Going great guns I reckon Michael. I like the way you've caught the light on the wall so the crater and on the peaks on the floor. I find this a great challenge. Enjoyed your accompanying report too!
Thanks Patrick. Creating hilights is certainly easier with the pastels. Creating subtle shades is more difficult.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mental4astro
Oh, yeah! Now we're cooking Michael.
Very nice job. Working with white on black is a very different way of thinking. And with pastels, no pussy-footing here.
I really like the little 'flecks' of white along the dark right rim of protuding peaks, and the tight little shadows of the two central peaks. It's the little details that make the sketch work really well.
For sharp, fine details using pastel or charcoal (both white and black types) keep a piece of fine sandpaper in your kit. You then rub the edge you want to develop on the sandpaper, .
Those fine rays would have been a tease.
Thanks Alex. Pastels are a very different medium than I am used to. It's going to take a bit of work to develop the techniques needed.
is it feasible to try lunar sketching with an unguided scope?
i remember some time ago reading an article (or seeing a documentary, cant recall which) about one of the early popular astronomy sketchers (this was back when they they thought there were cities on mars) who mainly did planetary/moon work.
And his sketches were a type of stylised artform more than accurate representations, sort of art deco versions of what they could see back then.
very interesting visually.
i have the phillips moon observing book and the sketches in it remind me of the ones in that program, in that they look more like art (maybe its a feature of lunar sketching?). In the section on sketching that it has it recommends that one start sketching moon photography first and build up some skills, then move to the eyepiece.
So thinking about taking a dip at a doodle, looks like it could be fun (and a bit cheaper than a$$$trophotog&%#!hy? for us newbies)
Vallis Schroter caught my eye tonight. Looks like a long snake along the base of a slightly hilly area. It was brightly lit as the sunrise reaches inside. Nearby craters are Herodotus and Aristarchus.
This forum has been a little lean the last few weeks. I've been hearing its hunger pain grumbles, .
Well, Michael, finally some FOOD!
I particularly like your use of colour. The brown lends a very nice element of life. Something I should explore a little more.
The rendering is brilliant. You've managed to make those craters leap out of the page with the well detailed highlights and the careful, sharp shading. And the central peaks - cool, . And the creaping Valley, not an easy feat to attempt at such magnification (300X ?).
Very, very nice mate.
Edit: I keep coming back to the image! There is something really captivating about your sketch. Colour? Shading of highlights? The shadows? All of it?!
Last edited by mental4astro; 16-04-2011 at 05:46 AM.
Reason: Cool sketch!
This forum has been a little lean the last few weeks. I've been hearing its hunger pain grumbles, .
did one a couple of nights ago, the seeing was excellent and i discovered a great eyepiece/barlow combination that night.
unfortunately it ended up magnifying the difference between the drawing and what you could see at the eyepiece too much to feel happy about the outcome
trick is, i suspect, to figure out how to gloss over the nitty gritty details in a way that looks good.
in the lunar observational drawings i've seen thus far they appear to do it with a shading technique.
Yusuf, mate, post the sketch! Where you may see a flaw with it, you may be surprised by the comments. You may then do some 'corrections' as needed and then repost the sketch. We ALL learn that way!
There is no right or wrong here! We are all learning!
Yusuf, mate, post the sketch! Where you may see a flaw with it, you may be surprised by the comments. You may then do some 'corrections' as needed and then repost the sketch. We ALL learn that way!
There is no right or wrong here! We are all learning!
I'll second that. There is so much I don't like about my sketch but it is what it is. We are all learning and experimenting and hopefully improving.
The real reason I enjoy sketching is because it makes me look longer and more closer and the subject. My recent sketch was about 45min going between EP and sketch. If I was just viewing I would probably only look for 5min tops.
It's easy to get caught up trying to put all the detail you can see into a sketch. If I am doing a small area like a single crater I will go for detail, but when sketching a wider view I go for a more general lay of the land look.
have a great book of planetary photos so i did one out of that in the interim.
the following are three craters in the top right quadrant of
south eastern side of the reverse side of the moon (from nasa photos)
its interesting if you haven't seen the other side, its heavily cratered as the earths gravity caused all the lava flows (oceans) to come out on the side facing us.
Anyone keen to have a go tonight, it being a public holiday on Tuesday?
Any suggested target on the Moon, or a go at the whole thing?
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Edit: how about the crater Eratosthenes? It's bound by Mare Imbrium & Sinus Aestuum, and has an ismuth of a mountain range connecting it to the mountains of Montes Apenninus.
Seems to make for a striking set of contarst between light and dark.
I'll set my alarm clock for 3am.
Last edited by mental4astro; 24-04-2011 at 07:44 PM.
Reason: feature suggestion
Here you go Alex. Lucky I had a snooze for about an hour while I was out otherwise I couldn't have stayed up to do this.
It's a nice clear night so once I got setup I had a quick look around before turning to the moon, this also gave it a chance to get a bit higher.
Eratosthenes
A nice round crater, the innner wall steps down all around. Appears to have 3 central peaks in this illumination. Outer wall slopes evenly down to surrounding area except where the Apenninus range wraps around the crater.
I went back to pencil on white paper for this one, a bit of touch up once I got inside to the light.
I might try to redo it in pastel on black for comparison.
Nice one Michael. Images of this crater certainly make it look truely spectacular. I didn't know it had three central peaks. Must have been a stiking view.
I'm glad someone is having scope time. The sky was clear when I made the suggestion, but "Mare Pluvia" spontaneously appeared here moments after I posted the suggestion, . Looks like it might even kill this coming New Moon too, .
The way things are on the East Coast, any time there are no clouds is a good time with a scope. Only thing is the temp. outside read 8 degrees, and with the blasted westerly wind, it felt more like 4.
This is my first sketch using my Orange Tube C8. She is such an easy scope to use. No bells or whistles, just a basic clock drive. It's all I need.
I had a bit of a race on to do this sketch. Tops I had an hour before the Moon went behind the neighbour's palm tree. Just managed it as the fronds began to be visible, swaying in the wind through the scope. It is a little rushed, but it seems to have a bit of movement, much like the quality of the image through the scope tonight, .
Object: 1'st quarter Moon
Scope: Orange tube C8
Gear: GSO Superview 30mm, 67X
Date: 11th May, 2011
Location: Sydney
Conditions: Windy & FREEZING
Media: White and black charcoal pencils, white chinagraph, graphite pencil, on A4 black paper
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. And the creaping Valley, not an easy feat to attempt at such magnification (300X ?).
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