Critique Request Practice and a couple buckles

[Casey Jordan]

Here's a practice plate and a couple of buckles I made for my grandsons. Sorry for the poor photography!
Please let me know what I'm doing wrong. I see some mistakes, but I'm still new at engraving and won't know if I'm doing it wrong unless someone lets me know. These are my first few attempts at shading.

You will be doing me a favor by being brutally honest.
Thanks for the help.

 

[Harpuahound]

Nicely done. They will sport those buckles proudly. Looks to me like youre shading lines are generaly to heavy. Lighter lines and closer together. But really a job well done.

 

[McAhron]

I think your grandsons are going to be very proud to wear those.Good job! Im a newbie too so take my advice for what its worth.Your cross hatching should not be evenly spaced.It should be close together where you want dark shadows and gradually increase in distance to add depth and shading.Some of your shading is too close to the ends of the leaves while others are too far and dont follow the contours.Also there are some rather large areas on the practice plate that have no shading and it looks a little awkward because the rest is so heavily shaded.Sam did an excellent post recently showing different shadings,take a look as I think seeing how he does it will cure your problems.I think overall you should be proud

 

[Jim Sackett]

In your art work, try to show more contrast between the thick and thin parts of the letters. Nice buckles!

Jim

 

[pilkguns]

Overall it looks good to me. Need to work on tool control a bit, but overall its good. I agree with the statement about the shading lines. I would also point out the crossover shading on the practice plate. I notice a number of places where you have heavily shaded both the upper crossover and the under crossover. Normally you would leave the upper crossover much lighter than the bottom. And I see one crossover where you hav left both the upper and lower "light" without shading.

 

[Casey Jordan]

Thanks to everyone who responded.
I knew someone would catch the thin shapeless letters.
I will try to practice using all your advice, and I sure do appreciate your help!

 

[Steve223]

Casey nice work!It looks like you are really progressing. Nice photos also,I wished mine lookd as good.
Steve

 

[bronc]

Nice work.

 

[Casey Jordan]

Thanks Steve and Bronc!
I went to both of your websites, I have a ways to go to catch up to you guys.

 

[ddushane]

You're gaining on it Casey, Looks pretty good! Keep it up!

Dwayne

 

[Casey Jordan]

Thanks Dwayne.

I realize I have a long way to go but that is half the fun of getting there.
I will keep after it.