View Single Post
  #24  
Old 16-11-2010, 12:59 PM
mental4astro's Avatar
mental4astro (Alexander)
kids+wife+scopes=happyman

mental4astro is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: sydney, australia
Posts: 4,979
Thanks for the nice comment, Paddy. I'm not displeased with it either.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paddy View Post
So I'm thinking of doing bigger sketches. Which raises the question for me - how big do others make their sketches of lunar features at the eyepiece?
This question effectively askes 'how do you set the scale to a diagram'? I'll show how I go about it with a rough process on the sketch of Posidonius, following the pics numbered 1 to 3, and starting with a really hard pencil in numbers 1 & 2, like a 6H as these lines will be rubbed out as you go.

1: Have a good look at the area in question. Then squint a little to get an overall notion of the light and dark areas as this will give you the direction of the main axis of the feature to be sketched. Then you set the scale by 'boxing in' the main feature- here a crater. The rest of the sketch will follow this very scale.

2: Next position the other major feature along the axis in proportion to the principle one. Then roughly mark the other main craters and any significant BLACK features, here a mountain ridge.

From here, rub out any lines that are now redundant as you need to.

3: Start shading in the black shading, being careful to note the fine lines that are in black. This takes time as most of the detail sits here. Use no harder pencil than 2B as these need to be definite. The rest of the softer features can then be filled in. Write any notes you like with 6H pencil that will help remind of details.

Back in the house, these black features I went over with a black felt-tip pen. Make sure it is a permanent marker because if you go over the highlights with white paint the ink may bleed. The softer shading is also worked on. Highlights with white paint need to be done with a very fine brush and with next to no excess water in its bristles or the page will warp.

I hope this makes sense.
Attached Thumbnails
Click for full-size image (posidonius process 001.jpg)
26.5 KB100 views
Click for full-size image (posidonius process 002.jpg)
190.4 KB104 views
Click for full-size image (posidonius process 003.jpg)
36.5 KB108 views
Reply With Quote