Help, please: Where am I going with this?

[Agnis]

Hi.

First of all - New Year promises fresh start and fill every heart with hopes and aspirations. Here I send my best wishes to this day and forever, to all of you!

Secondly - I've got a few of questions about "what am I doing". Is it even the correct way where I'm going?
I've been practicing some drawing of a simple scroll (if I even can call it that way, drew only seven of them).
Recently started to practice scroll drawing, while was watching some of Mr. Christian DeCamillis tips about drawing them.
Before the video's I had completely no idea of what, where or how should be drawn. :thinking:
If possible, please help with some pointers.

The second scroll after video's:

 

[sam]

You're off to a good start. The backbone of the scroll is pretty good, and the inside elements work except as you get toward the center. Keep those simple, and remember that when you scale this down to actual size those small center elements will be difficult to engrave and to see. Plus they don't really fit with the rest of the design.

Where the tips of your leaves fold over...don't bring that to a single line. Keep a little width there.

 

[mitch]

wow, Agnis, i am having a flashback... if you could find any of my early doodles & engravings from 35 years ago, they would look surprisingly similar. not sure if i should go so far as to say that necessarily means you're on the right track, but somehow i got from there to where i am now so you may not be too far afield. learn to see & copy the good stuff, then draw, draw, draw, and draw some more! keep a pad & pencil next to where you watch TV or wherever you're likely to have semi-idle time on your hands (maybe not while driving). keep at it and have fun!

 

[Marrinan]

Try to keep your backbone, the inside to the outside of the scroll backbone sized in relation to the leaf structures. Any taper should be slight and gradual.
Take a look at your first leaf. it is well done. Take note of the first curl. You could follow this line down until it nearly intersects with the outside line. That's great. This element would be easy to shade. Now look at the element above, at the eight o'clock position. Notice how this same little line if continued would go clear across the leaf. This would be very difficult to shade properly.

You want to think of the shading and how you will do it with each line you draw. I would encourage you to get Lee Griffiths excellent book and videos. Fred

 

[Brian Marshall]

Mitch, of course you can draw while you drive!

That's why they give out drivers licenses!

Everyone has the "right to drive" while doing whatever else they want in this country. It will soon be the way of the world.

One hand is full of a Big Mac or fries, the other is texting, the stereo (and sometimes video) is going, there's a beer between your legs and a joint smoldering in the ashtray... (if you have a car with an ashtray - otherwise it's propped on the edge of the beer can)

You steer with one knee whilst going 75 miles an hour. (best not to break the speed limit, after all)

All you have to do in order to draw - is make the big decision whether to put down the "smart"phone or the McDonalds...


Brian


And just about the time you make the decision as to which distraction to give up, the joint will fall off the edge of the beer can between your legs - you'll let go of the steering with your knee and slam into the concrete pylon at 75 miles an hour.

If you live, Obamacare will fix you right up so you can go try it again... if you don't, well Darwin is finally back on the job - thinning out the gene pool.

 

[mitch]

Friends don't let friends draw & drive.

 

[Agnis]

I'm thankfull for the tips.
Even in jungle somewhere there is a road, that lies ahead, it's just unknown.

 

[Brian Marshall]

Yup, there is a road - somewhere in between the jokes...

Sam gave you the best advice so far.


Brian

 

[atexascowboy2011]

Aggie, IF, this IS your 7th drawing attempt you are doing above excellent ! Just keep going on your drawing and dating your drawings, so you can look back 35 weeks (not years ) from now and see your progress.

 

[monk]

you're doing the most valued discipline first-- that of concentrating on drawing & design. the cutting comes far easier when you're comfortable with the design process.

 

[KCSteve]

A few things I can add (some of which have already been covered)

Something that took me a long time to realize: In engraving, as in life, it's not the cuts we make that matter but the shapes we leave behind.
What this means in practice, or at least the core thing for now, is that the line you cut for your scroll is not the backbone. The backbone is that sacred bit of white space just inside that line that you always leave. It's also why, when you draw, your lines should overlap the border lines rather than run next to them. Draw for the space inside lines, not the lines themselves. Otherwise you wind up with your elements too thin, and too far apart.

To paraphrase from Lee Griffith's book/DVD, all changes in direction should be smooth. Think of exit ramps and curves on the highway. This doesn't mean there aren't any corners, just that the flow never makes a sharp turn.

Your leaves (and other elements) should go together. Yours seem quite reasonable, up until that last inside bit.

 

[Agnis]

Thank you!

In shop where I work, we had a stock-taking at the end of last year (in between holidays), so there weren't much spare time to draw something. And it was quite tiring part of the work, thank goodness it is once a year.

Here are the rest of them (and sometimes I forget to write date too). Also been thinking of what I've been doing with the first ones.
Just now I noticed, that I also managed to spend some time in the future (4th picture). :biggrin: