QUOTE (macoran @ Oct 30 2009, 23:12)

...when do you still enjoy stippling and when does it start to drive you nuts??
What would your average hourly stipple be Tony?
Speed could depend on background music - a funeral march - one dot per second, The Bum of the Flightlbee by Ripyercorsetsoff - why, my hand would be a blurr! It was always a 'pleasure' to stipple tyre sidewalls because it made such a difference to the overall illustration, really bringing it alive - or so I thought. Next in line of Things to Stipple with a Degree of Enthusiasm was any complex cast item, nodules, bulges, cast lettering, etc. Of least interest and maximum tedium was large, gently curving areas such as the sides of plenum chambers, as it took a while, had no relief, but still had to progress from light to dark evenly and consistently.
I used a 0.3 Rapidograph,
very occasionally a 0.4, and get stuck in, as I had been practicing since I was about 14 I was quick and accurate. It is astonishing how one misplaced dot can be so obvious when looked at from a different distance than normal working distance - if the bad dot touches two others and leaves a white space where it was meant to be... Quelle horreur! Quick! Scratch out the dot, add one in the right place! Phew! God, no! There's
another one!
Dunno about an hourly rate, Marc, but four exposed sidewalls - probably two hours. I can't really remember, and never made a point of counting.