Copying by hand and cutting practice

[Kevin Scott]

Bought 2 pounds of brass or bronze and 1/2 pound of plated aluminum plates for trophies etc. Nice thickness to use or for practice. Pretty cheap. $11.00 total with shipping.

Tried out the brass plated aluminum.
Thought the plates would make nice labels - plaques for boxed tool sets, so tried one for a Lorch lathe. Wanted to try to copy the official Lorch logo, and even though it was a perfect job for a transfer, decided to try how well I could copy it by hand and eyeball.

Even though the drawing is far from perfect, and the more I look, the more I see differences, I was still surprised how close I came. And spent less time doing it than if I tried to make a transfer. Partly because I have next to no experience with transfers.

A couple years ago my copy would have only have barely looked similar. The point is, someone like me with no artistic talent can learn some drawing skills. I will never be good, but I do see myself getting better.

The cutting is different story. Not so good. Partly because the logo is not really engraver friendly, at least not to this one. Used mostly a flat on the wide cuts. But as you can see, poor outlines of many of the letters.

Not sure how to go about the next practice try. Maybe cut out the outlines with a 90 degree graver, then use a flat. Maybe cut deeper. Need more practice with a flat.

Comments welcome.

 

[Christian DeCamillis]

Kevin,

A bit of advice QUIT telling yourself you will never be good at drawing. Instead say I am getting better and can do even better yet . I just need to keep drawing and practicing. what you are doing is just creating self fulfilled prophecy. You can draw and you just proved it here.

Using wide flat cut for this is just handicapping your effort. Instead cut the outline and then cut fine shade lined horizontally to fill the letters in. Please show the result again after you draw it freehand again and re cut it. I bet it will be even better this next time.

 

[monk]

simply giving it an honest try will give you experience. you can build on that experience, time after time. transfer techniques will likely never replace drawing skills. a poor drawing well cut, is still poor work.also a perfect transfer , poorly executed- well you get the drift here. keep a looseleaf journal of your drawings. date the entries, you'll see progress. practice never goes negative, only goes positive. btw-- welcome to the forum.

 

[Kevin Scott]

Chris, thanks for the advice and encouragement. I have always believed pretty much what you are saying about being able to do things. And creating negative self fulfilling prophecies. Got to have the right attitude. The point you are trying to make is the same point I was trying to make, which is with practice and study someone with no artistic talent can develop very good drawing skills. Not that I have very good drawing skills yet, but like I said "I surprised myself" on how far I have come.
I do think I can develop very good drawing skills.

But I do not think I can ever be an artist. To be an artist, takes vision, an ability to create something new from nothing. Many people on this forum have it. I don't think someone can be taught that.

Anyway, here is my second attempt. Did the drawing more carefully, erased when I saw things wrong, and spent more time at it. The first drawing did pretty fast because I figured it would end up in the scrap metal pile no matter how long I spent at it. It was an experiment to get a feel of the plated aluminum, and get ideas on how to cut the logo.

I think the second drawing is better and more accurate. Just like drawing a picture, with lettering you also have to look at negative space. I have learned alot about how to draw by watching engraving videos and paying attention to how the engraver used the pencil and trying to imagine what he was thinking as he drew. Even though the videos are not about drawing at all.

Cut the outlines as you suggested. I like your idea of horizontal fine shade lines. Going to do that next after studying my old lettering books. There is a way to do it that lowers the infill. Each shade line cuts off the peak of the shade line next to it, leaving everything lower. Used on jewelry so the engraving wears better since it is below the surface of the plate. Left the paint on the plate to protect it from scratches when I do the infill. The brass plating scratches very easily.

 

[monk]

looks a lot better !