing, doing something at home or outside, working on a computer or simply riding or driving.  All these things can be performed through fine-motor skills. Drawing is the best way to improve motor skills because it not only entertains children but also helps them to understand their surroundings in a well-defined and managed way. They start with doodles and then colour objects given in various colouring books. Their skills improve when they take books which teach them how to draw. Such drawing books foster their imaginative power.

2.  Visual Skills Improvisation:  Children see various things in their immediate surroundings. They start anaylising their shapes, sizes and colours. It is the process of their visual improvisation. This skill helps children know things better. They start behaving with these things according to space these objects acquire and colour they reflect. This is the same time when a child develops emotions of fun, laugh, fear and getting scared.

 

Knowledge of distance and comparison help children throughout their lives. Drawing is the perfect source of improving such skills in a very calculated and planned way. Children start drawing with simple concepts like drawing of banana or mango to a little advance and complicated images such as a car. That kind of drawing should be promoted and encouraged by parents at home because it is going to define the lifelong success of a child. It does not mean the concepts of mathematics and languages are not necessary or important for kids, those are the fundamental concepts, but drawing and colouring can be very helpful as assistance.    

 

3. Concentration : Drawing and colouring is the best source of developing concentration. Each activity or image draws the attention of a child. He or she spends time with the picture of a particular object and simultaneously develops concentration. One should not forget that a concentrated mind is the source of all success in life. It can observe things around and develop a proper understanding of them. These are the same minds which have developed all the luxury items we proudly own and enjoy in our daily life. So here is a point which can be said and taken undisputedly that drawing and colouring engage an individual and develop his/her concentration power.

 

4. Hand-Eye Coordination: Drawing and colouring connect the dots of various essential things that a child needs. In this process, hand-eye coordination cannot be spared. It requires proper skills to do things of various orders – simple to complex – in our daily routine, that can only be handled through proper coordination between our senses and external body parts. Drawing and colouring connect these dots and help a child grow into a well-groomed individual.

Confidence and Problem-solving Skills: We always talk about confidence. What is it? It is the ability to feel comfortable in doing or resolving situations that challenge you. How could one feel comfortable in complicated situations? It is possible only then when you work hard and resolve problems without running from them. In this case, you develop such problem-solving skills that take out yourself from that intricate situation. However, such problem-solving skill develops through various reasons, but reading and participation in various activities - drawing and colouring can be one of those.  

English Comprehension: How to develop comprehension skill?

 

What is the purpose of reading comprehension?

Understanding of a topic remains thicker than the rote-learning, it makes a proper base and ultimately helps a child grow into a well-read human being. Let’s understand it with some other example, we read a beautiful paragraph about the geography of a wonderful place, we have got a wonderful voice and people enjoy listening to us, but what is the purpose of such reading when reader does not understand the meaning of geography, if a person is telling about the geographical features just by reading then how could it be possible for that person to imagine such place or its physical features. Let’s take another example, you are going with your kids to a market to buy daily stuff, but you do not know the units in which that stuff will be available and money to be used in exchange. These simple and daily skills are improved by comprehension. It is an essential part of study when it comes to reading content and understanding it. It is an important tool of reading which helps children recalling things which they have just studied. Our purpose of being read just winds up when we could not understand the study material that we have in our hands, however, we could just read it. That is completely useless.

How do we know that the Earth is oval-shaped? This is because we have learnt about the physical features of Earth through modern-day satellites. Well-learned and reputable people of society wrote down a wonderful history of theory and practices for us, that still inspires us and leads us to live a better and wonderful life. They compiled their experiences in the form of books and we just sit on our study table and read what they achieved in their lives and we continue from where they stopped their research. But how could you understand these wonderful theories, this needs skills and that skill is fostered by comprehension. You cannot imagine that a child could understand anything that he or she has just read; lack of comprehension skills would not let them understand these things. The main purpose of comprehension remains the same; it is developed in order to sharpen the understanding of children through stories, researches, discoveries and arguments. Thus comprehension plays a vital role on two fronts, first, it improves language and grammar skills as children spend a lot of time thinking on topics of their study – how to start and where to start. Second, it enriches children with loads of information that will help them in their lives. For example, what is the distance of our Moon from our planet Earth, this is a tricky one and you need to rote down the facts. But it is, though, not so important. However, if you start understanding that Moon does not have its own light and it just reflects the light of the Sun, this information is crucial and one should keep it mind. Because that is the difference between an animal and a human being – a human could reason, be logical to things and could be rational. Now we can say the importance of comprehension cannot be overlooked.  

 

How to develop comprehension skills?

Comprehension is equally important for every child whether he or she is interested in science or arts. However, it automatically improves the language skills of children, but its main purpose is to make a great balance between reading and understanding of a particular topic. Comprehension is everywhere, whether we are at home or outside. It plays a vital role in building our sense at every stage of life. Parents just need to spend thirty to forty minutes out of their busy schedules and help children understand things they see in their immediate surroundings. Daily reading and observation of things are very crucial and important. That can only solve the purpose of things a child should understand. 

Everything which is read should be followed with some logical questions so that a proper understanding of things could be developed. Parents should ask questions on the topic which is just read, it will not only help your child, but also help you enhance your knowledge. You need to make visuals of things related to the topic, which you both are reading. Share your childhood experiences and ask things happening in your surroundings. Always keep one of Albert Einstein’s quotations in your mind, “Imagination fosters your intelligence”. What does it mean? It means when you start visualizing things your strength to imagine things improves, and every brilliant task of this world that was once executed, first was imagined by a brilliant mind.

How could imagination be fostered? It could be fostered only when you start asking questions about topics that you are reading and start putting things in order and start visualizing what would happen next. This theory of next, if taken in a positive way, could lead to a wonderful life.

Phonics or Phonics Sounds: Fundamentals of Language

Almost all the alphabetic languages are taught through phonics. Phonics is a method that is used to teach reading and writing of the alphabet of a particular language. No language can stand alone without phonics that is why it is also referred to as decoding words. It reflects a very strong bonding between the sound of a certain language that one utters and alphabet one writes. It focuses on the sound of a word and the composition of letters within that word. In other words, it is a teaching program for students that helps them learning-to-read.

It is a matter of debate that if a teacher starts teaching reading, without a good introduction of phonics for kindergarten as a proper subject is very harmful to children. That is the reason once a child starts reading without the knowledge of phonics the much-awaited results cannot be achieved. Awaited results can only be achieved when there is synchronization between a program and its implementation. Further, that can be strengthened through techniques of instruction, management of classroom according to curriculum and grouping of students. 

Phonics can be taught in different ways. There are a variety of approaches that could be followed in order to teach phonics. These approaches can be categorized as learning individual sounds – M-A-T (three-letter word), OW-N-ER (five-letter word, but sounds like a three-letter word), rhyming words – CAT, RAT, HAT, etc., and consonant blends – BL – in BLOG, BLACK, BLOOD, etc. These approaches blend together and make a strong methodology for reading and writing an alphabetic language.  

From the point of view of improvisation in language, English adopted a large number of words from various other languages that exist in different parts of the world. This approach not only enriched its vocabulary but also diversified its culture. Their approach of absorbing words into their vocabulary gave them global exposure and English became the most popular language in the world, however, this is not the most spoken language. That is the reason we see different pronunciation of a word. For example, if a word from any language of India is included in English, then an English person will pronounce it in a different way in comparison to the person, who knows this word since its childhood.

Here we will discuss the patterns of English language that keep continuously changing and enhancing with different things that are found in its global surroundings. Look at these two letters – ee – sometimes, or most of the time, they stand for the sound – i, ie, ei or ea.  The words in which these letters are used are spoken with various sounds across the world. That variation in pronunciation takes the English language into the group of rules that are set to understand it.

Phonics Patterns of Vowels

Short Vowels: We all know that there are five vowels – a, e, i, o, and u. These vowels are pronounced for a very short period of time in a particular word. Look at the following words:

·        C-A-T (A – short vowel sound)

·        B-E-T (E – short vowel sound)

·        S-I-T (I – short vowel sound)

Long Vowels: We can understand the meaning of these vowels by their names. It is just opposite to short vowels where the pronunciation takes a very short space of time, whereas, in long vowels, it takes a bit longer space of time while pronouncing a particular word. Look at the following words:

·        SEE (S-E-E  – EE – long vowel sound)

·        MINE (M-I-N-E  – I – long vowel sound)

·        NO (N-O  – O – long vowel sound)

One thing that should be kept in mind that long vowels have the same sounds as the names of the letters. To be more elaborative, if you say the name of that letter, you will get a long vowel.

• Alphabet Phonics is the bases of language that help children understand the association between writing letters and the sounds they produce. Its instructions are taught in such a way that children start recognizing words and sounds, for example, letter – n will produce the sound – n as in the case of words like the nose, new, etc.
• The purpose of each subject should be to help and understand students its fundamentals. Phonics plays a very important role when it is implemented in a very comprehensive way at the level of kindergarten so that a proper letter-sound relationship could be understood by a child. Its implementation makes sure that a child starts recognizing a word then its spelling and further starts working on comprehension, regardless the grade in which he/she is studying.
  
• When we utter something, we produce a sound and when we produce a sound it takes the form of a language in which we converse with other people, whether they are living around us or living across the globe. It becomes the bases of our mutual understanding through which we share our feelings. This entire process is known as Phonological Awareness. It is referred to as an oral language, whereas phonics is referred to as a printed form of sounds. Phonological awareness and phonics awareness both are completely different skills. It is seen that a few children have some weaknesses in phonological awareness and some have problems with phonics awareness. But the possibility of having problems at both ends, whether it is phonological awareness or phonics awareness is very little. A child cannot have problems with both things at the same point in time.  Let’s understand this issue with an example, a child knows the sound produced by a letter, but he/she is not able to form a word, this is phonological awareness. But when a child orally mixes sounds and starts reading sit for set, lit for let, pit for pet, etc., then he/she is having phonetics problem.
  

Mandala Drawing and Colouring - Heal your Mind and Body

In India’s one of the most reputed and ancient languages – ‘Sanskrit’, there is a word called – Mandala. Mandala stands for the circles. Now, if you are fond of spirituality, you will find out that there are a few circles in our body. Each circle has its unique identity and that identity defines how profound you have become in your spiritual process.

 

Yoga unites all of us with universe and at the end peace, harmony and a feeling of fullness grow within. But not all of us can achieve this unification with universe, as it requires a certain amount of Yogic practices, but its essence can be felt through some low-order meditative practices.  However, there are no low-order spiritual practices, but from the Yogic point of view, such practices do not require certain qualifications for being a beginner.

Here is another formula developed by some great artists to gain the meditative mind. This is Mandala colouring. It relaxes us, calms us and finds a perfect balance between body and mind. The complexity and beauty of Mandala designs make us curious at the one end and continuous observation of things keeps us focused on a particular object on the other. It ultimately leads to meditation, which is the source of all happiness. Yes, it is the source of happiness. I am not saying, to be happy in life, you start with Mandala coloring books, but it is one of the processes that brings smile on one’s face without being involved in deep spiritual practices. However, if you do so, then there is nothing good like it.

Let’s have a look at the benefits of the Mandala colouring :

1. It relieves stress. Mandala drawings for adult are known for relieving stress of the human body and mind. There are a large number of worries in this world, whether they are related to jobs, businesses, finances, or relations. Whenever we fall ill, we take pills to recover, but when it comes to a disturbing mindset, a special prescription is required to get relieved from such a traumatic condition. In such a case Mandala coloring for meditation plays a very important role. When you colour the circular patterns it draws your deep attention. This deep attention is your concentrated mind. A concentrated mind is a meditative mind and a meditative mind is a source of all happiness, and no anxiety or stress can sustain in such a state of mind.
   Nature in Mandala Art
   
   
2. Mandala refreshes us. Attention brings concentration. A concentrated mind always takes holy dips in meditation and meditation is a source of happiness that we have discussed in our previous point. At this point we are going to discuss, whether Mandala coloring can refresh our brain. The simple answer is “Yes”. Happiness, yoga, meditation, concentration, etc., are related to a spiritual mindset, and mind is not a physical part of the human body. However, the brain is a well-known internal organ of the human body. We know about the two hemispheres of the human brain. Coloring, drawing, and paintings are known as brain refreshers because they require both hemispheres of the human brain to stay focused. These colouring activities create a balance between both the halves. Such intricate designs of a refreshing mandala – coloring book for adults – challenge the human brainial capacity. Human imagination improves when one chooses colors and fills up the spaces. A brilliant problem-solving skill develops when a person spends time in colouring Mandala’s intricate designs.
   
3. It redefines creativity. Mandala coloring books improve creative edge of a person. It is for everyone, however, adults enjoy it a lot. As of now, most of the people have gained so much momentum in their lives and there is very little scope to discover oneself from the scratch. This sort of coloring helps adult to rediscover their creative strength and a colourful restart comes in their lives.  
   The Nature Mandala Colouring Book
4. Mandala works as a healing tool. We all know that it helps in developing concentration and brings happiness. When you are happy from within, your immunity starts boosting. A healthy body and peaceful mind are parallel to each other. So this coloring improves the immune system of a person and helps in gaining more control of one’s body. Mandala colouring helps in treating various diseases through nature mandala coloring book for adults. They are known to have treated people suffering from various diseases. Such designs help in epilepsy, low-blood pressure, uncontrolled limb muscles, and many more.
   
   
   
   
   

A large number of individuals are using these designs to find out a perfect balance between their brain and body. Their significance cannot be ignored and these designs will remain with humanity forever as their role in finding peace and happiness is under scrutiny, yet unprecedented.

Word Search Puzzles for Kids

Word Search Books

The importance of word search puzzles for 3 to 12-year-old kids cannot be overlooked. However, a large number of games are available on your smartphones, but still, the significance of paper and pencil cannot be left unnoticed. Solving word search puzzles entertains children for a perfect time and its effect on their learning process has always been a matter of great appreciation from the point of view of teachers, mentors, and parents. 

Let’s have a look at how such puzzles help your ward in learning things better and in the most effective way.

1. Spellings learn made easy: Children are very fond of writing incorrect spellings. They do not want to commit mistakes, but it happens, unfortunately. Word search puzzles can help in resolving this issue. Looking for a particular word for a long time makes an image of the word along with letters in the brain of a child. Seeing letters scattered all over the page of an activity, make child curious about it, during this course its meaning and usage can be discussed with the child.   
2. Responding fast made easy: How would you expect your child to respond to various situations in life? Word search puzzles help your child become a responsive one at the perfect time. There are certain situations in life when you expect to respond much faster than you used to be. How this skill could be developed? It can only be possible through certain brain developing-challenging activities that are designed for a specific age group of children. The responsive nature of a person is very important in life. It defines how much we could succeed and what could be the pace of our success. This is an art of tackling problems of life and resolving them on time. It can ensure how much you are going to get in your life. Unfortunately, you can see around, people, with better life skills than those who have better academics, succeed exponentially in life.
3. Sharpening memory made easy: Spending a great amount of time with words and somehow with their meaning and usage develops memory. A child starts recalling things in a much better way. A great memory is a key to success in life. Don’t you appreciate a person with a good memory in life? You do of course. Think about it twice. Storing a great amount of information in memory and accessing it on time to time is a process that we do every day in our lives, but doing it in a systematic and much-organized way is an art. An art that cannot be compared with.
4. Vocabulary learns made easy: Every activity a child comes across gives him/her the confidence to live a meaningful and much productive life. Learning a new word on a daily basis, finding its usage ultimately adds to the beauty of life through which a person understands and expresses his/her own calculations of things scattered around the society and nature.
5. Problem-solving made easy: Word search puzzles develop logical skills that help in solving problems. Let me show you a graphical presentation of a terrorist attack meant to kill innocent people. The expertise of the pilot and the decision he took within a fraction of a second saved 380 passengers on  board.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                How could we develop such great skills? It is a million-dollar question? It is somehow or other called a miracle. Finding a word horizontally, vertically, one way or another, etc., develop such skills that help in solving and tackling situations in all possible ways. Children with much better life skills live a wonderful life than those who do not focus on them.
6. Cracking competition made easy: Solving a word search puzzle faster on paper or online develops a sense of competition in a child. He/she tries to solve it properly and faster than his/her friends. The only thing which we need to focus on that this competition remains healthy as it is a matter of manners and values of respecting each other. Struggle to do things faster motivates children, though it also fosters sportsmanship in them.

Despite the above-mentioned benefits of word search puzzles, a few prominent things cannot be ignored here. Any kind of physical or mental activity brings the members of a family closer. Prominently, a social skill of togetherness and sharing also develop through such word search or crossword puzzle games. Children start learning about the resources that we have in nature are meant for every one of us, not only for an individual being. So, educational materials, which have been developed for children by various experts, are very important for the multiple benefits of them, especially when it is low-priced and portable.