Art work for Bowie Guard

[vanknife]

Good day to all,

This is my latest artwork for a Bowie Guard, First it was drawn by pencil and then traced with microsoft Visio. I then doubled it to a mirror image and fitted it to the template of the guard.

Any tips and comments welcome



Cheers

"VAN"

 

[KCSteve]

I like it!

Nice flow, very good balance and symmetry (of course, since you mirrored 1/4 of it all the way around )

I like your leaves - nicely formed.

 

[Sam]

Van: The large scroll is pretty good, but the smaller scroll doesn't have a good proportional spiral. My advice is to work on that as it will make quite a difference in the end result. I tell my students to take whatever time necessary to get scroll backbone lines perfect.

What are you plans for the two V-shaped areas on each side of the blade?

Cheers / ~Sam

 

[vanknife]

Thanks Sam and Steve,
I can see what you mean, I will work on that second backbone. The two V's I will fill in with shadow lines starting at the blade and fade towards the valey of the "V"

regards

"VAN"

 

[fegarex]

Van,
What Sam said... The backbone is like a foundation of a house. If it is right, everything falls into place. If it is wrong, you will struggle through the rest of the design. Look at the backbone from several angles. It might look good one way but upside down may look wrong. Also, I think the tendrils could be a bit larger in both scrolls as well. They don't seem to be in proportion to the rest of the scroll.

 

[vanknife]

Thanks Rex,

it is back to the paper and pencil and will try to better the scroll.

Much appreciated

Cheers

"VAN"

 

[Tom Curran]

Also mirror the image. It can look entirely different to your eye; what once looked good to your eye may suddenly look like someone else drew it.

Put it away for a day, and look at it with fresh eyes in a few days.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi Van

A very pleasing design and you have obviousley worked hard at it. Something that will help with what the others have said is to pencil in your background (if you are going to stipple it).

You will find that the design looks quite different with a white background and a dark background.

A very nice project to be working on

Cheers
Andrew

 

[vanknife]

Hi Tom and Andrew,
Thanks for the tips i will do that, I have gone back to my original pencil drawing and had corrected the back bone and tendrils as was suggested by Rex and Sam and it looks a lot better.

Cheers
"VAN"

 

[Cloudy]

are you going to re-post?

 

[vanknife]

Yip just putting in some shadows

 

[Ron Smith]

Van, if you are going to stiple or matte the background for definition, always black in your drawing's background areas. This allows you to see flaws in balance and rythum, focal points and such. It will look intirely different. Then when you think you have it right, look at it in the mirror, or if you are drawing on tracing paper (the way I do my layouts) you can just turn the paper over, but this only works once, so wait till the last to do this.

If the border that you are going to be putting the design within going to be backgrond area? If so, if you black that in, you are going to have some out of balanced background areas around the perimeter of the design, not that this is wrong per se, but your boundaries are going to be irregular with massive black areas verses other balanced areas. Also, without black background areas, we can't tell intirely what your intent is. Keep your spacing consistant. what Sam reccomended was good and you might solve that problem by making the first spiral a little smaller, leaving a more consistant distance or space in the boundary around the design. See what I mean?

You have a very good approach on a pleasing design. All it needs is a little refinement.
Ron S

 

[Dulltool]

Wasn't "Bowie Guard" a character in Gone with the wind?

 

[Sam]

Wasn't "Bowie Guard" a character in Gone with the wind?

LOL - that was a good one.

 

[vanknife]

Revised Bowie Guard

Hey Dulltool,
Yes it was almost gone with the wind But "Superman" Sam; "Spiderman" Smith (Ron Smith);"T" Rex and some other members of the "Clan" helped me to find it and make it more presentable so here it is. Any comments welcome.

Thanks Sam;Rex;Andrew and Ron i hope you can see the changes that i have made and i tried to incorporate all the tips into the design.

(I had thought about the reply while i was Jogging on the tredmill (1hr)during my lunch break ha ha, time fly when you are having fun.)

Cheers

"VAN"

 

[Ron Smith]

Van, very good! Now hat is going to really bring it to life is the shading. I see some focal points but they are balanced through out the piece so the shading will more than likely take care of that and too since it is a symmetrical design, it is not a problem. It will look good when it is shaded.

Way to go Van! Can't wait to see it shaded and on the knife. Does the blackening in give you a different perspective or no?
Ron S

 

[vanknife]

Thanks Ron,

It definitely does give more perspective, Please allow me to say this, I have the two books that you have written and do enjoy it a lot and You are a real ambassador for our Creator the engraving world and mankind.

Cheers

"VAN"

 

[Ron Smith]

So are you too Van,
Thanks, but it shows in your commitment to beauty and grace, and it comes out your fingers as evidence. For what is within reveals itself without as the material result. The passionate commitment to acquire it is perfection, and whatever path the mind walks, the body must follow.

Rock on Van!

Forward!
Ron S

 

[Leonardo]

Hi Van, I like the final design. Really improved from the original. What software have you used to digitalize the design?
Cheers, Leonardo

 

[vanknife]

Thanks Leonardo,

I use Visio and Photoshop; the line work is done with Visio as well as the background the final tuning with Photoshop.

Cheers

"VAN"