Sprocketree

[LindasPencils]

Weil_SprocketreeDWM.jpg

I cannot recall if I have shown this here - it is a work created a few months back for the TacitArt 'Arbor' exhibition. 28 x 34 cm image area. Support is Lana 300gsm hot press paper. Technique was using watersoluble graphite and Derwent Graphitint to create light wash undertones (Indigo, Chestnut and 4B), then overdrawing with graphite pencil and yellow ochre Staedtler Karat color pencil. A bit of Staedtler blue lead was also used to enhance the depth of the darker areas. 2H freehand linework to create the background.

hope you enjoy!

[Mike Sibley]

First... how the heck did I miss this post!!???

I'm both fascinated and enthralled... for lots of reasons.

It's like "drop shadow" in Affinity Photo or Davinci Resolve on steroids - but far more subtly done. There is so much depth, given that each piece is flat and thin.

The little "droplet" bits remind me of horseshoe nails, although I don't think that's what they are.

And that thought lead to wondering... was a there something that inspired that trunk? Is it 100% imagination, or did you see something that sparked the idea? It reminds me of something Victorian in brass and silver, but I don't recall what it was.

One of the things that really hits home to me about your art is your thorough involvement. And that you can look past the obvious. For example, the trunk is bolted to the cog beneath by two straps. I can easily imagine almost any other artist subconsciously adhering to symmetry and bolting both ends to raised teeth in the cog. But not you..... you felt it necessary to bolt down each side differently - and that, to me, says, "total involvement, fun, joy, and probably a good dose of artistic deviancy". More power to your pencil!

OK, one last question. I can see some irregularities - so I've no doubt this was drawn entirely by eye - but how do you manage to accurately space the teeth? Where a cog disappears behind another, I can see that spacing only needs to be regularly spaced. But there are complete cogs where accuracy of tooth is necessary. So, how? Unless that's a trade secret...

[LindasPencils]

Mike, you missed me because *chuckles* I'm jus' hidin' away here in the CP forum.

...Affinity Photo or Davinci Resolve on steroids

Great programs, and a nice compliment!

The little "droplet" bits remind me of horseshoe nails, although I don't think that's what they are.

I don't really know WHAT they are. They started out as common old flat head screws, then sort of morphed and ballooned out into these dropsy flower head things. I was sort of thinking of Datura flowers as I drew.

was a there something that inspired that trunk? Is it 100% imagination, or did you see something that sparked the idea?

Yes.
to both. I am a frequenter and loiterer in the aisles of the local big box Bunnings hardware store. Getting strange looks as I take photos of various tools and screws and metal thingys. The trunk started out as an adjustable socket wrench and then bits got added and subtracted to it. The branches are various types of copper plumbers' pipes and joins.

you felt it necessary to bolt down each side differently

Ha! Only because I drew the large cog slightly wonky, and the teeth are not the same width or distance apart. So, both straps couldn't be the same length as the right one would be too short to reach across. So, I just bent it down and attached it that way.

but how do you manage to accurately space the teeth?

um. I don't? Well, I try, but not very successfully. You don't want to look to closely at some or try to count the teeth.
I have drawn a lot of gears and cogs in the past few years now.
I mean, A LOT.
So, I have a technique that seems to work well (see attached). It is just based on a simple circle, divided into quarters and eighths. Now that I have drawn so many of these I don't really have to think too hard about it anymore, just try to mix up the designs a bit. The basic one is the easiest to draw and often ends up as a background effect - like the darkest foliage in the this tree.
I also have a large number of templates that I can hand trace an outline of the cog/gear. But yes, basically all the gears are hand drawn.
One trick I also use is that I save every planning drawing and original drawing tracings. Once I have a bunch of cogs together in one drawing I can reuse them in another work by retracing, or flipping, or moving them around, adding new bits, etc. Or even photocopying larger or smaller to avoid the redraw. But the main work carries over from previous.

cogs4Mike_edited.jpg

[Mike Sibley]

I am a frequenter and loiterer in the aisles of the local big box Bunnings hardware store. Getting strange looks as I take photos of various tools and screws and metal thingys.

You and I are alike in that respect. Maybe most artists are? I collect interesting stuff, some of which appears in drawings. When you mentioned my "tidy studio" the shelves behind me have many feathers, an old 1910 oil can, a huge key and worm-eaten wooden door lock, fossils and rocks, a bird's nest, a chunk of wood chewed by Chinchillas, dead bats and insects... and more...

And I have a lot of old tools from my grandfathers. One was Estate Carpenter on Lord Whitmore's estate, and the other a blacksmith/farrier in the mines of the Tunnel Cement Company.

...So, both straps couldn't be the same length, as the right one would be too short to reach across. So, I just bent it down and attached it that way.

Which sort of proves my point. That you're living in your world as you create it, and you did what was needed to anchor it. And that adds more "reality" to an unreal situation.

I have drawn a lot of gears and cogs in the past few years now.
I mean, A LOT. So, I have a technique that seems to work well (see attached)...

Thanks! It all makes perfect sense when explained like that. Especially when you add your experience to the mix. And it’s probably the perfect method, because it produces "accurate" results that have an appealing hand-drawn look - not looking mechanical. Well, they are "mechanical", obviously, but... No, you're right. I'll stop digging the hole any deeper.

One trick I also use is that I save every planning drawing and original drawing tracings. Once I have a bunch of cogs together in one drawing, I can reuse them in another work by retracing...

That is both excellent advice, and a very handy hint.

I'll also add that those initial plans could be very important in later cases of fraudulent use of your work, and copyright claims. That's why I keep all my guideline drawings (which also note the date, source, and film/negative number - pre-digital, obviously).

And - as I discovered - you never know when you might write a book or begin to make "how to" videos. Suddenly, all those old "no longer required" sketches and line drawings are worth their weight in gold.

Oh... and that delightful "Dali-esque" cog? I mean... come on... that's just showing off!

But in a very brilliant and masterful way.

[wayneCol]

What an absolutely gorgeous ( and in my case inspiring ) and fascinating work. Wow!

[LindasPencils]

Thank you Wayne. This one was rather fun to draw... in a frustratingly convoluted way. lol.

[LindasPencils]

I mean... come on... that's just showing off!

snicker.

[PogArtTi]

Another piece that I'm spending my time on, watching it carefully with wide opened jaw
The tree
Unbelievable detail showing throughout, and amount of precision strokes involved Linda.
I was wonder how you can draw this mechanical wheels, but you have explained it already - thank you!