KCSteve
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Marcus,
You've said in the past that you think it would be good for every engraver to learn to do English Fine Scroll at the beginning even if they don't plan to ever do that style.
I got your book and DVD last year (the ever-indulgent wife bumped me up to the now sold-out Special Edition with the extra plates
) and I have to say, you're right.
As I go along it's just amazing how much I find little bits here and there where the techniques, or even just the basic ideas are just the thing I need to solve a problem, generally of my own making, of course.
Got a scroll in an odd spot where you can't seem to fit the leaves in? Do them like in EFS where the cuts define the back of one leaf, the front of the next and take out the background all at once.
Got an odd little bit where you need something just to keep from having a gap? Toss in a little piece of outside work.
And that's in addition to how much you learn about the bones of Engraving when you learn what is really a severely minimalist style. Several things I 'knew' really crystalized for me.
One of the big ones was that just as in Life, in Engraving it's not the cuts you make that matter so much as what you leave behind.
Learning 'normal' scroll you learn to make the cut to define the scroll backbone, then for each leaf you make a few cuts to define the leaf, skip across your negative space and do the next leaf. With EFS you cut to define the spine and then use each cut to define the back of one leaf / tendril and the front of the next one. Having the carefully shaped plunge cut touch the cut for the spine gives the shape of the head and just one more cut turns the leaf into a tendril. Add just a hint of shading and suddenly you have a nice little patch of scroll.
And once those lessons have settled into your brain you find yourself (or at least I did) changing how you think about other styles, finding the base rules and cuts and thus better understanding them.
I think a lot of new engravers would benefit from even a day or two of learning English the way you teach it right at the start.
So if you find yourself wondering if it was worth the time and effort to do the book & DVD rest assured: it was.
Thanks again!
You've said in the past that you think it would be good for every engraver to learn to do English Fine Scroll at the beginning even if they don't plan to ever do that style.
I got your book and DVD last year (the ever-indulgent wife bumped me up to the now sold-out Special Edition with the extra plates
) and I have to say, you're right.As I go along it's just amazing how much I find little bits here and there where the techniques, or even just the basic ideas are just the thing I need to solve a problem, generally of my own making, of course.
Got a scroll in an odd spot where you can't seem to fit the leaves in? Do them like in EFS where the cuts define the back of one leaf, the front of the next and take out the background all at once.
Got an odd little bit where you need something just to keep from having a gap? Toss in a little piece of outside work.
And that's in addition to how much you learn about the bones of Engraving when you learn what is really a severely minimalist style. Several things I 'knew' really crystalized for me.
One of the big ones was that just as in Life, in Engraving it's not the cuts you make that matter so much as what you leave behind.
Learning 'normal' scroll you learn to make the cut to define the scroll backbone, then for each leaf you make a few cuts to define the leaf, skip across your negative space and do the next leaf. With EFS you cut to define the spine and then use each cut to define the back of one leaf / tendril and the front of the next one. Having the carefully shaped plunge cut touch the cut for the spine gives the shape of the head and just one more cut turns the leaf into a tendril. Add just a hint of shading and suddenly you have a nice little patch of scroll.
And once those lessons have settled into your brain you find yourself (or at least I did) changing how you think about other styles, finding the base rules and cuts and thus better understanding them.
I think a lot of new engravers would benefit from even a day or two of learning English the way you teach it right at the start.
So if you find yourself wondering if it was worth the time and effort to do the book & DVD rest assured: it was.
Thanks again!
