#age of sail art

[makinggiddyart]

Read Leeward by Katie Daysh it's got queer asexual Love but also you're on a boat

I learnt how to use gradient maps for this piece and spent longer with that than the actual drawing

[ltwilliammowett]

Scrimshawed whale bone pie crimper in shape of a Unicorn, made by a sailor for a beloved person ashore or aboard, mid 19th century

Constructed from two sections of whale ivory with a baleen spacer. Well-formed head with inset baleen eyes and applied baleen ears and horn. Fluted wheel with a star-shaped hub supported by the unicorn's front legs. Elegantly formed rear legs and looping tail. c. 20cm long

[illustratus]

Sailing Ship at Sea (detail) by Michael Zeno Diemer

[lucybellwood]

A while ago Falynn K. asked this question on Twitter:

"So on a tall sailing ship you have the mast, and you have the yards across it--is the yard/spar actually attached to the mast, by like i dunno, a pin or something, or is it strictly roped/lashed to it?"

This is a totally reasonable question! A lot of folks who haven't sailed square riggers might think that the yard stays put, but in fact it needs to move up and down the mast so the sails can be fully set. (Y'know how everyone's always talking about halyards? They literally haul the yard up. You're welcome.)

So to answer the question: yards are held loosely to the mast by a looped line strung with large wooden beads called a parrel. The beads roll up the mast as the yard is raised and lowered. Here's a drawover that hopefully clarifies a little:

Once you start explaining things about tall ship anatomy it's hard to stop, so there's a bit more context for how the sails work:

(These are pages from my comic A Week at Sea with OHP, which you can read online here or grab as a print minicomic here.)

Hope this is helpful!

[haridraws]

Thinking about Them (ships)

[maturiin]

the deepest blue could never define you

[beebundt]

just finished first playthrough of da2, thinking about some post-game ship captain isabela and her 2nd hand (and lover)

[clove-pinks]

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Man of War.

[the-golden-vanity]

Captain Pike, Dean Cornwell (1892-1960)

I'm in love with this dramatic painting of a ship's officer facing Age of Sail-era justice, which was sent to me by @habemuscarnificem. After much searching online, and seeing this credited as an illustration for every maritime story from Treasure Island to Moby-Dick (neither of which involve anyone being hanged from the yardarm), I came across the painting's title, Captain Pike. However, I'm having a hard time finding out who Captain Pike was, or whether he was a real or fictional sea captain. Age of Sail Tumblr, can you help me out?

@ltwilliammowett @clove-pinks @benjhawkins @ anybody else who knows their boat stories

Thank you so much! Fair winds and following seas to you all.

[roadsidelunatic]

Acrylics on canvas, 2022

Inspired by images of the 1914-1917 Shackleton antarctic expedition as well as the 2018 series the Terror.

[mycological-mariner]

So I bought this painting of the Cutty Sark in a charity shop for 50p. And on the back it’s got this placard - pretty cool, right? Obviously it’s staying

Obviously the frame is a little busted and it can’t hang but that’s a 10 minute fix.

So I remove the card first thing to save for later and —

It’s a fucking menu. And apparently a really fancy one - it got French words. I’m laughing my ass off because some guy cut out a description of the Cutty Sark from a restaurant menu and stuck it to the back of a painting of said ship. At this point I’m having a blast and joking that “Oh, what’s next, the painting itself is gonna be from the dessert menu, I bet!”

IT WAS THE FUCKING WINE MENU. And this has to be ancient because £1.25 for a bottle of wine?? 20p for a glass?!

So quite a few decades ago some guy stole a menu, took it home, then cut out the painting of The Cutty Sark and it’s description and framed it to presumably hang on their wall. And now it is in my home, on my mantle and whenever I have guests over they’ll go “Oh what a nice picture of a ship!” But they won’t know. Only I will know that it is in fact the front piece of a wine menu. Like. The process behind how this came to be.

I’m keeping this forever.

[ltwilliammowett]

Sailor's Valentine, origin unknown - the design could speak for one of the very rare genuine sailor made valentines. 19th century

[illustratus]

The Battle of Trafalgar by John Christian Schetky

[lucybellwood]

I’ve been meaning to repost this mini-essay I wrote for Global Maritime History back in 2015 for AGES and since today's dash is full of people lamenting the burden of Boat Knowledge this seems like the right time.

ONWARD FOR TALL SHIP ART TIPS!

I often get questions from people who are concerned that their illustrated boats aren’t going to be up to snuff, and the short answer is generally: don’t sweat it. If you’ve drawn a thing that has a hull in the water and sails in the air, you’re off to a great start, and if you consult a few handy reference images, you’re bound to end up with something that looks mostly ship-like.

HOWEVER. There are a couple things that often get lost in translation which—if you pay attention to them—can make the difference between a passable tall ship and a vessel that definitely looks like you know your baggywrinkle from your bunghole. Here’s two tips to get you started.

Flags in the Wind

Generally when we think of a thing that’s going fast, we imagine a flag streaming out in the wind behind it, right? Well, when it comes to square rig sailing, things aren’t always so simple. If the wind is coming up from behind a ship—or from the side—to push it forward, the flag may be flying in a direction you wouldn’t expect! How are the yards angled to catch the wind in the sails? What’s driving the vessel forward? Sailors often look to flags for a quick indicator of wind direction—use that thought process when drawing your ships.

Keep Your Shrouds Tight!

Those rope ladder-looking things sailors are always clambering up? They’re called shrouds, and they also form a large part of the tensioning system that keeps a ship’s masts stable and upright. Stays (lines that don’t move i.e. stay put) are arranged throughout the rig to maintain even aft-to-fore pull on the masts and prevent them from keeling over. Shrouds form the lateral component of that system, so here’s an important fact: they will not be saggy. No saggy shrouds. No saggy stays. In addition to making the mast unstable, it’d be a devil to climb in heavy weather.

Note: the ratlines (the “ladder rungs” of the shroud) can have slack in them—it’s the vertical lines that should be tight.

When the crew is “tuning the rig,” they’re putting slack in all the stays and then re-tensioning them to ensure that the whole operation is as stable as possible, so unless you’ve got a bunch of idiots running your fictional vessel, keep ’em tight.

And another thing…

I see a lot of people running their shrouds down to the deck, rather than alongside the vessel. Don’t do that! I mean, okay, sometimes shrouds do attach to chain plates on-deck, but most of your classic Golden Age of Sail vessels will have them running alongside to the channels. Also: they end in deadeyes to help with the tensioning of the line and to keep things stable, so don’t forget your deadeyes!

Honestly, these are the biggest things that I see artists flub when drawing tall ships, so if you can keep them in mind, you’ll be head and shoulders above the rest!

If you’re looking to go more in-depth with your research, I would recommend…

Seeing if you can find a modern replica of the type of ship you’re after and then centering your reference search around the name of that ship. I get far more extensive results when I’m searching for “Privateer Lynx” rather than “1700s topsail schooner.” Don’t discount the many photos tourists will have taken while visiting these ships!

Nose around on model ship-building forums. There is no greater boon to the modern nautical artist than these obsessive craftspeople, who will spend hundreds of hours replicating classic ships in minute detail—often photographing the whole process so you can actually see how the rig of a vessel is put together! God bless ’em.

And that’s all I’ve got! I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief foray into accurate tall ship representation. Fair winds and following seas!

[rotting-hound]

🌅⚓️

[fancyhats-and-fennelsbuds]

A recent Movie got me going.

There's plenty of fish in the sea. Maybe this time he (Crow) could not screw everything up