Thread: Sketching tips
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Old 06-09-2011, 10:38 AM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: sydney, australia
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Layers, layers, layers.

A little while ago I was having a bit of a fang of my sketching kit, just to see what would happen when I did things. As the materials used in the Mellish technique are so forgiving and adaptable, I thought I'd build on the in-the-field layering I had a go at.

The following sketches are of a ficticious dark pillar, very loosely based on the Fish Mouth of M42

With this layering, I started with the faint white background glow, not concerned with the dead accuracy of the size of the dark pillar, just its position. I then added the dark pillar in the same way as the white, by making dust of the black charcoal and painting it on with a fine soft brush. The leading edge highlight was then layered over the black, and final adjustments of the highlight done again with the dusty black.

The only time I used a sharp point of black charcoal was to mark out the edge of the dark pillar's leading edge.

The two pics below show the pillar with and without the 'energising star field', which was added after the pillar was finished. I was struck at the effect that these tiny dots had on the drama of the pillar.

The whole point of this post is to show how flexible the Mellish Technique is. I didn't use an eraser here at all. If I didn't like what I laid down, I went over it with the opposing colour and then relaid the effect I wanted. To use an eraser here would have been too much of a risk, even with an erasing shield.

Mental.
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