Birds in flight on Sterling Silver pendants

Dani Girl

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I'm looking forward to any helpful critiques or comments anyone has about these.

Thank you all

Danae.




 

Leonardo

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Beautiful work Dani, as always!

Just would like to comment that it seems to me that you engraved the leg of the bird on the left backwards... Hope I'm wrong!
 

Crossbolt

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Nice.
At the risk of being overly critical, the anatomy of the hawk in particular could be refined next time.
Perhaps I am overly sensitive to that since I am occasionally studying the details of birds for my own purposes. The details are subtle and probably not of note to most.
There's a rather good reference from an artist down your way that might interest you: Bird Anatomy for Artists by Natalia Baro.
www.BFineArt.com.au

Just a thought for continual improvement:)
Jeremy
 

allan621

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The two engravings are really fine pieces of work, very dynamic and balanced within the borders. But I have to agree with the two observations about the anatomy of the birds. The legs on the left are backwards, and the hawks body is out of kilter with the upper wing looking like is coming from the top of the body instead of the side.

For most people they would really love these pendants and they should. They are fine pieces of work. But their was a very widespread book, probably more popular twenty years ago than today by James Meek. And he made a point of explaining how skewed anatomy eventually detracts from the overall effect of the finished engraving. Your work is really good, but a little more time on the layout would make the same work go from really good to truly outstanding.

Allan
 

Dani Girl

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Thanks all. Very helpful tips and I'll try to work on the details of good anatomy.

I didn't notice the hawk was that far off except for that funny forward facing feather on the top right that got bigger and bigger the more i tried to fix it. :) But now you point it out it is odd feeling somehow about where the wings are coming out of the body. Thank you

Yes, yes, the feet... ummmm no comment
 

Leonardo

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Hi Dani,

Perhaps you can fix it inlaying a copper one (in the right direction :))... you can match it inlaying the beak too. It might looks quite nice.

Cheers,
Leonardo
 

Dani Girl

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I don't have the skill to put copper into silver, I could do gold but... frankly it looked really weird in the picture too so I don't think I can make it look normal.
 

Leonardo

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That's OK but, what about adding something like a little lizard trapped with the claw?
Surely it was a lot of work and it would be a pity to let it aside just by that mistake... come on Dani Girl, you can do that! :thumbsup:
 

John B.

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This might be a help to some.
Most birds, like humans have ten digits.
That is to say they have ten flight feathers in the outer portion of their wings unless they are molting or damaged in some way.
And again, most birds have twelve "steerable" tail feathers.
 

diandwill

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Beautiful work, and far better than I can do. My main observation is the feathers. The lines in feathers don't run straight to the end. There is a central vein, usually seen off center by the overlapping of the other feathers, and the individual feather pieces go towards the edge of the feather. Most would never notice, but it's a small detail that will elevate the engraving even another step.

Outstanding work.
 

rmgreen

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What I most appreciate most about this thread are the comments of truly professionals offering "fixes". I hear those voices: "I've been there, done that" and the positive encouragement to make it better. A most outstanding attitude of the artist and her peers. Bravo!
 

Southern Custom

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You are lucky to have such an observant bunch of fellows here Danae. Great job in the execution. I'm not a bird man so the flaws didn't pop out till pointed out to me. Engraving is top notch though.
And while it's always nice when it occurs, one doesn't come here for pats on the back. I spend time here to learn and pop into Facebook for messing about.
 

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