[ddt]

Hi,
Found this awesome snake,,,,and just "had" to burn him/her! And not to long after I got started I had to ask myself a "?",,,,one that I may or may not have answered! So thought I would pose it here, for your thoughts/ideas/feedback/etc. Before I get into the question remember a snake made me think of this "problem".
OK,,,,with the snake he has scales,,,,,so do you outline or bold burn each scale, or do you "shade"? This lead me to the bigger question. How or when do you burn "bold" outline lines? And when do you only shade, with no lines? I am not sure on the word terms to use, so help me out. I guess using the snake scale or a fish scale as an example. Do you "outline" each scale, or just "shade" each scale? Personally I have this problem with a lot of things I burn, when to "outline" and when to "shade"? Are there any guidelines/rules to follow? Or is it just up to each person to decide? I have read that with animals only the nose/eyes/ mouth should be outline, the rest shaded or fur lines. So when do you use the BOLD outline lines?
All thoughts and comments will be appriecated. I will be out of town until Sunday night, so I am not reply or aswer to soon. So everyone have a great Turkey Day, just me ddt

[AlArchie]

Depends on which type of scale you are trying to simulate. Smooth scales are similar to the cycloid scales on fish (sort of half moon shaped) and could be easily outlined with scaling tips. Keeled scales are roughly triangular in shape with a raised central longitudinal line. These could be outlined with a simple cross hatch pattern and then "keeled".

Or you may just want to shade in the pattern of the snake's skin and not worry about the actual scales. Even if you burn in the individual scales, you will still have the pattern to deal with.

Then if you show the underbelly there are the belly plates, but those are lattitudinal overlapping plates that cross the belly area. Most of the belly areas on snakes are monochrome with very little if any at all pattern.

Al

[Irish]

ddt, Al ideas are excellent. I haven't done a snake but have burned fantasty dragons with scales. For those I shade the body contours first so the the body rolls from side to side and has shadows where it bends or turns back upon itself. Then I add the scale outlines. The parts of the scale lines that fall into the shadowing I burn a second time to darken them. That way the sacles 'appear' to be shaded because the original body shading shows through in the interior part of the scale.

Susan

[ddt]

Hi,
Thank you for the help with the "snake", BUT. I was actually looking for a "rule of thumb" as when to burn BOLD outline lines! And when to ONLY shade, i.e. no lines! Any help here,,,,I think everyone missed my 2nd question, was it was two fold, not just about snakes. Thanks ddt

[Irish]

As far as I know there are no RULES specific to either a snake or any other design that we might burn. There are far too many factors to consider in any burning to even suggest possibilities without seeing the actual design, knowing the burners style and level of his or her craft or knowing the final intention behind the burning ....

Take a moment and look at your computer ... do you see any 'outlines' on it? You might see edges that are darker in tonal value then other edges, you might see where one area is dramatically different in tone then another so that there is a dramatic contrast and you might see where shadows both pale and dark accent an area ... but exactly how many outlines do you see?

If I tell you to 'always outline the foreground element' then that element turns out to be a white chess piece against a black background I have just turned your burning into a coloring book - fill in the area - paint by numbers burning!!! If I tell you to always make the back scales 'bold lined' and your snake has areas where the belly curls into an upward position I have just divided your snake into two un-uniteable pieces of back and belly.

Perhaps you can post your drawing of the snake or where you are at in the burning and then we will be able to offer our ideas and suggestions. Personally I avoid outlining like the plaque. I will shade the edges of an element slightly darker then the photo or design may need if I want to give it more emphasis or if I need more contrast. But for me outlining equals coloring book work.

Or you might want to browse through the threads here looking carefully at each images. Then you can post each member to their thread why they treated one specific area of the their work in the manner that they chose. That way we all have a reference photo and your question so that we can respond in a more accurate and 'to your needs' answer.

Susan

[Ashbys]

Ok , I can't help myself ..

I keep seeing this thread title and I don't know if it was the new show I saw about foods where the entire show was about roasted snake

but I keep looking for the recipe