Life has taken me in an unexpected direction. I started qhgraphics in response to a friend of mine, Drew Bott, and his headstone company, Bott Monument. It was an exciting adventure, and I really loved doing what I did, only I am about 10 years too early as far as others being ready for the technology.
Not only that, but I came to realize how little I knew about monuments, and as I have worked for Bott's the last few months, I have come to love everything about the business. I am now a full time graphic designer for Drew. I am also currently building his website, www.bottmonument.com. We are trying to take monument design from being a car mechanic business to something more of a respected artistic venture. Drew has that vision, and I love working with him.
You'll see me around however. My goal has always been to get others involved with newer types of technology, and to think outside the box. I'm sure in the future I will be doing presentations on web and graphic design at future Monument Builder's of North America Conventions(that is, once I pay my fees!).
Feel free to email me anytime. There are a zillion import companies that try to do something cheaper than the next person, and skimp on quality. You all know the type I am referring to. If that is your cup of tea, then so be it. But you will not last if I have anything to say about it. I am for the companies that truly care about their craftsmanship, and enriching peoples lives. Yes I work for Bott, but I care about any monument company that strives to the standards that I have seen Drew exhibit.
If this site is up in a few months, it will be a community forum for smaller businesses that care about craftsmanship and technology. In the mean time I have a lot of work to do!
Best Wishes
Lee Crook
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
upcoming changes
The site is going to continue to function as normal, but I will be making some changes to it.
I have received a very positive response specifically for portraiture. I flood of questions have come in. As many of you know, you adapt as you learn. I am going to change the website to curtail primarily to making custom graphics for portraits, etc.
I am redesigning the website from scratch. The new site will include and address the following:
Member login: I want members to be able to login to their own profile, where they can submit orders of work that needs to be done.
Monthly Invoice: my current site is built of "add to cart" architecture. I am going to redesign the site so that clients are billed on a monthly bases, with the option to pay that invoice online securly.
File Support: I am going to do extensive research into Monucad, signlab, gerber Omega, and the other programs that clients use to plot their stencils. I am learning that there are a lot of technical snags when it comes to software programs and what files will import and export successfully. So far I have come across these files:
Adobe Illustrator (ai)
CorelDraw(cdr)
.dwg
.dxf
.plt
.pdf
.eps
.emf
.wmf
.mcd(MonuCad)
For this to succeed I must know the ins and outs of all of these programs and related extensions so that I can guarantee the fidelity of line plots when they are imported.
Promotional packages: Many people have responded positively to my graphic test of "Kadie" Clients want these graphics available along with original photos. I am going to build a promotional package built specifically around portraiture that will have a variety of styles and individuals to choose from. This package will have files necessary for clients to add these graphics to catalogs, webpages, and showroom models.
Thanks!
I have received a very positive response specifically for portraiture. I flood of questions have come in. As many of you know, you adapt as you learn. I am going to change the website to curtail primarily to making custom graphics for portraits, etc.
I am redesigning the website from scratch. The new site will include and address the following:
Member login: I want members to be able to login to their own profile, where they can submit orders of work that needs to be done.
Monthly Invoice: my current site is built of "add to cart" architecture. I am going to redesign the site so that clients are billed on a monthly bases, with the option to pay that invoice online securly.
File Support: I am going to do extensive research into Monucad, signlab, gerber Omega, and the other programs that clients use to plot their stencils. I am learning that there are a lot of technical snags when it comes to software programs and what files will import and export successfully. So far I have come across these files:
Adobe Illustrator (ai)
CorelDraw(cdr)
.dwg
.dxf
.plt
.eps
.emf
.wmf
.mcd(MonuCad)
For this to succeed I must know the ins and outs of all of these programs and related extensions so that I can guarantee the fidelity of line plots when they are imported.
Promotional packages: Many people have responded positively to my graphic test of "Kadie" Clients want these graphics available along with original photos. I am going to build a promotional package built specifically around portraiture that will have a variety of styles and individuals to choose from. This package will have files necessary for clients to add these graphics to catalogs, webpages, and showroom models.
Thanks!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Successful Etching
Now whether to call it engraving, blasting, etching, or whatever...You're just gonna have to roll with the punches. I did printmaking in college and from my experience I am more inclined to call sandblasting etching. Engraving was when I would gouge a copper plate with a steel-tip tool. Well it is what it is, and I will try to get use to the change in terminology.
For now Good News! We etched the stone today, the stone that had a series of different styled portraits(see below post):
Here is the original photo:
For now Good News! We etched the stone today, the stone that had a series of different styled portraits(see below post):
Here is the original photo:
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Update on Custom Portraits
Dear Clients,
We have had some setbacks in providing you with photographs of sandblasted portraits on granite. The company I work with has been very busy this time of year.
I made a vector graphic specifically designed to show you qhgraphic's capabilities. I am happy to learn that my friends at Bott Monument will be cutting the stencils soon with the computer, and I may be able to engrave as early as Monday.
In addition to the more precise line test (posted below) Here is the graphic I am going to engrave:
This graphic will be 48" wide by 12" tall, and will exhibit three different portrait styles; outline, two-tone shaded, and cross-contour.
We have had a lot of interest expressed in our portraits, and many of you have expressed wanting to see these graphics on a final product. Thank you for your patience, and I will try to have the final product available to see as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Michael L. Crook
Quality Headstone Graphics
We have had some setbacks in providing you with photographs of sandblasted portraits on granite. The company I work with has been very busy this time of year.
I made a vector graphic specifically designed to show you qhgraphic's capabilities. I am happy to learn that my friends at Bott Monument will be cutting the stencils soon with the computer, and I may be able to engrave as early as Monday.
In addition to the more precise line test (posted below) Here is the graphic I am going to engrave:
Click on image to see detail. Each unique graphic is 10" in height, with no lines falling under 1/16" in width. |
We have had a lot of interest expressed in our portraits, and many of you have expressed wanting to see these graphics on a final product. Thank you for your patience, and I will try to have the final product available to see as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Michael L. Crook
Quality Headstone Graphics
Saturday, July 30, 2011
New Line Test
I have made a new line test template. This one is much more precise, and gives me a better example of exactly when a engraved line fails. I made it to show also the point of failure for "white lines"- the lines of stone not engraved.
I will have this available soon for download via pdf and dxf.
click to view larger image |
Roaring Fork Meadows
I had to make an early exit to my fishing trip. I have a foot injury that I have to watch. I was able to hike a good six miles, the scenery was incredible, I cooked the perfect sirloin steak on a slab of granite in the middle of the fire. It was some nice R&R. Most of all I had time to think. Actually my favorite time to hike is in the middle of the night. I can see how most people are spooked by being in the forest at night, but for me it was really peaceful. For some reason when I walk late at night I get a lot of thinking done.
The next day I went to the Sweetwater River. No luck. Some places you have to fly fish...at Sweetwater the fish were jumping like crazy....some sort of green caddis. They were not interested in my lures.
I was actually hoping to catch some bigger fish to photograph and study for making graphics. The fish were just too small. For some reason they don't grow that much at high altitudes.
Roaring Fork. Mountain streams have the clearest water. |
After hiking a few miles through a thicket of lodgepoles, I always get excited as I approach a clearing. |
Cocoa. He wanted to jump in the lake, but decided that from 10 feet, it was a little too high. |
This photo is for my Mother-in-law. She always teases me when I don't catch anything...which is often. Take that Barb. |
I was actually hoping to catch some bigger fish to photograph and study for making graphics. The fish were just too small. For some reason they don't grow that much at high altitudes.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Fishing Trip
I will be on a fishing trip the week of July 25th.
A major monument convention is happening this weekend in Cody Wyoming. So we are postponing the engravings until next week. I figured now would be a good time to get in a little fishing trip. Still send me an email if you need anything, and I will get back to you asap.
See you back on the 1st of August.
Lee
A major monument convention is happening this weekend in Cody Wyoming. So we are postponing the engravings until next week. I figured now would be a good time to get in a little fishing trip. Still send me an email if you need anything, and I will get back to you asap.
See you back on the 1st of August.
Lee
Friday, July 22, 2011
Progress in Optical Mixing
This is not finished. It shows promise for value, I just need to combine that with the clarity of important features such as the eyes, etc. But it shows promise. |
This may not look like much. But it indicates a serious breakthrough. The problem with designing stencils with contour lines is that you can do incredible detail at large sizes like 15" by 20". But I want to make this technology available in smaller formats. This image here(my little kadiebug) can be etched at 7" tall by 3.5" wide, and still be safe. This is a rough image...it is not fully processed, but you can see that the angled contour lines give a great deal of information with very little mark making. This is key. This is where its at. The outline needs to be processes separately and then overlay-ed.
Now this one is really nice, but it has to be etched at a minimum of 20" tall in order for line widths to stay in a safe area(1/16"-3/32" or above.
There have been many artists that have experimented with optical mixing, both with color and value. The synthesis of value occurs within the brain as opposed to on the medium you are looking at. Case in point: the white of your computer screen is not really white, but a combination of red, green, and blue diodes placed next to each other.
My work continues. My goal is to balance subtle optical value with clarity of defining features. Stay posted!
Life is what it is.
This is an exciting time for me. I am contacting different business and learning more about the graphics trade.
One thing I can tell you- I care about feedback. It won't hurt, either, I promise (Eight years of art critiques in art school gave me some tough skin) But I also know that input-and especially the kind you are not the most excited to hear-is the kind you can benefit from most. I will not lie to you. I know what I do, and I do what I do well. But I am trained as an artist. I know that there is nothing that compares to the wisdom of experience, and many of you that I am working with out there have been in the monument industry for years. There are many things that I have yet to learn. My success as a graphic designer is contingent on my ability to learn from you.
That being said, sometimes coming from another discipline can offer some fresh perspective. I did lithography in grad school. Lithography put me through the ringer on more than one occasion. It is the hardest medium I have done to date, and will probably be the hardest medium I will ever face. There were so many variables. There was the chemical composition of the limestone. Every stone was different. Then there was the grit you applied with a levigator. You applied three different grits, 80, 180, and 240. You had to do it for the right amount of time. Then you poured an bath of glacial acidic acid diluted to 5% onto the stone and let it set for 2 minutes. You brush the stone back and forth with a sponge to circulate the acid and allow for the reactive acid on the top to replace the stabilized acid nearest to the stone. At this point the stone is ready to accept your drawing. There are hundreds of different materials you can apply to limestone- Touche, Litho crayon, spraypaint, anything that has grease content. Once your drawing is complete you cover the drawing with talc and rosin powder before you apply the gum arabic. You have to put just the right amount of the powder in even distribution or the the gum arabic will not etch evenly. Then you apply the gum arabic. You have to know your grease. If you have a lot of grease, you add 7-14 drops of nitric acid to your gum arabic. This will make it etch "hotter." Too cold of an etch will make the image not appear. Too hot an etch will make everything turn black. After your etch is dry, you pull out the litho ink and add varnish. It has to be at the right tact, or consistency. You take turns loading a roller with the ink and then rolling the ink onto the stone. An aid assists you in keeping the stone wet. The stone must remain wet in order for the clean parts of the stone to repel ink and for the greasy parts to accept it. You run a proof. You have to run it a the right pressure. You have a pressure bar that you have to keep lubricated. If you do all of this perfectly you get a good image.
Headache yet? Here is my favorite piece: I started etching at 9pm and did not finish it until 11 am the next morning:
One of these techniques is intaglio engraving. Intaglio goes way back to the 15th century. Dutch artist and anatomist Bernhard Siegfried Albinus was one of these artists. Check out one of his engravings. Be sure to click on it and look at it up close!
Albinus used contour lines to create the illusion of depth. It is incredible craftsmanship. I want to apply the same technique to granite engraving. The girl at the top of this post is how far I have come on research. If the lines are done right, the will allow for great detail and value, all the while keeping drawings simple and line widths greater than 1/16".
I have been doing line tests and other research. I believe contour imaging will work. Next week I go to engrave the creation of adam with the same technique:
One thing I can tell you- I care about feedback. It won't hurt, either, I promise (Eight years of art critiques in art school gave me some tough skin) But I also know that input-and especially the kind you are not the most excited to hear-is the kind you can benefit from most. I will not lie to you. I know what I do, and I do what I do well. But I am trained as an artist. I know that there is nothing that compares to the wisdom of experience, and many of you that I am working with out there have been in the monument industry for years. There are many things that I have yet to learn. My success as a graphic designer is contingent on my ability to learn from you.
That being said, sometimes coming from another discipline can offer some fresh perspective. I did lithography in grad school. Lithography put me through the ringer on more than one occasion. It is the hardest medium I have done to date, and will probably be the hardest medium I will ever face. There were so many variables. There was the chemical composition of the limestone. Every stone was different. Then there was the grit you applied with a levigator. You applied three different grits, 80, 180, and 240. You had to do it for the right amount of time. Then you poured an bath of glacial acidic acid diluted to 5% onto the stone and let it set for 2 minutes. You brush the stone back and forth with a sponge to circulate the acid and allow for the reactive acid on the top to replace the stabilized acid nearest to the stone. At this point the stone is ready to accept your drawing. There are hundreds of different materials you can apply to limestone- Touche, Litho crayon, spraypaint, anything that has grease content. Once your drawing is complete you cover the drawing with talc and rosin powder before you apply the gum arabic. You have to put just the right amount of the powder in even distribution or the the gum arabic will not etch evenly. Then you apply the gum arabic. You have to know your grease. If you have a lot of grease, you add 7-14 drops of nitric acid to your gum arabic. This will make it etch "hotter." Too cold of an etch will make the image not appear. Too hot an etch will make everything turn black. After your etch is dry, you pull out the litho ink and add varnish. It has to be at the right tact, or consistency. You take turns loading a roller with the ink and then rolling the ink onto the stone. An aid assists you in keeping the stone wet. The stone must remain wet in order for the clean parts of the stone to repel ink and for the greasy parts to accept it. You run a proof. You have to run it a the right pressure. You have a pressure bar that you have to keep lubricated. If you do all of this perfectly you get a good image.
Headache yet? Here is my favorite piece: I started etching at 9pm and did not finish it until 11 am the next morning:
Now why did I go into all this? Two reasons. One I wanted to illustrate that I understand what it takes to get something right. I don't cut corners. I work until it is right. The second reason is that I have learned some age-old techniques that I see being very applicable to stencil sandblasting on granite.
One of these techniques is intaglio engraving. Intaglio goes way back to the 15th century. Dutch artist and anatomist Bernhard Siegfried Albinus was one of these artists. Check out one of his engravings. Be sure to click on it and look at it up close!
Albinus used contour lines to create the illusion of depth. It is incredible craftsmanship. I want to apply the same technique to granite engraving. The girl at the top of this post is how far I have come on research. If the lines are done right, the will allow for great detail and value, all the while keeping drawings simple and line widths greater than 1/16".
I have been doing line tests and other research. I believe contour imaging will work. Next week I go to engrave the creation of adam with the same technique:
I have worked hard and watched closely to keep line widths over 1/16th of an inch. This is incredible detail for granite. Of course there are limitations. But IF you know those limitations, you will be able to take them to the limit. For this reason I am going to be producing a second, more arduous line test so that you can know exactly what your equipment can and can't do. I will continue to make standard two-tone graphics, and quality ones at that, but this is what I am really passionate about. Stay posted!
Monday, July 18, 2011
qhgraphics open for business!
As of today Quality Headstone Graphics is open for business.
Our vector catalog is a work in progress. Our goal is to have 1000 graphics by 2012.
For the time being, any graphic that you need can be ordered in the custom imagery section.
I care a great deal about quality and craftsmanship. If you have any feedback, feel free to contact us through qhgraphics.com!
Thank you for giving us a chance to make graphics for your clients!
Sincerely,
Michael L. Crook, Owner, Quality Headstone Graphics
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Why I do it.
I went to school to become and art teacher. I studied painting, drawing, and lithography.
Here are some images of my thesis exhibition in 2010.
There may be a day when I return to making fine art. For the time being, I am very happy with my business, designing graphics for monument companies.
Here are some images of my thesis exhibition in 2010.
This work is very dear to me, and I hope to one day make art on a more regular bases. It is different, that is for sure, but I love it. Two years into grad school and I was deeply involved with traditional painting, and learning the traditions of the masters. I was even using some of the old recipes for bleaching linseed oil, pulverizing iron(II) oxide, mixing my own paint, and everything. I have the deepest respect for the old masters: Vermeer, Rembrandt, Bouguereau, Bloch, Hoffman, Ingres.
The deeper I became involved with this research, the more the ethereal mystere of the old masters disappeared. These artists did not worship themselves as we worship them today. For the most part, these artists were simply using the materials available to them at their time to excel in their craft.
There is a lot that is wrong with art today. There is so much emphasis on the genius of the individual. It is in many ways just another route to establishing celebrity status. It is a game that is played. Just wiki the artist Damien Hirst if you want to know what I am talking about.
During grad school I became absolutely fascinated with iconography and how the human mind is able to process imagery and respond so quickly. This is why I like headstone imagery. It is deceptively simple. Some people are over sandblasting, thinking that photo-realism is the future. But this will not be the case. We as humans have always drawn heavily on abstract iconography, and we have a visual iconographic language that rivals the largest supercomputer in terms of complexity.
I find this role to be especially significant in our day. In Rembrandt's era, iconography was not as advanced, and their was a great deal of room to add visual terminology to the language. Today is much different however. With instant global communication we are bombarded with imagery. We are drowning in it. There is and will always be the Da Vinci's and Michelangelo's that create new and exciting visual language, but for every one of them, we need artists that make sense of societies visual language. This is where I find my place. I love designing headstone graphics because of its simplicity. It sits outside of the torrent of visual overload. A cemetery is a beautiful place. It is a gallery wherein we use our skills to represent some of the most important ideas in our lives: our relationships with our loved ones. The lack of interest in headstone imagery is indicative of the sickness of modern art academia. What is the training of the humanities for if not for serving our fellow man? We have become so caught up in self-actualization that we have forgotten the value of serving selflessly. When I design headstone graphics, I put my heart into it. I push myself to take the imagery to a level that it has never been before. But I don't have to put my name on it. When someone looks at an image etched into granite, they don't have to know anything about my "creative genius:" they can simply enjoy the image for its simple nature of purpose: to invoke feeling within the viewer. This is art.
My desire has always been to take the knowledge I gained in the academic world and bring it back to reality, to use my skills to make the lives of those around me a little better. These people are often simple and unsophisticated in the eyes of the world, but it is these people that are real and true.
There may be a day when I return to making fine art. For the time being, I am very happy with my business, designing graphics for monument companies.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Only in Wyoming...
Unloading Headstones at South Fork |
There is a difference between an architect that designs buildings and one that worked in construction before he became an architect. Not only will the latter will be more mindful of the restraints imposed by the materials available, he will be able to exploit those restraints to bring about new possibilities.
I am not a manager or a king, but I wanted to apply the same understanding to my business. The only way I will be successful as a graphic designer is if I get involved with the applications for which my graphics are being used. I have been lucky enough to work with Bott monument here in Riverton, Wyoming. The shop foreman is passionate about craftsmanship and quality, and he is a very good teacher. I watch him do everything from sandblasting stencils and scoring granite to how he sets the headstone on the foundation in the cemetery. Let's just say that I have a lot to learn.
Recently I have got to go with Allen on trips to set headstones. Riverton is in the middle of the state of Wyoming, so Bott gets a lot of business in the rural cemeteries. I love visiting these cemeteries. This past week I got to visit a very unique cemetery. It is located out at South Fork Canyon about an hour southwest of Cody. It was a true old fashioned cemetery. Walking into it felt like stepping back in time. I found some very unique monuments there...monuments that I could very well say exist only in Wyoming:
This was a real cowboy cemetery! A cattle skull, a nameplate made of barbed wire, a branding iron, and antlers! I loved it! There was a lot of personality and flair.
Cumulonimbus from the road outside Cody. One of the things I love about Wyoming. |
Saturday, May 21, 2011
He Who is Not In the Photograph
If there were a picture that gave description about that for which I cared, this would be it.
That's my brother, on the left, my dad looking down and my wife crouched in front of Grandpa Lyman's grave. Here is a representation of my grandfather in a more robust time:
We have an old photo of Grandpa lying around. This is a drawing of that photograph that I gave my dad for Christmas back in 2001. In the picture Grandpa is doing that which he was always doing, and that which he did best: work. He passed away in June of 2000 while I was away serving an LDS mission in Illinois. This was the last letter I received from him. I was serving in a small town called Byron at the time:
3-29-2000
Dear Lee,
I am always happy to receive your letters and feel of your spirit.
We are doing fine and are not ready to plow as we still have 1 1/2 feet of snow. We had a few warm days and the snow started to melt, but has cooled off a little.
The price of milk is still low, but the price of gas is still going up.
We went to Idaho Falls last Friday to see Melanie fly in. She surely looked good. Had a lot of wreaths around her neck. I believe she put one on each that was there. [I think he meant to say Leighs.]
She reported her mission Sunday and the church was filled with people. She did very good. She has certainly grown spiritually since being on her mission.
Last Sunday we rented a couple of snow machines and everyone had a real time riding them.
I got word Monday of my very dear friend Dwayne Linford Died. Grandma and I are going to the funeral. They asked me to dedicate the grave. It is being held in Lehi, Utah. The funeral is Thursday, so we are leaving this afternoon and going to Tremonton tonight to stay then on to Lehi tomorrow. We are taking Aunt Vicki with us from Salt Lake.
No: Jet isn't ruined. As soon as spring comes, we'll get her ridden.[Jet was a horse that I tried to ride just after it was broken. The mouth bit was loose and for a few eternal seconds I had a bucking rodeo out in the hayfield.]
Learning patience is a hard job, but it is very important. We are always being tried, so don't give up. Can you imagine how many times our Heavenly Father has been tried by each of us?
Well, keep up the good work, and know that you are in our prayers daily.
We love you and are always happy to hear of your great efforts to do this great work.
Love,
Grandpa & Grandma
Crook
I have studied a lot of things and known a lot of smart people. But nobody I have known in this life was as wise and as smart as my grandfather. He was a humble farmer, born in the homesteading era in Star Valley at the turn of the 20th Century. For all of my vain intellectual pursuits in my life, no conversations have been as meaningful, purposeful, and insightful as the conversations I had with Grandpa Lyman lying down in the grass under the cottonwood trees next to the Simpson Hill. The sun was spotting through the tops of the trees as they do on a breezy day, and the faint sound of the combine could be heard from atop the hill, where my uncle was harvesting grain.
I have a lot of memories that last summer working on the farm before going on a mission. They are all special to me. I was not ready for him to pass away. He was a father figure to me. I miss him dearly. When I returned from my mission, and was off for the summer from college, I would take a motorcycle up to the Freedom Cemetery late at night and talk to him. That simple grave stone was an important marker left behind of his life. I know it was just his body under the earth, but the monument represents more than that. It is a symbolic intermediating object between my remaining on this earth and him returning to God. I felt that there was so much more that he could teach me about life, and when I returned home nothing in life was the same. This headstone came to mean a lot to me...the weight of the granite, not just a good object to engrave information to resist erosion, but the granite itself became a sort of anchor to help me deal with a world changing too quickly.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The Girl in the Puddle
The following Link can be found at: trib.com:
"LANDER — Three-year-old Addison Romans was walking with her mother, Tara, just before she was fatally hit by a car this week, according to a law enforcement official.
Lander Police Chief Fred Cox said the two were walking out of the Lander community swimming pool when the toddler darted in front of a moving vehicle. The pool is adjacent to Starrett Junior High.
Cox said his department has pieced together the events leading up to Addison Romans’ death from witness reports and by reconstructing the scene with the help of the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
Paramedics worked to save the toddler, but she died at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday in the emergency room of the Lander hospital — not long after the accident.
Fremont County Coroner Ed McAuslan said Addison Romans died of trauma to her head and chest."
I cannot imagine what the parents are going through. Grief is an emotion taken for granted by those of us who have not yet lost. I have a three year old the same age as this girl, Addison. I remember feeling sick the day I heard the news of this accident.
One of my clients is Bott Monument Service. I really enjoy working with them because the go to great lengths to make sure the monument made for the death of a loved one is made with the utmost quality. Drew is one of the nicest people you could ever talk to. Well Drew contacted me to do some custom imagery for the headstone. It is a family headstone, erected and based mostly around their little girl Addison, but it is very large. It is actually in production right now, and as far as I understand, Drew has contracted with a stainless steel company in Chicago to have stainless ballons "floating" above the granite, with installed lighting for night time. I have seen designs of it, and I am excited to see how it turns out. One thing that Drew enjoys is thinking outside of the box when it comes to monuments. It has been a family business for over 135 years, so I imagine that you learn a few tricks of the trade in that time, as well as some desire to expand the possibilities of what a monument may constitute. At any rate, Drew's eye for design allows him to take risks that most people would not succeed at--and he does it well.
For the back of the monument, the family wanted an image of their daughter playing in a mud puddle, just after a rainstorm. I spoke with Tara, her mother, and she told me how Addison was always outside, with no concern for how dirty she might be getting, and fully enjoying the best that nature has to offer any child.
I understood the families desire to have a graphic made just right, so it was not easy. I knew this going in, but it did not make it easier. I have done portraiture for over 15 years. I love portraiture--but as any artist understands, there will always be new and unique challenges to face with any new project you receive, and this was no exception. I went through a lot of trial and error, photographing models and using images of the Roman's daughter that they had. I sweat A LOT. There were even times that I was not sure whether I was going to pull it off. I will not bore you of all the steps it took to get me to the final point, but when I got there...I was relieved, and excited:
This was a combination of photoshop, tablet drawing, and vector processing. It is a three-toned graphic, meaning that the mid-values will be steel-shot, and the dark values will be sandblasted. It is a large vector file, 22" by 20". I am very pleased with the result. Some things are very rewarding if you have to work hard to overcome the challenges.
I wish the Romans the best as they adopt to the fierce changes in their lives. Children are so precious, and no parent wishes to outlive their offspring. I do not believe she is simply gone, however. I believe Tara and Tony will see their girl again.
Optical Value and Impied Form in Two-toned Vector Graphics
I grew up on a farm where...lets just say if something was broken...you made do with what you had to make it work. It was amazing how many things one object could be used for if you were creative. A discarded wheel hub became a salt-lick holder. A used barrel of motor oil became a rain-shield for the combustion engines on the moveable irrigation lines. Last but not least, many broken aluminum sprinkler pipe became prime material for potato canons (although I don't recall ever firing potatoes).
I miss those days. I was just a kid. Life was so much simpler. One thing that I have taken with me, however, is that desire to creative problem solve.
Now that I design graphics, I am interested in addressing different sets of problems using the same creativity. One of the problems that we face in the west is sprinkler systems and water scale build up. This poses a problem for steeled stones with a laser etching on them. Laser etching is relatively new, so nobody really knows how long a photograph will remain on a stone, but at least for arid climates we are pretty sure of the damage that can be done. This is sort of a bummer because I have seen some incredible monuments with images being primarily laser etched. Just check out this link: http://www.paramountgranite.com/images/articles/jett_etch_grayscale.jpg Laser etching does have the advantage of providing infinite gradations of value, which allows for photographic quality on granite.
I am in the development stages of developing graphics that, from a small distance, would have the illusion of value, not just two tones. The principle is the same as laser etching; optical mixing, only on a much larger scale. This technique is no secret to printers, especially woodblock and intaglio engravings.
Contoured lines have been used for centuries to imply value. For some reason I haven't really seen this on gravestones. I don't think its because its impossible, I just think that perhaps few people have really thought about the illusion of optical mixing on granite.
Well I did some tests:
This is an image of a glass ball, with caustics(refracted light). This image has 5 shades of value, which were then turned into lines of respective varying diameter. The wider the diameter the darker the value appears from a distance.
I am very happy with the results. Though I have not had it sandblasted, I think that it would work very well. One of my primary concerns was for the plot-cutter. How can you put value into an image without having the cutter spending 10+ hours cutting the stencil. This would wear out your equiptment to fast, and would make pulling dots out a headache. With a contour pattern however, value is created with a relatively simple node path.
The question then comes to mind of what are the limitations of this technique. A line can only be so thin for a sandblaster to engrave deeply enough for it to matter. There is also the consideration of how close lines can be to each other before they get blown out of position and compromise the drawing. The last thing to consider is what is the threshold for the human eye when it comes to viewing an optically mixed image.
The ball and caustics are geometrical. But how would this technique measure up against something more organic, like, say a portrait of Abraham Lincoln?:
What do you think? I don't think the image is unsuccessful per se, but I think it is a tougher challenge to sell the human eye on something that has been geometrically stratified when the subject matter itself is organic. It really comes down to thresholds of value. An image like this might work: It is Linciln and at this point of his presidency, he looked pretty bad from all the stress of civil war casualty. But what about a little girl?
A computer cannot perceive planes, and therefore it cannot make contour lines that are appropriate for the respective plane they are contained in. This requires the discernment of a human. So I went back to square one and looked at...well not so much optical mixing, but implied form. Here is what I came up with:
Here there is some volume implied by contour lines in their respective plane Take Christ's hair for example, the lines, while following a natural path for hair to flow, creates the illusion of depth. This was done with a drawing tablet.
The image didn't quite feel complete. It would make a nice ink drawing to hang on your wall, but probably not a graphic to etch on stone. So then I tried to find a middle ground between hand drawing and the computer generated contour lines. I also took into consideration spacing for a gravestone...a format that would make it work in more of a radial pattern:
The original which I based this image from was a painting of Christ with a Child by Heinrich Hoffman. Hoffman was a 19th century realist most famous for his paintings depicting the life of Christ. I love his work...and knowing that his work is well known, thought that basing an image off of his work would make for a comforting graphic for someone who has lost a young child and would be comforted by the thought of the child happily in the presence of Christ. I am not sure if it works for me, however...The representation of Christ looks like the actor Liam Neeson.
This vector will likely be available in the free vector section of qualityheadstonegraphics.com.
I miss those days. I was just a kid. Life was so much simpler. One thing that I have taken with me, however, is that desire to creative problem solve.
Now that I design graphics, I am interested in addressing different sets of problems using the same creativity. One of the problems that we face in the west is sprinkler systems and water scale build up. This poses a problem for steeled stones with a laser etching on them. Laser etching is relatively new, so nobody really knows how long a photograph will remain on a stone, but at least for arid climates we are pretty sure of the damage that can be done. This is sort of a bummer because I have seen some incredible monuments with images being primarily laser etched. Just check out this link: http://www.paramountgranite.com/images/articles/jett_etch_grayscale.jpg Laser etching does have the advantage of providing infinite gradations of value, which allows for photographic quality on granite.
I am in the development stages of developing graphics that, from a small distance, would have the illusion of value, not just two tones. The principle is the same as laser etching; optical mixing, only on a much larger scale. This technique is no secret to printers, especially woodblock and intaglio engravings.
Contoured lines have been used for centuries to imply value. For some reason I haven't really seen this on gravestones. I don't think its because its impossible, I just think that perhaps few people have really thought about the illusion of optical mixing on granite.
Well I did some tests:
This is an image of a glass ball, with caustics(refracted light). This image has 5 shades of value, which were then turned into lines of respective varying diameter. The wider the diameter the darker the value appears from a distance.
I am very happy with the results. Though I have not had it sandblasted, I think that it would work very well. One of my primary concerns was for the plot-cutter. How can you put value into an image without having the cutter spending 10+ hours cutting the stencil. This would wear out your equiptment to fast, and would make pulling dots out a headache. With a contour pattern however, value is created with a relatively simple node path.
The question then comes to mind of what are the limitations of this technique. A line can only be so thin for a sandblaster to engrave deeply enough for it to matter. There is also the consideration of how close lines can be to each other before they get blown out of position and compromise the drawing. The last thing to consider is what is the threshold for the human eye when it comes to viewing an optically mixed image.
The ball and caustics are geometrical. But how would this technique measure up against something more organic, like, say a portrait of Abraham Lincoln?:
What do you think? I don't think the image is unsuccessful per se, but I think it is a tougher challenge to sell the human eye on something that has been geometrically stratified when the subject matter itself is organic. It really comes down to thresholds of value. An image like this might work: It is Linciln and at this point of his presidency, he looked pretty bad from all the stress of civil war casualty. But what about a little girl?
A computer cannot perceive planes, and therefore it cannot make contour lines that are appropriate for the respective plane they are contained in. This requires the discernment of a human. So I went back to square one and looked at...well not so much optical mixing, but implied form. Here is what I came up with:
Here there is some volume implied by contour lines in their respective plane Take Christ's hair for example, the lines, while following a natural path for hair to flow, creates the illusion of depth. This was done with a drawing tablet.
The image didn't quite feel complete. It would make a nice ink drawing to hang on your wall, but probably not a graphic to etch on stone. So then I tried to find a middle ground between hand drawing and the computer generated contour lines. I also took into consideration spacing for a gravestone...a format that would make it work in more of a radial pattern:
The original which I based this image from was a painting of Christ with a Child by Heinrich Hoffman. Hoffman was a 19th century realist most famous for his paintings depicting the life of Christ. I love his work...and knowing that his work is well known, thought that basing an image off of his work would make for a comforting graphic for someone who has lost a young child and would be comforted by the thought of the child happily in the presence of Christ. I am not sure if it works for me, however...The representation of Christ looks like the actor Liam Neeson.
This vector will likely be available in the free vector section of qualityheadstonegraphics.com.
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