Magnification for drawing

[pmace]

I’ve spent the past couple of months working on developing my skills at drawing scrolls and leaves. Doing larger work on a 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 sheet of paper is relatively easy to see but as I reduce the art to get down to a 2x4 or 2x2 practice plate things get more difficult to see. I have a lighted magnifier that helps a lot if I get everything in the right orientation. What, if anything do you guys use?

 

[monk]

a binocular zoom stereo microscope with a .5 cheater lens would be a good start

 

[SamW]

Optivisor.

 

[John B.]

As Sam W. says.
An Optivisor gives you more freedom of head movement and pencil space than any microscope.
Or even 3.5 diopter drugstore reading glasses will work.
And you can buy them at the Dollar ( now $1.35) store.
Sharp pencil, draw lightly, erase, make corrections then firm up lines.
Have plenty of CLEAN erasers and SHARP pencils available.

 

[pmace]

As Sam W. says.
An Optivisor gives you more freedom of head movement and pencil space than any microscope.
Or even 3.5 diopter drugstore reading glasses will work.
And you can buy them at the Dollar ( now $1.35) store.
Sharp pencil, draw lightly, erase, make corrections then firm up lines.
Have plenty of CLEAN erasers and SHARP pencils available.

Thanks John. My downfall is I draw too heavy and too fast. If I slow down to the speed at which I would be cutting it smooths things out greatly.

 

[tdelewis]

You might want to scan the full size drawing into something like adobe illustrator or some other program that will allow you to trace over the drawing using vectors. Then reduce the drawing to the size needed for transfer. Print the vector drawing. It will transfer much darker than a pencil drawing. You can find some other programs that will do the same thing as adobe illustrator. Perhaps someone will suggest a free one. I think some people use ink scape. Adobe illustrator is very expensive. Perhaps someone will suggest something. Also just a side note I sometimes use dental loups. You can get them on Amazon for about $40 and up, and I mean way up.

 

[pmace]

You might want to scan the full size drawing into something like adobe illustrator or some other program that will allow you to trace over the drawing using vectors. Then reduce the drawing to the size needed for transfer. Print the vector drawing. It will transfer much darker than a pencil drawing. You can find some other programs that will do the same thing as adobe illustrator. Perhaps someone will suggest a free one. I think some people use ink scape. Adobe illustrator is very expensive. Perhaps someone will suggest something. Also just a side note I sometimes use dental loups. You can get them on Amazon for about $40 and up, and I mean way up.

That is certainly an option. I have Illustrator and it would be relatively easy to do a transfer. I’m trying to practice drawing on the work piece so I can work on curved items. Digital is so nice because you can copy, paste and mirror and save a bunch of time. If there is a way to get flat art on a curved surface I’d love to know.

 

[SamW]

For curved surfaces such as a barrel, I lay paper over the area I want to engrave and make an outline of the area. Then with the paper flat it is easy to draw a design, getting scroll backbones nicely rounded. I then lay acetate over the drawing and scribe the basic design onto the acetate, wipe fine black powder into the scribe lines, pick up the black powder with scotch tape and position the design on the waxed metal area. You can keep the tape in place, lifting only portions of it while very lightly scribing the basic design onto the metal. The metal should be polished to 600 grit to allow very light scribing that can be easily seen and also easily burnished out for corrections as you finalize.

 

[pmace]

For curved surfaces such as a barrel, I lay paper over the area I want to engrave and make an outline of the area. Then with the paper flat it is easy to draw a design, getting scroll backbones nicely rounded. I then lay acetate over the drawing and scribe the basic design onto the acetate, wipe fine black powder into the scribe lines, pick up the black powder with scotch tape and position the design on the waxed metal area. You can keep the tape in place, lifting only portions of it while very lightly scribing the basic design onto the metal. The metal should be polished to 600 grit to allow very light scribing that can be easily seen and also easily burnished out for corrections as you finalize.

That’s cool. I have to give that a try. Thank you.

 

[SamW]

Though not as accurate, the same method can be used on domed surfaces by dividing it into more than one section. I find that useful also.

 

[monk]

You might want to scan the full size drawing into something like adobe illustrator or some other program that will allow you to trace over the drawing using vectors. Then reduce the drawing to the size needed for transfer. Print the vector drawing. It will transfer much darker than a pencil drawing. You can find some other programs that will do the same thing as adobe illustrator. Perhaps someone will suggest a free one. I think some people use ink scape. Adobe illustrator is very expensive. Perhaps someone will suggest something. Also just a side note I sometimes use dental loups. You can get them on Amazon for about $40 and up, and I mean way up.

i always used corel draw. i thing gimp may allow that to be done.