Sketching techniques?

[Jack123456]

Hi everyone,

I am kinda new to all this astronomy stuff, but thought that if i sketched what i saw, it might help me look for more detail, and see more. Also, it would give something to compare against the next time i looked.

I tried a couple of sketches, but they were absolutely terrible.

Does anyone have any good techniques for making good sketches?

Thanks,

Jack

[yoda]

Hi Jack123456 Talitha knows alot about sketching as she dose the monthy colum in the Sky at night mag on sketching.

[Ad Astra]

Hi everyone,

I am kinda new to all this astronomy stuff, but thought that if i sketched what i saw, it might help me look for more detail, and see more. Also, it would give something to compare against the next time i looked.

I tried a couple of sketches, but they were absolutely terrible.

Does anyone have any good techniques for making good sketches?

Thanks,

Jack

I've attached a couple of helpful exercises. I use something called clock method - picture the field of view, lunar disk, etc as a clock face. Want to sketch in a maria?

1. identify it's 'hour angle' - if you put the minute hand straight through the center, where would it point to?

2. How far from the center is it? Most people can estimate to the nearest 10% easily enough.

3. Now that you have it located, focus on shape and size - how big is it compared to the entire disk?

Try it - by breaking detail down into manageable bits, you can do a creditable sketch easily. The proof of the pudding, of course, is to compare your sketch to a lunar atlas - say The Moon - Official Website Of Luna - Luna Society - and see how many features on your sketch you can identify. Your "poor" sketch may surprise you!

I've attached an exercise my kids do in astronomy class here for you to try. Let me know how it works for you!

Dan

Lab Skills - Sketching with the Clock Method.doc

[Jack123456]

Thanks

[Talitha]

Hi Jack, nice to meet you. You don't have to be an artist to make eyepiece sketches, so please don't give up hope. I taught myself to sketch during the summer of 2003 and if i can do this, anyone can.

Eyepiece sketching merely involves learning and practicing a few techniques. In 2003-2004 when i was teaching myself how to sketch the Moon, a technique slowly emerged which seemed to make things a lot easier, so i put together this lunar sketch tutorial in hopes of encouraging others to give it a try. Please excuse the appearance of the pictures, they were taken scopeside with a digital camera as the sketch was progressing. As you can see, everything is based on a simple line drawing.

As far as deep sky images go, it all begins with a handful of anchor stars. Study what's in the eyepiece and then determine the placement of the other stars by association. Use geometric angles, recognizable patterns, or whatever other method your eye-brain connection finds most intuitive.

Galaxies and nebulae benefit from the use of a blending stump. It's a tightly rolled 'pencil' made of paper, and is used to gently push graphite into the tooth (texture) of the paper, creating the soft, smoky look we see in the eyepiece. You can either apply the graphite directly to the stump, or scribble a swatch of graphite onto a separate piece of paper and use it like a pallette. Use sandpaper to clean the graphite from the stump when finished.

Resolvable globular clusters look best when drawn with a technique called 'stippling'. It's layers and layers of dots which, when combined, create the illusion of stellar intensity or sparseness.

Supplies aren't expensive.. just the blending stump, pencils, a hard eraser, a soft eraser, and something called an 'eraser shield'. The shield is a drafting tool, and is a thin piece of metal about the size of a credit card. It has various shapes cut from it, and comes in very handy if you need a small area of your sketch erased without disturbing the surrounding area. Place the appropriately sized and shaped cut-out on the area to be erased, and the surrounding area of the sketch is protected by the surrounding area of the shield.

Pencils range from hard to soft, the harder ones havig more clay in the mix, and the soft ones having more graphite. TBH though, you can do a lot with an ordinary school-type pencil.. practice using more or less pressure, and you'd be surprised at how many varying shades you can achieve.

If you'd like, try using online images to practice from before beginning to sketch at the eyepiece. And by all means, feel free to send me a PM if you need anything else. Helping others is what i love doing the most.

[keef_uk]

some good tips there, i have just started my path down the sketching route. this book is a good read Astronomical Sketching: A Step-by-Step Introduction Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series: Amazon.co.uk: Richard Handy, David B. Moody, Jeremy Perez, Erika Rix, Sol Robbins: Books

[Jack123456]

Thanks Talitha.

I will try some of those techniques.

If i am still having trouble, i will be sure to send you a PM.

Thanks

[vulcan]

This might sound odd but I'm referring to the way artists/architects used to do drawings (The Draughsman's Apprentice) whereby the looked through a wooden frame that was divided up into squares and they had a corresponding grid on the paper. By counting the squares, it was much easier to transfer objects' positions and spacial coordinates onto the paper. An eyepiece with an illuminated grid reticule, it would be perfect for this but I don't know of such a thing but there IS a relatively cheap Orion Illuminated 12.5mm eyepiece with twin crosshairs which will divide your field of view into more manageable areas allowing you to sketch each of the four smaller areas at a time.