First proof

I ran off a proof today to see how the print was looking. As you can see there are a few issues to deal with. The rugby player in the background has increasingly troubled me and on proofing struck me as a bit like a 'Mini-me' perched on the foreground player's shoulder! I painted onto the proof to try and knock him back further and he just looked like a phantom and I was being constantly distracted by him. So.......I think he has to go.


Other little adjustments include (as you can see where I've made notes on the proof) softening edges, defining the hand grasping the jersey and evening out tones. It won't be a long job and I hope to have 'proof mark 2' ready to show soon.

For now, it's clean up and go downstairs to make my favourite onion, bacon and potato hotpot (in a cheesy sauce) Yum!

Almost time to proof

As you can see, progress has been made and although I need still to lighten some areas, such as the ghostly player at the back and one player's shirt, I'm just about ready for a preliminary proof. I'll keep the background a bit rough and choppy for now.

As this is a maple block and a bit crumblier than box I'm having to keep my burins very sharp. It's quite tricky to do without bowing the cutting face of the blade and I definitely need more practice to get it right.

And here you can see the beast I've got on 'permanent' loan from my mother...a 'Vision England Stereoramic 'magnifying light. It's rather heavy and was rescued from my Dad's drawing office back in the 70's, when it was being thrown out. It has x2 magnification, which is perfect for my purposes. Just enough to take the strain off my eyes, not so much that I'm tempted to cut detail too small for the naked eye!