sketch

[didyoung]

what changes would you make to this sketch to improve it?

 

[sparklemotion]

I'm not sure that I follow where the leaf that swoops forward is growing out of... It looks like it and the flower are supposed to be coming out of the same "v" leaf, but they seem asymmetrical in an unnatural way.

I might try losing that leaf all together and replacing it by expanding both of the curls of the flower (it would be ok to have the upper curl end up bigger, but you'll probably want to add some heft to the bottom curl as well).

 

[thughes]

I like it. I wonder how it would look to go under with the first crossing, then have the head of the scroll overlap the main stem half way, or 2/3. Just a thought.

Todd

 

[didyoung]

Show me your version
Here is mine

 

[Christian DeCamillis]

Shawn,

I like the first version you drew although it has some issues which could be made better . A couple of the suggestions you got were possible options. To me the version on this conch or what ever it is seems as though you tried to fit a design into a shape it wasn't designed for. The smooth rounded lines of the first design are gone in the cut version and there are elbows and lines that don't seem to follow the flow of the design.

This is just my opinion. Everyone has different tastes and opinions and I am sure someone will like it and buy it.

Chris

 

[didyoung]

I agree .....It's not perfect and I have areas that can be improved upon.

 

[Peter_M]

You are getting pretty good at this Shawn!

Peter

 

[sparklemotion]

Show me your version
Here is mine

Shawn,

Thanks for the challenge, I was intimidated at first but figured I give it a go despite my limitations. I'm very new to the engraving world, and am focusing on my drawing and design skills before getting in too far (right now, I am limited to hand push engraving, and am not really functional in it yet)

None of images below are great, but I think they get across what I was trying to communicate, and I had some fun playing with my scanner and GIMP so I figured I'd share and see what people think.

First, I drew what I had described (replace the main leaf with a larger flower):



I thought it looked unbalanced overall and made the mistake of adding in a leaf (that suffered from the same issue I was trying to avoid -- where does it grow from?).



I think that this rotated version is a better way of solving the balance problem though:



I realized that part of my unhappiness was related to the backbone of the "flower." But the paper was too far gone for me to make that kind of adjustment. (Yet another reason to heed the advice to slow down on the backbones!!! ).

I started from scratch, this time basically from memory (as opposed to referencing the original). I worked in pencil again, but then traced over with an nib pen (since that's something I'm also trying to master). The scan wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to get me something black and white, which I plan to use as a template for pen and ink shading practice, even though there is a flaw in the scroll that the root that needs fixing.