How are the drawings made?
Tools of the trade
The basic tools are very simple: A pencil and some thick white paper.
I use a HB (medium soft) pencil for most objects. H2 is good for small
detail. I think B2 or softer are not as suitable as they tend to smear
all over the paper.
An eraser can be used for thin absorpion effects and small dust clouds
but a very clean and sharp eraser is needed for a good effect.
The paper used should be quite thick (even thin cardboard) as thin sheets will
soon be waterlogged and unusable (unless Your observing site is in Sahara
or any similar very dry place).
A thin hard-cover book or a rigid sheet of any material is needed for a
Last but not least a faint red spotlight is needed. Red is usually used
because it seems to affect the night vision less than any other colour.
But even red light will affect your night vision so the light source should be
as faint as possible. The light should be quite diffuse as sharp changes in
the intensity will made evaluating the quality of the drawing much more
Example: NGC 7013
This is the most critical step as the rough net of bright stars will serve
as a guide when drawings everything else
I usually also plot a small and faint point where the center of the object
will be. It makes plotting the faint stars near the object much easier.
Compare the shape and dimensions with the 'general grid' of field stars.
The drawings is now almost ready. Note the magnification, the name of the
The last step can be done indoors.
Use a black pen for nice round stars, carefully rub the drawing with your
fingertip or a piece of paper to get a nice diffuse outline and finally
spray a layer of fixative on the drawing. Add a detailed description and
information about sky conditions etc.
2nd example: NGC 6712