Reliving Past Glories...

Looking through some old photographs on PhotoNet I came across this drawing of Janet's Leica M3 that I uploaded in July of 2005.

Around about that time NWHPC was having a competition for designing the club shoulder patch. I was trying out several designs and one was a fairly generic rangefinder camera. It had to be fairly graphic because it had to be replicated in embroidery. Janet came by and mentioned that it was not a chrome model with black leather and that it should have black leather. That sounded like an interesting challenge so I applied a simulated black leather covering and added a texture that was similar to the texture on her Leica. When I got that done she had something else that she thought it needed. Needless to say we were well beyond embroidery stage but I was enjoying giving it a try. Then she decided it needed a lens so I went to the camera cabinet and got out her 35mm Summicron for a model. I knew she wasn't going to stand for a couple of circles. When it was done I was a little surprised how well the drawing turned out that I decided to go back to the cabinet and get her M3. She always made fun of the canted film rewind on my M4 so I knew she would like the M3 better. I was tired of drawing the front of the camera so I decided to see if I could draw the top, thus the one I posted to PhotoNet. The hardest part of the drawing was the L in Leica--it's not as smooth as I would like it.

I used this drawing in a composite that I entered into a competition at NWHPC--it completely fooled everyone. You can tell that it is not an actual body by the rails on the flash shoe, they are uneven. Also I forgot to draw the neckstrap lugs--always intended to go back and do that but never got around to it. It was a fun exercise trying to discover how to get the various shapes, the reflections on the shinnier areas, drawing the film counter under glass and the knurling on the knobs. I believe that it took around thirty some layers. I never had the patience to try it again.

This is the image that I entered into the competition. The Polariod frames were also drawn in PSP. When I got it together there was a blank area in the lower right and we had just joined Texas Healthspring and one of their pens was laying on the desk so I drew an image of it to go in the corner. The only actual photograph is the head of the garden fountain with I broke up into the fake Polariod SX70 mats. Old people have a lot of time on their hands.

More digital drawings--just the frames, the photos are actually photos