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Sunset over Eratosthenes and the Apennine Mountains


Ruud

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Thank you Mike, doc, Craig, I appreciate the comments!

I didn't stay out all that late, Mike. Went in at 2 AM, and  got up at 10, so didn't lose any sleep really. Making the painting was a bit stressful though because I really messed up the previous two. (Didn't post those.) I'm glad this one came out the way it did.

 

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Absolutely amazing sketch, Ruud :thumbright:. I've just a couple of questions I hope you don't mind me asking?

What mediums were you using? It looks like chalk, it looks like brush work. I just can't figure what you've done other than a spectacular drawing :D

What scope were you using for the evening's view? Also, how do you think your TV 4" compares with the 6" SCT? Sure, I understand they're different beasts but I have a little TV 76 and found it outperformed a Mak127 on everything except frustration in use :smiley: and was wondering what your own opinions were with the 6".

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Thank you, Rob. I used my small SCT with magnifications up to 313x. The medium is pen and paper combined with "scanner, Wacom tablet, Photoshop, Painter and Topaz Adjust".

I start off with notes on paper, draw crater outlines with the right relative sizes and for this one a thick T with a curved top bar to show the position of the mountains. I sometimes make a separate mesh of triangles for the relative positions and distances of all major features. After that I make a separate rough sketch for each feature.  These sketches record the highlights and shadows.  I divided the Apennines in several zones and did the rough terrain around Eratosthenes separately. I also marked wrinkles in the lava outside the main features.

I scan everything, collect the lot in photoshop, invert left to right, resize and move the partial sketches. I warp, resize and position everything properly using a map as a reference. Then I add a number of layers.

At the top I fill in the highlights with white and in a layer below it the shadows with black. Below that  go the ridges and gullies. At the very bottom I use a grey-to-black gradient.

Then I roughen up the whole with small scale distortions (from PS filter gallery), bump up local contrast with Topaz Adjust, save at 600% and move to Corel Painter.

In Painter I use a charcoal, acrylic and smeary brush to push around pixels. It's like working with paint that never dries. The smeary brush has very hard, scratchy bristles. I've not been able to make a mixer brush like it for photoshop, so Painter is a necessary part of the workflow. My handwriting is ugly, so in Photoshop I prepare the text using Kalam for the font, which then also goes to Painter.

Back in photoshop I bring back the image scale from 600% to 100% and combine the versions that I made in Painter. I retouch where needed. I tone map the painting to add crunch and drama (Topaz Adjust) and add the text. I also add a mask to hide the rough edges of the painting and a canvas texture.

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That's about it. I wish I could record a video of the process, but these paintings take between three and eight hours to make on the computer. That is of course way too long for a video.

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If you look closely you'll see that I have many artefacts in this painting. Especially the Moon's lava isn't nearly as chaotic and rugged as I show it. And I frequently have missing features. They never made it to my notes or got lost in Painter. Fortunately I aim more for effect than for realism, and I feel the artefacts add to the effect while any omissions hardly distract from it, so I am quite content.

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Thanks for asking, Rob. If anyone asks the same question I now have this post to refer to.

 

 

 

Edited by Ruud
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Thanks for going through that @Ruud:thumbright: I appreciate that you're putting in a lot of work but from the results of your sketches, it's definately worth it. I'm blown away not only by the way you have figured out a phenomenal way to sketch the Moon, but from that foundation the way you go about layering in the features and tweaking detail. Amazing stuff. I think your artistic temperament to go for the evocative, impressionistic approach as opposed to some kind of extreme realism pulls of a treat. The latter can leave one a tad 'cold' whereas your own leaning realises the moonscape in all its parched and desolate beauty.

Again, thanks for taking your time and going over this, Ruud. Much appreciated and won't be forgotten :smiley:

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5 minutes ago, Rob Sellent said:

Amazing stuff. I think your artistic temperament to go for the evocative, impressionistic approach as opposed to some kind of extreme realism pulls of a treat.

I second that! Wonderful drawing, I keep coming back to the thread to look at it some more 

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