That does look like a lot of fun and very relaxing but with the possibility of a lost jigsaw piece scare on an entirely different level 
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There is an abundance of dots, thank goodness, because I am finding them all over me when I stand up 
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That’s not a jigsaw - that’s measles.
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At least they are colorful 
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Safe and sound! Package received.
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Thanks for letting me know. I think I’m going to order some more of those strong photo envelopes.
By the way, the tissue paper is archival if you want to use it in one of your lovely projects. 
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So, I usually don’t do art and stuff, but I do the one or other digital thing every now and then because I’m cursed with 2 left hands. So I cheat with blender, stockimages to draw over, etc. All the lazy things (that is, at the times when I’m actually arting something, which is rare).
However, I might as well ask for some advice here. The thing is, I want to try my hand at a certain style, and I have no idea how to do that because I have no clue how images in this style were created in the first place. The objective here are old scifi covers and Nasa illustrations from the 60ies and 70ies. You probably know what I’m talking about, otherwise take a look here to get the idea:
So I want to try something that kinda resembles that style. The issue is not the highly detailed drawings etc, I can work on that. The problem is color, and a certain “je ne sais quois” that seems to make this style distinctive.
So the first question would be, how was this stuff actually colored originally. Water color? Oil pens? Like, I have no clue about those things, what would you say was commonly used for this style of images?
I expect that a lot of the distinctiveness has got to do with actual print processes. Like, they couldn’t draw an image, scan it in and then print it out. They had to do some plates of some kind, so I wonder if the original images were even colored, or if it’s all in the process to create the printing plates.
So yeah, the question would be, in the abstract, how do you get that general “feel”? Thereseems to be some innate sort of “graininess” to this stuff, which again I’m not sure if it’s down to printing.
And finally, if anybody can explain the processes and tools used in creating this stuff, do you maybe have some advise on how to best go about replicating it in Gimp?
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I can’t claim any expertise, but I know that older colour pictures were heavily influenced by the printing process.
For more than 200 years, it’s been possible to print very high quality colour images - but it was enormously costly, and generally only found in expensive limited editions of fine art books. The process used lots of expensive, high-quality inks, would only work on expensive, high-quality paper, and involved many stages of highly skilled work in the printing process. The process could go wrong at any stage, so there was a lot of wastage.
Colour printing suitable for paperback books, magazines, and posters, had to be cheap. It used a limited number (often only two) of inexpensive, poor-quality inks, on cheap, absorbent, paper. The colour of the inks was not reliable, and would vary from batch to batch. The ink could only be applied very thinly, as it would bleed and spread within the paper.
It’s very noticeable if you look at posters from the 1920s and 1930s, you’ll see that they consist of large blocks of a small number of colours. The limitations of the printing process dictated the artistic style the poster designer used.
The same is true of cheap magazines and paperbacks. The artists had to work within constraints, or the printing would not work.
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It seems Johnny Bruck’s later works were watercolor and gouche on board. Still looking at his earlier works. Seem to be acrylic. I personally prefer his older works. There is a lot of nice contrast in his older work. Either a dark, starless sky with nice bright foreground action or brightly lit background with shadowed forward moving subjects, usually running away from something Either way, he used a strong, singular light source, either a moon, sun, or exploding object.
I have had prints made of my original paintings before. I feel certain they did so in these cases though I have no idea what process they used in Germany in those days. It likely changed over time.
If you could find an image of the actual painting, that would be helpful
I will add that what is in light and what is in shadow may reflect what is hopeful and what is doomed but having not read the stories, I don’t really know. A lot can be stated in shadow and light.
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Well his style and media changed thru the years but I suspect @Polyphemus is correct, the printing process changed the look and perhaps altered the colors a bit. I would suspect you could get a similar effect by using a filter in a paint program.
The colors he used were quite vibrant but dulled down by the process used to copy it. Almost like there is a bit of a sepia tone washed over the painting.
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I’m not sure that GIMP has the filters you would need for this. Like @Polyphemus mentioned, the printing process especially for comics and magazines was very poor quality everything. And over time the pages yellowed pretty badly, too.
Filters would be the way to go if you could find some.
Good luck!
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I received your cheque a couple of days ago, thank you!
And thank you for the delightful handmade card you folded it into! I’m going to pin that up next to my computer desk. 
Every time I look at it, it feels like a blessing. 
If I can find the time to photo your lovely card and upload it, may I post it here?
I’m about to have my main computer area dismantled and the desk replaced so I may be offline for awhile.
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Yes feel free to post a pic. 
Will get the artwork ready to hang as soon as I can. It has been so hot, I don’t even want to go shopping. 
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I just spent the last 4 years (finished up in march) working in a letterpress printing museum and all of this was music to my ears <3
It’s a living/working museum so there are retired printers running some of the old presses, was always a delight to hear them trade stories and argue over technique and shortcuts.
https://www.nationalprintmuseum.ie/short-stories-in-print-2/
this was one of the last things I helped with, I was just ferrying the prints as Sean pulled them but learnt a lot of neat tricks on the Vandercook while helping him. Gonna miss using that press 
One of my favourite projects taht took place while I was there was a kids book made for the museums 25th anniversary, got to get custom plates made to recreate some of the artists digital images using our traditional presses and inks and ran a limited run on those too.
I was in outreach and education, probably best job I’ve ever had (every job before this was building frames, working in a shop, or a phramacy '^_ ^ ). Looking forward to going back in to something just like it
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The main thing about that old school illustration in the “Bruck” style is a neo-classical technique, illustration in a balance between lifelike and rough. The artwork is slanted in hue/chroma to the warm side, like people’s faces, and there are splashes of primary colors such as on space suits and rocket fuselage. Shadows are brownish, and highlights in shadow may or may not reflect the nearby scenery depending on artistic whim. A sepia / golden ochre cast over the whole piece will make it look more vintage, though you might have to cut that back over the light parts or it can look dull.
But the main thing is to get the colors to look natural and warm for the most part, and that’s a booger. Doing it digitally with a stylus and surface is easier because you can pick colors off of an example piece and overlay and manipulate them as you see fit.
My own creative endeavors have suffered lately. It’s a lot easier to just play video games and escape this sorry reality. But that’s only part of it, as my well of creativity doesn’t replenish like it used to. Plus I did a lot of writing on my NMS fic late when I was tired, and looking back over some of it I can’t believe some of what I threw down on virtual paper. Much of it could really use a rewrite at some point.
I still fear art and music. The three paintings I started stare at me as I leave the restroom as they lean against the wall, and my hundreds of dollars worth of art supplies and brushes seem to be waving at me too. So… I should stop procrastinating and just do something for the sheer heck of it. For the moment I’m going to try getting back in the fic with a chapter started and a couple dozen pages written. Wish me luck.
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You know, considering you like writing fiction about games, I can only assume that you like to write fiction inspired by gameplay, and I can’t help but think that you would enjoy something like irownsworn: starforged a whole lot!
It’s Pen&Paper, true, but the stories basically start writing themselves…
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This is the beautiful card, handmade by @sheralmyst that arrived with her payment for my watercolour sketch The Confetti Tree. Once I get my computer corner set up again This beauty is going on the wall right next to it! Thank you so much!
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So glad you like it!
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