First time lunar cycle

[josefk]

Lunar sketch just now 5th Feb. A first for me sketching the moon for its own sake rather than as part of a conjunction or similar.

Edited February 28, 2023 by josefk
corrected white balance

[JeremyS]

First time? Amazing! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[RobertI]

I think this is fab, you rarely seen full moon sketches. I was about to suggest you enter this into the sketching competition but I am pleased to see you already have. 🙂

[josefk]

10 hours ago, RobertI said:

I think this is fab, you rarely seen full moon sketches. I was about to suggest you enter this into the sketching competition but I am pleased to see you already have. 🙂

Thank you Rob. "you rarely see full moon sketches" - i'm a beginner at the lunar malarkey and don't know any better 🤣 plus this scale hides a multitude of sins...

[maw lod qan]

Wonderful!

SWMBO and my youngest daughter have all the talent in our house.

I can't draw a semistraight line or circle.

Thank the heavens for Autocad!

[josefk]

...on a second attempt i felt able to concentrate on more detail - surprisingly enjoyable way to pass the time even if i am blind in one eye by the time i've finished. It would be nice to attempt a lunar sketch per day throughout the lunar cycle maybe. Don't worry i won't post them all. 😆

[markse68]

20 hours ago, josefk said:

 Don't worry i won't post them all. 😆

Please do- they are really good- remind me of early moon maps by eg Cassini

Mark

[josefk]

Third night running. I can see very well how this gets addictive now. Nothing better than sketching to deepen the looking and TBH i'd never even looked at the moon properly before.

Right way up right way round spotting scope. White pastel, white ink brush, white highlighter and black fine liner on black card at the EP. The sketch isn't quite finished but the moon started to go behind a tree so that was that.

A nicely observed feature for me was on the prominent crater at 2-oclock ish with the mountain in the crater floor i could see terracing on the crater wall behind. I couldn't capture that to the sketch though.

 

[josefk]

15 hours ago, markse68 said:

Please do- they are really good- remind me of early moon maps by eg Cassini

Mark

only £50k https://www.crouchrarebooks.com/maps/cassinis-seminal-lunar-map

I'll keep practising LOL🤣

[josefk]

i blame a few people on here...😉

- too cloudy to get out last night (though the moon was a lovely deep orange behind the cloud); clear as bell and the moon beautiful against a blue sky this morning. Unfortunately this morning i was already at work and couldn't get out. Both last night and this morning i'm grumpy about the missed opportunity -

...What have you done to me?!

[Kon]

I am really enjoying your sketches. Are you finishing them at the eyepiece or later on? What pencils are you using? And are these A4 drawings?

[josefk]

42 minutes ago, Kon said:

I am really enjoying your sketches. Are you finishing them at the eyepiece or later on? What pencils are you using? And are these A4 drawings?

Hi @Kon that's very kind of you to say. These lunar sketches have been 100% at the EP which is exactly opposite to what i would normally do (normally i sketch rough and takes notes at the EP and transfer the drawing to card at home later - copy my own drawing in a tidy way basically). I've decided I would like to try and sketch the whole lunar cycle at least once at the EP before i look at a lunar map or atlas (again). A personal challenge but it will take a while.

I'm sketching lunar here in white lighting at the scope so working at the EP for the finished drawing works really well except on Monday it was a bit damp in the air so the pastel went a bit soft. Previously i haven't had success trying to work on anything other than a rough drawing at the EP under the red light conditions needed for dim objects. My reading distance eyesight is very bad once dark adapted.

For Lunar I'm using; Faber-Castell medium pastel (101 white), Derwent tinted charcoal (white), Faber-Castell Artist Pen Brush (101 white), Sakura Gelly Roll white highlighter and Staedtler pigment 0.1 fineliner in black. The drawings are on regular index card sized card because that's how i "file" them.

Enjoy!

 

 

[josefk]

A rather rushed sketch this morning just to keep the cycle going - a little bit of cloud passing through but not a big hindrance. The damp was awful though. i'd lost control over my pastel and the paper due to the damp in about 20 minutes or so - means it's a bit of a (non)artists impression rather than an observation because I couldn't work up into the drawing the detail i was able to see on the terminator. I was also surprised how seemingly quickly highlights and shadows were changing on the terminator (or at least i thought they were). Made it a bit confusing this morning pre-coffee.

Edited February 11, 2023 by josefk
typo

[Naughty Neal]

Absolutely amazng sketches, they certainly bring the moon to life. The 74% WG is fantastic, you sir have the eye.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Naughty Neal
spelling

[josefk]

8 hours ago, Naughty Neal said:

Asolutely amazng sketches, they certainly bring the moon to life. The 74% WG is fantastic, you sir have the eye.

i appreciate the comments Neal. Thank you.

[josefk]

Not very easy this is it? ...and this is nothing like how interesting and contrasted the real view was i'm afraid! I can see a driven mount at some point in my future...

 

[josefk]

interesting distortion of scale here in the south west - it's quite educational trying to keep knocking these out in close succession...

[josefk]

Well it's a learning curve alright and humbling!!! I will be mildly relieved to get back to anonymous grey smudges at the end of this lunar cycle!

On the upside - the sketch below is made just now and represents sitting in the spring sunshine for an hour so that was a pleasant change.

[mikeDnight]

2 hours ago, josefk said:

Well it's a learning curve alright and humbling!!! I will be mildly relieved to get back to anonymous grey smudges at the end of this lunar cycle!

On the upside - the sketch below is made just now and represents sitting in the spring sunshine for an hour so that was a pleasant change.

That is genuinely terrific! That top pencil sketch has really captured the natural beauty of the craters. Excellent!!