Well, my 4" TV-102 Light Cup and I took the imagery plunge.
When Eric Jamison first conversed with me about sketching and I saw his beautiful sketches, I told him no way - that's just plain too darn tough! Besides, I'm no artist and my only *formal* drawing classes were one year of Engineering Drawing as an engineering student ;-), a class which I found thoroughly unenjoyable (but I can sure draw circle and cubes ;-). More than a year later, my TV-102 Light Cup and I finally worked up the gut with the help and
tips from Eric who is now my e-Mentor; the Light Cup showed me the view and I the scribe doodled the image.
http://members.cox.net/ronby/Sketches.htm
Well, my sketch isn'tt very good but there's a first try for
everything ;-). I used 176x, 220x and 293x (5mm, 4mm and 3mm TV Radian - eyepieces made for sketching). Seeing was steady but the wind shakes things up now and then. There are several things I did learn from this first experience:
1. Saturn is definitely a good start for sketching a planet.
2. I think the ALPO template is too large (was probably designed for some 10" scope :-(). So I think I'm gonna use a scaled down template next time.
3. Last night, it was quite cold (49d F) for me, no joke. I'm glad the 4" is so quick to setup and cooldown because if seeing was bad, I'd have packed it in and called it the night!
4. The Cassini Division can be seen all around. But had I not done the sketch, I wouldn't have noticed that it's a lot more prominent around the ansae than in front of and behind the planet.
5. Eric is absolute right. After I finished the sketch, I went back to observe over and over again. Then, I noticed I missed the tiny shadow on the ring! Sketching indeed does help me see more! Also, indeed I noticed no gap in the Cassini Division from the 4-inch as I've seen in the photos from large aperture :-(.
6. I've got to get new batteries for my motor drive. Even though the slow motion knob works just fine on my EQ mount and the wide field of the Radian helped a lot, I can't see doing sketching long-term without the drive. Interestingly, sketching has now exposed the question of whether a Dobs without EQ platform for planets (and EQ platform is no cheap accessory) is in my kharma? Just curious, how do you Dobsters sketch?
7. Need to go get some *artist* pencil sets in the attempt at improving my skill ;-).
Here's a pointer to a great tutorial on how to do planetary sketching.
http://home.fiam.net/ericj/drawing.html
Thanks for taking your time to read this and viewing the sketch. Comments, criticism, critique (except stone throwing ;-) are warmly welcome.
Ron the 4-inch Tall Doodling B[ee]
When Eric Jamison first conversed with me about sketching and I saw his beautiful sketches, I told him no way - that's just plain too darn tough! Besides, I'm no artist and my only *formal* drawing classes were one year of Engineering Drawing as an engineering student ;-), a class which I found thoroughly unenjoyable (but I can sure draw circle and cubes ;-). More than a year later, my TV-102 Light Cup and I finally worked up the gut with the help and
tips from Eric who is now my e-Mentor; the Light Cup showed me the view and I the scribe doodled the image.
http://members.cox.net/ronby/Sketches.htm
Well, my sketch isn'tt very good but there's a first try for
everything ;-). I used 176x, 220x and 293x (5mm, 4mm and 3mm TV Radian - eyepieces made for sketching). Seeing was steady but the wind shakes things up now and then. There are several things I did learn from this first experience:
1. Saturn is definitely a good start for sketching a planet.
2. I think the ALPO template is too large (was probably designed for some 10" scope :-(). So I think I'm gonna use a scaled down template next time.
3. Last night, it was quite cold (49d F) for me, no joke. I'm glad the 4" is so quick to setup and cooldown because if seeing was bad, I'd have packed it in and called it the night!
4. The Cassini Division can be seen all around. But had I not done the sketch, I wouldn't have noticed that it's a lot more prominent around the ansae than in front of and behind the planet.
5. Eric is absolute right. After I finished the sketch, I went back to observe over and over again. Then, I noticed I missed the tiny shadow on the ring! Sketching indeed does help me see more! Also, indeed I noticed no gap in the Cassini Division from the 4-inch as I've seen in the photos from large aperture :-(.
6. I've got to get new batteries for my motor drive. Even though the slow motion knob works just fine on my EQ mount and the wide field of the Radian helped a lot, I can't see doing sketching long-term without the drive. Interestingly, sketching has now exposed the question of whether a Dobs without EQ platform for planets (and EQ platform is no cheap accessory) is in my kharma? Just curious, how do you Dobsters sketch?
7. Need to go get some *artist* pencil sets in the attempt at improving my skill ;-).
Here's a pointer to a great tutorial on how to do planetary sketching.
http://home.fiam.net/ericj/drawing.html
Thanks for taking your time to read this and viewing the sketch. Comments, criticism, critique (except stone throwing ;-) are warmly welcome.
Ron the 4-inch Tall Doodling B[ee]
