Project Sail

[superboy]

beautiful, i can't draw sailing ship

[LadyRodondo]

Thank you. I'm lucky to be able to get help from Rodondo when I get stuck . Keep going, practice is the only way to get it

[CraigH]

beautiful, i can't draw sailing ship

Actually, you can! Start simple with just a couple or a few sails. Lady Redondo got it right by starting with modern sailboats. As you get a feel for drawing these beasts, absolutely emulate existing drawings and ask questions. There's several of us who will be happy to help.

Know ahead of time that they can take some time to draw, just like larger modern ships. Save a back-up or check-point drawing frequently. Don't be afraid to back away and come back later if you get stuck or burn out.

Spend time on-line doing research, for any ship I always collect period hull and sail plans, period paintings, photos if they exist (2nd half of the 1800's). I look for comparable/similar ships so I can study rigging. LEARN what the different sails do and how all the rigging works as each line has a specific function. All in all-it's pretty much the same as with modern shipping and a lot of fun.

Finding a drawing program with "Layering" capability also pays dividends. One can draw the basic shapes and apply the details on additional layers over top. One can hide layers that are visually in the way, and generally manage a drawing far better than with "Paint". The "Layers" also prevent existing finished work from getting trashed by the addition of finer details applied on top.

Search for threads here at SB for suggestions. I just happen to use Corel, and Illustrator as I had and used them before joining. I found SB while looking for MS Paint tutorials and use it to fine-tune drawings to SB Standards.

Happy drawing!

CraigH

[LadyRodondo]

The hardest thing I find on the sailing ships is the detail required on the sponsor banners and finding the right way to scale it down. If you've found a project your really wanting to do, find everything you can on it and be prepared for lots of starting to draw, erasing some of it and redoing lots. There are plenty of people on here willing to help with an element your struggling with.

[Rodondo]

Redondo,
Cool subject to draw! Where was she built (not far from me...)?
CraigH

I believe the Karluk was built in the Turner Yard at Benicia

[CraigH]

A little project I'm working on:
Baltimore Clippers: A design evolution.
Basically I'm tracing examples of the type of ship broadly classed as Baltimore Clippers, their roots and how they influenced sailing ship designs for speed under sail. It covers a period from the mid 1700's all the way through to the early 20th century. If the need was for fast movement of perishables, commanding the best market price, evading pirates, blockade running, smuggling, racing, or just being faster than everybody else, thank these ships.

They got their start in the Americas, via sloops down in the Caribbean to avoid pirates, from the Main Schooners for the schooner sailing rigs. In between by the late 1760's , the basics all came together in the Baltimore region where shipbuilders took the best traits, stretched the hull for capacity and speed and the ship type was born.

They started off small, as pilot boats and freighters of under 80' (waterline)...nobody was manufacturing enough for larger hulls then. The hull form developed a reputation for speed and was copied by all the major European powers. After 1815 they started to grow in size. By the 1830's they influence the design of the Atlantic Packets and ultimately the famous Clippers. The sharp hulls also lead to the speedier naval vessels, etc.

What killed them off for general cargo hauling was hull capacity...with the industrial revolution and the ability to create iron in quantity, ships suddenly could be built large enough to blend the Baltimore Clippers sharp ends with the bulky midsections needed to move stuff in quantity.

Bermuda Sloop (1740)


Virginia Built Privateer "Swift" (1770's)


HMS Flying Fish (1806) American Built


CraigH

[maomatic]

Beautiful work!
The stern view is a very nice addition!

[eswube]

Stunning work!
Addition of hull profiles is very educative.

[Rodondo]

Excellent work CraigH, I really was looking forwards to those hull lines you mention and you do not disappoint!

Heres the Windrush 14 from a few pages back in a template for upload,

[Rowdy36]

Great work Craig and Rodondo! Any chance we'll be seeing them in FD scale?