Herman the Hermit crab

[Martin Wilson]

Well sorry he is not a spider nor a fly, but he is arty all the same.
In response to Andestine's thread.
Done on scratch board as I am still working on creating my own boards or metal plates to do black through white, I some how prefer to work this way than on white paper with black in... maybe I should persevere with it or try to find thinner ways of drawing lines on papaer...

Martin

[Deb London]

Excellent Martin! I'm enjoying your scratch board work.

Originally Posted by Martin Wilson

Well sorry he is not a spider nor a fly, but he is arty all the same.
In response to Andestine's thread.
Done on scratch board as I am still working on creating my own boards or metal plates to do black through white, I some how prefer to work this way than on white paper with black in... maybe I should persevere with it or try to find thinner ways of drawing lines on papaer...

Martin

Don't be sorry!

[Martin Wilson]

Thanks for the comments Deb... as for sorry it meant that as yet I do not have a good enough image to do a scratchy of either a fly or a spider. When I do I will have a go.
Comments greatly appreciated Deb.

Martin

[Kayleigh]

Nice work Martin.

[theresa dockery]

Wonderful!
The textures are great - the rough, gnarled surface of the shell & the spines/knobbles on the legs are very realistic.

I've never seen this technique before - what's scratchboard?

Also, is he a pet of yours?

[Andestine]

That’s a superb rendering of a fascinating creature. I agree with Theresa - you have such a sensitive touch for texture, and you've shown the hairs on the legs really well too. Lovely .

I love hermit crabs Ever since I was a child they’ve entranced me, and I still act as gopher and hunt for new shells to offer them when they’ve outgrown the old, and hope one day to get a photo of the moment when they make the switch

But I smiled when I saw your subject as it was one of those lovely coincidences…

On Saturday the Cub finally tired of the endless ice creams the doc had prescribed for her Strep throat (to compensate for the overdose of Augmentin, no doubt) and she sent me out on my bike to get fish and chips, so, of course, I took a detour to explore the low tide. It was only a neap tide and not much was on offer, but one little stranded thing caught my eye, and it was the only live beastie I took photos of that day, as I was still suffering from pseudo-flu. And guess what it was? Mine was much shyer than yours (though I think I see one eye taking a look), but it was in the same kind of shell! A nice bit of synchronicity (Bad photo though, so apologies for that).



I'm very curious to find out what you'll be choosing to portray in the spider or fly area. Scratchboard would be a perfect medium, I'm thinking

But I was wondering if you might also be creating an ongoing thread in honour of dragonflies in future?

Cheers,

Andestine

[Martin Wilson]

Thank you Elaine....appreciated.
Martin

[Martin Wilson]

Originally Posted by theresa dockery

Wonderful!
The textures are great - the rough, gnarled surface of the shell & the spines/knobbles on the legs are very realistic.

I've never seen this technique before - what's scratch board?

Also, is he a pet of yours?

Hi ya Theresa.
Thank you for your comments, the one good thing with scratch boards is it allows very fine detail to be worked in, I use the tip of a scalpel to work with, as for "what they are" they are a board with a white under base covered with a top made with a black wax type of layer that you scratch through using whatever tool you choose to use (as I said I use a scalpel) this then shows the white of the under layer.... but there is no going back once you have made the score it is there, but as you get used to using the board mistakes can always be worked into the picture...
As for a pet...no he was from a photograph, Herman just seemed like a good name for him.
Thank you for all your comments, greatly received.

Martin

[Martin Wilson]

Originally Posted by Andestine

That’s a superb rendering of a fascinating creature. I agree with Theresa - you have such a sensitive touch for texture, and you've shown the hairs on the legs really well too. Lovely .

I love hermit crabs Ever since I was a child they’ve entranced me, and I still act as gopher and hunt for new shells to offer them when they’ve outgrown the old, and hope one day to get a photo of the moment when they make the switch

But I smiled when I saw your subject as it was one of those lovely coincidences…

On Saturday the Cub finally tired of the endless ice creams the doc had prescribed for her Strep throat (to compensate for the overdose of Augmentin, no doubt) and she sent me out on my bike to get fish and chips, so, of course, I took a detour to explore the low tide. It was only a neap tide and not much was on offer, but one little stranded thing caught my eye, and it was the only live beastie I took photos of that day, as I was still suffering from pseudo-flu. And guess what it was? Mine was much shyer than yours (though I think I see one eye taking a look), but it was in the same kind of shell! A nice bit of synchronicity (Bad photo though, so apologies for that).



I'm very curious to find out what you'll be choosing to portray in the spider or fly area. Scratch board would be a perfect medium, I'm thinking

But I was wondering if you might also be creating an ongoing thread in honour of dragonflies in future?

Cheers,

Andestine

Well thank you for your comments Andestine, fine hairs and detail are a worthy task with scratch boards... they lend to the style so very well, and you can just get carried away with doing it.... he is a fine looking Hermit but more importantly you have found a live one and the way they curl up into seemingly such a small space just amazes me... hope the flu has or is now abating and you can carry on with the shore walking (tides allowing of course) ...
As for my next one.... a fly will do for me.... or an ant, one of those hairy ones... well one with some hair on the body as that will be the focal point of a scratchy, though I could do one with out hair but then it would have to be close to get the detail of the body structure to work for me.
As yet I have not done a Dragonfly on a scratchy... might be some fun there.
Thanks for the provoking thoughts again Andestine, and of course your comments.

Martin

[loripo]

A Flesh fly might be good as they have black and white markings - stripes and spots.
What size is Herman? (the drawing) as it seems very intricate.