Tips & Resources, Spellbinder, Page 2

Art Tips – Creating from Nature

In this week’s blog post, I’ll be exploring ways in which the natural world might be able to inspire you in your art. Many of you might already paint, draw or create other forms of art using the natural world and all within it as inspiration, but hopefully you might find some tips below that… Continue reading Art Tips – Creating from Nature

Writing Tips – Editing

In previous blog posts I have spent quite a lot of time looking at ways in which you can start writing. Today I thought I would do something a little different, and look at the art of what you do once you have finished writing: editing. In my own writing, I am often guilty of… Continue reading Writing Tips – Editing

Writing Resources – Short Stories

Sometimes, it feels as though writing short stories or flash fiction can be harder than writing a full-length novel. You may be limited to a relatively short word or page count. You might not have any idea how to come up with a storyline that will fit into the length required for a short story.… Continue reading Writing Resources – Short Stories

Writing Tips – Setting and Character

This season’s writing tips post is going to focus on the relationship between physical setting and characters. I have come up with what should be a fun and challenging writing exercise which will allow you to consider the importance of these two important elements of fiction writing. Setting – by which I mean the physical… Continue reading Writing Tips – Setting and Character

Art Resources – The National Gallery

This blog post is all about the National Gallery in London and the inspiration it can provide. It will also focus on the Gallery’s website, which is an excellent place from which to draw resources. I was in London this weekend with my partner. It had been my responsibility to plan a day out but… Continue reading Art Resources – The National Gallery

Writing Resources – Character

Character is a key element of prose writing, whichever form – short story, play, novel – that might take. Characters are often at the heart of a story. They drive it forward. For readers, they are often the reason we keep reading something. We want to find out more about a character’s motivations or thoughts.… Continue reading Writing Resources – Character

Writing Tips: Mind Mapping

This blog post aims to introduce you to the concept of mind mapping, which is a really helpful tool to use if you are ever stuck on working out details of character or setting in particular. Simply put, mind maps are a way of tracking and organising information. They can also be really useful in… Continue reading Writing Tips: Mind Mapping

Art and Mystery

This post will explore the relationship between art and mystery. I will look at a couple of my own favourite pieces of art. However, the points I will touch upon can also apply to your own personal favourites too. Mystery often serves an important purpose within art. A painting can create a small slice of… Continue reading Art and Mystery

An Introduction to Free-form Writing

This post will introduce you to free-form writing, a technique which is extremely useful and versatile. As a writer, it can often be easy to be overcritical. We can all get bogged down in overanalysing what we have written or agonising over what we write next. Sometimes, we may not know what to write at… Continue reading An Introduction to Free-form Writing

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Art

There is a long-standing cultural study of and interest in the cross-over between visual arts, dance and magic. Critics have written a lot about how these forms can complement and inspire each other, and artists have often sought an interdisciplinary approach in order to expand the horizons of their particular form. If you are interested… Continue reading An Interdisciplinary Approach to Art