Sketching tips

[Myopicus]

Hi All, 

I'd like to sketch some of my viewing sessions to keep a record of what I've seen.

Do you have any top tips or links that might help? thanks

[Langy]

No actual tips for the sketching, but have you thought about looking at actual star maps to get an idea of what you will need to look for when you want to find it later?

The link below will take you to some sets you can download. I did this and laminated them all which also allows you to write on them.

http://www.uv.es/jrtorres/triatlas.html

[Moonshane]

I am pretty rubbish at any sort of art but find the dots and smudges we see almost doable. I have not really done any serious sketching but managed some solar sketches and the off DSO examples below.

I have started using a 0.1mm pen for the dots on the solar image and then a blending stump for a bit of a smudge here and there.

I use DSO sketches to try to confirm what I think I saw.

[Stridor]

A regular feature in `Sky at Night` magazine is Sketching by Carol Lakomiak.............seems to offer some very useful advise and tips.

[cotterless45]

Try. Some white pencils on black card. The circles were drawn around a saucer. It's an easy way to record what you are observing. I use a red head torch to see what I'm doing, Nick.

[RikM]

Jeremy Perez produces some of the best tutorials and resources for sketching. http://www.perezmedia.net/beltofvenus/archives/000567.html

[Moonshane]

To my surprise I have just inverted the colours in GIMP and it looks pretty good!

[Myopicus]

Jeremy Perez produces some of the best tutorials and resources for sketching. http://www.perezmedia.net/beltofvenus/archives/000567.html

Wow! Now that's a comprehensive site! thanks

[Qualia]

There's quite a lot going on in SGL's sketching section and you ought to check out the drawings by Mike73 which are some of the best astronomical sketches you're likely ever to see.

With that said, here's something written about a year ago which I hope will be of some use...

The Point...?

I feel there's no correct way for enjoying a stargazing session. Some nights it's a good idea to just run around the heavens in marathon style, other times to pick an object and tweak as much as you can from it until boredom sets in; there is no right or wrong way. Most of what I write here is already in other threads, will already be known but I think it's worth going through again.

Dark Skies

Whenever possible try getting yourself out to a Dark Site. If this isn't possible, no worries but you will be robbing yourself of detail that might have been possible. However, observing in light polluted areas can be extremely useful and shouldn't be used as an excuse not to sketch. Not only do you continue to hone your star-hoping skills but you can still make great sketches and jot down features you have seen and later compare them with your dark site ones. This is an interesting project in itself, for you'll see the effects LP has on your eye and the given object. Needless to say, not all celestial objects are adversely affected by light pollution and you can view planets, the Moon and Sun, for example, without any detrimental affect. Indeed, light pollution could even make observing brighter planets easier, for there may be less glare to contend with.

Space Tourist Vs Space Visitor

When approaching a sketch it is better to be a visitor, rather than a tourist. Many people will go to a museum, for example, and will rush all the paintings, but at the end of the day they only remember one or two of them at best and not that well either and the same analogy can be used when it comes to stargazing.

Sure, there is no right way to plan our sessions and the following procedure is certainly not one I'd recommend all the time, but I do think it is important to slow down from time to time. I appreciate that this slowing-down exercise can be frustrating at times. In my case, a three hour dark site session involves an operation of about 6 to 7 hours. After all that preparation, packing gear, travelling, setting up and so on, when I get out to the dark site my first instinct is to start buzzing all over the skies, but if a sketch is planned or you really want to get down to details, depending on what is being viewed, at sometime or other you will need to give yourself time. 

Visual Astronomy: Locating & Observing

There are two essential features to visual astronomy. The first is to find the object and the second is to observe it. The former process invoves star-hopping and reading star maps, the latter requires you to slow down and to engage yourself with the complexity and beauty of what is being observed. It's been said many times but anything glanced at will always look like a featureless something or other: an egg, a city wall, a cloudless sky or a dentist's tiled floor. But the trick is to go beyond this style of looking and practice picking out features and textures.

Question Time

I find the best way of observing an object is to place it in a low power EP and to begin asking some basic questions about it. These questions could include stuff like:

• What am I looking at?
• What have I read or seen of this object that can inform my observation?
• What shape does it seem to have?
• How many stars can I see in my field of view? What colour are they? Are there differing intensities of brightness between them?
• Can any of these stars be tweaked out as doubles? Can I quickly guess a rough positional angle for them? A separation in arc seconds?
• How does the object's appearance change as I flip from direct to averted vision and back again?
• Can any stars be resolved in the object itself (if a glob, for example), and are they across the entire surface, only at the edges, or none at all?
• Are there any stars in the line of sight that appear as if they are part of the object? (Local stars 'within' galaxies, or appearing as moons on planets)
• When I move away from the eyepiece to relax my eye, what can I recall about this object that can inform me further? Was there anything distinct about it that struck my eye or memory.

I'll then up the magnification again, to something around 80x to 90x. And ask a few more questions. Stuff like:

• How has the image changed?
• How many stars have now been cut away?
• Has anything in the image become dimmer or lighter?
• Has the object itself changed in any fashion?
• Are there any new patterns, shapes or colours to be seen within it?
• Are given areas of my new field of view more pronounced than others?
• If I close and relax my eye away from the eyepiece can I picture the object there 'within'?

I'll then up the magnification to the optimum power, that which gives the sharpest and clearest image at the highest magnification possible and go through the same questions as above. In all cases the trick is to be asking yourself questions about the object - not simply to sketch it! - to not only appreciate the subtle detail and complexity therein but also to have a general picture of how the object is framed within your eyepieces and mind.

Filters

Some people love them, others not nearly so much but if you are going to use a filter, you should go through the same questioning process as above. The object will look different and you may prefer the look with or without but it's nice to understand why this is so and to appreciate any improvements in the image but also any detrimental affects a filter may have.

Long Winded?

Now, all this may look a little long winded and perhaps it is, but I feel it'll pay out dividends. With practice, depending on the complexity of the object, such an interrogation shouldn't take more that 5 to 15 minutes or so. The questioning process can be exhausting, so I usually dedicate it to one or two objects at most and not on every session I make. It is also extremely important to have sessions where we just sit back and drink in the beauty around us without eyepiece and telescope and without thought or mind, or to plan other projects like splitting doubles, completing lists, and so on.

Sketching

If you are going to sketch you are now armed with a better understanding and visual appreciation of the given celestial object. With the questioning over, when you feel you are ready, pick up the given drawing instruments you prefer and begin to sketch what you are looking at. Draw yourself a decent sized cirlce and start by drawing the field stars paying attention to their spacing relative to each other and their relative brightness. It isn't always necessary to draw all of the stars you see but the ones you do ought to serve as a guide for the sketch of the object itself.

Sketching is an iterative, mechanical process: you look through the eyepiece, you sketch a little something, you compare, you look again, sketch a little more, compare, and on and on you go. If you find you are getting bored, relax, take a little break, and when you are ready, return again.

Contrary to what other folk may happen to think, I feel the point of sketching is not to create some beautiful rendering of the object itself, but rather to train your eye to see better. This attitude not only augments your stargzing skills but gives stargazing and sketching a more egalitarian footing, for by implication it means everyone can and ought to sketch and that the only reason they don't is due to sheer exhaustion or laziness.

You keep going back and forth from eyepiece to paper until you feel you have either had enough for the night or that your drawing contains most of the details you have seen. Whatever the tools or techniques used, when sketching be sure to use a green or red light and try to be as comfortable as possible.

I hope this post helps in some manner

[Mike73]

You've got to be a special kinda nutter to want to sketch in the pitch black with just a dim red light but as Qualia mentions it is very rewarding. 

Lots of tutorials and useful links here or if you'd like to know anything else just ask.

[Myopicus]

You've got to be a special kinda nutter to want to sketch in the pitch black with just a dim red light but as Qualia mentions it is very rewarding. 

Lots of tutorials and useful links here or if you'd like to know anything else just ask.

Mike 73, that's brilliant, thank you! Just checked out your blog - really lovely seeing all your sketches and notes to go with them.  What a fantastically personal way to record your glimpses into the void. I'm up for some of that!

Qualia - That's a fantastically useful and insightful post, many many thanks.  And I agree, a process in learning to see, drinking up the detail.  

Many many thanks again!  Right, off to immerse myself in all those tutorials and down to the art shop.  m

[AlexB67]

Thank you all. Some nice info in this thread and stuff to get started with. Want to do some sketching of my own instead of pen scribbles and notes.

To my surprise I have just inverted the colours in GIMP and it looks pretty good!

lovejoy.jpg

Shane, Looks like you judged your light pollution levels to perfection too, seems about right for that part of the world 

[Moonshane]

no, it's actually worse than that!

[Myopicus]

Not specifically astro sketching related (but nice to be able to offer something back to the forum);

I've worked through most of 'Drawing on the right side of the brain' by Betty Edwards  which is a great book, and is as much about seeing as it is about drawing.

If only the clouds will clear . . . . ho-hum.