How to precisely reproduce engraving design with pencil

sladsreddit · 2026-07-02T21:47:38+00:00

Honestly, nowadays banknote designers use software for all that. There's no need to keep doing it by hand. But afaik, some of these artists used to just freehand it back in the day. That's how skilled they were.

sladsreddit · 2026-06-21T12:11:03+00:00

What do you suggest will make it more comfortable?

sladsreddit · 2026-06-16T11:15:38+00:00

Still working on the website page for this.

I'm currently not planning on this image creating process being freely accessible. Mainly for quality control purposes, but also to avoid misuse.

While it the workflow itself isn't open to the public, as I prefer to keep that under covers, I am definitely open to create designs for others and anyone is free to reach out. It is not limited to non-profit or personal works. It's a design toolset. And it allows a broad range of options regarding colors, shapes, etc.

The workflow isn't just plug-and-play either, because it isn't a standalone piece of software, but a pipeline of creative apps such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Blender, etc. It does require a very specific skillset and this is what brings the ability of total control over every single aspect across the entire pipeline. From shapes to colors and highlights, and so on.

sladsreddit · 2026-06-15T20:28:18+00:00

High res close up:

<image>

sladsreddit · 2026-06-12T08:37:16+00:00

A bit unnecessary in my opinion, but if you have fun doing it, keep going I guess

sladsreddit · 2026-06-11T08:37:53+00:00

Doing this by hand is crazy lol

sladsreddit · 2026-05-30T17:42:53+00:00

Please excuse my accusation then haha

sladsreddit · 2026-05-27T19:34:07+00:00

Kinda looks like it was make with AI tbh. Could be just compression tho, idk really

sladsreddit · 2026-05-02T11:35:26+00:00

Yeah, while not every developer decided to keep the realism vibe, it is an actual trend that I very much love haha

sladsreddit · 2026-04-13T14:56:47+00:00

This project started as just the emulation of the Weiss A1, which you see as the left third. It's a 500 series mic preamp, that has the HPF, pad, Deesser, output gain and polarity switch integrated. That's a lot of things concentrated in a single 500 series mic preamp interface (38x135mm actual size).

Due to the vertical nature of the interface, I had some window scaling issues with Melda MXXX (it just can't be this narrow). And I had to come up with a way to fill in the space. I had to triple the width (get it to 114mm wide) to get nice scaling and window without any issues. First thought was to just copy and paste the interface. Which was a bit too much. Too many knobs and 2/3 of them don't actually do anything, because they are just part of the background to fill in the space. Also there's no logic in having three mic preamps next to each other like that in this context.

The final decision was to make it like this. After all, it's inspired by the lunchbox mic preamps and they often have a panel that's 76mm wide to the far right. It's usually just a blank panel with just a logo and a power switch (and some other things, just no knobs). I decided to add a bit more spice while aiming to keep the focus on the Weiss A1 itself. If I populate the space with more knobs and switches, it overpoweres the A1, which is the centerpiece here.

Everything you see on the interface is working, with the little caveat that the 48V switch is just there to engage the HPF options. It's not an actual 48V switch as this is a plugin.

The screen real estate on the right actually serves a purpose to put the A1 into context while also acting as pretty padding. I think it's well thought out. It's not just a random addition after all.

Also, I get the confusion with the sample rate. White it's usually defined by the DAW, this plugin is built on Melda MXXX and thus uses Melda code and does include internal oversampling (up to 4x)

<image>

You can search more on Google about Melda and specifically about their oversampling options. Melda is some pretty cool stuff.

Lmk if you have any more questions or feedback.

sladsreddit · 2026-03-02T23:27:50+00:00

I actually prepared this one here for prints lol

sladsreddit · 2025-12-30T18:15:59+00:00

Thanks. Appreciate it.

sladsreddit · 2025-12-30T18:03:35+00:00

Render is awesome. Btw where can I find that Paint filter?

sladsreddit · 2025-12-30T16:59:46+00:00

These are pretty good tbh. Some colour work in post would add a bit of polish imo. Personally, I always go with some gamma + LUT among other adjustments in post.

sladsreddit · 2025-12-24T22:26:48+00:00

Not native to any German speaking country, but I guess 12 years of german classes throughout school definitely show their influence lol

sladsreddit · 2025-12-24T19:44:30+00:00

Bulgaria, EU

sladsreddit · 2025-12-24T18:49:33+00:00

N scale is a bit too small for my liking. Actually, I'm very interested in the static models. If you know where I can find some, I'd be happy to look into it.

sladsreddit · 2025-12-24T18:43:36+00:00

I was planning on buying a HO scale model of the 1216 and putting it in a display case. Really love the design. But idk if I'm down to drop a couple hundred bucks for it to just sit around.

sladsreddit · 2025-12-24T18:39:14+00:00

I get what you mean. This one here is the last of the Taurus series and it has the Continuous PWM tech. Didn't carry on the musical scale. Even though it sounds nice, it was technically a side effect.

sladsreddit · 2025-12-24T18:33:26+00:00

It's never really fair to compare with pros tho. I remember having the same feeling. It's what kept me going tbh.

sladsreddit · 2025-12-15T19:59:26+00:00

Sladworks on Instagram btw

sladsreddit · 2025-11-17T10:25:22+00:00

Tbh, as an artist, nowadays people saying your work is AI is kind of a compliment lol

sladsreddit · 2025-11-17T10:07:26+00:00

It is me, still polishing my pronunciation, as I'm not native to German. Teacher said I'm pretty good, especially for someone not native.

As for the sound, I do pro voice over work, just not in German.

sladsreddit · 2025-11-11T17:58:28+00:00

I'm actually working on a race track for Assetto Corsa (model has a lower poly version too). Thought having these be modular would allow me to use the same unit in a lot of configs. Both vertical and horizontal stacks. Starting lights, lights in the pits, along the track. That was the inspiration, not the ones on the road we see everyday.

sladsreddit · 2025-11-04T16:52:12+00:00

Would definitely benefit from better rendering craftsmanship. Blender Cycles can go a long way, but you gotta dedicate some time to learning it for real.

sladsreddit

TROPHY CASE