another first attempt

[tim wolf]

Hi,
After watching a Christian Decamillis video (basic technique bulino engraving)
this is my first attempt of the bulino.
Ithink it will take another 1OOyears to do what he does in his video...:thinking:
All straight lines, not one is curved.
The image is just something i found on google. it's a steel practice plate size=3cm
Greetings,
Tim.

 

[bram ramon]

Not Bad at all for the first time!,

Some tips;

When engraving scenes on steel you want it to be nice polished up to 4000 grit paper
Than you trace the pic with a pantograph
And for an eagle, an eagle has a strong big beac this one must come out so you engrave the contours not with short lines like you would do with the feathers. And never leaf a space uncut, also by giving it more black you will give it more volume.

Keep up the good work!

bram

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Nice for a first attempt, and I have to agree with Bram's advice

arnaud

 

[Gemsetterchris]

Follow Bram's advice & do the same thing again...see what happens when you compare.
Too many people jump onto another subject without nailing anything.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi Tim

It would be interesting to see the original image that you used. If it was a full colour image try converting it to greyscale in Photoshop or something.

When you engrave anything, be it a scroll or an eagles head, you have to think of light and shadow. This is really important as this is what gives everything depth and shape ........this means you have to really look at something and see all the subtle shades of grey that make up the the picture otherwise it will look flat.

When you look at a bear they just look like a big blob of black........but if you look more closely they are made up of very subtle shades of light and shadow that gives the bear form that you see in a photograph (or real life if you can get close enough)

For instance, the eyes on the eagle are just black..........in reality they will go from light to dark in areas. This will make the eyes round, sparkle and give it life. The same applies to the beak. More shading will make it look rounder.

Bulino type work is simple enough.......it is essentially the grouping of small cuts and dots to make up groups of light and shadow that blend into one another. A good exercise is to make a small, long rectangle. Start with white at one end and make it turn black at the other end. Between the white and black you must go through a few shades of grey to make the transition. It's a simple exercise but good practice.

In some case the pictures we work from are not good enough to get a lot of detail from........in that case you have to make it up as you go. So you may want several photos/pictures to work from. And sometimes we just have to imagine what it's like and go from there.

Cheers
Andrew

P.S. One thing that maybe helpful to you to understand light and shadow is a very basic "How to Draw" book that shows you how to draw with a pencil. Generally these books go into light and shadow in great detail. Once you fully understand that, then you are about 80% there…………the rest is just technique.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

I will give you an example of what I'm talking about.

On the left is a circle. It is flat and lifeless and has no depth.

On the right is the same circle with light and shadow. By adding light and shadow it has now become a three dimensional sphere.

If you look closely there are very subtle shades of grey going from light to dark. The denser the grey is, the darker it looks.

What this means is when you do the cutting.........cuts/dots overlapping one another look black. The more spaced apart they are they will look grey. The further apart they are spaced the lighter it will look until you have white.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[tim wolf]

Hi Andrew, thank you for all this interesting information.
several of these things decamillis explaines in his video i watched but there is so much to pay attention to.
problem with people is they wanna go to fast(my problem anyway)
instead of starting with basic lessons in drawing and learn to understand light and shadow i start immidiatly to cut so i always run ahaed of myself.
i tried to attache the original immage(don't know if it worked, i'm not realy a computerexpert
Tim

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Don't worry, Tim......we have all done the same

Look, draw, cut, look, draw, cut, look, draw, cut, look, draw, cut.........and it will all come together one day.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Beathard]

And more look, draw, cut... I'm still in the loop...

 

[rayf24]

Tim
Another thing that is worth done all be it boring is watch that dvd three or four times ever time you will pick up something else. when I first tried it using the dot method it drove me mad I just couldn't get the dot super fine but it did happen in the end like Andrew said Look, draw, cut, look, draw, cut, look, draw, cut, look, draw, cut.........and it will all come together one day.
This engraving lark is like a drug or tool porn you want more and the more you get the more you want I dont think there is a cure for it if you look at old photos of Sam and Andrew just to mention a few they had hair when they started and look at them now
just keep at it remember the line in a movie Build it and they will come , it much the same do it and it will come
Ray

 

[tim wolf]

Thanks guys!
there's still so much to learn, and engraving has so many different styles and techniques.
for the moment i'm just trying out all that different techniques so i can figure out what i love most and then concentrate on that specifique part on engraving(that's the plan
Tim