Astro Website/Sketchbook Advice Sought

After a period of neglect I'm about to start filling another
sketchbook with "finished" sketches based on "at the telescope"
sketches. Some of the finished sketches will eventually make it to my
old and moldy website at:
http://www.rangeweb.net/~sketcher/

I'm willing to fill out the next sketchbook in one of three ways:

1) same as the last book -- ink on paper, dark backgrounds, light
stars, color on planets, etc.

2) ink on paper, light backgrounds, dark stars, everything being in
shades of black and white -- no color.

3) a combination of 1 and 2 above. Some sketches done one way, some
the other way.

I'm not interested in other options at this time. I currently have a
stack of rough sketches over 1 1/2 inches high that haven't yet made
it into a sketchbook as "finished" sketches. If I don't get busy soon
most of those rough sketches will never become "finished".

Option #1 is quite time consuming, often taking a full day to complete
a single, finished sketch.

Option #2 would allow me to get more done at a faster pace; but
sacrifices appearance and some degree of 'artistic license'. It's not
an option I like; but IMO it's better than leaving the rough, pencil
sketches as the only record.

Option #3 is an obvious compromise between #1 and #2.

I enjoy doing the finished sketches in ink in hardbound, blank-paged
sketchbooks. Nothing gets erased. I'm forced to work around any
errors as best I can. No pages get removed from the books. It's a
rather restricting way of doing things; but it's my way ;-)

In due time I'll re-work the website. It's overdue for a face-lift.

Thanks for your input!

Sketcher
To sketch is to see.

On Wed, 09 Feb 2005 08:02:54 -0700, Sketcher
wrote:

Option #2 would allow me to get more done at a faster pace; but
sacrifices appearance and some degree of 'artistic license'. It's not
an option I like; but IMO it's better than leaving the rough, pencil
sketches as the only record.

I'm not sure if this is too extreme for a purist like yourself g, but
have you considered (or tried) scanning these images and inverting them
to produce light stars on a dark background? I realize that leaves your
originals in the less aesthetic state, but if most of your audience is
seeing the images on the computer anyway, it might be an option worth
considering.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Wed, 09 Feb 2005 08:02:54 -0700, Sketcher

wrote:

Option #2 would allow me to get more done at a faster pace; but
sacrifices appearance and some degree of 'artistic license'. It's
not
an option I like; but IMO it's better than leaving the rough, pencil
sketches as the only record.

I'm not sure if this is too extreme for a purist like yourself g,
but
have you considered (or tried) scanning these images and inverting
them
to produce light stars on a dark background? I realize that leaves
your
originals in the less aesthetic state, but if most of your audience
is
seeing the images on the computer anyway, it might be an option worth
considering.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Though I am not the OP, I think that sounds like a good idea. But to
be honest, I actually learned quite a bit about sketching (something I
hope to do when weather gets a bit warmer).

Erik
socalsw

Nice drawings on your website.

As to which technique to use, which one do you enjoy most?

Clear Skies

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/

Are you interested in understanding optics?
Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ATM_Optics_Software/

************************************

"Sketcher" wrote in message
...
After a period of neglect I'm about to start filling another
sketchbook with "finished" sketches based on "at the telescope"
sketches. Some of the finished sketches will eventually make it to my
old and moldy website at:
http://www.rangeweb.net/~sketcher/

I'm willing to fill out the next sketchbook in one of three ways:

1) same as the last book -- ink on paper, dark backgrounds, light
stars, color on planets, etc.

2) ink on paper, light backgrounds, dark stars, everything being in
shades of black and white -- no color.

3) a combination of 1 and 2 above. Some sketches done one way, some
the other way.

I'm not interested in other options at this time. I currently have a
stack of rough sketches over 1 1/2 inches high that haven't yet made
it into a sketchbook as "finished" sketches. If I don't get busy soon
most of those rough sketches will never become "finished".

Option #1 is quite time consuming, often taking a full day to complete
a single, finished sketch.

Option #2 would allow me to get more done at a faster pace; but
sacrifices appearance and some degree of 'artistic license'. It's not
an option I like; but IMO it's better than leaving the rough, pencil
sketches as the only record.

Option #3 is an obvious compromise between #1 and #2.

I enjoy doing the finished sketches in ink in hardbound, blank-paged
sketchbooks. Nothing gets erased. I'm forced to work around any
errors as best I can. No pages get removed from the books. It's a
rather restricting way of doing things; but it's my way ;-)

In due time I'll re-work the website. It's overdue for a face-lift.

Thanks for your input!

Sketcher
To sketch is to see.

I have enjoyed your scketches very much. Perhaps # 2 will be the fastest,
but whatever you choose we will certainly enjoy.


--
David

On Wed, 9 Feb 2005, Sketcher wrote:

After a period of neglect I'm about to start filling another
sketchbook with "finished" sketches based on "at the telescope"
sketches. Some of the finished sketches will eventually make it to my
old and moldy website at:
http://www.rangeweb.net/~sketcher/

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 07:53:24 -0700, David Trevino
wrote:

I have enjoyed your scketches very much. Perhaps # 2 will be the fastest,
but whatever you choose we will certainly enjoy.

Thank you!

I've just uploaded a painting based on a recent observation of Orion's
Sword -- as viewed with 25x100 binoculars from a dark site. The image
is on the top of my home page:

http://www.rangeweb/~sketcher/

The painting was an attempt to show how the view appeared to the eye
behind the eyepieces. Enjoy!

Sketcher
To sketch is to see.

In article , Sketcher wrote:
On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 07:53:24 -0700, David Trevino
wrote:

I have enjoyed your scketches very much. Perhaps # 2 will be the fastest,
but whatever you choose we will certainly enjoy.

Thank you!

I've just uploaded a painting based on a recent observation of Orion's
Sword -- as viewed with 25x100 binoculars from a dark site. The image
is on the top of my home page:

http://www.rangeweb/~sketcher/

The painting was an attempt to show how the view appeared to the eye
behind the eyepieces. Enjoy!


I'm getting a 'URL Not Found' message for that link.

http://www.rangeweb.net/~sketcher/ seems to be right though.

Jim
--
Find me at http://www.ursaMinorBeta.co.uk
"Brace yourself, this might make your eyes water."

http://www.rangeweb.net/~sketcher/

Looks nice. It also looks like you are enjoying your observing times!

Clear Skies

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/

Are you interested in understanding optics?
Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ATM_Optics_Software/

************************************

"Mark" wrote in message
oups.com...
http://www.rangeweb.net/~sketcher/

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 16:13:14 +0000, Jim
wrote:

http://www.rangeweb.net/~sketcher/ seems to be right though.

Thanks Jim (and Mark) for spotting and correcting my error. I posted
the erroneous link just before heading out to a job . . .

Sketcher
To sketch is to see.