Happy Halloween!

Mon 31st Oct

I hope you are all enjoying Halloween however you are celebrating tonight. Today you can join us on the guild board to swap ghost stories and play neopets spooky games. There's also still time to enter our halloween and bonfire night activities if you want to take part. Oh and don't forget to check out my trades for some freaky freebies! Happy Halloween everyone!

NaNoWriMo

Mon 31st Oct

National Novel Writing Month begins tomorrow! If you are taking part don't forget to add me as a buddy (my username is phoenixlife). You can also send in a synopsis of your novel and read about the other guild members attempting Nano on our NaNoWrimo page here. Don't forget that there are so many talented writers in the guild to give you support and advice so just drop by the guild board if you need any help or inspiration with your novel. I am hoping to post regular updates about my progress and to send out some pep talks to keep you motivated. Good luck everyone!

Fall Festivities

Sat 15th Oct

What do you think of our new Halloween layout? I was inspired by all the amazing fall crafts I have seen across the blogosphere lately. There are so many creative halloween projects out there, if only I had time to do them all!
To celebrate the spooky season there are some new halloween competitions up on the activities page. There are also some Bonfire Night activities ready for Guy Fawkes night on 5th November. Entries are open now so get yours in asap!

Apologies

Sat 15th Oct

Firstly I must apologise for my recent absence from the guild. As always I have been exceedingly busy in real life with doing overtime at work and preparing for my dance show which is taking place this weekend. I've been so tired in the evenings I haven't been able to get on which is why I've let neopets and my blog slide. But hopefully once this weekend is over I will be able to get on to update things more often and I will update the points and awards and pirate day rewards as soon as I can.
Secondly I would like to thank you all for your patience and your loyalty and dedication to CT, especially to Chelsea who puts in so much hard work while I am away. I honestly couldn't ask for more awesome guild members.

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Textures by missesglass@DA, edited by creative_therapy.

Pngs by missesglass@DA and RockstarProductions@DA, edited by creative_therapy.

Neomail icons by foomanshu
All content by creative_therapy and guild members.

Welcome to the articles section. Here you can find arty articles on a range of topics from how-to guides to creative artwork tips. If you would like to write your own article then please put it on a petpage and neomail cerative_therapy the link. You will get 20 points for each article!



The Song of Life: How Music Effects Us by Acelynn-(1st July 2011)
Art Can Heal Wounds by Rachel-(20th May 2011)
Interview with Nilla- (8th May 2011)
Autumnal Art by Phoenix-(1st October 2010)
Guide to Neopets Copyright by Phoenix-(27th Sept 2010)
Appropriate Writing for Neopets by Phoenix-(27th Sept 2010)
Day After Day by Madeline-(27th Sept 2010)
Creative Guides from the Neopian Times by Phoenix-(6th Sept 2010)
Brand New School Year- All you Need to Know for a Fresh Artistic Year by Madeline-(9th Aug 2010)
Beach Art by Phoenix-(8th Aug 2010)
Getting into the Neopets Art Gallery by Phoenix-(8th Aug 2010)
Creative Therapy, the Window of Opportunity by Madeline-(1st July 2010)
Summer Arts by Madeline-(18th June 2010)
Deviantart by Madeline-(27th May 2010)
Inspiration by Madeline(7th May 2010)
Covering Dreams by Madeline(28th April 2010)

There are hundreds of styles of music: Rock, Pop, Hip Hop, R&B, World, Surf, etc. But how we play it, and why we play it, makes the basic genres seem unnecessary. Does music really support the thoughts, or is it just a placebo? I referred to the Music Therapy Association of BC website to see what music therapy does for people. I learned that music doesn't only help psychologically, but also physically and emotionally. Music strikes the limbic system, which is responsible for sensory output that is technically pain, and the music can almost replace either the emotional or physical pain that is being sent to the brain. Therefore, all you feel is music, not feeling. So that's also why, whenever you listen to your favorite song, you get that awesome "I love this song" tingly feeling inside. The song is traveling the limbic system and is alleviating your pain, whether or not you had any in the first place.

In the words of Plato, "Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul." That sums up why there are so many artists and bands who play for self help. Artists like Shania Twain and Green Day record songs for self support - they may be trying to forget a memory, ease an addiction, or even help others go through what they went through. In Twain's case, music may help her ease the memory of the 2008 affair that her husband had with her best friend (I smell a sitcom plot.) In Green Day's case, the song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" was to memorialize Billie Joe Armstrong's father who passed away on September 10th, 1982.

Music helps the soul in more ways than one. It clearly has an impact on how a person lives, what a person does, and how a person thinks. Clearly, music is more than just a type of media: it is a free therapist for all who are willing to listen.

Added:1st July 2011.

Welcome to the new CT fun stuff page!

Jokes
Embarassing Moments
Screenies
Fun Facts
Art Therapy
How to Write Good
Ode to the Spell Check
The English Language
Amazing Anagrams
Cartoons
Comic Strips

Amazing anagrams are when the word can be arranged to spell out something of meaning to the original word. Do you know of any good anagrams? Send them in to earn 2 points for each one.

Dormitory = Dirty Room
The Morse Code = Here Come Dots
Slot Machines = Cash Lost in 'em
Snooze Alarms = Alas! No More Z's
Semolina = Is No Meal
Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one
Harry Potter = Try hero part
Dolores Umbridge = Go, Sir Dumbledore
Arthur Weasley = We salute Harry
Ronald Weasley = Lose wand early
Wormtail = I'm low rat

To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune' = 'In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten.

That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind = Thin man ran; makes a large stride, left planet, pins flag on moon!

Coming soon! Neomail creative_therapy if you want to make one!

Have you ever wondered why foreigners have trouble with the English Language?

Let's face it
English is a stupid language.
There is no egg in the eggplant
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England
French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take English for granted
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that
Quicksand takes you down slowly
Boxing rings are square
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea
Nor is it a pig.

If writers write, how come fingers don't fing?
If the plural of tooth is teeth
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth? If the teacher taught,
Why didn't the preacher praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables
What the heck does a humanitarian eat!?
Why do people recite at a play
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
Of a language where a house can burn up as
It burns down
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out
And a bell is only heard once it goes!

English was invented by people, not computers
And it reflects the creativity of the human race
(Which of course isn't a race at all)

That is why
When the stars are out they are visible
But when the lights are out they are invisible
And why it is that when I wind up my watch
It starts
But when I wind up this observation,
It ends.

~Anonymous

Coming soon! Neomail creative_therapy if you want to make one!

Send in your art and writing related jokes and earn 5 points for each one!

Recently a guy in Paris nearly got away with stealing several paintings from the Louvre. However, after planning the crime, breaking in, evading security, getting out and escaping with the goods, he was captured only two blocks away when his Econoline van ran out of gas. When asked how he could mastermind such a crime and then make such an obvious error, he replied:-"I had no Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh." ~Phoenix

Vincent van Gough walks into a bar, and the bartender offers him a drink...No thank -you, said Vincent, I've got one 'ere.
~Phoenix

Q: What do you call an American drawing?
A: A Yankee Doodle.
~Phoenix

There was once a young man who, in his youth, professed his desire to become a great writer. When asked to define great, he said, "I want to write stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, howl in pain and anger!
He now works for Microsoft writing error messages.
~Phoenix

Are you good at making a scene? Send in a brief description of your embarassing moment and earn 5 points.

Phoenix-We went to a car dealer to look into buying a new one and I was going round the cars saying 'hmm this one's nice' and 'ooh yes I like this one'. Then I came to one and said 'urgh, I hate this one it's so ugly!" and my bf was like 'ssh don't say that about other people's car's honey' and I watched with horror as a family started putting stuff in the boot and drove off. *facepalm*

Send in your funny screenies of things you see around neo and CT and earn 5 points for each one! If you have a screenies page, please send in the link!

Food Fights

The Randomness of CT Members

Sunday Sleepovers

More

Hannah's Screenies

Send in your arts related fun facts and earn 5 points for each one!

Picasso's Full Name Has 23 Words-Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clato Ruíz y Picasso.

The following words were invented by William Shakespeare: boredom, hurry, disgraceful, hostile, money's worth, obscene, puke, perplex, on purpose, shooting star, sneak. Until his time, people had to have their conversations without these words.

Most ball-point pens will draw a line 4,000 to 7,500 feet long.

The most expensive piece of art is Jackson Pollock's painting called Number 5. The painting was made in 1948. It is said to be worth $180 Million.

The world's most valued painter, Vincent van Gogh, sold only one painting in his entire life and he sold it to his brother who owned an art gallery. The title of the painting was "Red Vineyard at Arles."

In 1939, Ernest Vincent Wright wrote the novel Gadsby, it had 50,110 word and none of those words contained the letter "e." But usually one out of every eight letters you read is the letter 'e'.

Leonardo da Vinci's painting, Mona Lisa, was stolen in year 1912 from the Louvre. 6 replicas were sold as the original,each at a very expensive price, in the 3 years before the original was found.

Most ballerinas wear out 2-3 pairs of pointe shoes per week.

In America, we buy 57 books per second. It would take a shelf 78 miles long to hold all of one day's books.

Charles Dickens had to be facing north before he could write a word.

The average adult thinks of three to six alternatives for any given situation. The average child thinks of 60.

It seems that left-handed people are more creative as most writers and artists are left-handed.

Picasso could draw even before he could walk. And the first word he ever said was the Spanish word for pencil. Talk about being a natural born artist!

In 1961, Matisse's Le Bateau (The Boat) hung upside-down for 2 months in the Museum of Modern Art, New York and an estimated 116,000 visitors who walked past it did not notice it.

1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
2. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
3. Employ the vernacular.
4. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
5. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
6. Remember to never split an infinitive.
7. Contractions aren't necessary.
8. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
9. One should never generalize.
10. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
11. Comparisons are as poor as cliches.
12. Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
13. Be more or less specific.
14. Understatement is always best.
15. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
16. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
17. The passive voice is to be avoided.
18. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
19. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
20. Who needs rhetorical questions?
21. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
22. Don't never use a double negation.
23. capitalize every sentence and remember always end it with point
24. Do not put statements in the negative form.
25. Verbs have to agree with their subjects.
26. Proofread carefully to see if you words out.
27. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
28. A writer must not shift your point of view.
29. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.)
30. Don't overuse exclamation marks!!!!!
31. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to the irantecedents.
32. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
33. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
34. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
35. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
36. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
37. Always pick on the correct idiom.
38. The adverb always follows the verb.
39. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; They're old hat; seek viable alternatives.

~Anonymous

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It cam with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew!

~Anonymous

When people think of art, usually they think of a famous painting, such as the Mona Lisa. Most think of art as pretty pictures that will someday hang up in a museum or on someone's wall. However, art is so much more than that. It's also a way for someone to express themselves, the same way people express themselves through music, poetry, or dance.

There is a field of work called art therapy, which is a form of expressive therapy that lets people manage their behaviors and feelings, reduce stress, and improve self-esteem and awareness through the creative process. You don't need any talent for art therapy—in fact, anyone can do it, from the clinically insane to the stressed high school student.

I know that when I draw, I relax and my mind is taken off of things. However, art therapy does more than that. It is designed to focus your mind on your inner thoughts, emotions, goals, and dreams.

Art therapy can improve a person's physical, mental, and emotional well-being. The creative process can help people to manage their behaviors, feelings, and self-esteem. Art making, over time, can lead to personal fulfillment and emotional and physical recovery. Making art can make a person feel productive, and can give a person purpose.

In your typical professional art therapy session, you have to look within yourself and put your feelings and thoughts down on the paper. The therapist uses your drawing to talk to you. Even your lines can tell the therapist about you. Try to think of all the different lines like straight, squiggly, and zigzagging, and try to think of how they can tell the therapist your emotions.

There is a common art therapy practice where the patient is asked to draw a tree. Where the tree is placed, how big the tree is drawn, and how many branches the tree has can tell the art therapist a few things. The therapist might ask questions like "how old is the tree?" and "is the tree alive?" To give an example of how this might work, a tree drawn in the corner of the page which is tiny in size, can show shyness, insecurity, and sadness.

Anyone can use art therapy. It is typically directed at anyone under stress, and this can apply to people with learning disabilities, people with personal problems, and even people that just want to explore their inner-self. Art therapy is often applied to autistic children, people with cancer, and people with depression. Everyone has gone through stressful times, and anyone can benefit from art therapy.

If you are interested in using art therapy, there are many available practices on the internet or in books. To practice art therapy, all you have to do is paint a picture based around your emotions. Use paints, crayons, or colored pencils, and try to show your emotions the best way possible without using pictures. No one can know how great art therapy is without at least giving it a try. Remember to see a professional for the best results.

Art therapy is a wonderful thing, and I myself have practiced it and benefited from it. Some people are afraid to try art. Some find it difficult to verbally express their thoughts, feelings, and emotions. In this case art would be the perfect way to open up. Art therapy is especially useful for those that are embarrassed to talk about their problems.

Art therapy opens up another level of communication—you don't use words, and you don't use body language. Instead, you express yourself through images that you yourself have drawn.

What is Art Therapy?

Our guild is named after form of personal therapy known as Creative Therapy or Art Therapy. It dates back to the 1940s and involves the use of creative arts such as dance, drama, music, painting and poetry as a form of personal therapy to explore people's inner emotions and thoughts. Whilst we cannot offer any real therapy advice on neopets, we hope that through joining in with our creative activities you can learn more about yourself as a person. The following activities are designed to help you understand yourself better.

Dream Analysis

Dreams are the work of our unconscious mind. While we are asleep our dreams invent scenarios to help keep us sleeping, solve problems we have in waking life and investigate our desires and possible situations. Much of what we dream about seems like a random collection of images that we have barely noticed throughout the day. But our brain stores each of these images and files them away under a different category. We come to associate some images with different things. For example, if we heard some bad news while we were looking at a bird through thr window, when we dream about a bird it could be a symbol of bad news for us. Some symbols are personal to us and some are community symbols that we learn from others eg. red representing anger or danger. Send in a description of your dream to creative_therapy (as long as it's neo-appropriate) and Phoenix will analyse the symbolic meaning of it for you. Check out Dreamscape to read about other people's dreams.

Automatic Writing

This is a technique where you grab a pen and paper and just write whatever words come into your head without thinking about it. Don't look at what you've put and don't edit or censor yourself. What you write may suprise you and reveal feelings you didn't know were there. Some people find that they get a different result when they write with the opposite hand because they are engaging a different side of their brain from usual. Why not have a go? If you'd like to send in a small piece of automatic writing, please neomail creative_therapy.

Picture Analysis

Grab a pen and paper and quickly draw a picture of a house, a tree, a sun, some water and some flowers. Then take a good look at what you've drawn as it can tell you about your personality. The windows reveal how open you are- the bigger and more numerous, the more honest and open you are. If you drew a TV aerial on the roof it means you're very receptive to what's going on around you. If there's a chimney alongside it you might have pent up frustrations which you'll need to vent sooner or later. And if there's smoke coming out of your chimney, you're probably a little on the nervous side. The tree represents your mother. Compare the size of the tree to the house to see how dominant your mother is in your life. The sun represents your father. How high is it above the house and the tree? The higher it is, the more dominant a role your father plays in the family. The position of the house and the tree in relation to the sun is meant to be quite important - if the sun and the tree are very close together then you feel your parents have quite a close relationship. If the house is between the sun and the tree then you may feel you're caught in the middle of a battle between them. The water is your emotional state. The more water there is, the more emotional you are. If you drew a moat surrounding the house then you're swamped by your passionate nature. A stream means you're hard on the surface but wibbly underneath. A pond means that you keep your emotions firmly in check. The number of flowers you've drawn is meant to indicate the amount of people you feel really close to. One particularly large flower represents your best friend.

Here's where we store the memories of our time together in Creative Therapy. If you have any happy memories of the guild you would like to share, or perhaps screenies of conversations we had on the boards, or old banners or layouts you would like to share, please neomail creative_therapy to get it put in the scrapbook.

July 2011

On July 1st we celebrated the guild's second birthday by setting up prom-themed activities to last all month.
Here are the entries for best dressed pet:


We also had a prom outfit design competition which Chelsea won with this creation:


The menu design competition was also very popular and there were some outstanding entries:


Devi won the prom writing competition with her prom story.

Chelsea was crowned Prom Queen and Cindy was voted Prom Princess. They recieved these awards:


We also had a prom layout up designed by Phoenix:


As for the normal monthly spotlights, the Writers won TOM with 510 points, Chelsea won MOM with 330 points, Grace won best newcomer, Water won the writer's award, and Chelsea won the artist and digital artists trophies.

On the 30th July the other guild members suprised Phoenix for her birthday by creating a page of compliments for her which made her day really special.



Cindy became an admin.

We set up a new weekly timetable of activities such as Megadrive Mondays, Show and Tell Tuesdays, Wednesday Workshop, Freebie Thursdays, Food Fight Fridays and Saturday Specials.

June 2011

In June we went private and restructured the webbie to include questions for non-members and a layout preview. Tuly (csstyle) made an amazing layout for us:


Chelsea made us an avatar lending page and Lexi set up an animal lovers club. We achieved our goal of 15,000 messages and reached 58 members and average daily posts of 22.4. A new fun stuff section was added to the magazine to include jokes, comics and screenies. The performers won TOM, Acelynn won MOM, Acelynn and Lexi drew on Best Newcomer, Devi and Raine won the writer's trophy and Lexi and Chelsea won the performer's trophy.

May 2011

The CT funfair came to town! We had a carnival themed layout and activities such as decorate the carousel horse, pop the balloons, guess the sweets in the jar, test your strength, funfair playlist, funfair poetry, bumper cars and facepainting. Here are some of the entries for the carousel horse decorating (drag and drop to view full size):

And here is our funfair layout:


The Artists won TOM with 980 points and Chelsea was MOM for the second month running with 910 points. Lucy was awarded the best newcomer trophy, Hannah got the writers award, Tuly got the digital artist's award for designing next month's layout, Raine won the performer's trophy for sending in acting tips and Chelsea won the artist's award.

New clubs including disney, roleplay and dance club were added, and a new Fun Friday activity started with a virtual sleepover for the first event. After a flood of new members we decided to go private and altered the webbie and portal so they were easier to navigate. Lucy also opened a new guild adoption agency. We elected some new staff including Chelsea as a council member, Nilla and Lucy as funstars, Cindy as designer, Madeline and Chelsea as team leaders and Lydia and Sam as spokespeople.

April 2011

The guild was completely revived! We had an Easter celebration that included an Easter egg hunt, easter egg decorating, poetry competition, pet fancy dress and auctions and trades. It was a lot of fun for everyone who took part. Here are the entries for the egg decorating:


Here is Chelsea's winning fancy dress entry:


April's TOM was the Artists were 670 points. New member Chelsea won MOM with 400 points and also won best newcomer award for posting over 40 messages, earning 3 badges, recruiting 3 new members, creating a userlookup for the graphics page, sending in a song writing tip and song lyrics to the theatre, submitting 3 sketches, some art ratings and a craft tutorial! She also recieved the artist and performer awards. Lydia was the winner of the writers and digital artists awards.

Many new members joined the guild: Chels, Trinity, Kim, Lilly, Mary, Eve, Abby, Alex, Marjorie, Holly, Mik, Cindy, Raven, Cher, Nilla, Gora, Livia, Marse, Andrea, Trina, Jemma, Sadie, Kiss, Kel and Rachel! That's got to be the most members we've ever recruited in one month, bringing us to 41 members (on 1st May 2011). Our activeness has soared, with more and more people chatting on the board, submitting artwork and entering activities. It's a very exciting time for Creative Therapy.

Take a look at our Easter layout, made by Phoenix:

March 2011

Phoenix returned from hiatus at the end of March to discover that neopets coding filters had changed and all the guild pages had messed up! So she designed new layouts for all the guild pages. The guild had started to get inactive during her absence so she started a new advertising campaign looking for new members, council and other staff.

Jan-Feb 2011

Madeline made her first layout for the guild homepage, isn't it pretty?

Some of our veteran members moved on to pastures new. Brooke (the original guild deputy who joined back in July 2009) has left neo to concentrate on her creative writing and blog. Phoenix took a long hiatus to concentrate on her work and blog too and left the guild in the capable hands of Madeline.

Dec 2010

Phoenix designed a new Christmas layout:

Lots of Christmas activities took place.

November 2010

Many of our members were busy doing NaNoWriMo during this month and we set up our own Nano blog on the library to keep track of who was doing what.

Oct 2010

A new autum-themed layout was put up:

We had a halloween celebration with spooky activities including ghost stories, design your own jack'o lantern, apple bobbing, fancy dress competion and more.

Sept 2010

All our pages had layout makeovers. The writing page became the library and the performing arts page became the theatre. The yearbook became the team page and Phoenix made mascots for each team: Scribbles, Inks, Strut, Pixel and Spotlight. On the 19th it was Pirate Day and Phoenix hid a treasure chest containing 50 points on one of the guild pages, which Moon was the first to find. Members played neopets pirate related flash games and tried to beat each others scores and talked like a pirate on the guild board. There were also pirate art and writing competitions, a neopet fancy dress competition and pirate song and character naming competitions. Moon won the art competition with this great picture:

The Artists won the team battle with 235 points. Red was MOM ith 215 points and also won the best newcomer trophy for her contributions to the art gallery and graphics page.

Aug 2010

A book and film club were added and we put up a new beach themed layout:

July 2010

It was our first birthday so we had a guild prom to celebrate! There were loads of competitions such as cake decorating, menu design, hall decorating, best dressed pet, prom story and art competitions and much more and we voted for the prom queen. We also had a birthday layout up:

April 2010

All our pages had funky new makeovers and now looked like this:

The member directory became the yearbook and a new roleplay page was created with a gifted artists plot. We also intoduced achievement badges for completing various creative activities.

March 2010

A new craft page was added to the guild.

Feb 2010

We had a make your own pancake competition for pancake day.

Jan 2010

Creative Therapy got a brand new layout!

Dec 2009

It was our first Christmas together and we celebrated in style with a yule ball, christmas writing and art competitions and other seasonal activities. Here are the Christmas greetings Phoenix made for the guild:

This was what our homepage looked like back then:

Nov 2009

We had a bonfire night celebration with a make your own fireworks display!

We also got a brand new layout:

Oct 2009

We had our first Halloween celebration with a make your own jack o'lantern competition, scary story competition, pet fancy dress and other spooky activities. Here's Phoenix's jack o'lantern:

We also had a halloween layout up:

It was around this time that we introduced gold trophies for our monthly spotlight awards.

July 2009

Phoenix was looking everywhere for an artistic guild, but couldn't find one she liked, so she decided to start her own. Some of the first people to join were Lia (who sadly has moved on now) and Brooke, who is now our head writer. The layout was quite basic to begin with but very cool and colourful:



And here are some of the old page banners:

Here's the spot where we celebrate the successes of those members who have really excelled in the guild over the past month. If you have won any trophies or badges, feel free to use them on your userlookup and they will be added automatically to your profile on your team page. If you'd like to know more about trophies, please visit the trophy page.

Team of the Month

Due to me being too busy to sort out points for August, the points will carry on throughout September and the trophy will be given at the end of September instead. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Member of the Month

Due to me being too busy to sort out points for August, the points will carry on throughout September and the trophy will be given at the end of September instead. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Best Newcomer

August's best newcomer award is presented to Luna (notori), who joined on 14th August and has already sent in loads of artwork and posted over 400 messages.

<img src="http://i52.tinypic.com/n33tsi.png">
Runners up:

Writer's Award

August's writer's award is presented to Chelsea (feirycupcake) for the wonderfully creative background stories that she invented for her pets.Congratulations!

<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/33lfn1g.png">
Runners up: Athina for her stories.

Artist's Award

August's artist trophy is awarded to Luna (notori) for her amazing sketch, The Soul Dragon Protector.

<img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/wc1wfp.png">
Runners up:Stephy for her lighthouse sketch and Chelsea for her Purrfect Kitty drawing.

Digital Artist's Award

August's digital artist trophy is awarded to Jemma for her incredible piece entitled 'Dragon'.
<img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/2chakvs.png">
Runners up: Luna for her Sea Turtle piece.

Performer's Award

There were no song, drama or dance submissions for August.

Posted by Phoenix, 1st Oct 2010

Now that the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is upon us, you may be feeling a bit down. The summer sun has vanished, to be replaced by torrential rain and chilly winds. The trees and plants that were recently blossoming and blooming are starting to look brown, bare and shrivelled and your shorts, flipflops and bikinis have been confined to the back of the wardrobe. Oh and your stuck in school again too! Now it's just downhill from here until next spring isn't it?

Not at all! Although you may have found summer fun and inspiring, there's so reason why autumn cannot be the same. Although autumn may make you think of things decaying and coming to the end, really it is all part of a cycle of death and rebirth and there's so many good things about it-cosy evenings in by the fireside, fireworks, bonfires, dressing up for halloween, carving pumpkins, candy, rich warm foods, the sound of leaves crunching underfoot.

Okay, so what does this have to do with being creative? Well, my point is that autumn is a great time to start an art or writing project because:
1) There are lots of natural resources lying around that you can now use in your artwork, like leaves, twigs, moss, bark, feathers, conkers and pinecones.
2) Autumn brings with it new, richer colors-warm reds and vibrant oranges that will bring your pictures and poetry to life. There are also some interesting textures-spiky conkers and pinecones and crispy leaves that give you a challenge to draw or describe.
3) The bad weather and lack of BBQs and parties means you will have plenty of rainy days to fill, so why not use them to be creative?
4)Fireworks displays and bonfires provide the opportunity to experiment with capturing light and flames in your artwork and photography.
5) Autumn provides a lot of writing opportunities too. Lots of poems have been written to celebrate autumn and the wonderful colors, tastes, textures, sounds and smells that come with the season.

Here are some ideas for artistic projects you could try. If you do attempt any of them, please send in the results!

• Make an autumn collage using natural resources.
• Have a go at making words out of twigs, like on the homepage layout and holding them together with wire. You can then use them as a door sign or hang them up on the wall.
• Make a picture of an autumn landscape using any medium you like, trying to capture the colors and textures.
• Write a poem about autumn mentioning all 5 senses. Alternatively you could try an acrostic poem or write a poem in the shape of a leaf.
• Try painting a tiny picture onto a leaf and then varnish it. You could give it to someone as a gift or stick onto a greetings card.
• You could paint a picture onto a stone and use it as a paperweight.
• Have a go at creating your own fireworks display using chalks, pastels or a digital program.
• Have a go at choreographing your own dance routine or writing a piece of music that represents the beauty of autumn.
• Find a piece of bark or leaf and make a rubbing of the texture by placing a piece of paper over it and gently rubbing with a crayon.

Posted by Phoenix, 8th May 2011

Nilla (mgsk8ergurl) is a relatively new member who joined us on the 28th April. She's a member of the Artist's team and has tons of creative hobbies. In our Easter egg hunt she won the opportunity to be interviewed about her passions and in the interview below she gives lots of useful advice about maximising your creativity.

Hi Nilla, congratulations on winning a guild interview from the egg hunt. You've recently joined us at CT, so what are your interests and hobbies?
I love to paint, draw, sketch and try any new type of art I can get my hands on, I'm also a sucker for random arts and crafts during the holidays like making decorations or presents for people. My dog is my best friend so I spend tons of time with him, taking him on walks and playing with him. I make jewellery mostly just for fun and hopefully to start up my own business one day. I love getting tattoos I always have new ideas for tattoos and hope to finish my arm sleeve as soon as my baby is born. I am going to be a mom soon so I spend quite a bit of my time getting ready for that and going to appointments and doing a lot of reading about babies. I love to read as well, when I'm not reading up on babies, I'm reading any classic piece of literature I can get my hands on! I enjoy writing too even though I don't do it as much as I used to. I play the guitar when I can, I recently had to sell mine so I mostly only play now when I can borrow someone else's but I try to play as much as possible! I've just recently gotten into cooking and baking so hopefully I can expand on that more in the future.

Wow, you sound super creative! Can you explain more about how you make your jewellery? What materials do you use?
I make earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings. I make traditional "dangling" earrings mostly with the sterling silver findings and use glass, stone and bone beads and decorative pieces to make each pair individual. From time to time I will incorporate more hemp than metal to give the earrings an alternative feel and a more individual look. I make both hemp and chain link sterling silver necklaces and use wood, stone, bone or glass beads and make two different styles, one more for the "hippie" style i.e. wood and hemp or traditional hemp with hand blown glass pieces and I do a variety of different styles of knots. for the chain link necklaces I usually make matching earrings and use only glass, stone or bone beads since it looks more refined and "modern" and I do a variety of styles with the chain link such as alternating the sizes of the chain or having multiple chains for one necklace that all connect and the fastening end. Like the necklaces I vary the style of bracelets using both the "hippie" and "modern" styles and the appropriate beads that go with the style. I make rings out of hemp and tiny glass and stone beads in many different sizes and I use a variety of knots to vary the way each one looks, I also make men's rings out of hemp that are more masculine and less detailed with beads and such.

Wow it sounds like you put a lot of time and care into getting them just right. Going back to what you were saying before, how many tattoos do you have and what designs?
I try to. I have three tattoos right now, one on my left forearm of a music note that's about three to four inches long, my entire right inner forearm is a compass star and water/island theme dedicated to my siblings and I have the words "home is where the heart is" on my chest from collar bone to collar bone.

That's sweet. You said you like to read classic literature. Who is your favourite author and what's your favourite novel?
My favorite author would have to be Sylvia Plath and My favorite novel is The Bell Jar, but close second is Aldous Huxley and his novel Brave New World.

I love Brave New World too, it's an awesome novel. You also said you like creative writing- what types of writing have you tried?
I usually write mostly poetry but sometimes when I have it in my head I will write a short story and I started on a novel a few months ago so I go back to that every week or so and continue that.

What's your novel about?
It's about a young woman who falls in love with a man who eventually tries to kill her and her story of how she survived.

That sounds really intense! You're musical too. What songs can you play on the guitar and how long did it take you to learn? Did you take lessons or are you self-taught?
I can play basics like smoke on the water and hotel California and some songs from a few of my favourite bands but I like to play mostly just acoustic finger picking stuff. I had lessons from my dad a few times and after that I just taught myself everything else.

That's really cool. You mentioned you've recently started cooking. What do you like to bake?
I haven't done much baking but my favourite so far is cake because I really enjoy decorating them, mostly I work with dinner type foods and experimenting with pickling and creating different types of dinners and meals.

It seems like there's nothing you can't do! What advice would you give to other members who want to be more creative?
Thank you, I would tell other members to keep trying new things. When you find something (or a few things) you enjoy doing keep doing them even if you aren't very good at or don't think you are. It's all about doing what makes you happy or what makes you feel something at all because that is when true art is created!

Thanks for letting me interview, Nilla. It's been really interesting to learn about all your creative hobbies. I'm sure everyone will find this useful.

Posted by Phoenix, 27th Sept 2010

You may think that copyright is just some boring waffle they put in the neopets terms and conditions that isn't worth you reading because it doesn't affect you. That couldn't be further from the truth. If you are an artist, writer or graphics designer and you put any of your creative work onto neopets, then copyright law is very important.

Using neopets resources in your work
In the neopets terms and conditions that you agree to when you sign up, TNT state that they grant you temporary rights to their content. That means you can use neopets character names, story plots, images, graphics etc. in your writing and artwork while you are on the site. However, it is against the rules to pass any of this onto a third party, so for instance, you could not publish a story about neopets anywhere else, or use their images on another site. You may not take this seriously, but neopets could actually criminally prosecute you for misusing their content under state laws, so make sure that it stays on neopets.

Putting your own work on neopets
Did you know that by putting your artwork, writing or graphics up on neopets (either on a petpage or sending it into a competition) you are granting TNT the full rights to your work? That's right. It means neopets can use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, and distribute your work however they like, without asking you. You need to be aware of that, especially if you plan on publishing your writing or selling your artwork in the real world.

When you enter a neopets competition, at the bottom it usually states the submission policy: By uploading or otherwise submitting any materials to Neopets, you (and your parents) are automatically granting us permission to use those materials for free in any manner we can think of forever throughout the universe. These materials must be created ONLY by the person submitting them - you cannot submit someone else's work. Also, if you're under age 18, ALWAYS check with your parents before you submit anything to us!

If other neopets users steal your arwork, graphics or writing without asking you, this is unfortunately not counted as a breach of copyright. But it is against the neopets rules, so you can report them.

Posted by Phoenix, 27th Sept 2010

When you're a writer, especially an older one like myself, your writing may have moved beyond neopets tales to real life stories. But if you want to publish them on neopets, either on a petpage, writing contest, the guild or the neopian times, you have to make sure that they abide by neopets terms and conditions and are appropriate for all age groups. But the question is, what is appropriate? I've been scouring the neopian times editiorials for some answers that may clear things up a bit.

Writing about death
According to NT editorial 462, there are no black and white rules about this, but they provide some examples:
Just fine: "His parents passed away when he was just a pup, leaving him alone in the world.
Limit: "His village was attacked by vicious Bearogs when he was just a pup. He was the only survivor.
Too far: "His parents were murdered by vicious Bearogs that tore through his village, killing everyone but him.
Basically, if you have to include it, keep it tame. If you wouldn't want to read it to your young sibling or small child, then you'd best avoid it or word the story differently.
According to the storytelling competition FAQ you should avoid scenes of excessive gore or death but some fighting is allowed...just no details about ripping things off/out.

Writing about religion or politics
On the neopets chat rules it explicitly says Do not discuss religious or political views anywhere on Neopets. and on the poetry contest page it says No topics such as religion, politics etc. are allowed to be discussed in the submissions.

Using bad language
Yes, sometimes a bit of proffanity will make your story more realistic, but it's just not worth it. It's against neopets rules to use bad words of any kind, including minor ones.

Writing about adult topics
It's against the neopets rules to write about dating and romance and everything that involves, so avoid posting anything like that on neopets. You also shouldn't write about violence or anything else that young children should not read. According to the storytelling competition FAQ:
According to our Terms of Use, pet dating/marriage is not allowed, so I try to avoid the main characters from becoming romantically interested in another character.

Writing about something that happened in real life
This is allowed, but for safety reasons you should change the names of people and places, and leave out any information that people could use to trace you or your friends.

Posted by Phoenix, 6th Sept 2010

If you're looking for inspiraton for your artwork or writing, the Neopian Times is a wonderful source for kick-starting your creativity. It is packed with comics featuring a range of different art styles, and brilliant short stories and serial fiction. Only the best makes it on to the NT, so take a look at the techniques the artists have used and try to emulate them in your own work.

As well as having great artwork and writing to inspire you, the NT archives also hold some useful articles with tips on writing and artwork. I have collected together a list of the most useful guides:
Writing

• What sparks your story?
• Insert Title Here
• Plots Vs Storylines
• Mauled by a Thesaurus
• How to Write Well
• A Word on Description
• Your Guide to Writing Fiction
• Just Keep Trying
• Writing a Great Story
• The Seven Habits of Highly Annoying Writers
• Six Simple Steps to help You Write a Story for the Neopian Times
• The Writer's Insight on Writing
• So You Want to be a Writer?
• A Most Serious Guide to Writing Epic Novels

Digital Art

• Straightforward Tips to Designing Better Petpages
• 10 Tips on How to Win Userlookup Spotlight

Traditional Art

• Drawing Your Own Neoart
• Beauty Contest FAQ
• Beauty Contest A-Z
• Beauty Contest: Let Your Inner Artist Run Wild
• How to Win the Beauty Contest
• A Guide to Art and Getting Into the Art Gallery

Posted by Phoenix, 8th Aug 2010

This month I've taken inspiration from the beach for our guild layout, and it got me thinking of other ways the beach can inspire us. It can be a great place to go to clear your mind as you listen to the sound of the waves, and the beautiful scenery can give you ideas for art projects. As well as that, the beach is full of natural resources that you can use in your art. Here are some ideas for beach projects:

• Paint a picture of the beach and mix some sand in with your paint to create a realistic, grainy texture.
• Paint pictures on pebbles and then glaze them with varnish to make paperweights or doorstoppers.
• Carefully make small holes in some seashells and thread string through to create a unique necklace or bracelet or even a hanging ornament.
  
• Listen to the sound of the waves and let it inspire you to write a poem using only 'sshh' sounds.
• Make a collage using small pebbles, shells and twigs.
• Build a detailed sand castle or sand sculpture and decorate it with shells, feathers and anything else you might find.
• Draw a picture or write a poem in the sand then take a photograph of it.
• Decorate a birthday cake or cupcakes with a beach theme. You could use seashell shaped chocolates and draw on starfish and waves with colored icing.
• Watch some videos of sand drawing and then have a go yourself and film the result.
• Make your own maracas by filling some empty plastic bottles with sand or small pebbles and see what sounds you can create.

Can you think of any more creative things to do at the beach? Neomail Phoenix with your ideas and earn yourself 10 points for each one! Oh and don't forget to take pictures if you try out any of these projects, we would love to see the results!

Posted by Phoenix, 8th Aug 2010

Are you often sending good pieces of art into the neopets art gallery only to be continuously rejected? This week's neopian times editorial suggests a few things that may mean your art is not accepted:
~A link to *cough* one of certain art sites on the image, or for the image to be signed under a username you don't use on Neopets.
~Art submitted from side accounts.
~Art submitted by, erm... questionable usernames.
~Extremely anthro art (like a Xweetok tail or ears on an otherwise human character).
~Art that contains elements you didn't create (like background photos off the internet).
~Neopet colour combinations that don't exist yet (though we do give some artistic leeway with markings, etc. as long as the colour is recognisable).
~Resubmitted art from the Beauty Contest or Random Contest.
~Creatures that are too generic or unrecognisable as a specific Neopets species.

Posted by Madeline, 27/09/2010

So, lately, I've set myself up with the goal of writing every single day, preferably a poem a day. And I think it's made all the difference. It's helped me be able to easily portray my feelings and write smoother with out as much difficulty. So, why don't you try to work on your art, every single day?

PASSION IS OBSESSION SQUARED
The quote is quite true. If you really consider your specific art to be your passion, you agree your practically obsessed, right? How can you tell when you are obsessed? When you don't go a day without working on your passion. Do you see where I'm coming from? You have to love something enough to do it every single day, and you'll certainly improve greatly.

IDEAS
If your going to be working on something every single day, you're going to need some inspiration, and often, correct? I used to find acquiring inspiration hard, until I realized it was right before me, I just had to be more open to it. When you have a few moments to yourself, observe your surroundings, listen to some music, take in the moment, and let your mind just wander to certain images, ideas, and concepts. I love thinking on the bus ride home. I listen to my music and watch the world go by out the bus -blocked-

TAKE A BREAK
Don't work at it every single day, or else you just might get tired and not want to work anymore. Brooke told me I might 'strain' myself, so I decided to give writing everyday a rest for a few days so I could come back fresh. At the time, I was running low on ideas, but when I listened to Brooke and didn't write for a day, a whole bunch of new ideas came to me, so don't forget to breathe. :3

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
I'm sure some days your art will turn out to be not as good as usual, but don't let an off day turn you away from your goal. If you find that whatever you are working on isn't coming along nicely, start yourself on a smaller project if your current one is too big to mess up. Or, just keep pushing through, and by the end, you should be back to normal. Practice makes perfect, and I assure you, you will improve if you work at it, every single day. ^__^

Posted by Madeline, 09/08/2010

Pens, pencils, paper, and notebooks? Check! New art supplies and fresh artistic motivation and inspiration? For quite a lot of us, a new school year is around the corner, which quite frankly, is a bit scary since it feels likes summer has just begun. I think of the a new school year as a completely new year, hence I usually have quite a few resolutions. We all probably do, be the best student you can, become organized, run for class president, or to make new friends. Whatever it may be, take advantage of this fresh start to kick your art into a new and improved mode.

SUPPLIES
Many of you may of already stocked up on school supplies. I know I certainly enjoy buying new supplies and getting to use it during school. There's just something about colorful pencils and scented erasers that make school a bit more fun. So, why wouldn't art supplies do the same? Fancy notebooks, fun pencils, and cute erasers are ideal fun for writers. New canvases, and paint, pens, or pencils of every color are a must for painters or drawers. And what about shiny new dance shoes? Awesome supplies wants to make you jump into your work.

GET ORGANIZED
For some of us, organization may just be a problem. No worries, with new supplies comes a new opportunity to get organized. Keep cooking ingredients in one cabinet, recipes in another, and measuring utensils in a different cabinet. If you look around, you can find plenty of cheap organizers to help you get everything together. If you don't have much time between school and work, dinner, homework, and evening activities to work on art, you don't want to spend half of the time looking for supplies. It's just plain incontinent. Get everything together in one place, each item having its own spot. Everything gets easier from there.

THE RIGHT ATTITUDE
As you may have that new A+ student motivation and attitude for the school year, so should you have a fresh optimistic and artistic motivation. Be pumped and ready to create new masterpieces of your own. Put the right attitude towards you art, and I'm sure that you'll create amazing pieces and have a great time doing it! Anyone who just wants to get their latest art project or writing goal finished as soon as possible so they can get it over will not have a brilliant glow coming from their work. But someone excited to invest plenty of time into their art goals and projects will have an awesome atmosphere. Be positive and eager.

RESOLUTIONS
When we celebrate the New Year, most people make a resolution. So, why not make a resolution now? Have you been dying to finish sewing that jacket you started months ago? Have you been putting off starting the new novel you had in mind? Set goals! It could be something like learn to play a song on the piano in one week. It could be something like painting a picture vigorously on weekends and using the weekdays to rest. Whatever you want. Things are always more exciting and profitable with a goal.

NEW FRIENDS
A new year means new friends and new opportunities. So in real life, why not take the opportunity to join an art club of some sort to make real friends to share ideas with and support when they're at a loss of inspiration. Or, just spend some time with some artists around your school to see what they have to say. You're almost guaranteed to end up with a new buddy. Of course, your fellow CT guild members are important too. Drop a NM to the artist who had the amazing drawing up in the art gallery, or say hello on the boards every once and a while. And don't forget to recruit new members. They're new faces for everyone to get to know.

OPPURTUNITIES FOR NEW STYLES
You've acted in dramas ever since you could remember. You've written first person fiction since you could hold a pencil. You've taken ballet classes ever since you signed up for dance. You've sung country since you learned how to speak. See the pattern? Switch things up a bit and experience. Sign up for a comedy. Write a non-fiction for once. Try taking hip-hop. Learn the words to a few electronic songs. You never know. Comedies might just become your thing instead of dramas. Make sure you explore, and maybe even try to find your own unique style.

There's a whole new world with a brand new start soon to come. Go on and venture into it. You've got the knowledge to make this year your year. ^__^

Posted by Madeline, 01/07/2010

Creative Therapy is a year old! Happy Birthday! But, do you really appreciate this guild and use it to your full availability? CT could be any artist's absolute best friend, it's a full window of complete opportunity! So why aren't you treating it like that? Here's how you can use Creative Therapy as your own artistic world!

THE OTHER ARTISTS
The message board is full almost always full of artists to talk to, and most of us don't think much of it. But the members of Creative Therapy aren't here just to converse with, they're here to help you! Just ask, and I'm sure anyone on the message board will give you feedback and advice on your latest artwork or writing, encourage you when you can't seem to get your art right, and inspire you when you can't think of ideas! When your with other artists, you bound to become a better one.

THE ACTIVITIES
There are plenty of activities around CT to help bring out your creative juices and give your skills a boost. For instance, the prom coming up is full (I mean full!) of activities that allow you to be as creative as possible and earn points for your team! You have to take advantage of all the activities laying around. Not only will it help the guild out and earn you points, but you'll be getting your daily dose of creativity.

THE WEBPAGES
The Portal is just bursting with all sorts of pages, each one is full of art. You can learn from it, study the techniques, and even give the artist a rating and pointers. Also, there are plenty of tips and ideas to help you along the way when you get stuck. There is infinite ways to use the webpages to your advantage, you can even submit your own work and hear what people have to say about it. Plus, it gives you points! (Yes I know, I like points xD) So what are you waiting for, head over to the Portal and check everything out! Even if you're a digital artist, the performing page will help you, trust me! Shouldn't artists be interested in all kinds of art?

Well, there you have it. Three easy ways you can make Creative Therapy your own special artistic world. After all, isn't that what it's here for? =)

Posted by Madeline, 18/06/2010

For most of us, summer vacation is either here or right around the corner. So what's on your summer to do list? Vacations, camping, swimming, and relaxing. But wait, why isn't drawing, writing, photographing, designing, singing, dancing, or acting on the list? Here's some tips to help you use this summer to your creative advantage.

MOTIVATE
Motivate yourself to create. Compete against a friend or yourself to create as much as possible. For example, Brooke and I set up dates where each of us would stay off the computer the whole entire day and just write. I'm motivated to write more than Brooke, so it encourages me to write. Or, why not set goals and compete against yourself? Make sure you stay motivated this summer, or else you'll easily quit. Goals and competitions are great ways to motivate yourself.

OBSERVE
Look at other artists work! Find out what you do and don't like about their piece, and try to apply their techniques, ideas, or concepts to your art! Even if you don't immediately see something amazing in the piece, it will sink in and eventually have an influence on something, whether it be big or small. Observation can encourage you to get better. Also, if you have a day where creativity is blocked, just look at other's work instead so your skill doesn't run dry.

RECORD
Recording can be used in a few different ways to help you gain advantage. You could record your feelings, thoughts, experiences, or dreams in a journal. Journals are like instant ideas. You could even make journals of things that inspire you, so inspiration is always ready when you need it. Or, you can record how much time you spent working on your art, and what you did. That way, you can go back and study what worked for you and what didn't. You'll eventually see patterns. Is there gaps between working on arts? Are you usually more creative during a certain time of day?

HAVE FUN!
Have fun this summer and make it one of your best! Find some new artists, chat with fellow creative people, try new techniques, or even new arts. Always, always keep your mind open to everything new, and you'll be on your way to having the most creative summer yet. And maybe once you finish all your art, you'll have time for that swimming and relaxing you wanted to do. ;)

Posted by Madeline, 27/05/2010

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Deviantart, but I'm in total love with it. It has exactly what its name promises, unusual art. And being an artist, it's my new obsession. Deviantart has earned its reputation through the numerous amount of artists who post their paintings, photographs, Photoshop masterpieces, and sketches. However, Deviantart isn't just for the drawers. I've written about the two main types of artists Deviantart is aimed at and the miscellaneous group of artists that can still take advantage. Of course, I've added a little extras to the article for the people who can't get enough of Deviantart. ;)

THE ARTISTS, DIGITAL ARTISTS, OR PHOTOGRAPHERS This applies for the majority of visual artists. The reason is quite obvious. If you ever need any inspiration for any piece at all, just head over to Deviantart. There are tons of pictures providing you with endless sparks of inspiration. If you're still stuck, I'm sure you can find countless artists who can share tips with you. You'll always be able to find new styles, whether you paint, photograph, use Photoshop, or sketch. You might even be able to find some tutorials.

THE WRITERS
You can use Deviantart's pictures to draw inspiration, whether it be from the story you find behind the picture, the emotion, or whatever you like. But, I've found an even better use for writers on Deviantart. When I was researching for this article I found out that Deviantart also allows you to post pieces of literature, but to be honest with you, I'm not sure if there's a limit of how many words . This extremely excited me because I knew that this opened up a whole new poetry world for me. I could meet other current poets who are just like me and easy to talk to. You honestly need to check it out!

THE MISCELLANEOUS
There are a few other cool categories, like comics or arts and crafts where you can find inspiration for your next project, or find some tutorials teaching you new techniques. But, what if there isn't anything for the type of artist you are? All artists share something in common, the concept. There is always a concept or idea behind each work of art. Of course, people always interpret things differently, but there is still a basic notion. Why not write a piece of music with the same view as a photograph? Why not base your outfit around a character's outfit that some one drew? The *why not*s are endless!

THE WORLD WITHIN DEVIANTART
There is a whole other world in Deviantart which you can take advantage of! You can get your own account and make journal entries, build your gallery, join groups, let other artists get to know you, or you can just get to know other artists. I find it super amazing, and I thought I'd let all you creative souls out there that are seeking therapy to be able to share the same experience! So go check it out!

Posted by Madeline, 7/05/2010

As some of you may know, I took a class trip to D.C, the USA's capitol, last weekend. When I got back, I had thousands of ideas in my head for new poems, all inspired by a two and a half day trip. It got me thinking that maybe I could write about the techniques I used for inspiration on the trip. I looked back at my ideas and saw four similar methods, and one completely general method.

As you know, inspiration is what fuels us, as artists. I know that sometimes I have the hardest time finding inspiration, but now I'm starting to get the hang of it. I decided to write an article about the different inspirations methods that I used, because it relates to all artists. If you have any comments, feel free to neomail me!

THE STORY BEHIND HISTORY
One of the very first stops on our trip was the Newseum. It had events that were significant in history. Now, history in itself can be inspirational, because sometimes it has strong symbolism. But, that's not what I found inspirational. I used the setting of history to make a poetic story. For instance, I wrote a poem about the Berlin Wall, which was a giant wall in Germany that divided the people. I used that for the background. The poem was actually about the two lovers on different sides of the wall, watching it being built.

THE MOMENT
The moment or even just the scenery can all be inspiration. This goes especially for visual artists. Every moment can make a perfect picture or painting, you just have to be able to look at it through creative eyes. Sometime, just sit down somewhere and look at what is in front of you and see if you can find the inspirational side to it. You'll be surprised at the many ways inspiration comes.

THE FEELING
The feeling is a lot like the moment. I went to Arlington Cemetery (basically a historical cemetery) and I tried to write about what I felt. Now, I didn't feel as much respect and emotion for the thousands and thousands of graves, because it was ninety degrees out, and we've been walking all week, but still, I tried to see what I felt.

OTHER ART
Everything you see is a masterpiece of art in some way. Everything can be viewed in a creative way, like I mentioned before, it just takes practice. I didn't necessarily read any poetry while I was in D.C, but I did, however, look at the architecture, the photographs, the design, everything. I found it all inspirational!

JUST GET UP
Obviously, you aren't going to be inspired by sitting in front of your computer. You should get up and just go somewhere, which was the main reason that I got all of my ideas, I was somewhere else! On that note, just try something new, and look at the world through new eyes. If we wouldn't go anywhere, we would never find inspiration. It's right in front of us, we just have to get up and go get it! It's that easy.

Posted by Madeline, 28/04/2010

As I was looking through the art news trying to figure out what to write an article about, I came across a link to a customized book cover page. I thought it was really cool that someone on Neo was helping people through the wonderful and exciting process of creating their books. So, I found myself clicking on the link, and later mailing the creator for a quick little interview.

Madeline: How did you decide that you wanted to make book covers?
Hannah: I first decided to make covers when I needed one for myself, and where else was I going to turn? I started making my own on Photoshop, and then started to post on NW boards to see if anyone else needed them. Surprisingly, it became a huge trend at the time to offer that for fellow Nwers.

M: Are you yourself a writer or reader?
H: I am a writer! Or, I'd like to call myself as such. It's not my aspiration, but I do it because I love to!

M: In a brief synopsis, what are the steps you use to make the book covers?
H: Well, I ask the requester to fill out the form, so I can get exactly what they want. I always have them give me an image, or what they imagine that image is. I always go on deviant art to get these photos, because the photography is always amazing and it fits to the size of the book covers, unlike something you'd find on a regular image search engine. I find the picture most like the description, make a photoshop document roughly the size of a book, paste it on, and add the title, author, quote. I almost always enhance the picture or add something of my own =)

M: What kind of covers do you prefer to make?
H: I don't really prefer any type of genre to create a book cover for. However, when the person makes the image way too descriptive, it frazzles me. How am I supposed to find a girl with red hair sitting on a unicorn with possibly a rainbow in the background, and oh yeah, she is wearing all green except for her earrings which are aqua? That's when I bring the requester back to reality.

M: What is your inspiration for the way you design the covers?
H: I usually pull from those covers I see at Borders with images. How the composition is used, where the title and authors name is positioned , etc.

M: Is there a particular artist whose art work you like to use for your covers?
H: No particular artist. Like I said, I use deviant art because the photographers on there know what their doing.

M: And obviously you enjoy making book covers, right?
H: Yes! I love doing things to make people happy, and this seems to do the trick (on Neo, anyway). A lot of people are timid about asking me to make them a book cover, when I am actually very eager to do it. It keeps me busy and I also make friends in the process.

M: Is there anything else you would like to add?
H: I think I'd like to add that it's not about just making book covers, it's about using what you're 'good' at and using it to make other people happy. I found I really like to do that... It's also the fact that I know someone out there is using an image I put together- especially for them- is using it for their book cover, something that they, and hopefully other people, will be looking at to represent something special to them (:

For anyone interested, here's the link to her site!
http://www.neopets.com/~christianxsiriano