Astronomical Sketch Books

Astronomical Sketch Books


In this day of multi-mega pixel DLSR’s, dedicated astronomical cameras, and high-tech photo-processing software we often over look one of the cheapest and easily accessible tools in our cosmic recording arsenal: Astronomical Sketching. During our March 9th 2012 meeting, presenter Ian Hewitt taught the club just how easy and effective this useful and often less attempted skill can be to pursue.

For those of us who are non-artists, we’re often haunted by images of 1st grade stick figures, being passed over in elementary art class for the “better” students, and, in our spare time, flailing ineffectively to capture even a simple still life.  As a result, we’ve given up on art thinking that, “it’s to hard,” “I’m not an artist,” or “I just can’t do it.” However, Ian was able to dispel the many of these old and misguided attitudes by reassuring the club that: “You can capture what you see,” “It is easy,” and “you can do it.”  Ian went on to prove his clam by encouraging the club to adopt the following strategy:

  1. Follow a Simple Strategy
    1. Maximize your time at the eyepiece
    2. Have the right tools on-hand
    3. Capture what you see on paper
    4. ID the Sketch and move onto the next object
  2. The Next Day after sketching
    1. Tough up the sketch from what you remember
    2. Fill-in any missing information on the sketch sheet
  3. Choosing the right sketching equipment is important.
    When compared to other pursuits in Astronomy, Astronomical Sketching I by far the cheapest and can be done for pennies. However, don’t go overboard with buying large quantities. Acquiring a few of the right items will go a very long way. Equipment you should consider buying are as follows:
    1. An assortment of blending stubs
      1. These are made form tightly rolled paper
      2. Can be sharpened with sandpaper
      3. Are used to put lead onto paper and making soft “nebula-like” depictions without obscuring hard structures mad with a pencil.
    2. Soft lead artist pencils
      1. Used for making stars
      2. Brighter stars are larger blacker bolder dots
      3. Faint stars are smaller lighter dots
    4. Erasers
    5. Acid Free paper (copier or printer paper works great!)
    6. Artist Pens
      1. Also used for making stars
      2. Brighter stars are larger blacker bolder dots
      3. Faint stars are smaller lighter dots
    7. Clipboard
      1. This is not really required for sketching.  Really any artist’s pad will do.  However, just from the aspect of practicality, utility, and ease of use Ian high recommended getting a clipboard.
      2. The clipboard should be made of durable plastic
      3. It should contain a a compartment for holding your pencils, pens, erasers,and blending stumps.
      4. It should contain a larger compartment for holding your paper supply keeping your work safe from moisture.
      5. And of course a clip with a hard writing surface on top
  4. Technique
    Once upon a time a young hurried musician hopped into a Taxi yelling at the driver, “Quick!, How do I get to Carnegie Hall?,” to wit the cabbie answer dryly, “Practice, baby, Practice.”  Well, the same holds true for astronomical sketching, if you want to get good at it then you’ve got to practice!  The following techniques wont make you a Rembrandt over night, but with consistent use they will make you a decent astronomical sketcher:
    1. Pick a target to practice on
    2. Select the right magnitude
      1. You don’t want the object to be too big or too small
      2. Bear in mind that you don’t have to capture the entire object.  At first just capture the highlights.  As a budding astronomical artist always feel free to choose what you will add to the sketch vs. what you will leave out.  You have absolute control over your own work. For example you don’t have capture all of the background stars behind a galaxy but you can capture highlights such as a central bulge (is one exists) and a few prominent stars that are close by that would help other identify the object later on.
    3. For Nebula, don’t use apply lead pencils directly to paper
      1. Transfer pencil lead to blending stumps (This is done by rubbing the t of the blending stump with the tip of the pencil).
      2. Use the blending stump to apply the lead to paper.
    4. Rendering stars
      1. Again, the larger brighter stars are larger blacker dots
      2. Use a light touch a little pressure transfers a lot.
      3. For fainter stars use a “fleeting touch”
      4. Background stars
        • Capture just enough stars to give a god sense of what the general field looked like.
        • Again, you don’t have to capture every star.
      5. Double Stars
        • These are pretty easy and often make great candidates for first sketching attempts.
        • Alberio is an example of great first object.
  5. Additional First Steps
    1. Select a good observing site.  Preferably on that is fairly dark and one where you can see a lot of stars.
    2. Start by Sketching stars and star pattern.  We all naturally see stars in geometric shapes so star by sketching those shapes. Some shapes to consider are:
      • Triangles – Squares
      • Trapezoids
      • Parallelograms
      • Arcs
      • Circles
      • Strings (or trails)
    3. Once you’ve sketched the major star patterns fill in the picture form there
      • Work on one section at a time
      • Make sure the major sections of the object get filled in
      • Don’t sweat the smaller stuff
  6. Sketching Nebulae and Galaxies
    1. Start with the object
      • Use the blending stub
      • Start with the center of the object and work your way out towards the outer edges
      • Once you’ve captured the general shape and structure of  the object, add minor details that you observe in the object
      • Blend lead (via blending stump) to correct the object (if need be)
      • Darken any spots as needed
      • Add any additional stars that you feel would enhance the object
  7. Globular Clusters or Densely Packed Star fields
    1. Use the blending stump to capture the basic structure
    2. “Stipple” the inside and outside with directly with a lead pencil. Don’t worry about capturing exact star position within a dense star field or globular cluster.
    3. Do try to capture relative positions of bright stars (I they exist) within the structure.
  8. Touch Up
    As mentioned earlier in this article, once you’ve captured the object go back the next day and look at it.  You may want to touch it up.  You can do this by:

    1. Looking at your sketch in the light of day.  You just ma ask yourself, “What was I thinking!?”
    2. Add textual information concerning the object
    3. Use a soft eraser to touch-up the object.
    4. You may decide to simply redo the sketch
    5. Always compare it to an established photo.  This will help you become better at sketching.

After Ian had thoroughly explained and demonstrated the above techniques he handed out blending stumps, pencils, and sketching paper to the club.  It was now time for the club to put Ian’s presentation to practical use.  Ian put a few target objects after several minutes many of the club members produced some amazing sketched that bore striking similarities to the Ian’s target objects.

Ian concluded his presentation by directing the club to books containing both his sketches and astronomical photographs of the same object.  Ian also directed the club’s attention to Jim Anderson’s sketches.  Jim is the club sketching expert and many of Jim’s sketches are so accurate that, when scanned and turned into a reversed negative image, Jim’s sketches are virtually indistinguishable from a black & white astro-photograph.  Jim also had his books of sketches on hand.  The club was able to view both Jim and Ian’s work during the club break.

Ian concluded his presentation by reminding the club that astronomical sketching is fun, easy and economical to purse but to do so takes the right equipment, a little planing, and lots of practice, So, Practice, Baby Practice!