Official Luthiers Forum!

Chansen,
Than you for posting this picture. I think you are right. I like it a lot.

Mike,
I really like this inlay and would like to do that in wood for my client. I think it is real classy.

I'm not sure how to do it, but I'm thinking that I turn the picture to black and white, turn up the contrast and saturation and it should be pretty close.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Another very effective Photoshop method would be to go to:

Filter > Artistic > Cutout.

Then play with the different levels of break apart.

What great advice from Craig. Sweet.

[QUOTE=clavin] The amount of pieces he states we are both different in our approach to inlay. The biggest problem I can see with this, and it's a really good first try, is that your not drawing what your seeing. Forget woods, forget cutting, forget everything except what matters first- how are you going to draw the face? THEN- how am I going to transfer that into an inlay- marquetry, whatever.

For starters look at your light and dark areas. You really seem to mix a lot of them together in your pieces.

Both eyes are at least 4 color shades of similar strength as far as I can see, but you only use three shades in one eye, and two in the other. You are also not delineating what the viewer would see as an eye from the color shades in the woods. Many pieces blend and blob together.

I can go on but I hope you get the idea. Look at the picture, trace it if you have to, but focus on color shades - darks and lights, and seperate the pieces out based on that- THEN go in and re-draw it out so you make sure the pieces say what they are suppossed to- this is an eye- this is skin surrounding the eye (a little different shade-wise).

Take you time. These things take a lot of time. Doing it slow and properly the first time will yield faster and more accurate renditions later as you train yourself to "see" the inlay better. I hope this helps- thee really is no way to get better other than working at getting better.   
Craig Lavin

www.handcraftinlay.com[/QUOTE] Craig,
Thank you for your well thought out tutorial. If you don't mind, could you PM or email me a ballpark range/quote for this? I'll see if the client wants to get a professional job on this.
Thanks!

_________________
"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Howard, thank you.

Steve, yes, that should get you really close. I usually edit the picture
"manually" too, either within photoshop, using the brush and pencil tools,
or with an actual pen or pencil on paper.

Here two decent tutorials for photoshop as well:

http://www.stencilrevolution.com/tutorials/tutorialsview.php ?id=4

http://www.stencilrevolution.com/tutorials/tutorialsview.php ?id=6

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

     I agree that you can accomplish a nice inlay of this face with minimal
pieces and i've done my share of inlays using the slap and engrave
method, but will vary my technique and approach according to the level
of detail that i want to achieve in a project.

     I watched as Craig's inlays evolved and his methods changed as he
was exposed to more and more subject matter and the methods of other
inlay artists.

    Grit Laskin has had a deep influence on lots of artists over the decades
that he has been doing the work that he does while relying on slabs and
the figue in those large spans of material to provide a general detail
palette and then refining it with his beautiful engraving.

    Larry Robinson has stuck to his more puzzle-like style and has relied
on individual smaller pieces to create the detail with much less engraving
involved.

     Both are incredible artists and get great results using completely
different techniques and aproaches. I've used both and have really
enjoyed the results either way. It's a matter of personal preference and, in
most cases, the level of skill you can achieve using one or the other.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

     I hit the post button before I realized that i hadn't included the photo
that I wanted to. This is a photo of a very simple inlay done with slabs and
then detail being added with traditional style engraving.

    Thanks for taking a look.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

2007-04-05_141518_Creation_Low.jpg">

"The amount of pieces he states we are both different in our approach to inlay. The biggest problem I can see with this, and it's a really good first try, is that your not drawing what your seeing. Forget woods, forget cutting, forget everything except what matters first- how are you going to draw the face? THEN- how am I going to transfer that into an inlay- marquetry, whatever.

For starters look at your light and dark areas. You really seem to mix a lot of them together in your pieces."

Such good advise . Draw what you see not what you think.

A book on art techniques may help. Looking at light and shadow to develop volume is kinda tricky with inlay. Taking it up a knotch with color is going to be even more challenging.

Really study the picture and draw what you see(don't ignor highlights as they are equally important as shadow if you are going to create volume). It may be that working too much with photo editing(not to say it is not helpful) has not allowed you to really study the picture itself. Then look at your inlay material and select based on just what you are seeing(which can be hard since you have a somewhat limited pallet). For me selecting the material is what can make or break a solid drawing, but that is what also makes it a lot of fun.

I wish you the best of luck.
Peace,Rich

Kevin, the photo is not appearing for me. I'd really like to see it though.
Your lion inlay was simply amazing, by the way.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

    Oh well....so much for trying to post an image. That edit button sure
came in handy when these things happened in the past.

Nevermind.

Oh come on, you can't tease me like that, Kevin!!!

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

You can watch my inlays instead. I have a few to post this week I hope

Craig L.

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www.handcraftinlay.com

Craig, I have peeped your inlays many times. You are a master. I'd love
to see some new ones!

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Hey Mike -
Sorry I forgot to mention it was your work. I meant to give credit, but kind of forgot. BTW I really like your inlay work. You go about it exactly like I would if I got into it trying that. I'm not so "artistic" but can follow a line if photoshop makes it for me! Ha.

Oh and I forgot to say that the natural shading in the MOP really tricks your eye and gives it a lot of 'realness' and dimension

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Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Louis Hector Berlioz

Chansen / C hansen / C. Hansen / Christian Hansen - not a handle.

Christian

[QUOTE=Kevin Gallagher]     Oh well....so much for trying to post an image. That edit button sure
came in handy when these things happened in the past.

Nevermind.[/QUOTE]Kevin,
I'd love to see those images also. Your Lion was fabulous.

_________________
"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Let me see if I can parse it out.    

Wow, that's beautiful, Kevin. All the more impressive considering that
hands are about the hardest thing imaginable to draw (for me anyway).

Nice parsing, James.

Chansen; no problem. Thanks for the kind words.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Craig,
    It's been fun and inspiring watching your inlays over the past few
years. It was you who pushed me a little bit last year to design a new inlay
for that African guitar even though I was building on a very tight time
line. The result was that Lion inlay.

     Thanks for the motivation at the time. That guitar is still available for
sale.

Thanks again for your great work and inspiration as you continue to try
things that many of us shy away from.

All the best,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

wasn't that suppossed to raise money for the children?


PS- Those creation guitars sure aren't shy- Same back at you.
The use of pink mussel in those inlays is under full control. Glad we can inspire each other. We still need to meet one day!
Best.
Craig L

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www.handcraftinlay.com

    Yes, the guitar was built to help continue the work going on at the
Tumaini Orpjanage in Nairobi.

    It took a few good shots along the binding and while being passed
around among worship leaders an other players diring our two weeks in
Africa and needed some finish attention before it went to sale.

    With me comong home with ym shoulder torn apart and unable to
work....even until now, it was impossible for me to get the necessary
reapirs done for a new owner to take posession.

    Any offers made will be entertained and considered since i'm really
anxious to get the funds on their way to Africa.

    I look forward to meeting you one day.

Thanks,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

Here is my latest attempt. I took the picture and made a mono tone image from it.



I mounted the image on wood and routed out the detail and cut out the shape.



I cut out the shape on the headplate.



I filled the detail with ebony dust and CA.

_________________
"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

That's a big improvement! You might want to use a wood with smaller pores like maple.

_________________
Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Steve-
Nice one! I think you are coming along here. Like I said, I don't know a thing about marquetry but I am always trying to think of how things like that are done and how they are done in the most simple fasion. Please keep posting pics of the progress. I would live to see the finished results!

Christian

_________________
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Louis Hector Berlioz

Chansen / C hansen / C. Hansen / Christian Hansen - not a handle.

Christian