Fibermania

In the interest of Full Disclosure

I often use an overhead projector to enlarge my design sketches. I was instantly convinced by Caryl Fallert, several years ago, that I needed one of these babies. That was back when this particular model cost $399.00. Now they are dirt cheap,
Go right out and buy one if you are an artist who draws your design and wants to make it big---Caryl Fallert.

Need I say more?

The Drawing from yesterday has now become a transparency. How, you ask? I'll be glad to share. I scanned my original drawing into my computer and using Picasa2 I pumped up the contrast a bit. Then I printed it out, also enlarging it a bit, to fit a full sheet of printer paper.

tracing

Then I had to hand trace the drawing. At this time it is easier and faster for me to do the tracing than it would be to dink around with any other drawing program, and I can more easily choose which lines I want to keep and which I will eliminate in the final tracing.

The tracing then gets scanned and printed out on transparencies made especially for the home copier/printer. Apollo makes them and I got mine at Office Max.

Here is the transparency sitting on a piece of plexiglass. I use the plexi as a holder when I place the transparency on the projector. Sometimes the heat from the projector bulb distorts the image as I am projecting it and the plexi semi-prevents that. NOT all that well however, but that distortion of the drawing is inevitable, so I just go with it.

Now I am ready to project my image onto the wall, which I have covered with a large sheet of plastic, about 48x72" which is stuck semi-permanently to my wall. I keep this there for just this use. The projected image is traced with Vis-a-Vis water soluble markers, also from Office Max.

It looks like a bunch of spaghetti doesn't it? I am so glad I have the original drawing as reference or I would already give up trying to make this design.

Initially I will just trace each ellipse and construct it first and then that will begin to clarify what it is I have going on here. I hope.

Q&A

Melody,I don't understand...why do you need to hand-trace on paper after enlarging the drawing and printing it out? Why not just print it out right onto the transparency?

Because the shadows and highlights in the original drawing are too vague. I need the exact outlines of the shapes…clarity.
To project that on the wall with all the renderings in it means having to make design decisions at the moment of tracing the projected image.
At that point it is too large to see what it is I want to include and discard. Tracing from the drawing and then scanning that tracing, gives me just the necessary lines. Although the image on the wall is very busy it is non-dimensional and the shapes for my pattern pieces are clearer.