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Grail Diary Illustration Drawing Techniques
The drawings in the Grail Diary are what really bring this fantasy prop to life. Without them, the Diary loses a good deal of its pizzazz.
Copying Images into Diary
There are several ways to get pictures into your diary.
Photoshop and Print
Many of the images circulating will need some touchup with Photoshop. Once finalized and scaled to fit your pages properly, they can be printed directly onto your pages and the pages can later be sewn together to form your diary. This will require special book binding techniques. See our Grail Diary Book page for more information.
imageshack screen1w.jpg indianajones.es 10732
imageshack screen2da.jpg indianajones.es 10732
The exact measurements of the pages of the diary are 6 1/4" (158mm) x 3 15/16" (100mm) so your printed pages will need to be 6 1/4" (158mm) tall and a bit wider than 7 7/8" (316mm) to allow the outer pages of the signatures to reach prior to final trimming.
If you don't have Photoshop, then there is:
Gimp - the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages. Gimp Layering Tutorial
Inkscape - an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.
Photoshop and Print and Paste (with glue)
Images can be finalized, scaled down and glued into the Diary. This doesn't look as "authentic" as many would like, but pasting pictures and other other journal relevant inserts is a technique that has been used in scientific journals by scientists in the past. If you do many images like this, you diary will become thick quickly.
Light Table
A light table allows you to illuminate the backside of your pages and allows you to more easily trace pictures. You may still need to use your computer or copy machine to properly scale the images being copied. DIY light tables include windows, glass coffee tables with a light behind it and many other glass and light combinations.
Digi Draw
This allows you to use a semi reflective panel to help you "trace" mirror image of just about anything. You may need to modify your original images so that they are horizontally mirrored. This will allow your to copy and un-mirror the image to be copied.
Carbon Paper
Properly scale your drawing to be copied. Place carbon paper between original drawing and Diary page. Trace over original drawing to transfer image to diary. Finish with a good pen.
Note that some carbon paper will stain your pages blue. You may wish to use a soft eraser after inking over carbon paper marks.
Graphite Transfer Paper
You can use the same technique with graphite paper as you would with carbon paper. The advantages of graphite paper over carbon paper is that you com much more easily erase your markings after you finish with your pen.
misterart.com/store/view/001/group_id/7341/BIENFANG-Graphite-Transfer-Paper.htm COW 18229
DIY Graphite Paper
After you have the printed image in the right size, rub a pencil all over the back, lay the image on your diary page and trace over the lines with the pencil. This transfers the pencil lead from the back to your drawing to your diary page. All you have to do is go back over the transfer with your pen and gently erase the graphite with a soft eraser. This can produce great results.
Penciling
Some of the Grail Diary drawings, such as the stained glass window of Christ, appear to be photocopied from penciled originals. The only place that pencil appears in the actual diary is on some of the No-Names map, the Wolfram scrap and the two-page Leap page.
Freehand Drawing
You either have this skill or you don't. Those new to copying drawings can try flipping their original image and diary upside-down, which makes it easier for some to copy. Those skilled with copying drawings will have more of a sense of accomplishment when their Diary if complete.
Projector Tracing
There are a number of ways to use a projector to project an image onto your diary page for tracing. This technique is better suited for copying images onto larger media such as posters or walls.
Tracing Paper
You can do a lot with tracing paper. You can trace over photos or drawings and then use another method to transfer your tracings into your Diary.
Printing Transfers
You can print onto the back side of photo paper or similar media so that the ink would still be "wet" enough to "stamp" into the book.
Results range from embarrassing to expositional. The stamped image can be used as is, or you can use this technique to create a properly scaled outline that can be finalized with a good pen.
Image Stamping Steps
Convert your digital image to grayscale in Photoshop.
Cut away any unnecessary background and any text.
Flip your image horizontally so that you have a mirror image
of your drawing.
Adjust the brightness and contrast so that the
lines of the drawing are bold and black, while the background is completely
white. Remember that the image will not stamp completely. So if it
looks a little bit sloppy, it's probably fine.
Examine the prop images and measure out the page margins that
will surround the image as well as the size of your image.
As an example, consider the left page of the Venice Window spread
(above). You will want to stamp the knight image onto the left page in your
diary.
Use Print Preview and place it in the top left corner of the page that it'll
be printed on, and then apply your measurements to the preview plane.
Print your creation onto a scrap piece of paper and check
that everything measures correctly and looks right. Remember that it
will be mirrored.
When everything looks right, it's time to print and stamp.
Print the image using the basic text print setting, so it comes out of
your printer fast. You will need to use generic photo (inkjet) paper
(Office Depot injet paper works, and some have used transparency paper with
good results) this time. Load your paper so that your image prints out
on the shiny side (wrong side) of the paper. As soon as it's out, place the edge of the
photo sheet in the crease between the your diary pages with the top of your
photo sheet lined up with the top edge of your diary. Close the diary
so that your printed image is pressed against your diary page. Apply
pressure all around to ensure that as much ink stamps as possible.
Notice the placement of the image on the photo sheet. It should
transfer exactly
where you need it in the book. By putting the sheet in the crease of the
pages, it stays straight and doesn't move when you close the diary on it.
The same technique is applied for each stamp you do, including the right page:
If the image should be on the left page of the diary,
put it in the top left of the photo sheet in the Print Preview, and vice
versa for the right page stamps.
After stamping your page, it's time to finish your drawings. Use a quality drawing pen to touch up your drawing and fill in your text.
Pen Choices
There are many opinions as to which pen to use for your drawings. Some recommend a fountain pen, while others use modern art pens.
A 0.1mm Staedtler pigment liner pen is used by several Diary diehards.
staedtler pigment_liner_gb.Staedtler
Photo-Copy Transfers
Key Image Sources
There are several key image sources that are believed to be used by the original Grail Diary prop makers. These sources are obviously vital to any diary perfectionist.
The Best of the Lucasfilm Archives
This photo book has a good many photos, sketches, paintings from the Star Wars and Indiana Jones Trilogies. It has several photos of the Grail Diary, and will be able to make out some of the text. The 14 sets shown in this book are the mainstay of all "serious" reproductions.
The Grail: Quest for the Eternal
This is a required book for any serious Do It From Scratch diary prop maker. It appears that a good amount of the text in the real Grail Diary props came from this book (remember that the diary was actually made by a prop maker and not by Dr. Jones himself). It contains 96 pages with 118 illustrations (15 in color).
ISBN 0824500350
usuarios grial33.html - many Matthews images found here
The Flowering of the Middle Ages
This was used for the Saint-Chapelle shrine drawing, the Knight/Cup page and the Floorplan used on the "Black Stone" page.
Hardcover: 360 pagess
Publisher: Barnes and Noble; Reprint edition (1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0760708584
ISBN-13: 978-0760708583
Product Dimensions: 12 x 8.9 x 1 inches
"A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method" 17th edition
by Sir Banister Flecther.
Longford Castle. Page 965. This is believed to
be the Triangular Floorplan used in the diary. The one in the Diary is a simplified version of this.
utexas.edu longford.jpg
Page 508 has the three X shaped items from the Triangle Floorplan page (They are Leaves).
Doric Columns. Page 160. Seen on the left side of the Sainte Chapelle set
in the Diary.
utexas.edu column.jpg
Corinthian Columns Page 160. Also seen on the left side of the
Sainte Chapelle set in the Diary.
utexas.edu column2.jpg
Petra. page 220. This is not in the diary, but
many feel that this image can be useful for an invented page dated after the
Jones professors fine the grail. The image is quite detailed, so Dr. Henry
Jones would need to have a photographic
memory to draw it perfectly (unless Indy has a camera in his MKVII).
utexas.edu Petra.jpg
indygear.com/cow/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7547
The Shrine of St. Peter the Martyr also appears in the book. The version of this shrine used in the Diary appears to be from "The Flowering of the Middle Ages."
Palimpsests: The Backs of Monumental Brasses
This may have been used for the "Tibetan Skull/Stone Face" page
in the diary
Publisher: Monumental Brass Society (1980)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0950129844
ISBN-13: 978-0950129846
only 400 copies of this book were printed
Please feel free to link to this site so that others can find it. It's easy to link to this site, just copy one of the texts below onto your web page:
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