Drawing Basics and Stuff you ought to do

Let's start out shall we...

The first thing about mastering drawing is to imagine to be inspired. So have a heightened sense and make sure your brain works 24/7. Listen to music, look at art, read books, visit new places, look at the sunset do any damn thing that makes you want to draw or paint.

Once you have your imagination with you get to it. Start drawing. And even if you scribble it's not a problem. Practise makes a man perfect so keep scribbling. There's a good old saying in Hindi

Tasveer to aapke bhi zehen mein hogi, painting banate jaiye ek din portrait kudbakhud ban jayegi


[In each of our imaginations lies an image and if we put our heart and soul into it one fine day we would be able to make a portrait out of that image.]

If you have a white board then take it and whenever you have free time start drawing. Doodle on it or just scribble or practise fonts or try to make something which you have never tried out before.

Log onto art websites like Deviantart and go through other peoples art and try and feel inspired.

Read through comics be it Tintin, Calvin and Hobbes, Archies, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Captain America. They have some of the best artwork in the world. Read Stan Lee's blogs or articles. Feel and think like great artists.

If your dream is to be an architect read Ayn Rand's - The Fountainhead and if you have the time Atlas Shrugged. You will be truly inspired. If you aren't much of a reader download and watch the film.

Listen to artists that inspire you. Music is an art in itself so listen to anyone and everyone. The Beatles, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Queen, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, RHCP. Listen to Indian bands if you wish to listen to Palash Sen, Silk Route, Advaita. Anything that gets you going.

Go to art galleries and view the works of artists and the techniques they use. If you are in Delhi go to the India Habitat Centre there's plenty of stuff on display any time of the year.

When you have time trace if you cannot draw something complicated. Believe us nobody was born a Vinci or anything so relax, take a deep breath and draw your soul out.

Here's stuff you ought to do:

DRAWING

So you wanna be a comic book artist? -Phil Amara, Pop Mhan
Anatomy and Drawing - Victor Perard
Drawing Landscape -Prosenjit Saha
Complete Book of drawing techniques - Peter Stanver

For AIEEE BARCH and NID


Perspective drawing handbook - Joseph D'Amelio
Engineering Drawing Plane and Solid Geometry - ND Bhatt



READ


The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Seinlanguage - Jerry Seinfeld
The Catcher in the Rye - JD Sallinger

COMICS

Calvin and Hobbes
Garfield
Peanuts
Archies
Batman
Superman
Spiderman
Green Lantern
Fantastic Four
Daredevil
Captain America                          
Justice League of America
Corridor - By Sarnath Banerjee
Blankets- By Craig Thompson
Scott Pilgrim vs The world
Kick Ass
Bleach

WATCH


Pulp Fiction 
Midnight in Paris
Miss Porter
Capote
Moulin Rouge
The Fountainhead

And here's a list from IMDB in case your thirst isn't satisfied already. [Click here]

LISTEN


Pink Floyd
Beatles
The Eagles
Silk Route
Palash Sen

 So lay back and enjoy it's not just about art it's about the entire experience. Raise a toast to yourself because there's a whole lot of fun coming your way!!

-Team CrackDesign

Drawing Break Up

Drawing's going to be a big pain in the ass for most of you so here's a quick guide on what all you would need to focus on:

THE BASICS

Drawing Basics
Shading Basics
Colouring Basics

THE FIGURES

Human Figure - The Eyes
Human Figure - The Ear
Human Figure - The Nose
Human Figure - Body
Human Figure -Hand and feet

PERSPECTIVE DRAWING

Perspective - An introduction
Perspective viewing
Perspective - Application

EVERYDAY OBJECTS

EVERYDAY SCENES

- Team CrackDesign

Drawing ~ An introduction

There's going to be a whole lot of drawing you are going to need to do if you wish to crack the entrances. {Those of you who wish to go for architecture ensure that you attend your engineering drawing classes religiously and keep focussed}. Here's the basic and what you should expect in the next few articles.

Firstly, you will need to decide your medium of drawing
This can vary from simple sketching to plastic crayons to pencil colours to wax crayons to watercolours to oil pastels. Ideally we recommend that you stick to plastic crayons or pencil colours as these are the least messy and would leave a good impression on the examiner. Moreover, a lot of exams prohibit the use of watercolours so that's a big no no. Oil pastels smudge and often cause marks on the reverse side so they should be avoided as far as possible.

Secondly, you will need the right amount of supplies
A good pencil. HB or a 2B pencil. Try to use a lead pencil for sketching. Faber castell or staedtler should do just fine. Avoid Camlin as they are pretty bad on grip. Buy a good pair of erasers that are swift and don't tear your pages. And a good set of the medium you would like to colour. For pencil colours go in for Staedtler or Faber-Castell whereas for plastic crayons go in for Camlin. Apart from this you would need a good geometry box and a ruler and obviously an art file.

Thirdly, you will need practise and loads of it.
Draw. draw and draw for at least an hour a day. Imagine a scene and put it on paper. It need not be a masterpiece but practise it's the only way to perfect your skills. Don't try and copy off the internet we'll tell you when to do that. Right now look at objects in real life and then try to recreate them on paper.

That's all for now. In the coming articles we will start from the basics and move onto more complex forms. Till then take care and stay focussed.

-Team CrackDesign

Tutions Wagerah Wagerah

So there's this big concept in India where if you need to crack an entrance you need to take tutions and that too from the best institute. So the question is should you?

If you are an average student who has done fairly well by that we mean a 70 to a 90 per center {add subtract 5 percent} and you have fairly good drawing skills then we strongly recommend not to go in for a coaching institute unless you are extremely low on self confidence.

Secondly, if you go in for a coaching institute make sure you go to the man centre of that institute where you will get the best possible faculty. Else it's a waste of your time and effort.

Thirdly, don't go by the herd. Don't go where everyone is going but look at an institute which caters to your needs. Talk to the teachers and the students. Then take a decision.

Fourthly, If you do go in for coaching then you need to ensure that you are looking at girls or guys out there. You aren't there to make friends or get a girlfriend/boyfriend but to get a seat in one of the best damn colleges in the country. They are your competitors so treat them like that.

Fifthly, Be religious with your work. If you are given a homework then do it from start to end. And read further ahead. No body would sue you for that.

Finally, it's your call. There's nothing you cannot study on your own. And believe me it's not the in thing to go in for coaching just because your friends choose to. Or that hot chick/dude is there who you have been crushing on. If you feel there is a need and you feel it really strongly then go for it and ensure you get that seat in your dream college.

-Team CrackDesign

Higher MATH

Once you have mastered your basic math there will be a need for you to work on your higher math. Higher Math is usually tested only in architectural entrances. That's a sigh of relief for all those looking to go to NID or NIFT but for all of you who are planning to give the AIEEE Barch life is going to be hell and that is our guarantee.

If you haven't mastered your basic math till now click here and start working on it immediately.

So here's a list of what you need to cover:

SETS AND RELATIONS AND FUNCTIONS
COMPLEX NUMBERS AND QUADRATIC EQUATIONS
MATRICES AND DETERMINANTS
PROBABILITY AND PERMUTATIONS AND COMBINATIONS
SEQUENCES AND SERIES
LIMITS, CONTINUITY AND DIFFERENTIATION
CO - ORDINATE GEOMETRY
DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS
INTEGRAL CALCULUS
3D GEOMETRY
TRIGNOMETRY

Here's how to go about covering it:

Rely on your class 11 and 12 NCERT textbooks. They are extensive and have in detail explanations.
Remember each formula individually and make sure your basic concepts are crystal clear.

If you still need concept clarity log onto Khan Academy. It's the best there is and it's completely free. Practice and view your progress and concepts will become crystal clear.

There's a whole lot of books in the market but we strongly recommend that you study from

Arihant's AIEEE MATHEMATICS PREPARING IN 40 DAYS  

and for practise tests use

Arihant's AIEEE MATHEMATICS WITH 10 MATHS TESTS

And that's pretty much it. That's all you need to do for higher maths. Obviously it's going to be hard but the fruit of your sweat and hardwork is also going to be extremely sweet. So put your heart and soul into it and go for Gold.

P.S.- Arihant does not pay us to advertise their products we recommend them because they are the best in the business.

Team CrackDesign

GK for DESIGN

In the previous post we gave you an idea of how you should get your architecture GK preparation up and running here's a guide to cracking you NID and NIFT or any other design entrances.

For NID

You need to focus on the basics and keep it top notch. Books and authors are a favourite at NID so expect a match the following question. Focus on Indian Authors and traditional texts. Most of this will be covered in your static and current Gk preparation.

In NID they ask you a lot of factual information. For instance what is the ongoing price of petroleum or the price of a small packet of Maggi. So make sure that your current GK is up to the mark. To build on this you need to keep your senses heightened at all times. If you read the paper and there's a piece of news that catches your eyes or is on the front page research on it. Search it up on google. There is more to the internet than you think!!

Mostly NID is a drawing centric paper so chances of too many general knowledge questions are low. But NID likes to throw a few surprises every year so you should be prepared for the worst.

For NIFT

NIFT has a GK section and it is highly scoring.

There's the current and static GK which you can work on by reading this.

Then there's fashion related gk

You need to work on the color theory.

Then there's Indian dresses and clothing. There's roughly two to three questions a year on this section so memorize it as if your life depends on it.

And then there's a whole lot of questions which are from the field of art, painting, music literature. Click here for the links.


P.S. : It's not just for NIFT or NID. But these guidelines will apply to any other design entrances as well. It's just that NID and NIFT are the more known and talked about so the article is structured in such a way.

Team CrackDesign

GK Section Architecture

When it comes to general knowledge in the architecture entrances. There's going to be a lot of architecture based questions {Duh!!}. So the first thing that you need to do is work on your architecture knowledge.

Start out by memorizing the names of famous architects and their creations{ All the famous monuments in India and abroad} It's not necessary for you to memorize each article. But have a fair idea.
 [click here]

Move onto famous painters and musicians specially related to India. It's important to know these musicians and painters and works they were famous for. For instance, if they ask you the name of the painter who was an Indian has a street named after her and was famous for her nudes you should work it out in a matter of seconds. Click here , here and here.

Memorize the names of famous books related to architecture or books which have been in the news lately.

Have a brief idea of the various architectural terms used by architects in their first year.

Memorize brand logos and brand punchlines of famous companies.

Memorize the locations of famous monuments in India i.e. the state and the city. Click here

A lot of the stuff you need to study for this section will overlap with your current and static gk. So build on that first and then start focusing on architecture related gk. Click here if you missed it.

Do this and you are set for cracking the GK{ architecture} section in the entrance.

Team CrackDesign

Tackling GK

 There are three types of general knowledge you will need to master for any of your entrances. Starting out the first is that of static and current general knowledge.

In order to master your static general knowledge it’s best recommended that you study from the following sources :

Refer to your history and geography text books of the 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, 9^th and 10^th grade. 

Read the CONCISE GENERAL KNOWLEDGE MANUAL by PEARSON

Since static GK is of a very moderate level it is generally recommended that you don't try to read a lot but focus on the limited content. 

For your current GK here's what you need to do

Read the newspaper everyday. Be it the Times of India, The Hindustan Times or The Hindu.

Subscribe to the app on facebook or download for your phone.

If you are too lazy to do any of this then log onto CLATGYAN and go through their compendiums. It's the most important news from around the world put into meaningful compendiums. 

Apart from this buy each of the Pratiyogita Darpans of each and every month and read through them. The first few pages are the most meaningful the rest is crap. 

Do all of this successfully and gk will be a breeze.

As far as course specific gk is concerned there's going to be an article each for architecture and design so don't worry about it.

Team CrackDesign

CRACKING English

English is the currency of the world and mostly english is not of a very difficult level. But the english section still is extremely difficult because it is highly time consuming and irritating. 

Exams usually test students on the basis of comprehension and verbal ability such as Synonyms, Antonyms, Syllogisms etc {NIFT} whereas others would like you to use your imagination and give creative inputs {NID}. However, AIEEE B. ARCH does not test you on the basis of your verbal ability.

So here's how to get english done.

First read read and read. Read till you can't read any more. If you can't bring yourself to read novels read a comic but read like hell. Read the newspaper, read a magazine, read the back of a Lay's packet for god sake. And while you are at it interpret everything from start to end. Try to make sense of it. And over a period of time your speed will increase. 

Concentrate on the basics. Make sure that even when you speak you do not create grammatical errors. Then  subconsciously you will avoid them in your paper as well.

Finally, there's just one book that you need to do. It's the best in the business and it's not necessary for you to do it from start to end but make sure that you are comfortable with this section and you do not fear english.

For your entire english section channelize your energy into OBJECTIVE ENGLISH FOR COMPETITIVE EXAMS - BY HARI PRASAD, UMA SINHA  

English is one of the most scoring parts of the paper for NIFT and it will help you in NID too. So give it your best shot.

Team CrackDesign

Cracking LOGICAL REASONING

All right there's one and only one solution to crack logical reasoning. It's really simple build on your basics in maths {To learn how to conquer maths read our previous article on 'tackling MATHS' . 


As far as logical reasoning goes there aren't a hundred things you need to do but just one. Any examination be it your NIFT or your AIEEE B. ARCH frames questions from only one book.

And letting the cat out of the bag that book is -

ANALYTICAL REASONING - By MK PANDEY.

Your logical reasoning is done once you have done this book from start to finish because any examiner when he/she sets out to create a paper they look into this book for questions. The examples are in plenty and each question has a solution at the end so any question that you cannot understand you can simply flip to the end of the book and look at the solution.

Since the questions in this book are in plenty you don't really feel weak in logical reasoning once you are done with this book.


Team Crack Design.

Tackling MATH

There are going to be two different levels of maths you will need to study depending upon the course that you choose. For instance if you choose to pursue a career in design and appear for nid or nift then you will need to focus on basic math and that's pretty much it. But if you are going to be appearing for architecture entrance like aieee b. arch for instance then you will need to focus your energies on higher math as well.

For basic math here's what you need to do

Firstly anything and everything from elementary math can be and will be tested so if you threw paperballs at your teachers in the sixth or the seventh grade it's all going to come back to haunt you.

There's going to be a bunch of topics you will need to focus on for instance :

1.     Number Systems

2.     HCF and LCM

3.     Percentage

4.     Profit and Loss

5.     Averages

6.     Time, Speed and Distance

7.     Simple and Compound interest

8.     Time and Work

9.     Ratio and Proportion

Master these and it's our guarantee that you will score a full in your basic math.

The question now arises as to how should one master this.

The answer is equally simple.

• Refer to the NCERT textbooks of the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grade.
• Buy RS Aggarwal's Quantitative Aptitude. It's one of the best books in the market and it has extensive examples and questions with solutions. Once you have done the relevant topics from this book no question in the world can be tricky or difficult. The volume of questions that this book offers are enormous.  It's easily available at any good book store and it costs around Rs 440 and you can also buy it from any on-line store.
• Apart from this you can also log onto KHAN ACADEMY  and practice various concepts and look at various videos on different topics. Khan Academy will monitor your progress and give you details of where you stand.
• Apart from this work on VEDIC MATH concepts. There are various on-line uploads of vedic maths shortcuts. Vedic Maths will help you in long calculations and will help cut the time needed in making long calculations. Apart from this there are various books also available in the market.

That's all there is to the math section for the NIFT and NID entrances. Start out and practise as many questions as you can. Devote at least an hour a day towards maths and success will be yours.

                                         

  Team Crack design

STUDYING for the ENTRANCE

There will be four kinds of people who will be giving any entrance exam and you'll need to choose which one you wish to be. Some would have the luxury of choice others probably won't. Here's a quick guide on how to start working towards your dream college.

The one's with the advantage

If you are in the tenth or the eleventh or even the twelfth grade and have just started out your year then relax. Time is on your side. If :

You are in the 10th grade : There isn't much you can do. Focus on your maths and english concepts and practise drawing everyday for the next two years for at least an hour every single day. Focus on your weaker areas and read a lot. Read anything you can lay your hands on. Read newspapers, magazines, novels etc.

If you are in the 11th grade : It's been a hard year in the tenth grade and fatigue might want to settle in. Focus on your mathematics concepts specially if you wish to give an architecture entrance exam. If you are planning to give a design entrance exam then just relax and enjoy the ride. But it is of the utmost importance that you practise drawing every single day and focus on areas in which you are weak.

If you are in the 12th grade : There's a lot of energy diverted towards studying for the boards but believe me those marks won't matter so long as you can break even with a 65-80%. If you have started out this year on a low stop worrying and start working. If architecture is your dream then keep your maths at it's highest level and focus on drawing once again.

The one's with no time

Mostly students wish to give entrances post their boards and barely get any time to prepare.
The first rule ~ Get your shit together.
The second rule ~ Keep your shit together.


There's a need for you to do what other's have done over the course of one year in a matter of a few weeks so let go of all the television shows and movies. All the friends and gossip and focus on your dream. Because if your dream really matters to you and if you think it is worth it you will leave everything for the few weeks you need to give your hundred percent and will actually give it. Your boards weren't as important as your entrances are going to be. So work towards your dream and give it your best shot.


In the next few articles we'll give you a study methodology and the need to manage time.

Team Crackdesign

S-Y-L-L-A-B-U-S

There are going to be basically two sections to this article. The first is going to be a general overview of the sections you will be dealing with and then a more in depth course specific detailed structure of syllabus for colleges.

So here goes nothing...

There are going to be 5 sections which all of you are going to have to focus on

Mathematics : Whether its design or architecture you are going to have to make this your strength because if you start fooling around with your maths section your logical reasoning section also suffers. So ensure that you start working on it right now specially if you are a slacker.

Logical Reasoning : Simple logical reasoning questions are asked in most exams and can be solved easily. Basic knowledge and clear concepts help in this section. And moreover this is one of those sections where you can score almost full marks.

English : It's the currency of the world and architecture and design colleges do not differ with that statement. So build on your basic concepts and this section is going to be a breeze. Reading speed is important as most examinations stuff their papers with comprehensions that are difficult to understand.

General Knowledge : There will be two types of general knowledge you would need to study. The first would be that of static general knowledge and the second is that of current general knowledge. Apart from this depending on the exam that you are going to give you need to have understanding of concepts related to that subject. For instance, in architecture entrances you would need to focus on basic concepts of architecture. Similarly, for design entrances you would need to focus on concepts and basics of design. Colour theory, Dress code etc.

And Finally

Drawing Skills : This is perhaps the most scoring part of the examination paper and yet the most difficult one. Perspective drawing, human figures, memory drawing all need to be a strength if you wish to get a good college.

Don't worry the going is tough but it gets a lot easier from here on. We aren't stopping here we'll continue writing articles on each section individually.

Team CrackDesign 

Architecture vs Design

There's a very thick line between architecture and design. Mark my words dudes and dudettes for it's going to be a roller coaster ride for you if you do not know the difference between the two. Let's set the record state once and for all.

If you are the person who wishes to make buildings and loves to work on interiors. Knows everything from the minuscule to the mighty of building. Then architecture is for you. Don't think twice about anything else.

But if you are a style conscious person and you think you know anything and everything about clothing and jewellery and everything else related to it then designs our line.

So get your priorities straight and make a conscious call. You can pursue both at the same time so don't worry about it relax we are here for you to help you get to some of the best colleges in the country.

There's a varied amount of course material which you will need to study and we will provide you with everything from start to end so don't worry about it.

Stay focussed on your goal and there's nothing that's going to stop you from achieving your goals.

Team Crackdesign