Pots On The Spot - Poster Colors

Poster colors on a black hand made paper. The painting was done with mainly 3 colors - yellow, black and white.

Thinking Man – Sketch with Micro tip pen

Took two hours to complete this sketch using a micro tip pen.

Colored Pencil Drawing

The colors were so attractive that I was tempted to do this sketch. I would have used most of the 12 colors from the Camel Color Pencil set. Retouched a bit using a micro tip pen.

Sketch with Micro tip Pen.

Tips for a successful code review

Code review is a phase in the software development life cycle (SDLC) where the author(s) of the code, review team and possibly quality assurance (QA) come together to review code. Here are some tips for a successful code review

Mix of Three reviewers:

Who should review the code: A balanced code review team is a mix of:

1. A hands-on software developer, typically a peer of the contributor
2. An architect who is aware of the software' future direction
3. A project lead who can weigh the compromises between time-to-market and the future needs of the software during the review process

Four instructions for the Review

1. Set clear objective and perspective for the review. A focused review is an effective review. Spend time at the beginning to set clear objective for the review. One could set different objective to different reviewers to cover the review in all perspective. A set of reviewers can have an objective of reviewing the code from the architecture point of view while another set of reviewers can have an objective of reviewing the code from an optimization or scalability point of view.
2. Set a time limit for your review. During your code review, one might find that the details become overwhelming, and may lose track of the higher-level details that you are looking for. Set a reasonable time limit on your review, and then optimize your review for this limit. If you find yourself spending too much time in any one area (especially if it is not a high-priority area or objective), flag it for later review and move on. Make sure adequate time is allocate for the review
3. Use the question list. Use a question lists to help ask the right questions to identify problem. The question list is a listing of questions like : Are exceptions and error handling taken care?
   Is the code scalable?
   Are boundary conditions taken care?
   What will happen if the parameter is negative?
   What will happen if there is an over flow condition?
   Does it adhere to coding guidelines?
4. Review incrementally and iteratively. Limit your reviews to small, manageable pieces of code. This allows you to finish quickly; stay focused, and find a larger number of issues in the code you are examining

Five rules for Reviewers:

1. Code review should not be a fault finding operation - but is meant to highlight a better way of solving the problem
2. Input for conceptual: Use Requirements document as an input for getting the conceptual picture of what the code is trying to accomplish
3. Input for details: Use Design document as input for getting the specific details of what the code is meant to accomplish
4. Input for coding guidelines: Use a set of coding guidelines. This is often lesser use to a human reviewer and of more use to a tool.
5. Code review should focus on small chunks of code and should have the objective of assessing the overall solution.

Still Life Sketch

Inspired by still life drawings by J. D. Hillberry, I tried a sketch of still life with charcoal.

I used Soft charcoal pencil from Camlin brand. I did not use Stomps. These are great accessories that give the artist to obtain a range of effects.

Check out other Camel accessories for charcoal drawing Camlin

Bangalore to Horsley Hills

This is a little known hill station in the southern state of Andra Pradesh. I think the location of this hill station makes it unknown. Its around 165Km Bangalore and makes it a good weekend getaway.

We started from banaglore at 11:30 AM. Took the Old Madras road towards Hoskote. From Hoskote there are two routes. One through Chintamani and another via national highway through Kolar. We decided to take the Kolar road as we had information from other travel blogs that Kolar road being a highway will be a smooth drive. That was wrong assumption. Well as we rode, we encountered pot holes and narrow alleys making our drive a bad experience. From Kolar take deviation towards Madanapalli. As we were carrying our lunch along, we stopped soon after Madanapalli and had a quick lunch. After Madanapalli on Anantpur route, need to take a left towards Horsley Hills. The turn very prominent with an arch with board clearly showing the direction. We were having a jolly time and very happily missed the turn. Nearly 8 km later we realized and had to take turn. Ascend of the hills is not so steep with only a couple of hairpin bends. May be some wouldn’t agree with me as my comparison was with the ascend of other hill stations like Yelagiri and Yercaud.

We reached the AP tourism guest house “Haritha” at 5 PM. Formerly it was called Punami guest house and still is better known as Punami than Haritha. It’s a well maintained and moderately priced guest house. Its safe to confirm the booking before you travel as there isn’t any other alternative accommodation available here. Booking can be done in any of the AP tourism Booking Office in your city. In Bangalore the office is located at Race Course road, above Mahesh Motors. The phone number is 080-41136373. You can check for availability by directly calling the guest house number 08571-279323

The AP tourism accommodation is very good as compared to other state. It caters to guests from moderate to luxury accommodation ranging from Rs 850 to 2000/-. These categories have very catchy names like Wild Winds, Whispering Winds, Wind whistles etc. The governor’s bunglow is located at the highest point and has beautiful view. The rooms are pretty spacious with a clean toilets and an airy balcony. The restaurant serves good south Indian and average north Indian food.

We rushed to the restaurant for some snacks and coffee. The onion Pakoda was awesome and the hot coffee was more than satisfied. Nights are chilly as temperature dipped steeply after 5 PM. Morning was misty even at 8 AM with some rays peeping out at 8:30AM. Breakfast is available till 10:30AM with a good blend of south Indian and North Indian at the buffet priced Rs 65/head.

There’s absolutely nothing to do here. But it has some good view points for Sunset and sunrise. One nearest is the spot behind the governor’s bungalow. Another is the last bend uphill on your way to Horsley hills. Apart from it there is a zoo with a handful of animals. There is a swimming pool and play area for kids. Unlike Kodaikanal, Ooty and Yercaud, Horsley hills its good for a lazy holiday with nothing much to see and do.

We spent the next day just roaming around the resort and taking rest. We then started at 11AM from Horsley hills and decided to go through Chintamani. The road was better than expected and we reached Bangalore at 2:30PM. Had lunch in a Chinese restaurant in Kasturinagar before we proceeded home.

Where to stay:
Haritha resort: 08571-279323
Book via AP tourism: 080-41136373
You will have to go to AP tourism office, pay cash and get the voucher for confirmation

How to Reach:
Bangalore->Hoskota->Chintamani->Madanapalli->Horsley Hills ( 165 KMs depending on from where you start in Bangalore)


View Larger Map

Portrait of a Man with Indian Turban

His Turban!

The crown inherited from his ancestors
Exhibits the respect earned over generations
Epitomize his most revered tribe
In recognition to his deeds and service
Adorns his head with pride & dignity
His Turban!

In Hindi, a turban is called a pagr, Sikhs call it dastar while it called peta in other parts of the country. The color, size, type and style of the turban are very significant. In India the turban is not worn as a head gear for protection, but it symbolizes his identity like his faith, status in the society etc.

Sikh Turban: The turban is usually associated with Sikhs. They are required to wear a turban to manage their long hair as cutting their hair is forbidden.

Rajasthani Turban: Jats and Rajputs wear distinctive turbans. Rajputs traditionally wear coloured turbans whereas Jats wear sober white colored turbans. The Marwari clan wear light coloured turbans.

Maharastrian Pheta: The turban worn in the Indian state of maharastra is distinctive and is called Pheta. Peasants usually wear the white turbans whereas the saffron colored phetas are worn to mark the special occasions like wedding.

Mysore Peta: This is a special turban given to people in honor or recognition of their work as an award. Also its worn during some special occasions such as marriage.

This sketch was done with a 0.5 mm micro tip pen.

Portrait – Sketch with Charcoal

Portrait drawing with charcoal look very attractive as they are done using pitch black charcoal that produces a contrast picture with good depth

Here is one of my first few portraits done completely with a charcoal pencil.

Before starting the sketch make sure you have the following items handy:

• Different grades of charcoal pencil – hard, medium and soft. Camlin pencils are commonly available ones
• Charcoal eraser is different from a normal eraser that are used for graphite pencils
• Fixative to avoid smudging after the sketch is complete

I sketched an outline before getting into the details of the portrait. Its important to sketch the outline of the eyes as they are most important part of a portrait. The spacing between the eyes is very important. After sketching the outline of the eye, I normally take a 2-3 minutes break and come back and take a re-look, make some adjustments in the position and size. Make sure they are propionate and spaced appropriately. Then proceed with sketching eyebrows which are the supporting feature of the eyes.

Mark the highlights so you can revisit while working on the details of the picture.
Start working on the details of the sketch. After adding the strokes, I started to blend the shading with a help of facial tissue. In some places, I used an ear bud to blend and get a smoother finish.

Some of the other tools that can be used for blending are felt pen, blending stump and papers.

I took around one hour to complete this sketch. After completing it, I took a break for 10-15 minutes. Take a re-look to make some finer adjustments before calling it complete.

Remember to spray the fixative after completing to avoid smudging!

If you are interested in trying out some serious charcoal and pencil drawing, try this book - Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil by - J. D. Hillberry

A mini tutorial on Charcoal and Pencil drawings is available here by J. D. Hillberry