Critique Request My second bulino engraving attempt

monk

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the eagle is very nice. the foreground and background are confusing to me. i'd suggest doing a bit of touchup would make this quite nice.
 

Jan Hendrik

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the eagle is very nice. the foreground and background are confusing to me. i'd suggest doing a bit of touchup would make this quite nice.

The foreground is supposed to be water. I do not know if I should make areas of the water darker or the overall tone of the water darker?
The background was done to only suggest foliage in the distance. Should I rather make more defined foliage?
 

Dani Girl

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I will leave the bird for someone who knows about birds. Mountains could use some shaded sides or just more dots. Water could use more irregularity easily added still. Good job from a fellow newbie
 

Ron Jr.

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For a second attempt I'd call it very good, especially on Ti. I can speak from experience that it can be a pain in the a$$ to work with. As for your overall composition I think you did pretty well. Work on keeping the feathers uniform, the pattern seems to be different on each one on the wing closest to the viewer. Water can be difficult, light random lines/stripes/bars that vary slightly in direction and shade can usually get the point across, it doesn't take much. Yours looks like uniform dashes all in a line at first blush. In the attached picture (its scrim but same principle) I did ok on the water IMO (not good, just ok), it kinda shows what I mean. I made the water dark to make the model stand out but making water "light and blurry" is a quick and effective way to achieve your desired look. I wouldn't go darker on the water at this point, its going to make your subject matter blend in too much. Overall I understood what I was looking at right away so I'd call it a job well done and work to improve on the next one:) Hope this helped you in some way.
 

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monk

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The foreground is supposed to be water. I do not know if I should make areas of the water darker or the overall tone of the water darker?
The background was done to only suggest foliage in the distance. Should I rather make more defined foliage?

the water would work if you could add an undulating effect, rather than the straight line effect that you now have. as for the foilage in the rear, i think making things a bit more distinct would work. i'd practice on some scrap, to assure your bolsters will turn out to be improved. it would help to study all the bulino examples you could find.
 

Big-Un

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The closest leg of the eagle, from the start of the feathers to the wing is flat, needing more definition, and the white feathers on the head and neck are too long, imho. Not bad though, just a little more definition to accentuate form.
 

Southern Custom

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To my eye both the background and the water are far too regular. Water is wavy not straight. And the sections of background are all angular and appear more like rock than foliage. My early attempts were atrocious so I'd say you are on the right path.
 
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