M51 & NGC 2392

[RikM]

This sketching really is fun.

Hope you like them,

Rik

[John]

These are great sketches Rik - thanks for posting them

Your 150P is really doing well - I'm struggling to see M51 that nicely with my 10" from my back garden !.

I bet you find that your observing acuity improves as you sketch - drawing things really makes you observe them thoroughly

Can I ask what materials you use for your sketching ?

Thanks

[RikM]

Thanks John.

M51 was one thing I really wanted to draw. I have struggled to even find the thing for weeks. I was looking in the right place but I just could not pick it out against the LP over Gloucester. The 7th was a great clear night and I asked my neighbours if they could turn their carport lights off, which they did (good sports ) and that made a huge difference to how much I could see. Borrowing a good EP from my brother-in-law helped a bit too I am sure.

I use a cartridge paper A6 field sketch pad with a 2.5" circle. For these two sketches I used a 2H pencil but sometimes an HB. I also got a new toy, a #2 taper point soft silicone colour shaper as a blending tool. Talitha recommended that I give the silicone blender a go and I have to say I am still finding my feet with it, but it I love the results. I have a little clip-on LED reading light that I painted with a few coats of red nail polish.

I scan the sketches, invert them using photoshop, make a new layer and over-dub the background stars using white and a feathered brush, then clone stamp out the original pencil stars on the background layer, add the text, flatten the image and save as a jpeg. I don't know if that's 'cheating', but that's what I do.

You are right, the sketching really has helped my observing.

Rik

[DarkerSky]

Fantastic sketches Rik ! Really liking those. You've recorded some awesome detail - some really delicate stuff in NGC 2392. Best sketch of that Pl I have seen to date. Did you use an OIII filter with that?

Really well done.

[RikM]

No OIII just really good sky conditions from my ob and a long time at the eyepiece. I used a SW LPR filter but I didn't think it did too much. I think the sketch makes it look like there is more detail than I actually saw. I didn't realise there is white dot in the centre of the PL. It's not a central star, just the ghost of the pencil dot that I blended out. It's not supposed to be there. In the eyepiece it actually looked like a light dot with a fuzzy halo.

Rik