Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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I've been asked to make a step-by-step demonstration how my Lunar sketches are done, and it actually went much smoother than anticipated last night.  The hardest part was remembering to stop and take the pictures as I was sketching. 
Actual sketch size is 2"x2".
The area chosen was a beautiful circular formation of craters located below Walter. Beginning from the West [left]: Orontius, Huggins, Nasireddin, Miller, Miller C, and Lexell A. The crater below Orontius is Saussure. The entire grouping is on Rukl plate 65.
All images were taken at the scope while the sketch was progressing.. camera used was a Nikon Coolpix 4300. Since the flash made an awful glare on the graphite, the camera's manual mode was used with 1/8 second as an exposure time. The illumination was provided by my Lunar sketching light.
As twilight deepened, the images understandably became darker but a longer exposure might have caused slight blurring because the clipboard and the camera were hand-held. The images which turned out dark were put into my photo program for adjustments to their value. They're still a bit dark but I didn't want to mess with them too much.. you can still see them, though.
There were no touch-ups done after getting home. Usually I need to deepen the shadows with a 9B prior to scanning the sketches, but since the digital images turned out so dark, the 9B wasn't necessary. What you see in the last image is what I brought home from the starpad. 
Now for the sketches.. there will be six of them.
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 *Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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Step 1
Rough outline showing the main features, done with a 2B.
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*Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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Step 2
Fill in deep shadows with 6B.
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*Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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Step 3
Medium value roughed in with 4B.
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*Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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Step 4
Medium value blended; outer area also shaded in, using same blending stump.
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*Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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Step 5
More blending; lighter highlights created with soft eraser.
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*Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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Step 6
Final blend and touch-up.
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*Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
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Mark Z.
member
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 92
Loc: Texas
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Carol,
Thank you for the play-by-play. You say the sketch is 2 by 2 inches. Is that typical for you? In the dark, I have a hard time seeing things that small.
You really do nice work.
Mark
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Thanks for sharing your procedure. I've never drawn a detailed outline at the beginning before, but I'll definitely give it a try. Thanks again.
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cildarith
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/26/04
Posts: 2115
Loc: San Diego, CA
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Great step-by-step, Carol, thanks for posting that. You've taken a very systematic approach with clear improvements to the sketch at each step. I always feel like my own lunar sketches look *really bad* throughout most of the process, and then suddenly everything comes together at the very end into something presentable (usually, I hope).
I think my tendency is to ramble around (kind of like this post) so I have different parts of the sketch in different stages of completion at any given time. Some areas will be completed (at your step 6) while an adjacent area will still be stuck on step 1...
I'm sure my next sketch will be an improvement, thanks to this excellent example. Thanks again, Carol!
Edit: silly profanity filter... 
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Eric
6" f/6 Parks Newtonian
10x50 Bushnell Binocs
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Edited by cildarith (07/15/05 05:47 PM)
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Tim2723
The Moon Guy
Reged: 02/19/04
Posts: 5119
Loc: Northern New Jersey
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Thanks Carol, that's great! I think I see where I've been going wrong now. I do my outlines and then work a section at a time, changing pencils a hundred times and getting nowhere. You have that divided into only three 'colors', dark, medium and light gray.
I'm going to try a couple of sketches from photos using only three pencils: 2B graphite for the outlines, 6B charcoal for the black-blacks, and ebony for the mediums with highlights erased in. (Is that a real term? "Erased in" is an oxymoron!  ) Anyway, those three pencils are the ones I've become most comfortable with, so I'll start there.
Thanks again! A very nice presentation.
And oh yeah, I also thought your drawings were bigger than that.
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The crwth will set you free!
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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Thanks everyone! 
When I'm pressed for time, the sketches always seem to be smaller for some reason.. go figure. 
The outline is what I always had the most trouble with, so I sat down with a few lunar books and began to practice getting the basics down as accurately and as quickly as possible. It really helped.
Prior to that, I used to ramble around and juggle pencils, too. I'd make an outline but didn't dare fill in the deep shadows as a second step because I knew that somewhere along the line, I'd have to erase it.
Practicing the outline is crucial, because it's the foundation of the sketch.. get that right, and it's like downtown.
Btw Mark, have you tried using a brighter light for lunar work? Since there's no need to preserve night vision, it doesn't have to be red, and you can have it as bright as you please.
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*Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
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desertstars
Deja moo
Reged: 11/05/03
Posts: 29970
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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I've got the detailed outline part down pat...
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Tom W.
SVP8 'She turned me into a 3-legged Newt' EQ
Ralph, the All-Purpose 102mm Refractor
Under the Desert Stars
"If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going." Professor Irwin Corey
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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Don't worry, Tom.. your descriptions of the lunar surface more than adequately complete the picture.
Btw, I just remembered.. you'd mentioned in another thread that you'd support either a double-post of this here and in the Sketching forum, or a link pointing the way to the completed project. Seeing as a link is quicker, I'll scoot over there now and post it before I forget.
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*Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
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typhus
professor emeritus
Reged: 11/06/04
Posts: 667
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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Thanks Carol. You're awesome! I've been wanting to get into sketching but unsure how do the moon sometimes. Any help is appreciated, especially the detail you've given here.
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Shane
Orion XT10i
10x50 Binoculars
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typhus
professor emeritus
Reged: 11/06/04
Posts: 667
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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Also, I would love to see more of these!
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Shane
Orion XT10i
10x50 Binoculars
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SandmanBR
member
Reged: 01/01/05
Posts: 25
Loc: Brasil
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Uau!!!
Now you can give us some tips about sketching DSO's.
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^Sandman (Rodrigo Coelho)
Florianopolis - Brasil
Meade ETX-90EC
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kraterkid
Post Laureate
Reged: 03/07/05
Posts: 3881
Loc: Poway, California
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Hi Carol,
That was a wonderful tutorial and a great sketch! It's interesting to see the rough outline drawing and compare it to the final version, because then we can see how much you were able to capture regarding the sizes and accurate positioning of the craters, that helped inform the sketch as it proceeded. I like the fact that you delineated the shadow boundries in the next step because establishing them early seems to keep lunar sketches from "drifting" with the changing light.
You technique is very refined and I love the way you produce the tones going from darkest to medium and finally to the very lightest. You possess such beautifully subtle control of tonal values. A great eye for composition as well.
Thank you for sharing this excellent sketch and step-by-step tutorial, 
Rich
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Rich 
[image]http://www.cloudynights.com/stars/CNS0606.jpg" border="0[/image]
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TomC10
sage
Reged: 12/21/04
Posts: 239
Loc: Land of Enchantment
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After my first few sketches it seemed like it was going to take a lot of practice to get decent at it, so I stopped sketching. The Carol-L Method streamlines the whole process enough that I think I'll give it another try. Thanks Carol.
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Tom C
C10 NGT
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Redman
super member
Reged: 08/20/04
Posts: 129
Loc: Mountain Home, ID
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Great job Carol! Looks like I have a new way to try and improve my sketches. I think my problem is I get too hung up about completing each part instead of doing a rough sketch of everything first. Shows my lack of knowledge in the art of sketching. Also, please keep'em coming! I do enjoy looking at your work.
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Bob Redman
Orion SVP 8" EQ
Simmons 12x50 Binos
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