Critique Request Pipe tamper sketch

[Jbardon]

This is my first project using my own scroll design. It is for a pipe tamper that is 3"x1/2". Ive been reading a lot of other's scroll critiques and it has been a real help in getting me this far but I feel as if I've hit a bit of a wall, I'm still pretty new to this. I appreciate any feedback.
Jason

 

[Kevin P.]

I like your sketch; but I'll leave it to the pros for the critique. I haven't seen anyone smoking a pipe in ages .
Kevin

 

[eastslope]

Drawing looks pretty good to me, but I don't know squat so I'm not a whole lot of help. Saw a guy walking around smoking a pipe at a car show on Saturday, so there are still a few out there. Seth

 

[Peter E]

I'm not a pro either, but that looks pretty good to me too!

Peter

 

[spank7357]

Jason, Not knowing exactly what shape the pipe tool is leads me to wonder why you made a mirror copy. Is this for each side? From one newbie to another I am a little jealous that your design looks so good. Me, I'm not a drawer and thereby struggle with forms such as scrolls, leaves and the like and living forms are even worse. So far I have followed the advise that I found on this site, and that is...buy Ron Smith's books on drawing scrolls, then practice your buns off. I started with one leaf pattern and drew it in the sequence as outlined in the book. Each time I sat down I attempted this same leaf without the book to see how far I could go. After many attempts I got it down. Then went on to the next scroll. Gee, this advise really works and best of all, it's FREE. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing. Regards, Dave "Spank" Spanski

 

[pilkguns]

It looks good.
Cut it and lets us see if your execution is as good as your drawing :^)

 

[silverchip]

I Like it ,but would consider flipping one side over and in the second largest scrolls,removing one of the leaf elements so they are not so compressed.Also check the spacing around the scrolls so that it is equal distance all around the perimeter.

 

[Jbardon]

Wow, this has taken me longer than i thought it would. Thanks for all the great responses and tips. I tried to work on evening the spacing of the background among the scrolls. I've finished shading half of it and would appreciate any feedback on my shading so far. I'd also like an opinion on whether or not I should remove the background.

When it comes to pipe smoking:thumbs up: i think its growing in popularity, at least if the number of pipe smoking videos on youtube are any indication. While i don't smoke often, I prefer it over cigarettes or cigars and it smells wonderful.
Thanks for all the support,
Jason

 

[Tira]

Jason, Congratulations on designing and following through on the first big project. It is quite an accomplishment for every engraver. There are a lot of good things happening in your design and elements that you need to practice - but - overall it looks good. Finish the piece and hold on to it and do another one. Then look at the difference in such a short time.

If you are looking for advice about the background removal I would say to skip it on this project for two reasons. The first is that, in general, the background is usually removed before the shading. This is because there is a lot of mechanical metal removing going on and, especially at first, you will probably ding some of your design. If you do this before the shading you can maybe change the shape of the leave in the design and shade it another way. If you do this after the shading then you may have to redesign a couple of leaves and it may look different than your design intended. It can be done, but it is much harder.

The second reason I wouldn't remove the background on this project is that the design goes almost up to the edge of the object. If you are very careful you can run a border line between the scroll backbone and the edge (or even run it right into the scroll backbone), but you will need to make an outside cut that borders you work so you can remove the background from the design to the border line. There is no exact rule on borders - they can be thick or thin, even in width or purposely follow the contour of the design, but they are an important design element.

One last thing about removing background for the first time. Remember to cut to the outside of your design. If you draw/design you leaves and cut on the line you will end up with smaller leaves than you think and more background than you think. When you go to cut a design with background removal you will need to cut outside the line (in the space that will be removed) and go up to the line of your design. That way you will preserve the leave/background mass relationship you have established.

Good luck and keep on cutting.

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Jason, I agree with Tina abut the background. And it also has to be done before shading, because shading to close to the border results in a black design.
Also about the shading, I think you have a bit to much even tone there, the veins of the leaves has to remain more white, without shading lines,.
As far as I learned, a leave needs two or tree veins.
The atachement shows

Besides that it looks pretty good to me

arnaud

 

[Ron Smith]

Jason,

I am pretty proud of your effort here. Very nicely done. There is one leaf in the design that looks over shaded and not in keeping with the others, making it stand out above the rest. "Focal point". It looks as if you didn't know what to do with it compared with the others. Were you trying something different and experimenting?

I think that your design and particularly your exicution looks pretty good. You have good balance within the design. I would suggest this and you will see the difference in backgrounding your work and not. Blacken yur drawing, post it, and let the others see how it effects the design. This would be good for all to see and would help them understand what I am talking about.

Take your drawing and blacken in the background. You will be surprized at the difference it makes in the visual effects and contrast of your work. also, there is a shrinking phenomenon. You will notice it when you blacken it in. you have created the drawing quite good as your drawing will particularly shrink if and when you cut it and background it, which makes this about right for backgrounding.

I, like the others suggested, would not do any background on this one, but do it on the next one. If you are not going to do background on a design, leave your elements a little more open with the leaves not coming so close to the spiral backbone line. This will give it a more obvious, open, and a little less crowded effect. These things need to be considered for doing just floral designs withoout background. This would change a bit with backgrounding or blackening the areas between the leaves. Try it and you will see what I mean.

The rest just comes with a little more experience.

Rock on Buddy, lookin' good.

Ron S

 

[Steel Chips]

Jason,

Kudos! Is that a horseshoe nail for the "foot" of the tamper? and do I spy a fold out pick? Sure would like to see a open shot of the innards and maybe some light fancy file cutting on the spines.

A very practical pocketable tool design with nice embellishment on the sides.