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Mikes sketch the Messiers project.

Mike73

By Mike73
in Sketching

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Mike73

Mike73

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Mike, do M97 and M108 look that bright at your lowest magnification?

At my lowest magnification then I'd say yes they really do stand out but with the EP's I used for the sketches they appeared a little dimmer than the sketches.

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Naemeth

Naemeth

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At my lowest magnification then I'd say yes they really do stand out but with the EP's I used for the sketches they appeared a little dimmer than the sketches.

Thought so... I think I need to go to a much darker site to get them with my scope. Either that or wait until they are at the Zenith ;).

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  • 11 months later...
Mike73

Mike73

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Its been a while since I added to anything to my Messier sketches although weather permitting I should complete all of them by the summer. 

Couple sketches from home last night, the magnificent M40 and the open cluster M67 in Cancer.

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Myopicus

Myopicus

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Hi Mike, 

Really like your Messier sketches, and have had a good delve through your blog now. Must be really satisfying to build up a portfolio of your viewing! (Awesome dob, btw!)

Quick question - I've been to the art shop and stocked up on a few bits and bobs, but was wondering if you use a fixative, and if so what?  My previous experience of them is that they can dilute / homogenise the detail of sketches - certainly with pastel drawing. Your sketches don't seem to suffer from this.

Skies permitting i'll be out for a trial sketch or two on Saturday.

Best wishes,

mace

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Mike73

Mike73

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Hi Mike, 

Really like your Messier sketches, and have had a good delve through your blog now. Must be really satisfying to build up a portfolio of your viewing! (Awesome dob, btw!)

Quick question - I've been to the art shop and stocked up on a few bits and bobs, but was wondering if you use a fixative, and if so what?  My previous experience of them is that they can dilute / homogenise the detail of sketches - certainly with pastel drawing. Your sketches don't seem to suffer from this.

Skies permitting i'll be out for a trial sketch or two on Saturday.

Best wishes,

mace

Hi Mace

Yeah its good seeing them build up over time and its been enjoyable too.

Before I started astro sketching I'd never touched pastels before so I've been learning by mistakes really and one of my biggest frustrations has been figuring out the best way to fix the completed sketch.

I read that some people use hairspray and it worked but I found the spray wasn't fine enough and sometimes gave a mottled effect.

Using proper art fixatives was an improvement but I tried a couple cheaper ones and they weren't too much better than hairspray so I've settled on using Windsor and Newton fixative (you can get it cheaper than that just hunt around) and it works well. 

If you observe from a dark site then wait till you get home until you use the fixative. Pastel fixatives don't like the cold and I've found that as soon as temps get around freezing the nozzle starts to block up and it just stops working. Get home and just use a rubber to get rid of any smudges, then take a photo of your completed sketch so you have a digital copy of it looking as good as you can get it, then give it three or four very light coats of fixative and it should be ok.

Have a look at M8 and M20 here and you can see where the fixative can got too cold and gave that mottled look I mentioned, it only really happens on nebula and galaxies really but after you've spent a good hour observing and sketching and got it looking as good as you can its really annoying to see the finished sketch look so rough.  :rolleyes:

nice one Mike - looks like you caught a couple of galaxies in the bottom left of M67? :grin:

That'll be the 'Smudgy pastel galaxies'  :grin:

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Mike73

Mike73

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Smudgy pastel galaxies , lol.

Is there an air of sarcasm regarding the mesmerising m40 mike ?

Good luck with the messier final fling.

Yeah just a tad sarcastic Rory! :)

Maybe its because I've never sat down and learnt anything about double stars but they just don't grab me like most other objects. Perhaps one day I'II sit down and learn some more about them but until then M40 is included in my 'OMG I can't believe I actually sketched that!' catalogue.

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Mike73

Mike73

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Had a good night observing last night, only managed two sketches before the cloud cover came but I think I've sussed out how to use pastels for my galaxy sketches and also felt like I got my 'eye in' when it came to observing the fine differences in contrast of each galaxy. 

At first both these objects were just fuzzy patches of light with no detail, a bit of time spent on each one was all that was needed. :)

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  • 1 month later...
Mike73

Mike73

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Making slow progress with my DSO sketching recently but got out for a couple hours last night.

I think the nicest object for me was the globular cluster M53, I wouldnt say its one of the most striking globulars but its large fairly open and at x340 filled 3/4 of the FoV with stars but I sketched it at a more sedate x218 which shows its shape better I think.

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Mike73

Mike73

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lovely Mike! do you 'fix' your pastels? if so what do you use and do you use some kind of a mask?

Cheers Shane.

I've found fixing pastel sketches to be a bit of a pain to be honest. I now use Windsor and Newton fixative but you can also use a non scented hairspray as a cheaper option but the main thing you want is a really fine spray, if its not fine it gives the final sketch a speckled look which is really disappointing after all the hard work is done.

So I never use a fixative at a dark site, the nozzle usually freezes and it squirts rather than sprays. Best to leave it until the next morning knowing that you'll get a couple little smudges and then just rub those out.

After I've rubbed the smudges out the next day I take a photo and only then use a fixative.

This is all stuff I've learnt through trial and error.

Below is the Triffid nebula with that speckled look I mentioned. :(

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