c Q<^ «S) V p k; fy € M- y. 1 WINSOR & NEWTON'S Specialities for Drawing for Reproduction. A"- — *— [■■■■•■■■■■■■■I b Pi B BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OP xS9x .di-^'^yy. ^o/y/2A Boards. " TSable Brushes. AND EVERY REQUISITE FOR THE ARTIST IN BLACK AND WHITE. WINSOR $ NEWTON, Ltd., Manufacturers of the FINEST COLOURS AND MATERIALS FOR OH and Water-colour Painting, Pencil and Clialk Drawing, dc. _ three highest awards, chicago, 1893. diploma of honour and gold medal, antwerp, 1894. Illustrated Catalogues Post Free. Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031294402 BARGAINS m ALL KINDS OF Private Property OF EVERY DESCRIPTION, ABB EEADILT OBTAINED THEOtJGH XLbe Bajaar, ^be Eycbange anb ^art (Established 27 Years). THE BEST MARKET IN THE WORLD FOR THE DISPOSAL OF SURPLUS PROPERTY. Lots of Interesting, Useful, and Valuable Information on a vast number of popular subjects, with Numerous Illustrations. THE MOST USEFUL PAPER IN LONDON. GET A COPY AND SEE. Price 2d.., at all Newsagents & Railway Bookstalls. Offices : 170,, Strand, London, W.G. Pen Pictures AND HOW TO DRAW THEM. A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK ON THE VAEIOUS METHODS OF ILLUSTRATING IN BLACK AND WHITE FOR "PROCESS" ENGRAVING. With Numerous Designs, Diagbams, and Sketches. By eric MEADE, Author of "Scene Painting for Amateurs,'' "Magic and Mystery" " Stage- Dancing," "Silhouettes," etc. LONDON : L. UPCOTT GILL, 170, STRAND, W.C. 1895. s CONTENTS. PAUK 1. Preliminary 1 2. Art and Nature 4 3. How to Begin 7 4. Drawing 12 5. Painting, Etching, Pen Drawing, and Photo- graphy 15 6. Lines and Washes 19 7. Perspective — Simply Explained 25 8. Perspective — Technical 30 9. Materials for Pen-and-ink Drawing 34 10. Tone, Shadow, Tint 38 11. The Human Figure, Eoreshortening — Anatomy 44 12. Costume and Drapery 52 13. Arrangement, Invention, Composition, Grouping 54 14. Landscape and Architectural Drawing 59 15. Decorative and Symbolic Art 63 16. Sky, Sea, and Ships 67 17. Trees, . Eocks, Grass, Fields, etc. 70 18. Other uses of Drawing 73 19. Caricature 75 20. Process Engraving 78 21. Art Criticism 83 22. Final Hints 85 23. Glossary 86 preliminary. It is usual to say that there are three Arts of Design — architecture, sculpture, and painting. The nineteenth century has added a fourth to the number. Drawing in Pen and Ink, or, as it is otherwise called, Black and White, has, owing to special requirements, definitely taten rant as a separate art. By the aid of photography in its now highly developed state, a new and cheap method of en- graving known as " Process" has, in some degree, revolutionised the world of matters artistic. Until within recent years most of the pubHshed drawings were prepared for the printer by the beautiful but costly art of wood engraving. What was formerly left altogether to the skill of the trained carver on wood is now more frequently pro- duced automatically by a very simple method. The original drawing is photographed upon a plate of zinc. This plate is then carved chemically, or "bitten," as it is called, in an acid bath, and the result is a surface which, when inked, gives a replica of the drawing. Not only, however, has a great change come over the system of en- graving, but the art of drawing itself, responding to new needs, has made enormous strides. There have never been such drawings as we see to-day, and what is more en- couraging, the pubhc taste has been raised to such a standard as to be intolerant of the crude, old-fashioned, and inaccurate style of illustration. Through the influence of the schools of the Eoyal Academy and South Kensington Museum, with their 'A PEN PICTURES. affiliated branches, the art of design has been enormously nurtured. New systems and more capable teachers have sprung up, and much excellent work has been done. It is becoming, indeed, a sort of convention that everyone who can write should be able to draw. But, however this may be as regards the individual, it is beyond doubt that there is an increasing number of matters which are represented by the draughtsman and engraver. Not the least important indication of this fact is the progress of illustrated pubhca- tions, both in number and quality. We may not, perhaps, return to an age of picture-writing, when men will be ac- customed to draw their ideas instead of describing them in words. There is much, nevertheless, to be said for lessons by pictures, news by pictures, and the like, rather than by letterpress. Certainly we can understand almost anything better by an illustration than by any amount of ' ' word- painting." We know, for instance. Dr. Johnson's defini- tion of a network as " anything reticulated at equal distances with interstices between the intersections." But. the most crude, the most appallingly inartistic sketch of the apparatus would be a better explanation than that. Although hundreds of persons of both sexes are daily engaged in making pen-and-ink drawings for the hosts — ever increasing hosts — of illustrated publications, oppor- tunities for acquiring a practical knowledge of Black and White are, curiously enough, exceedingly rare. In London,. Paris, and New Yoik there are annual exhibitions of Pen and Ink work. We have also numerous schools for teaching- drawing as an introduction to painting. But academies and institutions affording reliable guidance and information in the art of Black and White have yet to be estabUshed in the numbers which the importance of the subject demands. It is not generally understood that an artist may be a Eoyal PEELIMINAEY. 3 Academician and an excellent painter, and yet a very inferior draughtsman for the purposes of reproduction in black and white. The explanation of this is, that a drawing which must pass through the hands of engravers and printers before it reaches the pubUc cannot be worked out so completely as a drawing intended to be looked at in itself, and not merely in the reproduction. Modem pen-drawing is based on the fact that artists now know how to work for the special needs of "process." With this in view it is hoped that these pages will set before the student and artist a broad and accurate foundation upon which to study and reflect. No claim is made that everything necessary to equip an artistic draughtsman will be found, nor is the student asked to dispense with large and exhaustive works dealing with the critical and vague side of Pen and Ink work. Simplicity has been studied even to the verge of frequent repetition. Complexity has been avoided, because experience has shown over and over agaia that the lessons of drawing-masters and text-books are too often a maze of advice impossible for the memory to retain, and frequently serving only to disgust and discourage, without conveying any satisfactory instruction. A 2 Hrt an& Iftature. One great reason why niimerous students fail to excel in art is because their training proceeds on a plan altogether too narrow. It is long after he learns to draw when the average art pupil discovers that the capacity to make an excellent copy of a model is not everything. When it is clearly understood what Art is, rules and principles are more easily grasped and appreciated. It is usual to say that Art is everything which is not Nature. This is extremely vague and iasufScient. Besides its imitative functions, Art represents a craving in the mind such as anyone may feel when he sees a good picture or piece of sculpture, or when he perceives sounds and harmonies. It is the means by which the internal and spiritual is revealed to the sense. In connection with drawing the first function of Art is to gratify the eye. A mere mechanical draughtsman — a designer of architectural plans, for example, may gratify nothing else ; such are masters of the little style. A .master of the grand style — a Eubens — may probably rouse the soul within us. A perverted genius^a Dore, perhaps — may choose a theme that shocks us. Hence it is that Art is capable of a wide interpretation. It is commonly said that Nature has no lines. And the meaning of this dictum is not always clearly understood.' In the natural world objects, such as the sea, the clouds, the land, and so on, present themselves to our eyes as a number of flat AET AND NATUEB. patches or spaces or masses of colour and shade in different strengths. Yet in all this assemblage of natural objects, full as it is of gradation in tone, there is nothing like a real line — the line, that is, which is defined geometrically as the shortest distance between two points. Even the sensible horizon out at sea, which is often described and represented (Ex. 20) as a line, is in actuaUty no such thing ; it is merely the ending of a particular portion of space drawn and spoken about as a "line." Yet by means of lines Black and White Art, employing the aid of light and shade, gives us on a flat surface the appearance of ob- jects and bodies in nature which have no lines in themselves. Here, at once, we have a wide distinction between Art and Nature ; it would be impossible to represent artistically any- thing in the natural world with- out the use of lines. Thus, in order to draw anything which is seen in Nature it is neces- sary to make a form of it. The rough attempts of our pot-' hook and slate-pencil days to represent a man, or a horse, or a house was a struggle to give a form to any of these objects. The horse, or the house, or the man, so far as the eye is concerned, was simply a mass or space, lighter or darker in tone and of varying colour, amidst other surround- ings, and a boundary supposed to represent the object was transferred to a slate or a piece of paper. Thus the schoolboy, like the artist, supplies the lines himself because PEN PICTUEES. there are none in Nature, and the lines are completely artificial. The skilled artist is he who can choose such typical and vital lines as will best represent any object he may desire to draw. Ibow to IBcQirx. Some of our very best artists have never had any training in Technical Schools. Just as many people learn to play on the piano by ear, there are those who can draw by eye. Naturally, the greater the kaowledge of drawing the better for the would-be draughtsman. But the most available and the best lessons are rarely taken advantage of ; there is too much eagerness on the part of beginners to follow mechanical avenues, such as drawing in freehand and from the wooden model. Better results are frequently obtained by a less restricted system. A piece of pencil and paper, and the pupil is equipped. Even though he knows nothing what- ever about the technical rules of art, he should attempt to draw everything he sees. At first he will make a fine mess of everything ; but that is the experience of all. It will take him quite a long time indeed even to get up to the standard of the sketches shown in Examples 3 and 4, but the study of Nature is undoubtedly the best school. Through neglect on this score not a few of our best professional artists resort to apparatus, conveniences, and even dodges little suspected by the uninitiated public. Much of their skilled and published work, indeed, is but the merest "amateurism." The novice who is attracted by a pen-and-ink drawing must not deceive himself by the impression that it is all and always out of the artist's " own head," as it were. This is not often true. The beginner with his pencil and paper making his attempts has some consolation, nevertheless, for his lack of b PEN PICTUBBS. technical knowledge. He can always consult the work of competent pen-and-ink artists. Thus, suppose he was anxious to draw the interior of a room, he would be sadly muddled in trying to get his lines right. He can then turn to the interior of a room as drawn by a more capable deli- neator, study how he has managed it, and apply, so far as he can, the other's methods. Byerybody, saving an exceptional genius, must commence by being a copyist. When some idea is obtained how a room — which is a very difficult study — is represented, the sky, animals, clouds, everything is open Ex. 3. to be experimented on. The unconscious information secured in this way is wonderful ; every failure makes you the keener in perceiving how the practised draughtsman has succeeded. For the purposes of consultation and correction there is a rich store of pen-and-ink work easily procurable." A number of drawings by foremost pen-and-ink artists appear in these pages ; but they have been selected mainly with the object of simple guidance and instruction, not for display. [Some of them are reproduced from Pick-Me- Up, by kind permission of Mr. Henry Eeichardt.J For a few pence or shillings any newsagent can furnish the illustrated periodicals, and HOW TO BEGIN. 9 dealers in artist's materials always keep a stock of photo- graphic reproductions of the best paintings. And just here it will be well to remind the beginner that artists cannot draw every object with equal facility. Some draughtsmen excel in landscape, others in figures, others in caricature, others in decorative work, and still others in architectural and industrial designs. An artist who is, perhaps, first in his line in drawing animals may make a sorry show in representing the human figure. A master in drawing animals and figures may be completely lost in landscape work or interiors. And so on. There is no need to bewail lack of capacity should the beginner find he is not equally skilful with all sorts and conditions of objects. In following the plan here proposed, of studying direct from Nature with the aid of comparison, another warning may not come amiss. The delicacy and finish of most of the pubhshed drawings is not altogether due to the artist- illustrator, If you take up a magazine and glance at any of the illustrations, remember that you are not looking at the original drawing exactly as it was when handed to the engraver. This engraved copy differs from the original drawing in this respect : it is not the same size. The practice is to reduce the original by photography to about one-third of its size, and then engrave it at the reduced size. Thus the fine delicate lines which the beginner despairs of ever producing are three times as coarse in the original as- they are in the engraving. Although drawings are reproduced now and again to exactly the same size, " to scale," as it is termed, the rule is to reduce them. Mechanism not unfrequently contributes considerable finish and fineness to the artist's work. The old school of pen-and-ink artists drew on wood, and the drawing was engraved right away. This is how Sir 10 PEN PICTUEES. John Tenniers cartoons in Punch are treated to this day. But the French and Americans, by extensively adopting "process," discovered the value of the new method, which, though its results be no better than wood-engraving, proves commercially less expensive . In Harpers ' , Scribners ' , and the Century magazines beautiful examples of this automatic engraving may be seen. The Flegiende Blatter of Munich, Le Courier Franpais, Black and White, The Ladies' Pictorial, Pick-Me-Up, New York Life, Puck of Philadelphia, The Strand Magazine, and many other publications contain first- class pen-and-ink art engraved in the best "process" manner. For study both in engraved results and excellence in drawing, no better work could engage the attention of the beginner than that of the following draughtsmen : — In England, Charles Keene, Fred Walker, T. WyUie, Barnard, Sandys, Phil May, Du Maurier, Joseph Pennell, L. Eaven- Hill, Edgar Wilson, and some others ; in Spain, Fortuny, Eico, Vierge, Madrazo and Pons ; in Germany, Menzel, Dietz, Schlittgen, and Oberlander; in France, Lalaure, Caran D- Ache, Breville, De Neuville, Lunelle, Gerbault, and Does ; in America, Edwin Abbey, the best of all illustrators, Eeinhardt, Gibson, and, for outrageous comicality, "Zim." From the point of view of quality, the Continental draughts- HOW TO BEGIN. 11 men are easily first. As a matter of fact, th.e modern school of Pen Drawers in England and America is largely an echo of the achievements of their foreign fellow-artists. But all of the artists named have their copyists and imitators. ©rawing. It is nob the purpose of this book to teach the elements of drawing. One of the best methods of acquiring the art has been fully set forth, but for those who do not prefer to follow that track, schools are at hand where the ordinary rules may be learned. All training in drawing resolves itself in the early stages into a vigorous practice of straight and curved lines. Outline drawing is an attempt to represent on a flat piece of paper the form and shape of any " copy " or object that may be set before the student. The great thing is to secure correctness of eye and expertness of hand. How to introduce shading or shadow is the next step. There are numerous publications specially designed to afford, in an understandable way, information on these branches. Thus, what is called the " South Kensington Drawing Book," published in series by Blackie and Sons, and selected by Mr. Poynter, E.A., Director of the Science and Art Department, is excellent. Each section takes up a different subject — freehand, model-drawing, the hands, feet, head, face, perspec- tive, shading, landscape, and so on — all are drawn in every variation, so that the student has no lack of guidance. Excellent as these "aids" are, many of our most competent artists allege that the severe training of the Eoyal Academy Schools, and the course of instruction prescribed by the Science and Art Department at Kensington, besides stifling originality in the student, does not result in the "bringing out" of much first-class talent. This, if true, is the best incentive to the beginner who is DEAWING. 13 loath to work, or attempt to work, independently and direct from Nature. The constant use of a drawing-board, a T-square, and a pair of compasses, however excellent for securing proficiency in a mechanical draughtsman, cannot be nearly so useful as the student's own direct efforts. By trying to draw in this way he is trusting to his eye and intellect, and developing his powers of observation. The academical system is merely learning by rote and routine. To study drawing from the model — Uving or lay — is excellent practice. Any passer-by in the street, or any occupant of a room, is a model to the observant student. It is, of course, difficult to draw from the human model at first. One means of progressing in this branch of work is to procure wooden models and charts from any dealer in artist's materials. The lay model may be posed according to any attitude it is desired to depict. Skill in the technical work of drawing must by no means be under-valued. The great aim for the .beginner is to cultivate the power of expressing his subject in as few and meaning lines as possible. Amateurs are fatally fond of muddhng their work and their paper by scores of lines where a few only are wanted. Many of our best black-and- white artists themselves are not so -skilled in technique as most people imagine ; if they had waited until they had become perfect executants in this respect, they possibly would have been mute and unheard of yet. They com- promise by simply borrowing or appropriating what they themselves are unable to draw. It may be a background, or a foreground, , or figures, or animals — anything, in fact. They know where to find what they want, and many of them do not scruple to help themselves. Anyone who keeps his eye on the illustrated periodicals of different coimtries will soon observe this widespread. It is only fair. 14 PEN PICTURES. indeed, to warn beginners that many fine pen-and-ink sketches are not exactly what they seem. Trickery, never- theless, is not to be commended. It destroys individuality in every case where it is carried too far ; in others, it is often the making of the draughtsman. A careful examination of the work of many painters and artists, soon reveals the fact that their technique would not establish any reputation for them ; frequently it is some other feature the work possesses which attracts attention to it, such as wit, vulgarity, or speciahsm of one sort or another. These ' ' secrets of the prison house " are communicated mainly with the view of preserving the courage of the beginner. Later, under suitable headings, special details will be given on the important subjects here dealt with. Ipainting, lEtcbing, pcn^mavoirxQ, anC> Ipbotoarapbi?. It has already been explained that as Nature has no lines, what the artist does is to make a form bounded by lines of any object which he sees in the natural world. Now, a picture or sketch, besides being composed of ZOTes,may be composed of masses. For instance, in a painting, although lines are used at first to "block in" or make thorough preUminary sketch in pencil or crayon, the artist gets rid of them when he puts on his colours. The pencil- sketch acts as a guide. The object then is, hke Nature, to present a scene which has no lines, and to render the form of the subject by masses of colour and hues. But in a pen- and-ink drawing, or an etching, or a photograph, the work appears in monochrome, or only one colour — the variations of black-and-white (Ex. 9). In such cases it would be impossible to represent a natural object in masses or spaces of colour. It is necessary to do the best you can with the black-and-white medium at your service. A pen-and-ink drawing, an etching or a photograph, could not show us the scarlet blush on a child's cheek or the blue of the sky — such can only be suggested by an adroit use of black and white. In Ex. 9 the sky is possibly blue. The painter would represent it in a gradation of blue colours ; the black- and-white artist, not having a palette of colours, can only hint ab it. Thus, in this respect, pen-and-ink drawing has. its drawbacks and limits. 16 PEN PICTUEBS. Sometimes a pen-and-ink drawing is spoken of as an etcMng with the pen. Etching proper is a method of drawing with a sharp metal needle on a chemically prepared plate of metal.- Example 5 is a process engraving fr om an etching by Mr. Edgar Wilson. Here there is a deheacy and refinement of line and effect that pen draughts- men find it extremely difficult to obtain. This deHghtful art has the advantage of enabling the etcher to be free and bold in his lines. The object he aims at is to Ex. 5. Etching Eepeoduced by Process. use as few strokes as possible. In an etching each line is meant to tell its own tale, and this is the goal of a pen-and- ink drawing. There is this difference, however. In an etch- ing the effects are obtained by short, rapid touches of the needle; in a pen-and-ink drawing the tendency is rather to merge the lines in a series of accurately graded tints. Compare the above with the various examples of Pen Pictures in this book. Unluckily etching, hke wood engraving, is too slow and too costly a method to suit rapid PAINTING, PEN DRAWING, AND PHOTOGBAPHY. 17 and economical printing. Each impression is taken by- hand off the etched plate, and on the paper is usually left a "plate form," or indentation. The position of photography in connection with pen-and- ink drawing is an important subject. Much difference of opinion exists in the artistic world as to whether photo- graphy is or is not an aid to art. Many of our portrait- painters are said to appreciate its usefulness by photograph- ing their sitters upon the canvas, and then painting on the necessary colours. There is not much to be said for substituting the camera in the place of the sketch-book, nevertheless. The artist who makes his own sketches is more likely to develop his artistic instinct — to grasp and appreciate the subtler and more exquisite side of things. The use of a photograph in order to correct a drawing cannot, on the other hand, be condemned. Modem photography itself is certainly very marvellous in its results. An expert with a discriminating eye and taste can produce work which is beyond doubt artistic. The camera is a recorder of dry facts, and it possesses the disadvantage, unlike the draughtsman, of being not easily able to select, to add here and take away there, in order to produce an artistic whole. As Mr. Charles Harper well remarks, a "photograph generally includes a lot of jarring, inconsequent accessories. The camera has neither sentiment, selection, nor brains." But the person who uses the camera is frequently provided with all these gifts. There are quantities of extremely bad photographs and many which are extremely good. Of course, different lenses and focal lengths give different results. It is not uncommon to see photographs where the heights or distances are enormously reduced, while even very small objects in the foreground are enormously increased in size. It must be remembered, however, that photographers by 18 PEN PICTUEBS. design and contrivances in fixing the camera constantly represent buildings, local scenery, and the like monstrously large in proportion to the reaUty. This is purely a commercial matter ; you can observe it in the case of most of the photographs of their premises vehich business- -men attach to their catalogues and wrapping-papers. A pen-and-ink drawing equally with a photograph is unable to give a true representation to Nature simply because the values of the lights and shades cannot be preserved. So far as they can it is by an adroit use of tones by the black-and-white artist, and by the use of what are called " orthochromatic plates" by the photographer. The defect which must be combated in both cases is, that parts of a subject that should be represented as high Hghts must not be allowed to appear dark. A photograph on account of the redundancy of detail which it must take in has a tendency to blacken the shadows. But by the use of platinotypes — ^photography at its best — or composite photo- graphs, where one negative is superposed upon another, much reform is being brought about in this matter. The place of photography, accordingly, in the field of Black and White, is of great interest to the artist. Example 1 (see frontispiece) is a process engraving from a photograph by Mr. Payne Jennings, of Ashstead, Surrey, reproduced by his kind permission. /^f.jiitff.^ Xine0 anb Maebes. Ex. 6. It is now understood that a pen-and-ink drawing may be composed of masses as well as lines, and that the drawings in illustrated pubUoations are seen, not as they were origi- nally made, but as they appear when reduced. For instance, Ex. 7 is engraved exactly the same size as the original drawing. Ex. 8 is the same drawing reduced one-third. Thus in the original the black lines were three times thicker, and the white lines or spaces three times wider. Accordingly, the greater the reduction the bolder must be the hnes in the original and the wider apart or more open. It follows that very fine and microscopic lines in a drawing subject to great reduction will possibly vanish, and not appear in the engraving at all. Indeed, the use of too many lines is generally a waste of time and effect. The value to the beginner of making attempts to draw rough sketches of trees, men, horses, streets, anything, and to refer to finished work for hints as to procedure, cannot be too strongly insisted on. Suppose he desires to draw a road ; he should try to draw it as he sees it. If he fails, let him look at such drawings as Exs. 10 and 12, which will B 2 20 PEN PIOTUEES. suggest to him what he has to do — always remembering, of oomrse, that the drawing he refers to has been reduced in size from the original. Practice of this sort will furnish an astonishing amount of information about perspective, values, tones, and other of the more difficult featui'es of Black and White, which will later be dealt with in detail. You can no more be taught how to draw lines than how Ex. 7. to eat your food. Bach person is his own master here. He must learn to draw straight and curved lines both with pencil and pen. Great proficiency should be acquired in making curved lines, because lines in pen-and-ink work are always more or less in curves — not the curves of a circle exactly, but irregular curves, such as those in elUpses, hyperbolas, and cycloids. Long and short lines are used according as they suit the artist's purpose, and different artists have different styles of making their lines — smooth, rough, Ught, heavy, scraggy, nervous, and steady. When LINES AND WASHES. 21 you want to make a sharp black line, your ink must be black and stand out clear on the paper ; if a light line is desired, do not put water in the ink, but make the line light or fine, or put a number of very light lines together. What is called single line or simple outline (Ex. 18) is distinguished from a number of merged lines (Ex. 10). The ancient mode was to make the line of equal thickness throughout, as you may observe on antique pottery. The modem method is to accentuate and thicken the line in parts, which enables the difference between the side in Hght and the side in shadow of the object delineated to be determined. This is what is known as the many-lined method of outlining. In Ex. 6, you will notice a light effect secured by making the lines fiiie and separate. You may work, of course, with different materials in the same drawing to get your effect — pencil, crayon, chalk, or on grey paper, in which Ex. 8. case the white parts would be put in with chalk or Chinese white. An old method called hatching or cross-hatching was once much used in order to form a shading. It was the arrangement of the lines at angles more or .less acute, so as to form a sort of tiny check pattern or plaid. But 22 PEN PICTUEES. nowadays a patch of ink or charcoal is more frequently relied on to serve the same purpose. Having considered how to make lines, the application of them in a drawing is the next point. The first sketch should be made lightly with a hard pencil (Ex. 13). This is merely a guide. Shadows and distances should be outlined as well as possible, and then this pencil-sketch inked over. Neatness and finish of line, it must be recollected, is not necessarily artistic, but may be mechanical, cold, and stiff. A little roughness or break in the line often gives variety of effect. In Ex. 19, if the lines were all hard and neat the effect would not be nearly so good. Besides drawing in outline, the artist may draw by masses, as before explained. This is adopting the method of the painter, or in other words, painting in ink. Between a white paper, covered with the blackest ink and the white of the paper there are many tones or shades of colour. These tones are all grey blacks of more or less intensity. By watering the ink different strengths are obtained. Painting thus with ink with the aid of a brush, or your finger, or anything suitable, produces what are called Washes or Wash drawings, which resemble in some respects photographs. A pencil-sketch may be made for guidance, and then the ink spread over the paper — portions of it in one place being taken out with a stump of blotting paper, other portions being worked up to -different strengths of blackness and greyness. Chinese white and chalk are used where the greatest whiteness is required. The beginner should be able to cover a space with a uniform tint of ink or crayon ; then blend other deeper — that is, blacker — tints until the paper presents a gradation of tones from faintest grey to deepest black. In this way a rich effect is produced, and the colour can be massed together instead of following out the shading LINES AND WASHES. 23 in detail. Ex. 9 is a wash drawing. If it is compared with the photograph on the frontispiece, it will be seen that the blending of the black and white is more brilUant. Ex. 7 is a line drawing pure and simple ; the differences are obvious. In both line drawings and washes all sorts of brilliant effects can be obtained by a knowledge how to use Ex. 9. A Wash Drawing Engeaved by Peooess. the materials. It is not absolutely necessary to work in ink alone ; ink, pencil, chalk, or even oil and water colours may be used in the same sketch. This mixture makes no difference to the " process " engraver, who photographs it as it stands. Charcoal and chalk differ from pencil in being softer and quicker to work with. When working with charcoal, chalk, 24 PEN PICTUEBS. or ink, a few strokes are broadly dashed on "the paper. These strokes can be rubbed over the surEaoe of the paper wherever it is required with a piece of chamois, blotting paper, stump of bread, or rubber, and the finger-tip is also useful because it is sensitive. The charcoal, chalk, or ink would be rubbed over the whole of the paper sufficiently dark to form, say, a sky or background. Trees, houses, figures, furniture, etc., should then be drawn in roughly as regards form, but with the utmost care as regards their relative depth of tone to the sky or background. By the aid of the finger, or paper stump, the surface of the drawing may be brought to a smooth texture. Sharpness in the Ughts or white parts — even the most dehcate — may easily be obtained by picking off the excess of black by the aid of the finger or stump. There are French and English mixtures to be obtained, used for fixing charcoal or pencil on the paper, if such may be deemed necessary. In working out a wash or " half tone " drawing, otherwise called water monochrome, shapeless masses of colour are more important than finicking detail. With ink much care must be taken. The brush when dipped into this medium is worked over the paper, and, if possible without waiting for the ink to get dry, the shadows are put in, and the lights wiped out with a clean and nearly dry brush or the finger. Ink is rapidly absorbed by cardboard and soon sets, which can be discovered by its turning a dim colour. If it can be managed, it is best to finish a wash drawing whilst the ink is wet ; after-touches are apt to destroy the fine grain which it acquires in drying. perepective— Simpli? leyplaineb. A DEAUGHTSMAN may be able to draw a man, or a chair, or an animal, and yet be incapable of arranging these objects in a consistent whole or picture. He is then told to study perspective, but he will find that he will need something Hke the faculties of a senior wrangler to grasp the geometrical intricacies of this science. In his bewilder- ment it may occur to him that the poor pavement artist — called artist by courtesy — with his crayons exercises a rough kind of perspective, although he does not even suspect any of its laws. Later experience will unfold to him the fact that there are not a few pen-and-ink artists, and even Eoyal Academicians, whose knowledge of technical per- spective in its involved mathematical form is anything but profound. Most people have seen a Camera obscura. It is an apparatus which consists of a darkened chamber or box furnished with a lens, through which light is admitted. Inside, where the light comes to a point or focus, a screen is placed, and on this screen falls a correct image of whatever the scene outside may be. The picture thus obtained is in correct perspective — the part of the scenery or objects with- out which is nearest will be found towards the base or bottom of the screen, and the parts further away verge towards the top of the screen. It is this principle of reflection on a flat surface of a scene or object which is not flat, but round, or extending away from the observer, that makes photography possible, and with it perspective deals. 26 PEN PICTURES. A drawing is usually divided into three parts or planes, which are known as distance (or background), middle distance, and foreground. The foreground is the part nearest to the eye, and the middle distance is the portion between the foregroimd and the distance. If you are look- ing at anything in Nature, such as across a field or up a street, the distance is straight before your eyes, so many Ex. 10. yards or hundreds of yards. But if you have to draw this distance on a flat piece of paper, you will have to draw it from the bottom of the paper upwards, either to the top or the sides. Ex. 12 shows a road ; the most distant part is represented by lines drawn upwards from the base of the paper. The whole sj^ace behind a figure or object, or groups PEESPECTIVE — SIMPLY EXPLAINED. 27 of figures or objects, is the background. In some back- grounds space is represented by tint, by lines, or is left open (Exs. 5, 13, 15 and 20); this has the advantage of making the objects in the foreground prominent without distracting the attention. Sometimes a black mass is made a back- ground with the same object. In a silhouette you have a black figure on a white space or background. You may also have figures or objects on a black background. (Ex. 11, 16 and 19.) According as you vary the size and importance of these three planes, you can. get an endless variety in a composition. Supposing a beginner makes a rough sketch with chalk on a window-pane of the objects without as they appear on the glass, he will be drawing in perspective. This is one useful way of learning how to fit yom- subject to the shape and size of your paper. Or if you take a sheet of glass and place it upright between you and an object. Then take a piece of cardboard and make a hole in it, so that you can use it as a sort of single eyeglass. Look through this card- board arrangement, and you will be enabled to draw on the glass in chalk, Chinese white, or Indian ink any objects in front of it. This glass exactly answers to what is called in perspective the plane of the picture. The nearer the eye is placed to the glass the larger the range of subject, and vice versa. The eye should never be nearer the glass than about two feet. The distance of the eye from the glass corresponds with the focal length of the lens in a camera ; and the shorter the focal length, the larger is the range of subject. Some artists carry a light frame. They look through it at the subject they wish to draw, and move it about until they select the best point of view. With this for a guide they make a rough sketch of the position of the objects, and the frame settles for them the limits or borders of their 28 PEN PIOTUEES. picture. Others carry a small poctet-mirror. By turning your back on the object in front of you — a room or a land- scape, for instance — and looking in the mirror, you can obtain a reflection of the scene. This is a good way of correcting a drawing made independently. Another method is to turn the head on one side till it becomes horizontal. This has nearly the same effect that you get in stooping and looking at an object through your legs. It confines and con- centrates the objects, and you can see them in their true proportions to the foreground, because the distance shrinks. Or you. may half close the eyes, so that the objects are seen through the lashes, which is somewhat analogous to looking at them through the wrong end of a pair of opera-glasses. Again the distance will shrink, the im- portant features in the front or foreground will come out strongly, and the light and shade will mass itself undis- turbed by details. There are other ways of assisting the attainment of an approximately correct result. You can put the arm in front of the face, holding the part from the elbow to the wrist horizontally, and move it up and down until you see where the subject had better be cut off for the bottom and top of the sketch. Then the other arm may be moved along vertically to see where the sides had better be determined. Many artists habitually use a Camera lucida, which is really an application of the Camera obscura. This instrument enables them to copy and trace. In many matters, such as Ex. 11. PEESPECTIVE — SIMPLY EXPLAINED. 29 moving clouds, water, etc., it is of no value, and the use of it, as a rule, minimises the artist's power to sketch independently. When the limits or boundaries have been decided on, the student may take it for granted that he will on most occasions have to guess his perspective by the eye. In making his rough preliminary sketch, he should avoid deal- ing with details. Looking at his subject he should fix a point of sight — a point or pivot round which he can arrange the items of his drawing. Through this either draw or imagine a horizontal or eye line ; this is usually about one- third the height of the paper from the base or foreground. " Block in " or lightly outline with your pencil the general features. Then roughly sketch in the upper sm'face over the horizontal line, and work your way to the foreground, watching in the meantime that you do not exaggerate the size of the distance and make the foreground too small, a blunder which the best draughtsmen cannot always avoid. Then, glancing over the general scheme and effect of the sketch, it is for the artist to decide what items he will put in and those he intends to omit. lper0pective— ^ecbnical. Peespectivb in its technical sense is the science which enables us by fixed mathematical rules to represent on a plane surface anything which appears to the sight in every variety of distance and form. It has really no counterpart in Nature, because it supposes the earth to be flat. Imaginary lines are drawn along the flat surface (Ex. 12), and these arrange the shape and position of every object determined on. The laws of perspective are to a great extent merely arbitrary, and most artists fall back on the eye. Observa- tion of the actual appearances of buildings, streets, horizons, etc., is a better instructor for the artistic draughtsman than any other. There are many subjects that perspective by technical rule cannot deal with. Thus, in dravring the human figure or animals, though their forms are regular and symmetrical, they do not admit, like geometrical or archi- tectural designs and figures, of delineation by perspective Tule. Such objects consist of undulatiag surfaces and contours, whose outline and appearance can be determined by the eye alone. You cannot draw them by a plan, as you might a building. Perspective is a special study in itself, and those who desire to pursue it will find excellent opportunity in the " South Kensington Drawing Book," or from such a. work as Eunciman's "Eules of Perspective." Scientifically it is divided into Linear and Aerial. Linear perspective depends upon mechanical and optical principles, .and chiefly concerns the black-and-white artist. It con- PERSPECTIVE — TECHNICAL. 31 siders the effect produced by the position and distance of the observer from the object upon the apparent form and grouping of objects, or in other words how they are to be represented on a flat surface like paper — a process which has already been explained. It makes it possible for one to see by lines. Aerial perspective, on the other hand,' is the art of seeing through the air ; it is of especial importance to the painter who has to deal with effects of the atmosphere. An extension of linear perspective into isome.trical lays down Ex. 12. rules by which bird's-eye views or a representation of a scene from above may be carried out, thus combining the advantages of a ground plan and elevation. If you proceed to draw according to the rules of perspec- tive, you first of all decide on the scope or the number of objects you wish to take into your work, and the distance at which the whole is to be viewed. You then draw three lines. The first is the Base Line or ground line, which, popularly speaking, is the bottom level of your drawing; the second is the Horizontal or Eye Line, and represents the ordinary position of the horizon. This line is usually drawn about one-third the height of the picture when the 32 PEN PICTUEES. sketch is placed at or a little above the level of the horizon. But, of course, it may rise or fall, according to the nature of the subject to be drawn. If placed high up it leaves too small a proportion of sky, and if too high or out of sight puts you in the position of making a bird's-eye view ; if placed too near the base line, unless the scene be mountainous, the proportion of sky will be too great. The Vertical Line is drawn, as a mechanical guide, perpendicularly to the Base and Horizontal Lines (Ex. 12) . This Vertical Line passes through a point called the "Point of Sight." This point is fixed at the pleasure of the artist ; it is the point towards which the eye of the observer is directed, and to this point all objects are dimini- shed in proportion as they approach. Its best position is removed from the centre towards one of the sides. All lines perpendicular to, the Base Line meet in this Point of Sight and end there, and thus it becomes the Vanishing Point. What are called the points of distance are two points on the Horizontal Line, on each side of the Point of Sight. Their use is to define the distance of objects in a row from each other. Two simple rules are generally laid down for guidance. In the first place, all parallel straight lines are no longer par- allel when drawn on a flat surface ; they become slanting lines, and meet and end in the Vanishing Point (Ex. 12). Hence the objects are kept in proper position and proportion, and it becomes possible by rule to represent uphill and downhill subjects. The other rule is, that any object drawn below the horizontal line appears to the onlooker as if he were looking at it from below, and any object above the horizontal line appears to the onlooker as if he were look- ing up at it from above. Any object to the right of the point of sight is seen by the onlooker from the left, and any PBESPEGTIVE — TECHNICAL . 33 object to the left of the point of sight is seen from the right. Hence straight lines above the horizontal line lower them- selves to it, those below raise themselves to it, while those to the left direct themselves to the right, and those to the right direct themselves to the left. There are dozens of intricate rules for drawing by per- spective, but they are only the mathematical expression, doubtless very correct, of the artist's use of his eyes, practice, and experience. If you are drawing a picture you naturally imagine a horizontal line and a point of sight. All this has already been pointed out. Having fixed upon these in blocking in or roughly sketching your subject, you begin mentally to draw slanting lines from the point of sight to the rocks, trees, houses, figures, or whatever may be before you. We learn thus to look down upon objects and see over or into them below the horizontal line, and up to them when above it. Hence we discover that all objects grow less in size as they approach the point of sight, until they become mere specks and vanish. This is the whole art of parallel perspective on a flat surface. flDaterials far pen^anb^JnK Drawing. The pen-and-ink artist who possesses a knife, pencil, paper, piece of rubber or stale bread, and pen and ink is fully equipped for his work. There are, of course, individual preferences in the matter of the ink, pens, etc., to be used. As a matter of fact, any pencil, pen, brush, pointed stick, stump, stylus, or glass pen will do for the purpose, and some artists consider a half- penny pencil as good, and often better, than a sixpenny cedar. Some draw with charcoal, or chalk, or crayon, because they are softer and quicker to work with for preliminary sketches, Others are sorry to wear out any sort of pencil that suits them. Many use only an ordinary fine-pointed writing-pen, others, erowquills ; others, J nibs ; others, etching pens with tiny points ; others, an ordinary brush, with the hairs so cut away as to form a sharp point. Those who are skilled enough to use such a brush — but it is a difficult article to work with — usually succeed in getting clean, clear-cut lines, because the hair, unlike the nib, does not scratch into the paper, and consequently produces a softer result. In the matter of paper you may use ordinary smooth writing-paper without any lines or water-marks. The paper may be white or dull grey, smooth or granulated, according to taste. There are many kinds of drawing-papers specially manufactured for the assistance of draughtsmen. In the case of drawings in outline, or where you desire all the lines to be continuous and unbroken, rough-surfaced paper must, naturally, aot be used, because every break in the line MATEEIALS FOE PEN-AND-INK DEAWING. 35 would be reproduced in the process engraving. There is always a tendency for the pen to catch in' the fibres of the paper, thus causing clumsy lines .and blots. This must be avoided. Bristol and ' Whatman board are the most popular papers in use for ordinary purposes. There are numerous varieties of drawing-papers specially adapted for pen-and-ink work. "What are called grained papers, or Gillot papers, are already provided in their texture with dots sprinkled over their surfaces or lines at regular intervals (Ex. 13). They may be obtained from Lechertier, Barbe &Co., Eegent Street, London. These save the draughtsman much mechanical labour and time. Some of them have surfaces of ■chalk and are called " clay- boards." They are designed to be " scratched " through as well as drawn on. They have a tinted look which is neither black nor white, but a grey colour. The henefit of them is that they supply ready for your use, instead of subjecting you to the work of supply- ing it for yourself, a middle tint upon which lights, or the white parts of a drawing, can be procured by scratching with a sharp point through the top layer of the chalk when a white layer is exposed. The dark portions of the sketch can then be put in with the aid .of chalk, or ink, or pencil, or wash. These boards c 2 Ex. 13. 36 PEN PICTUEES. are also called " scratch- out " papers, on aeeoimt of the lights being picked out in this way, and by the same method of scratching hard lines can be softened by being run or scraped through. Drawings on these boards somewhat resemble wood-engravings. Lamp ivory-black, thick Indian ink, or other pigmental ink should be used with them, because liquid inks have a tendency to soak through the clay. Working on them is something like engraving on wood. There are other papers which have printed on their surfaces mechanically ruled lines of various thicknesses and distances apart, forming a grey tint, the object being to provide various tones. The whites may be scratched or carved out of these also and the blacks put in as in Example 13. All these special classes of paper are somewhat difficult to work on. The inks used are generally either Indian ink, lamp-black, Stephens's ebony-stain, Higgins's ink and Encre de Chine. Any of these will do. A piece of rubber or ink-eraser is, of course, necessary. In using Bristol boards or thick papers of any sort, if a blot is made it can, owing to the thickness of the paper, easily be erased. When an erasure has been made the place should be burnished with an ivory paper-knife or burnisher in order to make it more suitable to be worked over. There are two other usual ways of dealing with blots and smudges to which all artists resort. One is by the aid of paste (not gum) to cover up the error or disfigurement with a bit of fresh paper. You can repeat the smudged portion of the drawing on this paper. Another is the use of Chinese white or white oxide of zinc. By putting a layer of the pigment over the smudges you can draw over it, but it is not a very easy operation. Neither of these devices interferes with the engraving of the drawing. Stale bread is commonly used for pencil erasures instead of rubber. MATEEIALS FOE PEN-AND-INK DEAWING. 37 The pen-artist who draws for publication should always remember that the coarse appearance of his lines in the original need not worry him. "When the drawing is repro- duced it will, as has been explained, be engraved at about one-third of the size. The artist can guide his work in this respect by the use of a diminishing glass, or by looking at the drawing through the wrong end of a pair of opera-glasses. By this meahs he can see what the drawing will look like when it is reduced, and manipulate his work accordingly. After all, the materials are by no means the first considera- tions. Dr. Johnson says : "No man ever excelled in painting who was eminently curious about pencils and colours." This applies also to Black and White art. EEDUCTIONS FHOM THE SAME DEAWING. Zone, Sbabow, ^int. When you liave settled the scope and size of your drawing, and have drawn a rough pencil outline (Ex. 13), the next thing to do is to look after the shading, and tones, and values. The relief of the objects is due to how the half-tones or greys and the shade is managed. The Ex. 14. background would be first looked after. A mere conventional background consists, of strokes going different ways, or there may be no background, or there may be a mechanical tint put in by the engraver. The modelling of the sketch must' next be attended to ; the tones must be so arranged as to give everything its due degree of proportion relatively to the other projecting masses or details in the same drawing. The distance and position of objects affect both their dis- tinctness and apparent form. Thus, the further away any object is, its illuminated parts must be made less brilliant and the shaded parts more feeble (Exs. 22 and 28). A good plan is to begin with the distance. The artist chooses his chief object, his chief shadow, his chief light and all the rest is subordinate and suggestive. Unless in a mere outline drawing the tones are the great trouble. Tone is the prevailing colour of a picture, such as duhiess or brightness. A pen-and-ink drawing cannot be all bright light or dark shadow. It must be a compromise. Accordingly, there TONE, SHADOW, TINT. 39 is spread over the whole surface what are called half-tones — a greyness which is something between black and white. These hali-tones, or blendings of black and white, may be represented in gradations of shades from faintest grey to deepest black. Compare the different qualities of tones in Exs. 1, 9, 11, 13, 15, 24, and 26. The "values" of a sketch is the manner in which the shades are managed — the relative depth of one shade in a picture to all and every other shade ; and the quality of a pen-and-ink sketch is the artist's manner of deahng with the gradations of these shades. In a good pen drawing the educated eye perceives gentle grey shadows, and black and white is used very charily. One speck of pure white is generally enough to fix the eye on the more prominent part, and if there is much black there should be something to carry the eye away from the white, one or two strong dashes to give vigour to the composition, and the rest swimming, as it were, in gentle gradations of grey. Objects are necessarily much complicated by light and shade. When the sunlight falls directly on objects, there is a strong light ; where shadows and cavities are cast, there is a deep shade. All reflected lights are less brilliant than direct lights, and it is not necessary for the pen artist to be too solicitous about these. The aim is to get the general tone right. "When the sun is in your face, the objects in front relieve themselves easily from those behind. It is only when considerable skill has been obtained in doing sketches full of shadows that effects with the sun behind the artist should be attempted, because in these cases everything depends upon such slight gradation of tone, mixed with a strong shadow here and there. ' When rays of light fall on a body, the outline of the illuminated portion of this' body is, naturally, projected on the nearest surface. 40 PEN PICTUBES. or, in other words, it casts a shadow. It is not difficult to remember that the more brilliantly lighted the bodies are, the more vigorous will be the shadows, Bxs. 14, 16 and 17. Much practice should be devoted in the study of the values or blends of shading of objects as they appear Ex. 15. against their backgrounds. There are many exercise- books which teach shadow, or the art of sciagraphy, as it is called, such as Poynter's " South Kensington Drawing- book." The student's independent efforts, nevertheless, are most valuable. The eyes should always be half-closed in com- paring the value of one shade with another, in order that details may not irritate. It is always wise to go back to the black and white and compare your values with them. TONE, SHADOW, TINT. 41 and notice how you are blending the gradations of tone. You should keep putting in with the point, rubbing down with the stump, and picking out with the bread. The making of what are called " impressions" — small sketches done qmckly, without attempting any detail, but carefully noting the values — is the best way to get a true appreciation of natural colour and tones. In a good composition not only should the blacks and masses balance, but the light should be as much as possible concentrated in one point, provided, of course, that the Ughts and shades are not forced into points unlike nature. You have an ex- ample of this artificial forcing of light in what is known as the Eembrandt shade in a photograph, and some of our landscape artists concentrate points of Hght on buildings and elsewhere that could not possibly exist. This trick is altogether artificial, but its results are often extremely picturesque. The French and Flemish artists adopt it extensively as a ready way of getting interest fixed in one spot where it would not be otherwise. Of course, when the greatest dark and highest light come into juxtaposition the strongest efi'ect is produced, but the true artist produces it naturally — he avoids making light and darkness compete in force with each other. It is the rage for tone — for strong contrast of black and white — that makes wash drawing so popular amongst artists. In working out a sketch everything depends upon whether the artist gives his background the proper blending of tints Ex. 16. 42 PEN PICTUEES. and shades. Amateurs think that by making the foreground dark, or, in line drawings, the lines thick, they can bring it forward when perhaps the very reverse is required. They study too much the form of each individual object, and forget to compare it carefully with what is around. In a line drawing light effects should be produced by making the lines thinner and increasing their distance apart (Ex. 6 ) ; in a wash, by regulating the tones and intensity of shade (Ex. 9). Eor the purpose of regulating the tone, pencil, crayon, or anything else can be used simul- taneously with ink ; some pen artists Ex. 17. iiik their thumb and press it on the paper the lines and pores of the thumb-mark appearing, in order . to gain a rich effect. Almost any device is legitimate. It is a very dif&cult thing to delineate dreamy and vague effects. In the matter of distance the difficulty is largely got over by remembering that the difference between shadow and light is less strong in distant objects than in near ones. A painter, by a method called scumbles, or scumbling, passes over distances to soften them and make them look further back. It is almost impossible in black and white to represent a drawing as seen through a scum, and hence the reason why very few artists successfully attempt effects such as mists and fogs. There is always the danger of destroying clearness of tone and the markings of the objects. Many pen artists are very skilful in concentrating their blacks and whites ; they know exactly where to put a blot of colour or where to leave it out ; but this is altogether a personal quality. A mechanical method much in favour with the French, TONE, SHADOW, TINT. 43 called Tint, is widely used to supply a sort of half-tone. It is a dotted grey, which, is applied by an inked engraved sheet of gelatine by the engraver. It is useful, if judiciously used, to fill up unpleasant white spaces and to give the effect of a wash (Ex. 9). Time and trouble are often saved the artist who relies on tint ; where he wishes the tint put in he scores the part of his original drawing with blue pencil or paint, which is a well-understood indication to the engraver. Tint is apt, though, to produce an unpleasant dull grey and misty appearance, and its excessive use is to be avoided. The stippled-looking portion of Ex. 16 is of this character. Another method of obtaining colour is what is termed " Splatter- work." A tooth-brush is dipped in the ink, and after covering up the parts of the drawing which are not desired to be splashed, it is drawn across a comb, splattering a sort of rough, irregular rain of ink and giving the surface of the paper the appearance of rough canvas, as if drawn over by crayon. XLhe Ibuman ifiQure. FOEESHOKTENING — AnATOMY. The human figure is difficult to draw, more especially if the artist has not made some independent attempts apart from conventional copies and models. At first it is drawn by the student in outline. A good beginning is made by learning to draw the skeleton in different attitudes. Then the student may cover the skeleton with flesh, and later with flesh and clothing. Plaster and other casts of the human figure are easily obtainable, and practising from such is known as " drawing from the round." Charcoal and chalk is excellent material with which to practise. The study of antique statues is the usual method by which the artist initiates himself into figure-drawing. The great difficulty, of course, is to acquire a knowledge of the numerous perspective changes which the figure undergoes. It is usual in practice for the beginner to start from a figure which represfents the perfection of the human form. Such perfection is not to be found in nature, and it is rarely to be found except in symbolic compositions, but though arbitrary it is extremely useful as a study. In form and expression there are countless varieties of human beings. Every variety is a departure from the classical standard — the perfect form of man or woman which the amateur illustrators of sensa- tional novelettes are fond of aping. The knowledge of the classical or perfect ideal form is chiefly useful because it helps the artist to distinguish variations — to appreciate the THE HUMAN PIGUEE. 45 difference, for instance, between the Apollo Belvedere and a squat Laplander. The proportions of the classical figure were laid down in a purely artificial way by Vitruvius (Ex. 18). Here the length of the whole figure is divided into eight parts. One goes to the head, three to the body as far as the fork and the legs, and four to the legs, divided in the middle just below the knees. The tips of the fingers are presumed to reach half way between the hip-joint and knee ; the length of the hands to equal the length of the face ; and the feet should be one-sixth the length of the body. Only a phenomenon would possess such proportions ex- actly. In nature, as a rule, the head is larger, the fork of the legs lower down, and consequently the legs and feet shorter. It is an indisputable fact that an average man approaches or approximates nearer the form of the ape than that of the classical figure. It should always be kept in mind that the form of infants differs essen- tially from that of adults. Young people have no sharp shadings. In childhood the head is large as com- pared with that of the adult, and the different members of the body shorter and thicker. If the student can manage it,, a regular course of figure- drawing from the nude at some life school of art is capital practice. Nevertheless, as a training-ground nothing is Ex. 18. 46 PEN PICTUEES. better than using every opportunity of drawing figures both from everyday life and from memory. In every case the effort should rather be to catch the character — the essential points of the subject — than to make a pretty sketch. Copying the figures of first-class artists is very useful ; but it must be within limits, because too much of that sort of thing utterly stunts imagination and self-dependence. The method of drawing from the living model in the studio is thus. The model is set in a light where the shadows are decided, because the stronger the contrast between light and shade the easier is the student's task in working out such important details as the expression of the countenance and ilie formation of the muscles. A model is a mere object around which light and shadows display themselves. The student looking at a human being soon notices a darkness or shadow falling down the side of the nose, under the upper Up, brows, chin, where the hair is curling or parting, where the cheek is rounding away from the light, etc. He has first to consider the general sweeping lines of the figure — his knowledge of the pose and proportions of the skeleton will aid him enormously in this. A model in marble is, of course, perfectly rigid, and copying it only is of little value to those who desire to represent the living, moving figure. In drawing from the living figure the student first marks on his paper the place and proportion of space his copy is to occupy. The usual custom is to hold up the pencil .between the model and the eye, shutting the other eye. As you measure with one eye, you dot off points on the paper to mark the measurements. The model is placed usually about 20 feet away, and, of com-se, the effect of placing the eye at difterent heights relative to the figure is to produce different results. The student may begin by drawing a straight per- pendicular line down the centre of his paper, and across this THE HUMAN PIGUEE. 47 horizontal lines to denote the waist, knees, etc. If it is a draped figure he will roughly indicate the drapery. In working out the details he will experience a tendency to make the head of the figure too large, the legs too short, and the feet too small. The feet are generally much larger in proportion to the human figure than most people imagine. In the matter of the thicknesses of the joints and minute parts of the body or clothing, rules of perspective are useless to the artist ; he must trust to his own observation of the model before him. Although the older school of artists set much store by the classical figure, the modern student is taught to regard mainly the actual appearance of people, their attitudes, habits, age, and the like. Some artists can draw without a model ; but this facility is usually the result of special talent, much practice, or assiduous copying of the figures of master draughtsmen, so that a habit is cultivated of mechanically representing any type of figure from experience. Almost every artist keeps a stock of studies or pictorial notes — commonplace books of heads, hands, feet, attitudes, animals, backgrounds, foregrounds, either rapidly sketched from nature or appropriated from the compositions of their feUow craftsmen. These they use when suitable for their purposes ; but the habit of catching a pose or expression- falling, striking, throwing, running, strugghng, grinning, crying, etc. — should be cultivated by every beginner. Such practice leads the student by easy and more or less unconscious steps to the art of foreshortening, which is a difficult part of perspective. An object is said to be fore- shortened when you view it as it is represented at an oblique angle. Thus, if a figure be drawn (Ex. 19) as if opposite to the spectator, with an arm directed towards him, that arm is said to be foreshortened. To foreshorten 48 PEN PICTUEES. anything is often more a guess or an effort of will than anything else — the right turn of the curve at the right moment is generally a mere chance. The degree in which foreshortening exists depends upon the angles at which the objects are viewed. Thus, a long cylinder may be placed ^MPi): Ex. 19. before the eyes so that its whole length is concealed, or so shifted that you can see more or less of its length and surface. For the purposes of foreshortening the human figure it is desirable that the artist should not only be familiar with the skeleton, but also in some small way acquainted with the internal configuration of the human frame, and under- stand the form and uses of the muscles. Some motions of the body are so exceedingly rapid and fugitive that they can hardly be studied at all from life, but must be represented THE HUMAN FIGURE. 49 according to theory based on anatomical knowledge. As a matter of fact, the few artists whose work embodies this sort of inspiration are systematically plagiarised by even the best of the professional draughtsmen. It is by no means necessary for the artist to become a specialist in anatomy. He wants to have a general idea of the structure of living creatm-es, so that he may be aided in representing human beings and animals according to their positions, movements, and emotions. Properly speaking, the artist who consistently draws from Nature has no business whatever with anatomy in its physiological aspects. The artist's object in studying anatomy is in order to discover with the utmost completeness how far the bones and muscles influence the external form ; for instance, the appearance of the blood vessels in a person intensely angry. The consideration of the form and muscles calls the artist's attention to the expressions — rage, grief, envy, scorn, jealousy, etc. — and how they are to be portrayed. The countenance is not the only source whence the expressions may be interpreted; the disposition of the limbs and body in gesture must be noted. In studios it is usual to arrange draperies by means of what are called ■" lay figures" (wooden contrivances with free joints), which are very useful for study. Figure drawing, as distinct from mere portraiture, is a very noble branch of art. Sir Charles Bell, in his " Anatomy of Expression," points out that " there is no inherent beauty in the normal human face, but that it consists entirely in the capacity of expression and the harmony of the features consenting to that expression. Expression is even of more consequence than shape. It will light up features otherwise heavy ; it will make us forget all but the quality of the mind." To D 50 PEN PIOTUBES. represent expression properly involves much detailed study of the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, lips, etc. Numerous useful text and copy-books are published, such as Philip's " Anatomical Model " (shewing pictorially the human frame and its organs) and Dr. Marshall's " Proportionate Anatomy for Artists," where the student may find the heads of negroes, Chinese, Arabs, sections of the limbs and the body, poised in different attitudes. This is a capital supplemental study to the drawing from Nature direct. To discover the difference in the physiognomy of individuals requires the discernment of the artist himself, who from his practice and experience is apt to notice any deviations from his idea of a perfect figure and proportion. Such matters as the angles formed with the eyes and the mouth, a Httla more acute or obtuse, as the case may be, the chin advancing or receding, the high and low forehead, immediately strike his observation. These variations show the individuality of any particular person, and mark his or her departure from the standard of proportion of other people. The majority of artists are wedded to one female and one male face and figure. Their figure drawing is but a variation of these. The novice will do well to note the fact. A glance at a number of drawings by any of the foremost pen-and-ink artists will enable any observer to see the same type recurring again and again, no matter how different the subject may be. Students away from galleries, life schools, and exhibitions can procure photographic copies of good figure and animal subjects. There are numerous excellent publications in connection with the South Kensington Schools, where exercises from models are required to be executed without measurement, although some artists think, with Albert Diirer, that no artist could be a good workman without THE HUMAN FIGUEB. 51 measuring both his figures and his animals. Students who desire to follow out the higher branches of figure drawing would do well to consult Mr. John Marshall's "Anatomy for Artists," Mr. J. A. Wheeler's "Book of Anatomy," Sir C. Bell's " The Anatomy and Philosophy of Expression," J. C. Lavater's "Physiognomy," or Le Brun's " Passion of the Soul." Ex. 20. Co0tume ant) Drapers?. The delineation of costume correct in all its details is mainly a matter for the fashion artist, who draws from a model of the material itself, after the manner of the student of freehand drawing. It has already been recommended as a good plan to draw the human skeleton, then draw it covered with muscles and flesh, and then with clothing. The artist proper is not expected to draw in every detail of an elaborate production by a costumier — say by Worth, of Paris. What he has to do is to draw his idea of any costume or clothing — ^how the whole "get-up," as it were, strikes him. The pen-and- ink artist very properly does not bother himself about details in this respect ; his object is to represent costume and drapery by lines which explain and give the action of the body underneath. The student who follows the plan laid down in these pages of comparing the result of what he attempts to re- present with the manner in which competent draughtsmen represent the same or a similar thing will soon discover that he has many alternatives. Different artists have different methods of disposing their lines, and it is open to every artist to invent new methods for himself. The clothing in Exs. 2, 10, 14, 16, 19, 24, and 26 exhibits a variety of expedients in technique. One artist may use tint. COSTUME AND DBAPEET. 53 another outline, another silhouette, another shading, and other varieties of treatment in the use of line and wash. For costumes of a historical or fancy chara cter the artist- illustrator who has not the material in front of him must seek his models from some of the numerous publica- tions which deal by illustration and description with these subjects, such as the works of Planohe or other historian of costume. arrangement, invention, Composition, (Brouping. When we talk of a design we usually mean a figure or subject drawn in outline, without relief being expressed by ligbt and shade. The word " design " is frequently used in the sense of a " study " or " sketch ;" that is to say, either the first draft of the picture about to be drawn, or some sketch intended to aid in the composition of a drawing. All pen- and-ink artists and painters make " studies," or " sketches," or " impressions." They may be backgrounds, foregrounds, faces, figures, trees, plants, animals — anything, in fact, which is meant ultimately to find its way into some drawing or other. Not a few of the pen artists of to-day, the gifted amongst the others, are desperate " cribbers" or appropriators of the work of others. They may plagiarise a background or a foreground, a figure or a face, a bit from this drawing and a bit from that. In fact, it is possible by judicious "crib- bing " for one who cannot draw a line to make a respectable drawing with a pair of scissors and paste. Such an amalgam or patchwork picture would be made up of bits — a figure from here, a background from there, and so on — clipped from different men's drawings, then pasted together, and either first transferred by tracing to another sheet of paper or reproduced, as it is, by process engraving. The novice, it may again be mentioned, who bewails his incapacity must not imagine that a finished pen-and-ink drawing is everything that it seems. Pen-and-ink artists usually work from studies, and quite commonly they AEEANGBMBNT, INVENTION, COMPOSITION, ETC. 55 introduce into their dra^wings, not one, but several items originally drawn by other artists. Men must naturally base their work to some extent upon that which has gone before, and hence the meanest of aspirants may accordingly take heart of grace. It is equally open to the novice as the pen-and-ink artist of established reputation to glean the illustrated papers — Continental, English, American — and to provide himself with photographic reproductions of Academy, the different National Gallery and Salon pictures. If he is not a genius, and lacks the independence and the originahty to make all his studies from Nature or his own invention, he will possibly imitate and copy ; in doing so he may console himself, because it would not be an easy matter to find any considerable number of pen-and-ink artists who do not do the same systematically. There are pen-and-ink artists of repute who could not draw decently a chair, if you put one in front of them, and furnished them with pencil and paper. _ Others, apart from the assistance given to them by their " studies " or their scrap-books, would be unable to draw a' face, or a figure, or a room, or a landscape, or any- thing else showing artistic quality. It is a great advantage to be able to do without such subsidiary aids, but, on the other hand, there is no disguising the fact that scarcely one pen artist in a dozen, in the earlier stages of the work cer- tainly, has ever succeeded in being his own. inventor and draughtsman at the same time. Sir Joshua Eeynolds, speaking of painters — and the remarks apply to pen artists also — says: — "When they conceived a subject they first made a variety of sketches, then a finished drawing of the whole, after that a more correct drawing of every separate part — head, hands, feet, and pieces of drapery ; then they painted the picture^ and, after all, retouched it from life. The pictures thus wrought 56 PEN PICTUEES. with such, pains now appear like the effect of enchantment, and as if some mighty genius had struck them off at a blow." The moral of this is that even a genius has to take pains. An ordinary pen-and-ink artist can hardly do less. The invention of an artist is the way he conceives and selects his subject. There are tolerably few artists who ' have good inventive power ; but many who, without having any to speak of, can set things forth in a very captivating way. The pen artist, when he does not take his inspiration from drawings or paintings he has seen, must trust to his power of perception as to what is capable of being represented. Having got his idea, his next advance is the arrangement of the subject he may decide upon ; that is to say, the manner in which he places together the parts of it, or, in other words, how he will work it out. He will have to consider — and a glance at the works of other pen-and-ink artists who have trod the same paths will enable him to make up his mind — the disposition of the light and shade, of balanced blocks of colours, of groups, of single figures ; where he will place this and where he will contrast that, where he will mass his " blacks " and where he will dispose his " whites." He has a principal idea in his mind, and his aim now is how he will arrange the accessories about it in order to produce the best artistic results. And thus he is half way in the process of composition ; that is to say, in the general structural arrangement of his proposed drawing. In this connection he will think out those parts which he knows are more im- portant than others, and represent them accordingly. Every person, of course, sees a subject or object in his or her way; it is here where one's taste and judgment comes in to advise and initiate. That is the personal quahty. When he knows what he wants to represent, the artist begins to put his ideas into execution. The execution ABEANGEMENT, INVENTION, COMPOSITION, ETC. 57 is often called the handling of the work, or the style of it, and ' it indicates the manner in which the artist brings out his ideas. He may produce a soft and finished, a careful, a stiff, a bold and dashing effect. If he carries his peculiar handling too far, if he has an extravagantly studied finish, or eccentricity, or dash in his work, it is a mannerism — something to be avoided. Should his subject be one in which there are several figures or objects, he must consider the grouping of them— how they can be placed in contact with each other for the purpose of forming a single mass. Naturally, the figures and objects which are most important will be made most prominent, but the scattering of objects may sometimes replace grouping. The study, however, of good work and drawing from groups in Nature will clear away most of the diffi- culties which this important matter presents. The artist's taste and judgment will enable him to produce harmony in his drawing ; it is important, in the matter of light and shade, that one part should agree with another. Thus, a perfect drawing of an object, say a wheelbarrow, is not a bit artistic or interesting ; but surround it with light, and shade, and colour, and the effect is vastly different. Even the 'photographer "touches up" his photographs. It is for the artist, should his subject not be presented to him in an interesting way, to supply interesting items in order to make up a delightful whole. His study, and practice, and taste, will enable him to select a good point of view, the essentials that he must accentuate, the unnecessary and redundant facts that he should omit. The best of painters would not make any scruple in removing some jarring feature from a subject they were painting. Were it a landscape, and a tree would either improve the appearance if put in, or, if there already, when 58 PEN PICTUEES. removed, they would, without hesitation, in the one case put the tree in, and in the other leave it out. Thus it will be seen that every artist does and must introduce in the progress of his work some degree of trickery, of imagination, of thinking out, of cautiousness. Too much effort in the direction of commonplace, or a mere imitation of Nature, stifles imagination and originahty. Everybody — most people, any way — can think; it is the faculty of thinking piotorially that makes the artist, either in words or in drawing. It may be regarded as a general rule that the two sides of a drawing should nearly balance each other either in interest or in mass, that is to say, appearance, or in both combined. Much, however, depends on the subject. Anachronisms in costume, etc., should be avoided, of course. Unless in a comic sketch, it would be silly to represent, say, Julius Gsesar in a tall hat, or Cleopatra in a Bond-street costume. The aim of all composition is to have one chief point of interest, and for the better balance of the drawing at least one minor point of interest. The artist will find that some of the easiest things to group are ships and boats on the sea. The sails and hulls, the light on the water, the form of the waves when rough, and the reflections when smooth, lend ■ themselves easily to the arrangement of lights and shades. On the other hand, night scenes, darkened distances, fogs, and the like require considerable study. Ex. 21. Xanbscape anb Hrcbitectural 2)rawina. It is usually said that landscape drawing requires little skill in technique. The reason of this is that the artist has to deal with rocks, hills, trees, and the like, and no one would expect that these objects could be drawn with mathe- matical accuracy. General fidelity to the landscape is considered sufficient ; it is not possible to do any more. This would be found out if the moun- tains, and clouds, and rocks, and trees were capable of measure- ment; in such a case the drawing or painting of the landscape would be out in perhaps every one of its proportions. The artist of landscape and still Ufe must almost altogether trust Ex. 22. to his eye ; a minute knowledge of the laws of perspective would probably be a burden to him. What he draws is permanent and 60 PEN PICTUEES. stationary. A figure draughtsman can move Ws models about and place them or observe them in different attitudes. '\fi^ Y ^ '■-''- AK^-> Ex. 23. The landscape artist cannot move his meadows and his mountains. He aims at producing something picturesque. LANDSCAPE AND AEOHITEOTUEAL DRAWING. 61 He allows his imagination play; in fact, he "improves" nature according to his own feeling, and hence, in a drawing which belongs to the picturesque school, you will find great variety of line, strong effects of light and shade, or drawing by "spots," and much exaggeration. It is the custom to put in a landscape drawing a figure or two ; too many figures spoil the effect. These figures are usually human beings or cattle, and it is difi&cult for the artist to insert them unless they are on the spot. If they are not on the spot, the tendency of the artist is to make them either too small or too large. The rules of perspective would give an accurate result, probably ; but landscape artists rarely call them to their aid ; they rely on their judgment mostly, and adopt the excellent plan of comparing the figure they wish to introduce to some object in the distance whose size they can appraise — say a tree. Landscape artists in these days of photography would not take the Hberties with Nature for which their predecessors — Turner, for example — were noted. Of course, it is not always desirable to draw a landscape as it is seen. This is the reason why the artist frequently alters the grouping of objects, or removes from his drawing objects before him which would interfere with his composition. For effect, an extreme distance is sometimes introduced, and if the landscape in itself is not sufficiently interesting, features to make it so should be added. An architectural draughtsman is a sort of landscape artist. In pen-and-ink work one sees much of what is known as photographic drawing; that is to say, drawings in which architectural are combined with artistic features. There is nothing in Nature at all like these drawings ; but they are clear and picturesque, and hence popular. Supposing you took an architect's mathematically correct drawing of a 62 PEN PICTUBES. building and surrounded it with artistic accessories, such as trees and fields, a vignette of foliage or trees, and the hie, you would have such a drawing; it is simply a builder's elevation with tricky effects of light and shade and a sky-line added. Such drawings may be seen in some of the illustrated papers. They consist of dots and scratchy lines, shadows and lights that never occur in nature. The effect is pretty and popular, but such drawings are really not art. A study of this sort of work will teach the student much ; he will soon be able to detect the spurious from the artificial, the merely picturesque from the truly artistic. ■fl^tr/^ Decorative anb Symbolic art. HBEE is a department of pen- and-ink work whicli concerns itself with ornamental deco- ration rather than illustration pure and simple. The artists in this line produce much picturesque drawing, designed mainly as enrichments for books and other purposes. What are called vignettes were originally of this order. Vignettes were the capital letters in the ancient manu- scripts, and so called in consequence of their being frequently ornamented with flourishes and designs after the- manner of vine branches. The ornaments with which printers embellish the pages of books are of this order, and all kinds of drawings and engravings which are not enclosed within a definite border are generally described as being in vignette. The best sources of inspiration for students who possess the taste for decorative work are the charming designs, full of fanciful invention, to be found in the mediaeval MSS. Accuracy of figure drawing is not to be expected here, nor is it very necessary, because where figures are introduced they are meant to be quaint and fantastic. Cupids and 64 PEN PICTUEES. arabesques of all sorts abound in some types of ornamental drawing. The decorative work of the Japanese has been much resorted to of late years. The curious birds, fishes (Ex. 21), flowers, reptiles, oddly put together, are delightful to the artistic, and often absurd to the common taste. They are now called " Japanesques." There is a curious kind of curvature in Japanese lines, and a wildness in their use which is peculiarly interesting. Sketch-books with examples of this work may be purchased from Mr. Batsford, of High Holborn, London. The scope for decorative art is by no means confined to books. Strictly speaking, this branch of art is impression- istic vision treated decoratively. Hence we find it in a symbolic form, which represents such abstract fancies as Time, and Death, with appended quotations from the Bible, or Shakespeare, or elsewhere, the whole enclosed possibly in a border sometimes fantastic, sometimes a jumble of itahcs and nondescript ornamental styles, and rarely really artistic or appropriate, however much over-loaded with arch86ological detail or curly looking patterns. Much symbolic-decorative art is meaningless and entirely unintelUgible, and serves the cheap purpose of mystifying ; it is simply a muddle of decorative elements mixed into a silly inextricable whole. Lettering is frequently added which is full of grotesque and unreadable characters. This sort of thing is to be avoided. Decoration may employ any style or all styles. The ordinary and conventional method is to introduce dehcate branches of leaves and scroll work with dotted and linear borders. The Indian wood-carvings present a wealth of detail to the decorative artist ; Japan furnishes much free .and bold invention ; the German and Gothic cult devotes DECOEATIVE AND SYMBOLIC AET. 65 itself to luxurious foliage and intricate geometrical patterns. Wall decorations in museums and suchlike places often exhibit hideous examples of misapplied artistic judgment. The ornamenting artist has an extensive field for the exercise of discretion and taste. In the matter of posters Ex. 24. for the hoardings, the work of Cheret, Eops, Grasset, Vallotton, and Willette is excellent. Designs for book plates, or Hx Libris, as they are called, are much in demand by collectors. These are made interesting by fanciful and symbolic designs, or in the form of heraldic emblazonments in any style — Eococo, Gothic, Italian, Modern Greek, Japanese, etc., and quaint lettering of the old English type is much employed in connection with them. The best results of decorative art are found in book ornaments, such as borders, tail-pieces (Ex. 22), pictures inserted in orna- mental frames, border or initial letters, and the thousand and one odds and ends of enrichment which distinguish well got-up publications. Some tolerable work has been done in the designing of heraldic emblems, trade-marks, pottery, 66 PEN PICTUEES. porcelain, furniture, lace and needlework, costume, gold and silversmiths' and metal-work generally. For those who care to pursue these subjects in a wider field, the following works may be recommended : — Owen Jones's " Grammar of Ornament," or L. Forman Day's text-books of " Ornamental Design." QU^, Sea, anb Sbips. Ex. 25. A GLANCE at many pen-and-ink drawings will show that the sky is often represented merely by a straight line. (Ex. 20). Geographic- a'lly speaking, the horizontal or sky- line is that, which divides the sky from the sea or land. As a matter of fact, it is impossible for the pen-and- ink artist to deal properly with the sky ; it is out of his sphere. Hence he generally indicates it by drawing a horizontal line and allowing the white paper to repre-- sent the rest, or by putting in tint. There is considerable difficulty in dealing with the clouds.. The student should understand cloud forms, as the cirro-cumulus, etc., with their modifications. For artistic purposes the clouds, if represented, should be usually grouped in masses, and not scattered all over the sky (Ex. 9). An interesting sky is usually called a cloudscape, but if it is at all comphcated the best of pen-and-ink artists leave it alone — many of them, indeed, in such a case resort to the somewhat mean artifice of tint, a few representative lines, or compromise by falling back on the simple horizontal line. The direction of the streaks of rain should be noted (Ex. 23), and such phenomena of nature as fogs are best treated in black and white after the B 2 68 PEN PICTUEES. manner of Exs. 11, 19 and 24. A simple sunset sky is com- paratively easy to represent by a few simple lines near the horizon. Of course, where there are bright clouds or sun- rays, it is necessary to make the sky dark enough in order that they may have their proper value ; in such a case, the highest light should always be put in first. A mass of white (Ex. 20) suf&ces for sunshine, and moonlight is fairly well depicted after the manner of Ex. 24. Where a river scene is depicted, the conventional habit is to bring in a white sail and its reflection. Water is not difficult to represent (Exs. 6, 9, 15, and 25); but in studying it the artist must re- member that he must allow for the reflection of the sky and the objects on land, and the power of refraction (or the way the course of light varies when it passes from the atmosphere into some- thing else) possessed by water. An artist rarely represents the shadow proper of an object — say a boat — on water. He is con- tent with giving its reflection 6 and 27). Eeflections in perfectly smooth appear always the same depth below as the height of the object above the surface of the water (Ex. 15) ; in other words, the boat or other object in such a case should appear as if exactly reversed downwards below the surface of the water. Should the water be rough, the reflection is elongated or drawn out along the surface of the water, indistinct and dotted-looking (Ex. 15). Wet (Exs. water SKT, SEA, AND SHIPS. 69 sand reflects objects in the same way as the surface of smooth water. For drawing marine subjects, the student should naturally understand ships and the sea; he should make his studies about dockyards, wharfs, sea- coasts and oUffs. Unless not only the construction of boats, but the effect of the water and wind on them, is a familiar mat- ter to the draughtsman, no amount of hints will avail. Eain (Ex. 25), wind, fog (Ex. 26), choppy seas, snow, and the like are in the main only suggested. The study of such phenomena in nature is the best lesson possible. Ex. 27. ^reee, IRocfie, (Braee, ficlbs, iBtc Theee are any amount of artifices by which the pen artist may represent natural objects. Tricky methods are not to be systematically adopted, although a resort to such is often called " style." For drawing trees some botanical knowledge is useful. The usual practice is to study them without their leaves ; as a matter of fact, the pen artist ignores the leaves and draws the stem, unless he is designing a Christmas-card or some special floral decoration ; otherwise, suggestion and nofrdetail is sufi&cient. Anyone who looks at a tree in Nature will find that it masses more or less pyramidally in branches or leaves. It is the same with a number of trees. AU that the pen artist can do with any effectiveness is to draw their general shape as they appear at first sight (Ex. 28 and 29.) He must remember, however, that a tree is not to be made to look flat. Beginners have a lamentable tendency to forget that there are branches of the tree they may be drawing coming towards them. Such branches are the most difficult to draw, more especially if the tree or trees are in the foreground of your picture ; even in Nature the trees in the distance look flat, and should be so drawn in pen and ink. ' Eocks and masses of earth are unlike water, rain and wind— fixed. Besides, they are very varied in form, and the utmost that can be done is to indicate them. It is a good thing to know something about the causes and composition of rocks, just as it is a good thing for figure draughtsmen to know something about the anatomy of the TREES, EOGKS; GRASS, FIELDS, ETC. 71 human body. It is a common practice for artists who are drawing anything at a distance to half close the eyes. The Ex. 28. effect of this is that it enables him to get the general scheme of the object in its hght and shade and the points of lowest and highest tones. Ex. 29. Sand requires a careful study of "tone;" it has more variety than snow, but it is quite usual for pen artists to 72 PEN PICTUEES. represent both sand and snow as they represent the sky, by a white space. Ploughed fields and furrows should be drawn irregularly ; and as to grass, it would, be obviously impossible to draw every blade you see. You can only indicate it (Ex. 28), and if you resort to "tint" you should set it off with a few defty-placed ink strokes. In the case of flowers, and the like, all that is necessary is suggestion. Of course, if they are drawn for a specific purpose they should be represented leaf by leaf. ©tber "lUscs of Drawing. Pen and ink is extensively used in much work which ordinarily cannot be described as artistic. Of this nature is the drawing of maps, graphical calculation in me- chanical engineering, geometrical drawing for many purposes — ^builders' and inventors' specifications, army examinations, and the like. All of these are, however, distinct branches of mathematics, and such instruments as dividers, set squares, scale and protractor are absolutely necessary. Military sketching can hardly be called mechanical. A military sketch is a map of a piece of country usually made by an officer or non-commissioned officer with a view to giving their official superior such information as is needful for military operations. For such purposes ordinary maps are almost useless, because they are on too small a scale, and consequently, by necessity, the details particularly wanted are omitted. It is the custom of these draughtsmen to make "Eye sketches," and they work on the basis of this representative fraction, E.P. ^jiJto, which means that 63,360 inches, or one mile on the ground, is represented by one inch on a military map. The introduction of "relief maps, " by which a country or a section of it is shown in its proper proportion as regards height and extent, has materially facilitated the - work of military sketching. There is much demand for pen and ink work for industrial purposes. Mr. WiUiam Morris and Mr. Walter 74 PEN PICTURES. Crane have set the fashion of artistic advertising in business, and even Eoyal Academicians do not disdain a commission from a manufacturing or retail firm. The immense number of designs necessary for the railway companies, publishers, and the like, may easily be imagined. M. Ed. Sagot, of Paris, has published a marvellous catalogue of pictorial posters and designs which is of enormous value to every student. Caricature. The peculiarity of caricature-drawing is that every appearance of effort or care must be excluded, although the objects are not to be represented falsely. The aim of a caricature is to represent in an extravagant way the features, passions, the defects and habits of a person. To do this the artist must exaggerate, even to the extent of making his subject grotesque ; the fact that there is a germ of truth behind the caricature separates it from being mere vulgar abuse. A caricaturist need not necessarily be very skilled in. draw- ing ; a general knowledge of the human form and its move- ments, with good powers of observation, are the chief items of his stock in trade. All sorts of incidents suggesting caricatures are constantly occurring around us. The duty of the caricaturist is to ridicule the vices of the day and in a humorous way to represent questions and fads of the time concerning which pubhc opinion is excited or interested. The beginner in this branch of black and white art, which is developing to an enormous extent, should know something of the history of caricature. It is a very ancient art. There is an example extant by the Egyptians. It is a burlesque on miUtary tactics, and represents cats attacking a rats' castle. A favourite device of which caricaturists nowadays often take advantage is to represent animals engaged in the business of men. In the illuminated manuscripts of the middle ages the practice is taken advantage of by represent- ing heads of the most quaint and monstrous character. 76 PEN PICTUBBS. On missal-margins, initials, signboards, stalls, entablatures, in Church gargoyles, the grotesque was constantly displayed in many forms, often obscene and horrible, often picturesque and fantastic. Modern caricature begins with Hogarth, about 1698. This great artist did not confine himself to satire of merely pohtical subjects, but lashed with his brush social vices of all sorts. Following him were Gillray, "the prince of cari- caturists," and Eowlandson, who, under the guise of the grossest exaggeration, aimed at writing the history of their time. In the work of this school of caricaturists little attention was paid to the hkenesses of the subjects, who were often represented as monsters, and the treatment was some- times brutal, violent and indecent. With the early part of the 19th century a change took place, which we owe to the two Doyles, John and Eichard, father and son, the latter being the designer of the cover of Punch, and Cruickshank, whose ambition was, hke Hogarth's, to show us the social vices under the form of " moral comedies." It may be said that English caricature as we now know it begins with these. Leech, Tenniel, and Du Maurier have continued in the line of the Doyles — they have eliminated the coarseness and introduced delicacy and refinement. Their object is to excite contempt or ridicule, but, in so doing, to raise a smile. They would hardly represent a prominent statesman by an odious figure of the devil, the cloven hoof covered with a dainty shoe, as their predecessors would have done. A return to the more robust style of the older caricaturists has, however, been made by Pellegrini in Vanity Fa/ir, Harry Furniss, F. G. Gould, and many of the Continental and American draughtsmen. They give special prominence to the peculiarities of the objects they wish to represent ; they draw their victims in an exaggerated manner, so as to OAEIOATUEE. 77 produce a ludicrous effect without essentially destroying the likeness, thus carrying out the original idea of caricature, and avoiding, but not always, the element of grossness. It is often said, with much truth, that a good caricaturist makes a bad draughtsman ; but since the introduction of process, and improved methods of colour printing, some remarkable work in both respects — in technique and caricature — has been done. There is a catalogue of satirical prints and drawings in the British Museum, which forms a mine of suggestion to the student ; and much of the work in Punch, and other English illustrated pubHcations, in the FUegende- Blatter and Klatteradeiotch — both German publications ; in Puck and Judge, American papers with coloured caricatures, may be studied to much advantage. All comic drawing — and there has never been better work of the sort than we have nowadays — is of the nature of caricature. For caricature pure and simple, skill in technique is not so important as powers of observation, knowledge of character, and familiar acquaintance with what is going on in the world. It is the draughtsman's duty to grasp the characteristics of his person or subject, and devote all his capacities of satire, exaggeration, and humour to set it forth by his pencil. There is a tendency to revive the old-fashioned method of employing inscriptions issuing from the mouths of the figures, or in the way of attaching to them labels to explain the meaning. This is a clumsy device ; a good caricature should generally tell its own tale without such aids. It is open to the caricature draughtsman to parody any of the methods or styles of the more legitimate artistic styles. Thus the stiff angular figures in stained-glass windows, gesso- work, designs with strong borderings, and so on, may be imitated to great advantage. process jEngravlna. The art of photography has been accused of injuring the development of water-colour dramng and lithography — the chalk branch, at least ; and it is said that chromo-lithography ■will have to stand aside when we once know how to produce photographs in colour. Through it drawing in crayon, miniature, charcoal, pastel, and in "sanguine" or red chalk, has come in for a share of neglect, and undoubtedly the beautiful art of engraving on wood, in a commercial way at any rate, has been to a large extent superseded 'through the influence of the camera. In the case of a wood engraving, the artist either draws his picture direct on the wood block, or the picture is photographed from the drawing on to the block to the required size. The wood-engraver then begins to carve his block. He cuts away with his tools those parts that are to come out white, and he leaves alone those that are to come out black. Where the drawing is drawn on the block the engraver is always in danger of cutting away the design ; but where the drawing is made on paper, and then photographed on to the wood, he can keep the original drawing in front of him as a guide. The parts of the wood which he does not cut away when inked and printed give the effect of the original. If the original drawing is in "wash" he can only indicate the "wash" by cutting the lines very close and "cross-hatching" by dots in order to reproduce the proper tones. When' inked the surface, which is cross-hatched and dotted, will print greyer than those which are left uncut, and thick lines which are PEOCESS ENGEAVING. 79 close together will print blacker than those which are narrow and apart from each other. All this work is done by hand, and the skill required, and the time taken to do it, make the expense of engraving on wood very great. Besides, it sometimes happens that the wood engraver cuts away in the blocks essential lines in the original drawing. A wood engraving is generally successful in printing ; the block wears well, and the result is soft and velvety. It occurred to a Frenchman, M. Gillot, that a drawing might as well be photographed on a metal plate, and chemicals used to cut out, or rather eat out, the parts that the engraver removes with his tools from the wood block. This idea proved to be practicable, and it is known in its accompUshed form as "Process Engraving." There are two leading methods of "process;" one is generally called Photo-engraving, or simply "process," and the other Photo-gravure. The latter is an expensive method, which produces a result somewhat like etching. The drawing is photographed on a plate of copper, usually, which is bitten into by acid and then, if necessary, worked up by hand. The ordinary Process Engraving, which is extensively used in connection with our illustrated publica- tions, is similar, though much cheaper, in the working. The pen-drawing is photographed down to the size to which it is to be reduced. The negative of this photograph is trans- ferred to a plate of zinc. This negative cannot be dissolved. A roller with ink is passed over it, and those lines and spaces which will come out black when printed are inked. The zinc plate is then placed in an acid bath, and the chemicals bite out the parts of the metal which are uninked and which when printed will appear white. When the " whites " are sufficiently carved, or eaten, or bitten out, the plate is taken out, and it bears on its face a reproduction of the original so PEN PIOTUEES. drawing the size to which it is reduced, only reversed. It is then mounted on a block of wood, and the whole is the height of ordinary type, ready for printing. Sometimes the block is gone over with a roulette or a graver, to finish and soften the lines, but excepting this the whole work is mechanical. A block, or cut, or engraving, as it is variously called, of this sort can be supplied, according to the quality, at from threepence a square inch up to over one shilling. There are a number of insignificant mechanical imperfections inherent in ' ' process ' ' which are rapidly being amended. Bad plates, bad workmanship, bad originals, bad printing are at present the worst enemies to the progress of "process." It is not an uncommon thing to find the clearness and depth of colour well produced in the engraver's proofs coming out under the hands of the printer colourless and patchy. There are numerous " processes " — all of them subdivisions of the two methods explained. Some, Uke coUotype, take their impressions from a swelled gelatine matrix; most of them claim to embody special " trade secrets " by which the results are produced. All, however, are a combination of photography with mechanical engraving, and their extensive use is due in no small measure to their cheapness as com- pared with wood engraving, and the remarkable rapidity with which the work can be done. In drawing for "process" it is well to remind the pen artist what he must avoid. If there are too many lines in a sketch, when it is reduced they will all run together, and in printing they will look hke a smudge. The ' ' process '' engraver requires that the lines should be open, and sufficiently far apart to allow one third reduction. If on your original drawing there are stains and spots, or details that you do not wish to appear, all that is necessary is to cover such with Chinese white; that will not affect th& PEOOESS ENGKAVING. 81 reproduction. It is not even necessary to draw in black ink, because by photo-process red, brown, orange, and green, or any mixture of these, will reproduce black. Engravers, whom it should be mentioned are in no way responsible for the new practice by which photo-engraved Ex. 30. A Wood Ejsgeaving. blocks are printed in different vivid- coloured inks, thus spoil- ing the values, allege that bad results are often produced because the draughtsman is not careful in doing his work. They profess their ability to reproduce perfectly any draw- ing with or vrithout reduction — especially by the gelatine 82 PEN PICTUEBS. relief process — and in tlie case of half-tone drawings with- out the necessity of cutting away the Ughts, which is nearly always necessary in process engravings from photographs. It matters little to them whether a drawing is in pencil, ink, crayon, or paint, or a combination of these. They consider, however, that the pen artist makes a mistake, from the point of view of engraving, if he uses pale broad lines for the distant work, because such print too strong and black. Hence they recommend that the Ughter effects should be obtained by thinning the line. Por pencil or crayon work they find such materials as Maclure's grained lithographic paper, worked upon by Wolff's dura'graph pencils or Conte's chalks, to answer weU. Sharp lines they find can rarely be obtained on rough paper without producing a "rotten" effect when printed, and a paper too smooth and enamelled makes the lines spread. The pen-artist must necessarily consider, and try to meet the obstacles in the way of the engraver and the printer. art Criticism. Steenb had a brilliant inspiration when he suggested Garrick, the actor, criticised by means of a grammar and stop-watch, the last new book measured by a plumb-line, and the epic poem proved "to be out in every one of its dimensions " when tried upon an exact scale of Bossu's. Art cannot be criticised by the rules of mathematics, yet art students are far too ready to be discouraged by critics who talk about the necessity of genius and the rest of it. It is not imcommon to find students who get cricks in the neck with prying into •dusty canvases in obscure corners of the National GaUery, or who have contracted chronic catarrhs among the marbles and casts of the British Museum cellars, giving up their work in sheer despair because of the written babbhngs of , well-meaning but too candid critics. Sam SUck put down his finger rather roughly when he wrote " Sposin ' it's pictures that's on the carpet, wait till you hear the name of the painter. If it's Eubens, or any o' them old boys, praise, for its agin' the law to doubt them ; but if it's a new man, and the company ain't most especial judges, ■criticise." By criticise the humorist means disparage. " A little out of keeping," says you. " He don't use his greys enough, nor glaze down well. That shadder wants depth." This cap fits many a connoisseur. Everybody, be he painter or pen artist, or anything else, must find a foundation — somebody's work to copy and study. There are not two original draughtsmen in half a century. Pen-and-ink work, though an art of design in itself, occupies F 2 84 PEN PICTUEES. a limited field — only a corner of the sphere of art. The critics are fond of saying that only those who have a special call for the work should concern themselves with black and white. The same might be said with equal truth about a person who wished to learn to read or write. The work of the painter Eaphael has been held to mark the high- water-mark of art in its " master " form. Whether that is correct or not, after his time a flood of mannerism, eclecticism, and stale repetition set in ; yet, notwithstanding, the nineteenth century has seen work rivalling in every excellence that of the old masters. There is a pubUc in- difference, which, however, shows signs of relenting, to painting in this country, and to some degree it has ex- tended to pen-and-ink work. There is no reason why this should affect the pen-and-ink student. It is for him or her to cultivate the faculty of seeing things pictorially and as such to represent them, whether for pleasure or the more material object of remuneration. It must be said that pen- and-ink art is not profoundly understood by its critics. It has frequently been reckoned amongst the "imperfect arts," • because it does not render with equal facility all the aspects of nature. But exactly the same may be said of painting. The enterprising student will find much critical wisdom to attract his attention in such library books as Hammerton's " Graphic Arts," Joseph Pennell's " Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen," and Charles G. Harper's "English Pen Artists of To-Day." final Ibints. The pen artist who works for the illustrated publications should know that the tendency of editors and publishers is to secure pen drawings which appeal to a pubUc inclined to sentiment and anecdote, or comic subjects. It is only re- cently that a prevalent superstition about " finished " work has been dispelled. Elaboration of detail and niggling technique are not required nearly to the same extent as a few years back. It is now recognised that there is all the difference in the world between nigghng work and broad effects, provided that neither interferes with the other. As a complement to the reporter and the story- writer the pen artist is acquiring more and inore commercial importance. Drawing from photographs, making " thumb-nail " sketches, and working up the rough and ready notes of other draught- men, has become quite an industry. Owing to the dearth of EngUsh designers, both for Press and industrial purposes, we are greatly dependent on foreigners' skill. Unfortunately the supply of capable pen artists is not equal to the dem.and. Academy Figueb. — This is the term which describes a figure treated as a study perfectly accurate in its draw- ing. The lay figures from which students draw, mainly with the object of studying the human form, are called " Academy" figures." These figures are about haK the size of life, and by necessity are posed in a somewhat artificial attitude ; their main purpose is to furnish a lesson in the human form. The " Academy figure " is frequently satirised as " drawing from the dummy." It is by some considered injurious to draw from such models — antique or otherwise — owing to the fact that they furnish no inspiration, and the figures are too frequently purely conventional, over- emphasised, and unnatural. AooESSOEiES. — Anything in a picture which is independent of the principal object, or which might be regarded as im- essential to the composition. Where the effect would be naked and unfinished, accessories are introduced for picturesqueness, or to contribute to the harmony and con- trast, or to establish a balance between the masses in a drawing or painting. Action. — The effect of figures or bodies which simulate movement. Accidental Lights. — When a ray of light throws into prominence the principal part of a picture, in order to pre- serve the tonahty, or gradations of tones, it is necessary to GLOSSABT. 87 connect this luminous portion with the other parts. Thus, in a rustic scene showing strong sunlight, the rays of light conung through masses of foliage must not be neglected. Aeeial. — That part of perspective resulting from the interposition of the atmosphere between an object and the eye of the spectator. Animation. — In a drawing represents vigour and fulness of Hfe. Applied when figures or scenes exhibit a sort of momentary activity or " dash" in their motions. Aechitectube. — ^Deals mainly with exteriors, interiors, and the general plan of buildings. Artists contend that in its designs architecture rarely shows the true artistic quaUties. Aeeangembnt. — See text. Abt. — ^A general expression, but in the sense of design divided into (1) plastic, such as sculpture, which presents to us the organic forms "in the round" of objects them- selves, and (2) graphic, which by means of Hght and shade gives us merely the appearance of bodies as they are represented on a flat surface. Attitude. — The position of the whole body in a state of repose or immobility, either momentary or contiaued. It will be noticed, hence, that attitude differs from gesture and action. Bbeadth. — The idea of simple arrangement of a subject where there is freedom from a superfluity of details. A photographer must reproduce all the details in front of his camera. An artist selects. He will not allow a multi- plicity of lights and shades to dazzle or interfere with each other, but by omitting unnecessary details permits the 88 PEN PICTUEES. lights to spread themselves over the prominent parts of the picture, so that the attention of the spectator may be arrested. "Broad touch" or "broad pencil" are synonymous expressions. Beistol-boabd. — Sheets of drawing pressed together into various thicknesses. Cameea Lucida. — An apparatus consisting of a glass prism of four irregular sides, mounted on a brass frame supported by telescopic brass tubes, with an eye-piece furnished with a convex lens, through which a draughtsman can see the point of his pencil and the paper upon which he makes a tracing. It enables anyone unacquainted with the art of drawing to copy or delineate any object with great accuracy. Chaeactee. — A quality which every artist endeavours to put into his drawings. It embodies any pecuUarity of expression, feature, or style in body, stature, sex, age, and race which distinguishes one person from another. Chiaeo-Oscueo. — Another expression for Ught and shade. A picture formed by the gradations of colour. Chinese White. — White oxide of zinc, Uttle Uable to change by atmospheric action or by mixture with other pigments. It is much used to represent the white parts of drawings, or to conceal blots or blunders. CiiiOHi. — ^An international expression for the "block" of a drawing. A Cliche is really the impression of a die in a mass of melted metal. Composition. — See text. Costume. — Only an intimate knowledge of countries, their history and customs, can furnish the artist with the GLOSSAET. 89 vestments peculiar to any particular class. Many painters and draughtsmen have committed glaring improprieties in costume. Ceoss-hatohing. — See text. DiAGEAM. — ^A simple outline without shading. Distance. — The extreme houndary of view in a picture. In the art of perspective, the point of distance is the portion of the picture where the visual rays meet. See text. Deapeet. — The outward surroundings of a figure, which show the form and motion of the body, and sometimes indicate the coming action and movement. Execution. — The mode in which a picture is produced. Sometimes called handUng, penciUing, manner, and the hke. ExPEBSsiON. — The change that takes place in a face or a figure when under the influence of various emotions. Feeling. — That quahty in a work of art which to the eye of the onlooker depicts the mental emotion of the artist. FiGUEE. — ^Any representation of the human body only. Geained Papees. — Specially prepared drawing papers, sometimes called Gillot, or "Scratch Away" papers, which save the artist much time and trouble, and by the use of which the cost of " hah tone " or wash blocks is reduced about one-third. They are difficult to work on, because there is always the danger of producing a sort of " network " or "grain" instead of the correct tone, and of spoihng the half-tone by scraping their surface too deep. They have the advantage of enabUng pure white spaces to be obtained, whereas in the ease of a half-tone block pure white can only be obtained by cutting away the metal surface after 90 PEN PIOTUEBS. the block lias been engraved. These papers have prepared surfaces already impressed on them, and the following varieties may be procured. (1) Black diagonal lines, which enable a wash drawing by the half-tone process to be imitated. (2) Black straight Unes vdth a similar object. (3) Black aquatint lines, giving a " splatter " surface. (4) White diagonal or straight Unes used for special purposes. (5) White aquatint lines, giving an appearance ,Uke ordinary drawing paper. (6) Canvas grained with a rough surface. Haedness. — Applied to a drawing which is too mechanical and lacking in deUcacy. An academic drawing from a lay figure or model represents hardness rather than artistic feeling. Indian-papeb. — A sort of deUcate paper, something hke fine tissue paper, which takes impressions easily. It is much used for taking fine and first proofs. Intaglio. — ^Figures or designs depressed below the surface of any material, as in seals. It is exactly the opposite of a cameo. Ideal. — That which represents an artistic idea, not an artistic object. The ideal goes beyond Nature! "improves upon it, " some say, yet it is founded on Nature. Imagination. — The faculty of forming images in the mind's eye. It is this that enables the artist to invent his subjects by the aid of his hands, eyes, and brains. It pro- duces his motive, conception, invention, or creation — it is a combination of all that is governed by the spirituality of the artist. Light. — The quality in a picture which expresses the luminosity of the atmosphere — it is the main or principal light. The accidental or secondary Ughts are those which GLOSSAEY. 91 are offshoots of the main light, such as the rays of the sun darting through a cloud or between the leaves of thickets and trees, or the effect of moonlight or candleUght, or burning bodies. Landscape. — A general view of any portion of the open country, not comprehending street architecture or views of edifices merely. Licence. — Any deviation, original or eccentric departure from the ordinary rule enforced by a particular school of art, or adopted as the result of peculiar education or faculty. Line of Beauty. — The ideal line formed by a graceful figure of any sort. Hogarth estabUshed it as an ordinary curve. Manneeism. — The manner of an artist is his peculiar style of treating the subject, whilst a mannerism is the peculiar style carried to excess, such as to become a defect by overdoing it. All affectation and over-refinement in a drawing is a mistake. Model. — Any object imitated by the artist is a model, although the .term is frequently used to express the hving model, male or female, from which a figure is executed. In sculpture the clay model is the original work, of which the marble ef&gy is but a copy. Motive. — This is the spirituaUty in the artist himself, which produces invention and creation. The motive of a work of art may be commonplace low men, dignified, splen- did, etc., according to the artist's way of looking at the matter, Oenament. — Much unmeaning detail is frequently added to enrich a subject. This is a perversion of ornamental art which should, when introduced, have an appropriate and intelligent purpose. 92 PEN PIOTUEES. Pencilling. — A work is said to be excellently pencilled when it is well finished, whether the medium has been pencil, pen, or brush. Pentagbaph. — An instrument for enlarging or diminishing copies of drawings. It is a graduated bar with a- point at one end and a pencil at the other. The'picture to be copied is placed beneath the point, which is carried over the out- line, and the pencil at the other end following the move- ment, reproduces the subject to the size required. Natuee. — It is a moot point amongst artists whether aU works drawn from Nature or inspired by Nature are more beautiful and more poetical than all works drawn from or inspired by Art. Byron says, "Surely a ship in the wind is a more beautiful and poetic object than a hog in the wind, although the hog is all Nature and the ship all Art." And Whistler, who contends that the artist should apply Nature to his purposes, says, "Nature contains the elements in colour and form of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music. To say to the painter that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the player that he may sit upon the piano." Whistler illustrates this by making his pictures poems in colours and calling them " Nocturnes," "Symphonies," "Caprices," etc. Then he gives us the shower of sparks from a burning house throvm on the dark sky, the dim gleam of lamps through mist, and suchlike excessively poetical idealising. Plate-Papbe. — A spongy paper manufactured expressly for printing from engraved plates. It takes the most delicate lines freely, and is much used for photogravures of pen-and- ink drawings. PoKEE-PiCTUEES. — These are a sort of dry- wash drawings, somewhat of the character of bistre and sepia work. Wood GLOSSAEY. 93 is charred to different degrees of intensity, and then the various tints of a drawing are executed. Pee-Eaphaelites. — This name was adopted by modem artists, such as Holman Hunt, Millais, Eossetti, and many others, and powerfully encouraged by Euskin, because they looked upon Eaphael as "the first traitor to religious art,'' since he ideaUsed his creations beyond recognition, or, in other words, produced an artistic illusion instead of following closely Nature and natural things. Prior to the time of Eaphael, artists faithfully and accurately reproduced Nature, " giving every fact its own full power, and every incident and accessory its own true place," and the Pre-Eaphaelites' theory of action is a rigid adherence to the old style of rendering natural forms and effects uninfluenced by the stereotyped style of any particular school of art. The con- temporary method of art training is to encourage instead of repressing the experimental spirit, and to disregard super- fluous academic rules. There is a general revolt against the conventional, and a substitution of the romantic for the classical. As to the results, our principal artists are accused of having lost the secret of the "grand style." When not dabbUng in the region of history, allegory, and legend, they are alleged to produce nothing nobler than a scene on a lawn or a horse-race, and nothing typical of the stirring events of the time or the national hfe. In water-colour painting England is stiU in the front rank, and bids fair to occupy a conspicuous place in Black-and-white art. EouLETTE. — ^An instrument used by engravers to produce a series of dotted lines on a plate for softening the effect. Eoooco. — The name given to any florid ornament which is common or debased. Where there is lavish abundance of 94 PEN PICTUEES. details, of scroll and shell decorations, pavilions, birds, fish, flowers, all thrown together, it is rococo, baroque, or con- sidered by some bad taste in design. Eeposb. — Artists say that a figure in supreme inaction enjoys "repose" or statuesque dignity and simphcity. The same may be said, however, of objects in action. Scumbling. — See text. SoAiiB. — ^Drawing to scale means the proportion a certain distance on paper bears to the size of the subject it represents, whether larger or smaller. Seeies. — ^A story told by pictures, instead of sentences. The story is told pictorially and consecutively. Steeeottpe. — The method of printing usually followed, which consists in first obtaining a cast, in plaster of Paris, of the whole type, as set up by the compositor, and then by melting metal into this cast obtaining another cast in relief, like joined type, to print from. Splattee-woek. — A pen-and-ink method much in favour with' American draughtsmen. A small tooth-brush is lightly covered with ink, and when the parts of the drawing- paper which it is not desired to splash are covered, a tooth- comb is drawn across the bristles of the brush. The result is a sort of rough, irregular tint, giving the drawing an appearance like canvas or grairied paper. Taste. — The power of expressing or appreciating the finer qualities of art. Grace and beauty, and the avoidance of the low and mean, are the attributes which distinguish the person of taste. GLOSSAEY. 96 Telautogeaph. — A new instrument which enables hand- writing, sketches, and any sort of line work to be transmitted, and reproduced any distance telegraphically. It consists in a pentagraph attached to the usual telegraphic apparatus, and will be invaluable for sending pictorial news. WoEKiNG Deawings. — Those which are made experimen- tally, and as a suggestion or guide from which ultimately to produce a finished picture. Working drawings made by one person are often worked up and finished by another. INDEX. A. Academy Figure, 86 Accessories, 86 Accidental Lights, 86 Action, 86 Aerial perspective, 31, 87 Anatomy, 44, 48, 49 Anatomical books to study, 50, 51 Animation, 87 Architectural drawing, 59 Arrangement, 54, 56 Art, 87 Art and Nature, 4 Criticism, 83 Decorative, 63 Is what ? 4 Symbolic, 63 Artificial forcing of light, 41 Artists to copy, 10 Attitude, 87 B. Background, 26. 38 Begin, how to, 7 Blocking in, 15, 29 Books to study, Anatomical, 50, 51 Caricature, 77 Critical, 84 Ornamental Design, 60 Breadth, 87 Bristol-Board, 88 C. Camera Luoida, 25, 88 Camera obscura, 25, 88 Caricature, 75 Books to study, 77 History of, 75 Chalk, working with, 24 Character, 87 Charcoal, working with, 24 Chiaro-osouro, 88 Chinese white, 88 Cliche, 88 Cloud-forms, 67 Cloud-scape, 67 Collotype, 80 Composition, 54, 56, 58 Copying pen-and-ink drawings, 8, 10 Correcting drawings, 28, 52 Costume and drapery, 52, 88 Critical books to study, 84 Criticism, art, 83 Cross-hatching, 21 D. Decoration, style of, 64 Decorative art, 63 Design, 54 Ornamental, books to study, 66 Diagram, 89 Distance, 26, 38, 89 98 INDEX. Drapery and costume, 52, 88 Drawing-book, South Kensington, 12, 30, 40 Drawing, 12 Architectural, 59 Chalk, 24 Charcoal, 24 Copying pen-and-ink, 8, 10 Correcting, 28, 52 Fixing limit of, 27, 28 From the model, 13, 45, 46, 91 From the loand, 44 Half-tone, 24 Landscape, 59, 91 Line, 23 Marine subjects, 69 Materials for pen-and-ink, 34 Mechanical, 13 Other uses of, 73 Outline, 12, 22 Perspective,' 27 Photographic, 61 Eeduoing, 9, 19, 37 Sand, 71 Technical work of, 13 Trees, 70 Wash, 22, 24 Water monochrome, 24 Wood, 1, 9, 78 Working, 95 E. Etching, 15, 16 Eye sketches, 73 Execution, 57, 89 Expression, 89 F. Failure, Reason of, ' Feeling, 89 Fields, 70 Figure, 89 Academy, 86 Figure, human, 44 Proportions of classical, 45 Final hints, 85 Fixing limit of drawings, 27, 28 Foreground, 26 Foreshortening, 44, 47 G. Glossary, 86 Grained papers, 89 Grass,. 70 Grouping, 54, 56 H. Half-tone drawings, 24 Half-tones, 39 Hardness, 90 Harmony, 57 Hatching, 21 Hints, final, 85 History of oaricatare, 75 How to begin, 7 How to draw for process engrav- ing, 80 How to draw lines, 20 Human figure, foreshortening 44 I. Imagination, 90 " Impressions," 41, 54 Indian Paper, 90 Intaglio, 90 Invention, 54, 56 Isometrioal perspective, 31 J. Japanesqnes, 64 INDEX. 99 L. . Landscape drawing, 59 Laws of perspective, 30 Licence, 91 Light, 90 Accidental, 86 Artificial forcing of, 41 Lines, 19, 21 How to draw, 20 Line drawings, 23 Line of Beauty, 91 Linear perspective, 30 M, Mannerism, 91 Many-lined method of outlining, 21 Marine subjects, drawing, 69 Materials for pen-aud-ink draw- ing, 34 Mechanical drawing, 13 Merged line, 21 Middle distance, 26 Military sketching, 73 Model, drawing Irom the, 13, 45, 46,91 Motive, 91 Nature, 92 N. 0. Ornament, 91 Other uses of drawing, 73 Outline drawing, 12, 22 Many-lined method of, 21 Simple, 21 Painting, 15 Paper, grained, Indian, 90 Plate, 92 P. 89 Pencilling, 92 Pen-drawing, 15, 18 Pen-drawings, popular, 85 Pentagraph, 92 Perspective, 30 Aerial, 31, 87 Isometrioal, 31 Laws of, 30 Linear, 30 Eules of, 30, 31, 32 Simply Explained, 25 Technical, 30 Photo-eugraving, 79 Photographic drawings, 61 Photography, 15, 17 Photo-gravure, 79 Pictures, Poker, 92 Plate-paper, 92 Platinotypes, 18 Point of sight, 32 Poker-pictures, 92 Popular pen drawings, 85 Preliminary, 1 Pre-Baphaelites, 93 Process engraving, 1, 10, 79 How to draw for, 80 Proportions of classical figure, 45 E. * Beason of failure, 4 Reducing drawings, 9, 19, 37 Reflections on water, 68 Repose, 94 Rooks, 70 Rococo, 93 Roulette, 93 Royal Academy Schools, training at, 12 Rules of perspective, 30, 81, 32 S. Sand, drawing of, 71 Sea, 67 Series, 94 100 INDEX. Scale, 94 Scumbling, 42 Shadow, 38 Ships, 67 Simple outline, 21 Sketch, execution of, 57 Eye, 73 Values of, 39, 40 Sketching, military, 73 Sky, 67 South Kensington drawing book, 12, 30,40 Splatter-work, 43, 94 Stereotype, 94 Studying from Nature, 6, 9, 13 Study of water, 68 Style of decoration, 64 Symbolic art, 68 System to follow, 7 Taste, 94 'Technical work of drawing, 13 Telautograph, 95 Tint, 38, 43, 67 Tone, 38, 39 Training at Royal Schools, 12 Trees, drawing of, 70 Academy " Values" of a sketch, 39, 40 Vanishing point, 32 Vignettes, 63 W. Wash drawings, 22, 24 Washes, 19 Water monochrome drawings, 24 Water, reflections on, 68 Study of, 68 What art is, 4, 87 Wood, drawing on, 1, 9, 78 Working drawings, 95 Catalogue of Practical Handbooks Published by L. Upcott Gill, I'jo, Strand, London, IV. C. ANGLER, BOOK OF THE ALL-ROUND. A ComprehensiTe Treatise on Angling in both Fresh and Salt Water. In Four Divisions, as named below. By John Bickhedtkb. With over 220 Engravings. In cloth, price 5s. 6d., by post 6s. (A few copies of a Labge Paper Edition, bound in Roxburghe, price 25s.) Angling for Coarse Fish. Bottom Fishing, according to the Methods in use on the Thames, Trent, Norfolk Broads, and elsewhere. Illustrated. In paper, price Is., by post Is. 2d. ; cloth, 2s. («ncMt), by post 2s. 3d. Angling for Fibe. The most Approved Methods of Fishing for Pike or Jack. Profusely Hlustrated. In paper, price Is., by post Is. 2id. ; cloth, 2s. (uncut), by post 2s. 3