#101  
Old 05-09-2011, 04:15 PM
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Awesome sketches Paddy,

Your comet sketch looks so much more realistic than mine.I really need to get the equipment to sketch in this style.

Great view
thanks
Orestis
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  #102  
Old 06-09-2011, 10:22 AM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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Michael, my apology for my delay in responding. I've only been able to dart in and out of IIS for a while now, and I didn't want to rush a response to your, and Paddy's, work.

Marvelous stuff with the comets, gentlemen! Michael, good thinking with the periodic observations of Garradd. I'm really surprised that there had been so much movement over two and a half hours.

Paddy, very nice. Very nice! I reall don't have any suggestions to make other than keep it up! I told ya the Mellish Technique isn't hard! Didn't I?
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  #103  
Old 08-09-2011, 03:14 PM
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I tried out the Mellish technique!

Hi everyone,

I found a piece of black a4 paper and decided to try and transpose a graphite sketch onto black paper using a simple white coloured pencil.

And here is my result compared to a graphite sketch (inverted).This is a sketch of comet garrad.

What do you think any suggestions?

Cheers Orestis
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Last edited by orestis; 09-09-2011 at 08:32 AM.
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  #104  
Old 02-10-2011, 12:46 PM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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Hey Orestis,

sorry it's taken a little time to respond to this sketch of yours.

I've just come back to them, and I've noticed one thing with the redo:

a small demarkation between the coma and the tail.

There is a way to help not have the demarkation there. If you look in the "Sketching Tips" sticky, you'll see my last post there about working in layers. You can do this with this comet sketch of yours very effectively.

*Start with the coma very faintly, and just as faintly add the tail. This is to give you their relative placement and approximate extent.

* Next work the tail some more, starting from the coma. Don't worry if you reach into the area of the coma. Work from the coma out. This will allow the brush itself to give you the soft edge finish. You can go over the core of the tail as needed to increase its brightness.

* The coma you work in a similar way, out from the core. A really soft small brush is a big help here as you can really control the development of the intensity. The junction of the coma and the tail won't be an issue.

* To finish you can add the core of the comet with either a fine brush by dabbing the tip however number of times you need to achieve the effect (recommended as it is diffuse), or drawn in.

Have a number of practice goes on the one sheet. This way you can develop your touch, and see directly what worked best and what didn't.

When you're happy with the developed touch, have another go at the "redo", and see what you think.

Mental
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  #105  
Old 03-10-2011, 10:12 PM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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Before and after sketches of NGC 253

Hello all,

I thought I'd share a couple of sketches of mine that show how my own technique has developed over the last year.

I've harped on a lot about the influence of our late mate Scott Mellish, but I think these two sketches show what I mean.

The first was done a shade under one year ago, before I got to know Scott and his technique. The second one was done in June. Sure there would be a difference in the amount of subtle detail that would be visible in from a dark site, but the way I've been able to illustrate the same object is striking. Well, at least for me.

Both are done on A4 size black paper. The first, done from my home in Sydney, was only using white pencil and ink. The second, done form Wiruna near Ilford in NSW, was done using white pastel & white charcoal. What most surprises me in the comparison is the greater control I now have of the media to produce a much more true-to-life rendition of DSO's.

I hope you find the comparison a striking one too.

Mental.
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Last edited by mental4astro; 07-10-2011 at 09:53 AM. Reason: typo
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  #106  
Old 06-10-2011, 11:10 AM
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Paddy (Patrick)
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A very impressive comparison, Alex. Amazing how much more detail can be included with the Mellish technique.
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  #107  
Old 06-10-2011, 02:48 PM
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Love the second one Alex, you've captured the subtle detail very well. Gotta try this technique out myself.
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  #108  
Old 06-10-2011, 09:36 PM
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Good to see our very own Alex featured in the latest edition of Astronomy Now magazine from the UK with a link to his thread on the Mellish technique. It was part of a larger article specifically on the technique.
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  #109  
Old 11-10-2011, 09:21 PM
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Thanks for the heads up Malcolm. Went out and got a copy - great to see the article and Alex's "sketch".
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  #110  
Old 31-10-2011, 09:36 PM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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Thanks for that head's up too, Malcolm. Got my copy too and have been showing the page to whoever I've been able to nail to the floor, . I'm tickled pink about it. Might send a few more astro nuts around here to IIS hopefully.

This October New Moon saw me attend for the first time the Ice In Space Astro Camp. The forecast threatened thunderstorms, but as luck would have it, the clouds parted to give us a great view of the sky. Thunderstorms did happen, but we only saw the glow of the flash of lightening from a massive storm system that lay behind a ridge.

My first sketch of the night was of 47 Tuc (NGC 104). This massive globular cluster is considered to be the remnant core of a galaxy long ago swallowed up by our Milky Way. There are two other such galaxy core remnants, Omega Centauri & M2.

The view of 47 Tuc through my 17.5” is nothing but astounding. At 125X the whole FOV is filled with countless stars. Its core is very compact and extremely bright, and the reach of the remaining ball of stars is impossible to determine its limits. Transparency was a little lacking, but you take what you get sometimes.

For once I added a FOV ring around the subject. My customary ringless sketch lacked a little something with this one as the field doesn’t extend to the edge of the page, the excessive blank black caused a lack of context. The FOV ring this time I feel gives that context to the sketch with only a small amount of extraneous stars lying just outside the ring.

An interesting comparison is between 47 Tuc and Omega Centauri, the two largest globular clusters in the sky. Omega’s core is larger in apparent size, while 47’s is much more compact and intense. This makes for an easier pick-up of ‘fingerprint’ patterns within Omega, while these patterns are much more subtle and even fickle in 47 Tuc. Still, these differences make for their distinct & unique qualities.

This was a challenge to sketch faithfully. As most of the stars in this cluster are actually quite faint on their own, it became more of a matter of attempting to lay down an impression of the collective features. The patchy ‘mini clusters’ around the perimeter, the suggested arcs and lines, and the distinct three ‘dark’ spots on the core, one of which is more of a bar that lies above two of the spots.

I hope you enjoy this sketch.

Alex M.

Object: 47 Tuc (NGC 104)
Scope: 17.5” f/4.5 push-pull dob
Gear: 16mm Unitron König, 125X
Location: Lostock, NSW, Oz
Date: 30th October 2011
Media: White pastel pencil and white gel pen on A4 size black paper
Duration: 1.5hrs.
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  #111  
Old 31-10-2011, 10:40 PM
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Alex mate, that is exactly how 47Tuv looks in my 13mm Nagler at 113x. Excellent work.
BTW have been hearing good things about your sketching workshop at IISAC.

Malcolm
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  #112  
Old 01-11-2011, 10:47 AM
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Alex that is awesome work. That is an excellent rendition of a fabulous object. 1.5hrs at the eyepiece must have been very tiring. I bet you were seeing spots everywhere after that effort.

Congrats on the mag article, I hope there is still some left.
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  #113  
Old 01-11-2011, 09:05 PM
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That is just amazing Alex. As Malcolm says, just how it looks in the eyepiece. You've got the complex of arcs around the 'covered wagon' just right. Stunning, stunning, stunning and just absolutely stunning.

Did I forget to say

Oh, and

(from a dedicated non-smilie user)
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  #114  
Old 03-11-2011, 06:34 PM
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hi all
after a fantastic astro camp and meeting alex i was excited about doing the sketching course with him....well iv'e all the necessary supplies i need to start sketching and have been doing some small test runs with g/c and some stars to get there different magnitudes i tell you alex makes it look easy.i'm hoping to do the tail of scorpio and a little g/c 6441 a nice easy something to start with.....lets hope the weather clears.......
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Old 20-11-2011, 05:37 AM
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hi all astro sketchers,after cloud cloud cloud and full moon finally got in the eyepiece last night and did 2 sketches of 2 small g/c and the surrounding stars.these are my first 2 sketches and will upload later today.
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  #116  
Old 20-11-2011, 10:48 AM
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here is the 2 sketches i did last night,they are of 2 g/c that had slight brightening of there cores and some surrounding stars..they looked interesting to me and didn't look to complex for my first efforts.alex showed us his sketching at iisac 11 and iv'e been keen to have a go,alex makes it look easy but sitting there last night not knowing where to start i thought they have come out not to bad...getting or your gear in the right position and red light at the correct angle is going to be a learning curve.......
meade 14"sct with 35 panoptic at 102x,no filters seeing was not to good,transparency was fair lots of high faint cloud...that's summer...
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  #117  
Old 20-11-2011, 12:19 PM
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Terrific.

They really do look just like GCs look in my scope. Well done!
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  #118  
Old 20-11-2011, 10:02 PM
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Great sketches Peter, they really capture the clusters well.
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  #119  
Old 21-11-2011, 05:09 AM
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thanks michelle and patrick...it's something iv'e wanted to do for a long time and after meeting alex and getting some tips i hope to go down this path and produce some nice sketches....
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  #120  
Old 21-11-2011, 11:55 AM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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Mozzie, very, very good start! Straight into the deep end with nothing less than two GC's!

You have achieved a nice amount of depth in the cores giving them a lovely glow. And the painstaking effort with the hundreds of surrounding stars is gold.

Please, do keep them coming.

Alex.
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