First attempt at a scroll.

[ChrisP]

First attempt at some scrolls. Learnt an awful lot in the process.

Should have spent more time on the artwork, the leaves were free handed as was the shading.

Next time I shall plan ahead a little bit more.

Of course, more than happy for any constructive crit. Thanks in advance.
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[AndrosCreations]

That looks nice, Chris... That background removal is a bear isn't it...

Really cool design!

[Andrew Ovalles]

The first thing i always tell people when learning how to do scrolls is to study your bare scroll pattern. When you become more intricate with your scrolls you can than move on to the leafs. The most amazing scrolls i see done are those who create amazing scroll patterns/spines first.

You can almost decorate anything with just scroll patterns alone if they are organized and flow properly. Adding leafs and gold inlays are just a bonus in my opinion.

[kfil]

Andrew is right.

A very useful thing to do is to actually draw a lot of" bare scrolls" before attempting to even engrave them.
When you have mastered that, you can later on add leaves and other elements.

What you could do is place a tracing paper on the scrolls you have just engraved and only trace out the structure of the scroll, leaving out the leaves. You will then see what the scroll looks like naked.
I think that in this instance, the structure of your scroll is too narrow so that you have not enough room already at the very beginning of it when you come to fill it with leaves. Trace it and you will understand what I am talking about.

Another thing that helped me a lot when I was learning to draw scrolls was to draw them and then turn the sheet or metal upside down to see if it still did look right. I then would make adjustments and then the aspect of the scrolls would be bettered.

Hope this helps.