sketching dso's

[Paddy]

I've often heard about people sketching at the telescope and this has seemd a worthy way of increasing one's observational skills. I've always shied away from it due to a long standing deficiency of skill with a pencil and paper. Finally bit the bullet the other night, drawing some OC/nebulae in LMC and some of the Arp peculiar galaxies. I was pretty chuffed when I compared the faint galaxy that I'd been drawing to the phot in "The Arp Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies" and saw how much detail I'd picked up. So I'd like to keep doing this.

But I wonder about how others go about this. It was a windy night, which compicated things a tad, but even on a still night, it seems a lot of farting around getting the image in one's mind, turning from the eyepiece to a pad balanced on a knee, putting on the reading glasses, turning on the red headlamp, finding which pencil is the B vs HBsketching a bit and then turning off the light, taking off the glasses etc etc etc.

Do those of you who sketch a lot have some special tricks that you'd like to share, either in set up, what pencils to use for what, or how to actually compose sketches etc? Are there old IIS threads on the subject?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[Coen]

You could try:
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/Sketching

And:
http://perezmedia.net/beltofvenus/archives/000567.html

There is also ASOD (sketching's APOD):
http://www.asod.info/

The first link in particular will, if you go to the trouble of searching the back entries, give pointers to how people sketch and their various techniques and tips.

The second link has a heap of resources and pointers to further info.

[Tallstock]

Hi Patrick,
I cheat.
I too am trying to increase my observational skills and have found that the well publicised glossy photos of OC/nebula tend to give a false impression of what I actually view through my 8" dob. Colour (except B&W), for instance, is virtually non-existent in my light polluted sky.

"Photos.... often over expose the nebula's core in order to reveal faint edges".(AS&T Jan 09 p 70). The quoted article has 3 sketches including one by the Eighteeneth century comet hunter Charles Messier. You might find re-visiting the article interesting.

Colour certainly has its place as do glossy photos. However, for learning/observational purposes I, like you, find sketches a valuable aid.

The way I "cheat" is by using an astronomy programme. I particularly like Stellarium version 0.10.1 which, whilst still under development, is an excellent (and free) product. By using spare time during the day, I can use the software to help me sketch items of interest (and their Alt/Az location) -- straight off the computer screen. Identification and finding is easy because the software does it for me. No confusion. My viewing during the night is purely to confirm what I sketched and learnt during the long daylight hours.

Peter

[Blue Skies]

I've done a few sketches over the years, nothing that I'd frame but enough for me to recall what it looks like through the eyepiece. If you don't start somewhere you'll never get any better! At ASWA we always encourage drawings on our lunar nights as it helps you to see so many little details that you would otherwise gloss over.

A couple of tips - get some B pencils, 2B, 4B and softer if you like.
Get a soft, squishy rubber as well as a hard one, it sometimes help to soften the lines.
And...
The best tip I ever got was to get a smudge stick. This is a pencil size tightly rolled stick of paper that you can sharpen in a pencil sharpner, but it works to smooth out or smudge any large areas of shading (or thick lines). You might need to go to a specialist art shop to get one but they last a while so they're a good investment.

[Paddy]

Thanks all for the thoughts. Coen, the links that you provided look very useful - I hadn't come across ASOD - I don't think I will try to live up to those standards but will visit regularly.

[Coen]

I am no sketcher either I use rough sketches to give an idea of orientation and some of the more obvious features to me. Still if do not start then hard to improve.

On Cloudy Nights there is a forum for posting first sketches and there are some good examples of where you can see the improvement that time brings.

Also there is no such thing as a wrong sketch. Some strive to sketch what they see as accurately as possible. Others like to sketch what they are inspired from what they have seen. Others again bring slightly different emphasis to specific features. Assuming that any skteches posted are labelled accordingly. All work techniques work for it is based on what you enjoy.

Another technique might be, during those times of cloud, to sketch pictures of DSO's as accurately as possible. Could even dim the room to give similar lighting conditions.