I just finished engraving a new 5-STEEM Postage Stamp “Curation Commemorative” featuring a pair of dolphins!
This is my second attempt at “engraving” a postage stamp design on a piece of scratchboard.. in the negative as an engraver would have done in the early 19th century before reduction machines assisted in the process.
Unlike my first Minnow Commemorative stamp (posted a few days ago which I drew at 100% actual stamp size) I drew this one at 262% of the actual size of a postage stamp. This made it much easier to add details and just bring the whole thing up a notch in clarity.
Three different metal tips, a black marker for touch-up and reading glasses with a modest magnification:
First I penciled in a sketch of a simple stamp design onto the scratchboard.
The design will be drawn at 2.875" x 2.5".. around the size of a business card.
I used a ruler to guide the outer lines but am otherwise free-wheelin' it. I'll use the natural rotation of my wrist to guide short arcs that I'll merge into the longer arcs.
After cutting in the structural framework I get to the more artistic lines within the illustration.
Tight curves require both hands to keep the tip under control. In this short clip the tip is at an angle (so I could make room for the iphone cam) and you can see that I'm off of the guideline quite a bit.
Some deeper cuts creating broader areas.
A little bit of touch-up with a black marker here and there..
Below is a scan of the finished scratchboard which I cleaned-up a bit in Photoshop..
An finally we have the inversion into a positive image just as a printed stamp would be. Of course the old-school steel engravers would have engraved the image backwards.
A little rough on the edges but not too shabby. Total drawing/engraving time on this was about 2 hours.
You can add this block of four stamps to your collection.. Cancelled today, the First Day of Issue and recorded into the Steemit Blockchain!
You can see my earlier art demo posts HERE.
All content 100% original by John Deecken @orionsbeltbuckle
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Creative and artistic design drawing with some touch of professionalism. This is a unique and well drawn design of steemit dolphins ..
Great work and passion for the steemit block chain project. Lovely design
Very fascinating work, I took a class in college for printing with zink plates. I know free handing something is tedious. Again, great job.
thanks johnny!
That's pretty fucking cool! Will you be doing one for the orcas and whales as well?
yup... but first i might redo the minnow stamp from last week.
https://steemit.com/philately/@orionsbeltbuckle/1-steem-orca-steemstamp-first-day-of-issue-my-gift-to-the-blockchain
These are fantastic!
thanks @summertooth! more to come..
https://steemit.com/philately/@orionsbeltbuckle/1-steem-orca-steemstamp-first-day-of-issue-my-gift-to-the-blockchain
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