Overshading

[sam]

I found this photo on eBay from a seller who buys and sells old photos from newspapers.

I did this in 1989 and is a great example of overshading. It's not horrible, but serves as an example of how I was filling leaves with as many lines as possible. I'd like to think I shade smarter today than I did back then. More isn't always better.

 

[Eugene Carkoski]

I like it anyway, Wouldn't it be nice if we could have someone look over our shoulder and say stop right there.

 

[Memorymaker]

Really ........ As a total Nubie ........ I find it really good

 

[Bluetickhound]

It was a problem for me when I started in leather working... As important as it is aesthetically to properly fill space, it's equally as important to know when to stop!

 

[SalihKara]

Sam,
Why don't you like it. To me it is an astonishing engraving.
I realy liked the shading lines.

 

[Sandy]

Sam
At what point does shading become over done.
Sandy

 

[Brian Hochstrat]

So where do you draw the line between fine shading and over shading?

 

[Leland Davis]

The shading looks very good to me. Is over shading spending so much time on it you can't make any money?

 

[Omar Haltam]

that is beautiful Sam... now do you mean with over shading that you made to many shading lines too close to each other. and that fewer lines would have been enough. like 1/3 less lines?
or is does it depend which area we are looking at, like under leaf folds?

thanks

 

[mdengraver]

Sam I would be pleased and proud if I could engrave like that but also that level of detail if I were to attempt to engrave it would probably put me over the edge trying to reach the unattainable!

 

[grumpyphil]

Sam I think I get where you are coming from...very early on I was told "a good artist knows when to stop."
I think it would be helpful to show how you would do it today as a more mature artist. In any case, thanks for showing it.

 

[mdengraver]

Less is more!

 

[Chujybear]

So where do you draw the line between fine shading and over shading?

I see what you did there

 

[RDP]

View attachment 38710

I found this photo on eBay from a seller who buys and sells old photos from newspapers.

I did this in 1989 and is a great example of overshading. It's not horrible, but serves as an example of how I was filling leaves with as many lines as possible. I'd like to think I shade smarter today than I did back then. More isn't always better.

I can only wish I could be that bad, :biggrin:

Richard.

 

[Dani Girl]

So how long had you been engraving in 1989? Has it been merely practice and observation that have caused the changes you've made since then? I still like it a lot.

 

[sam]

So where do you draw the line between fine shading and over shading?

Good question Brian, and I should state that I only speak for my work and no one else's. I'm no authority on how it should or shouldn't be done. I just know that at that time I was obsessed with stuffing as many fine lines as I could into each leaf. Churchill cautioned me about it but it took several years for it to sink in. For my work, finer and more lines are not necessarily better than strategically placed shading using less lines, heavier lines when called for, and achieving highlights and an organic character.

 

[sam]

So how long had you been engraving in 1989? Has it been merely practice and observation that have caused the changes you've made since then? I still like it a lot.

Professionally for 9 years, Dani. I struggled with it for 10 years before that though.

 

[tdelewis]

I found myself trying to put too many shading lines in a leaf as well. I purchased some casting to study and counted how many lines are in a space and try to follow the lead of the masters.

 

[sam]

I hope Rocky (capece rocco) doesn't mind me sharing this photo he posted in the Cafe awhile back. I think his work exemplifies great shading!

 

[mitch]

Sam, i think some of that was due to it just being the style back in that era. There was kind of a competition (sometimes not too subtle) among some of us in the trade at the time trying to outdo one another with the finest shading, hair-fine gold-inlaid lines (who needs a .002" gold line???, but i did it!), crazy complex layouts, machine perfect borders and lettering, etc. To some extent, we all got caught up in it, especially the younger guys. A lot of it was driven by those d@mn Italians! Everybody started using microscopes. Collectors encouraged and enabled it. I like to think it helped create some lasting innovations and fueled a genuine renaissance in engraving, but, yeah, i'm glad the pendulum swung back to a more 'human', more artistic/less mechanical level, with less emphasis on what we could do with our scopes cranked up to 20x.

Winston & Lynton were probably laughing at us, but they had a lock on their market niches. And for the record, i still think that hideously 'overshaded' stuff you did back then was, and still is, flippin' awesome. I copy-n-paste all the shots you post into a folder on my computer.