Why Make Sketches?

Answer number one: Making a sketch is a creative act. The end result, the sketch, provides one with a sense of accomplishment. It represents a challenging task successfully completed. Each observation presents its own unique set of problems that must be solved before the sketch can be completed. The successful handling of those problems provides the artist with a sense of accomplishment. In short, sketching provides pleasure in a life that isn't always pleasurable.

Answer number two: The act of producing an astronomical sketch while at the eyepiece of a telescope forces the observer to look more carefully than he (or she) might otherwise look. It takes more time to create a sketch than is needed for a quick look through a telescope's eyepiece. With that added time and the sketcher's attention to detail more detail will be seen. It's exceedingly easy to look and not see. It's far more difficult to sketch and not see. Sketching at a telescope's eyepiece will make any astronomical observer a better observer.

Answer number three: An astronomical sketch is a permanent visual record of what an observer has seen. As such, it has potential for scientific as well as artistic value.

Answer number four: A hand-made sketch is not an impartial photographic image. Being made by human hands, controlled by a human mind, a sketch provides a personal touch to the image that cannot (and should not) be avoided.

Solar Sketches-----------------------------------Lunar Sketches
Planetary Sketches-------------------------------Planetary Sketches - page 2
Jupiter-SL9 Sketches----------------------------Comet Sketches
Comet Hyakutake Sketches----------------------Comet Hale-Bopp Sketches
Deep Sky Sketches------------------------------Deep Sky Sketches - page 2
Rough Sketches----------------------------------Paintings

Why make sketches?-----------------------------The Art of Astronomical Sketching
Character Sketch---------------------------------Links to Other Websites
Home-made Binocular Mount-----------------Home