Chapter IV (2)

Now, let us consider the Choudieu drawing a little more fully, and in doing so we shall ask you to notice that the words follow almost verbatim the part of Chapter VIII referring to the Watts head. This does not mean that we are at a loss for a vocabulary, but it is done purposely so that we may thus call attention to it, and that you may realize that we have called your attention to a vital principle; moreover, that principle may be referred to again and again in almost every case where an old person’s head is under consideration. We publish also the Duc d’Aumale drawing, in which you will see the line is again marked. Now, we publish this drawing mainly in connection with the highly finished drawings illustrating Chapter VIII, by Dagnan-Bouveret, Lœwe-Marchand and Gaillard, but you may profitably note also that were you tracing it, intending to make a line drawing of it in pen and ink, you would■

{89}

Drawn in crayon, by T. Toussaint, and engraved by half-tone.]

■{90} represent this muscular indentation with a strong line, as in the Watts portrait. You will not fail to notice also the line in the throat corresponding to the one in Bonnard’s Choudieu, now presented for consideration.

This Bonnard is a slight drawing, but it is recommended to printers because it is both artistic in treatment and easily printed. It is artistic because in the heavy lines that you see in the ear and hair there is a knowledge of modeling. The artist knew his business just as Gaillard did, and every time he put down a blotty line it was meant to represent the presence of a shadow. We have no means of determining whether this was from an actual plaster or bronze medallion, or whether the artist worked from a photograph and from his imagination rendered the effect of a modeled relief; but in either case, in the photograph or in nature, there were thousands of little tones that have been left out. A clever pen draftsman works in the same manner, using darks which the uneducated eye will take to be arbitrary blackening of the drawing, but which an artist knows is the result of the intelligent observation of the shapes of shadows, and of the most important shadows of a face. Now, one of the most conspicuous lines in this drawing is the one running diagonally from the wing of the nose almost to the corner of the lips. This is called the naso-labial line, and is found in every old face. I say again, that though you work for one hundred years as a printer, you would probably never draw as correct a line as this. But if you should make studies in pencil and realize that this line is typical of old age, you would be able to put it in such a drawing■

{91}

After the painting by L. Bonnat, drawn, probably, by the painter himself, upon grained scratch-board with lithographic crayon (?), the lights scratched out with a penknife.]

■{92} as the Bonnard where, you will notice, it comes down about as far as the lower lip, as in the Gaillard, and you would realize why it was left out in the Dagnan-Bouveret and Marchand drawings.

The Bonnat portrait of Cogniet becomes particularly interesting from this view point, e. g., practice for the sake of observation. It is executed by a process of no value to the printer of the country newspaper, but there is food for thought in the way the form is brought out by the juxtaposition of masses of light and dark that are not lines. Ordinarily we do not recommend to the printer to experiment with such effects, but rather to confine himself to outline or silhouette, but the value of the white-line will be considered in connection with wood engraving, and any practice in drawing from nature in light masses will help you appreciate the judicious use of white-line in wood engraving, or strong contrasts of white and black in any medium. We publish, for example, two very different kinds of drawing as companions to the Bonnat. One in which Verdyen has obtained an effect of the brilliancy of fireworks by scratching out whites from a very black drawing. Similar effects may be got with great ease in wood engraving.

A still more clear effect of light is got in the Bonnard tailpiece, where, by simply breaking the window sash with the light fold of a curtain, he makes us feel the color of the curtain from the top to the bottom of the picture. We should advise you to practice in any medium, endeavoring to get similar effects, as they are most valuable in saving a drawing from monotony. In the Brun drawing, for example, no casual observer■

{93}

Drawn by Verdyen, probably on ruled scratch-board (see tones in the sky), with crayon, in sky, and with brush, in figures; the plate very much retouched by hand.]

■{94} would appreciate the white pillars, and an untrained draftsman would be likely to cover them with tones, but as a matter of fact they help immensely to give variety to the drawing. In an architectural exhibition we are frequently tired by the monotony of similar drawings where the draftsmen, in their desire to render texture and local color, cover such surfaces with lines meant to represent stone, brick or mortar.

We would remark also that just as our own repetition of the Watts analysis apropos of the Bonnard’s Choudieu portrait was intentional, so the apparent conglomeration of portrait studies, landscapes and buildings is not the result of careless arrangement on our part, but is intentional, that it may be shown that a certain principle in drawing, studied from one object, may be applied to any other. If you draw a friend’s face by lamplight and pick out the lights upon it and his cuff, as in the Bonnat Cogniet, you will be prepared to pick out similar lights on portions of buildings as in the pillars in the Brun drawing; or on window curtain folds as in Bonnard’s tailpiece.

It may be interesting to printers for us to narrate the difficulty of preparing a proper legend for the Choudieu. It was a tailpiece to an article in a French magazine, and bore no legend. To all appearances it was the portrait of one Mr. Dangers, but knowing how liberal the French are in their use of cognomens, we took the precaution to investigate. A Frenchman may be born Smith, but in manhood is known to the public by one or a dozen other names. He may marry Miss Brown, and, therefore, parade as Mr. Brown; his Uncle Jones■

{95}

■{96} may leave him money, so he publishes his articles under the name of Jones; he was born in the city of Boston, so he signs himself _de_ Boston, meaning _of_, or _from_, Boston. Under this name he paints his first picture, but the town council does not buy his works as he hoped it would, and the council of Albany does, so he discards “de Boston” and, in his gratitude, he afterward signs his canvases d’Albany (abbreviation of _de_ Albany). But now as to Christian names. Our friend Smith was, perhaps, named by his father Henry, but at his baptism there were added the names of Lewis and Charles and his mother’s name, Black. Then, when at the age of fifteen he comes to be confirmed, he takes the name of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, plus Mary. And with any of his surnyms he may at any time combine any two or half a dozen of these pronyms. So that a French biographical dictionary is one-half biography and one-half cross-reference. Thus—_Brown_, see _Jones_; _Black_, see _White_.

Knowing this, we referred to the periodical from which this was cut, and found it was a tailpiece to an article signed Pierre Réné Choudieu. Ah! this gave us a clue; but, who then was Dangers? Was Choudieu a sculptor as well as a writer, and was this a medallion portrait by him of Dangers? Or was it a portrait of Choudieu by a draftsman named Dangers? The artists were not mentioned in the index nor on any page in the body of the magazine, but on the title-page we found “Dessins de Pierre Bonnard,” meaning that the drawings in the magazine were by one artist—Pierre Bonnard. Therefore, D’Angers could not have been the artist, so■

{97}

Pen Drawing by A. Brun.]

{98}

{99}

■{100} we must search further; this we did, and luckily, in the back of the magazine, found the advertisement of a series of articles by Pierre Choudieu, and one of the paragraphs in it read, “Pierre Réné Choudieu, naquit a Angers,” etc. This translated meant that he, Choudieu, was _born at_ Angers, so that we fathomed our problem at last, and give the result under the cut.

The foot plates are identical in treatment with the plates of hands given on pages 66 and 67. The reader should compare these plates, that he may understand that a method may be learned from the drawing of one object and applied to the drawing of a thousand other objects. You must not expect that in a brief treatise of this kind we can give specimens of every object that the printer may have occasion to draw—we should have to publish an encyclopædia for that—but we do purpose to give _methods_ which will enable him to draw every kind of tangible object with light and shade upon it. These hands and feet studies may be used as guides to show how any such object may be “modeled,” i. e., shaded so that the object seems to be solid.

{101} CHAPTER XI.

MORE ABOUT THE NASO-LABIAL LINE — IT SUGGESTS OLD AGE — ABSENT IN YOUTH — DRAWING NOT ARBITRARY — LINES INTRODUCED BECAUSE THEY ARE IN NATURE — LINES MADE BY THE ORBICULAR MUSCLE AND THE CROW’S FEET (THESE SUGGESTIVE OF OLD AGE) — LINE AT THE CORNER OF THE MOUTH — LINES MADE BY THE FRONTAL MUSCLE — SUGGESTIVE OF OLD AGE OR OF PASSION — MUCH USED BY THE ACTOR.

Let us harp a little longer upon the naso-labial line. We reproduce two very beautiful drawings by Grellet, the one of a young girl, the other of an old man. How suggestive is the old man’s head because of the strong marking of the naso-labial line. Do you not realize how easily you could draw this line, and the whole head for that matter, in the manner of the Bonnard Choudieu? But valuable as it is by itself, how much more suggestive in connection with the young girl’s head, where the naso-labial line is hardly perceptible. This is a lesson in negation, at the value of which we have hinted so often. It is your business to learn when to put in a line, but equally your business to learn when to leave it out. Therefore we give with this chapter some heads of younger persons, that you may learn this very lesson. Take the Fred Walker head. How like the Watts drawing, so far as its treatment goes; but the naso-labial line is missing. What is the result?■

{102}

Pen drawing by E. G. T.

Note entire absence of naso-labial line, and of line about orbicular muscles. Absence of these lines indicate youth. Contrast with the Watts and Choudieu heads, where strong markings are prominent because of advanced age of the subjects.]

■{103} Why, we have the characteristics of a younger man. In this little comparison you have the foundation of all art study. Drawing is not arbitrary; we do not introduce lines into a face simply because this artist or that artist did so; we introduce them because their counterpart is found in nature. It is not in the province of these papers, as we have said, to tell the printer how he should draw every object he may attempt to delineate—a waste-paper basket, the head of a cow, a printing press, or a hat. But we can give him hints which will help him to observe for himself the characteristics of any object under the sun which he may wish to draw. If he finds around the mouth of a cow more pronounced lines than in a calf, he must put them in. If in one trash basket the wickerwork runs upward with each line parallel, he must draw it by perpendicular parallel lines, while in another one the wickerwork is interwoven diagonally and he must represent it by diagonal lines. In a coat sleeve, the arm hanging down, there are but few cross-folds, so he introduces few cross-lines into a sketch of such a sleeve, but when the arm is bent many more folds occur at the elbow and he therefore introduces more cross-lines in his drawing of the sleeve. This is about all there is to the science of drawing.

Now let us proceed a little further. In the Watts we notice two or three lines below the lower eyelid; these we find also in the Gaillard, but they are absent in the Donatello Young Girl’s Head by Grellet; they are very perceptible in the Brontolone. Here we have to do with another muscle. In the human head the eye is■

{104}

From bust of a young girl by Donatello, by F. Grellet.

Note absence of strong marking of naso-labial line, the absence of line at the angle of the lips, and of orbicular muscles. The absence of these markings indicates youth. To be compared with the Lefebvre drawing.]

■{105} set in a cavity in the skull called the orbital orifice, and in a very old person the lower edge of this cavity is sometimes perceptible under the flesh, and occasions a line in an artist’s drawing. But the main cause for the lines around the edge of an eye is that the eye is surrounded by a soft muscle, which is called the orbicular muscle. The part of this muscle which forms the eyelid is called the palpebral part; the part above the eyelid, the superior orbital orbicular; and the part below the lower eyelid, the inferior orbital orbicular. At the outer corner of the eye, as the two parts come together, they show in an old person’s face habitually, and in a child’s face laughter creates radiating lines called crow’s-feet. These lines called the crow’s-feet, and still more the folds in the muscles below the eye between the lower eyelid and the base of the orbital orifice are, like the naso-labial line, very conspicuous in old age and almost entirely absent in childhood. If you understand this you will turn to the beautiful drawing by Lefebvre, and realize why, although there is a great deal of shading on the hair, ear and jaw, and quite a perceptible piece of shading on the wing of the nose, there are no lines down the cheek between the eye and the lips. Indeed, in the original drawing, the white paper was there left entirely uncovered. Of course, the artist might have filled the entire space with shading, but in that case it would have been a graduated tint suggesting the roundness of the cheek, as in the Grellet Young Girl, but there would have been no suggestion of lines; the moment lines are introduced the characteristics of old age are {106} suggested. At the corner of the mouth is a line which runs in about the same direction as the naso-labial line. In youth the cheek is slightly rounded out from the lip, and in a side view it is usually the outline of the cheek■

By J. Lefebvre.

Half-tone from a lithographic reproduction by F. Grellet.]

■which makes the little line at the corner of the lips in the Lefebvre and the Grellet Young Girl, and always in the side view of a baby’s head; but as the head becomes less babyish it is the muscles of the lips which cause this line. The muscles of the lips are exactly like those of the eye; they run entirely around the lips, but at the corner of the mouth, instead of having the radiating line like the crow’s-feet, the threads of the muscle have a more perpendicular trend and create a line running in the same direction as the naso-labial line; while below this, but attached to it, is the triangular muscle of the lips, or the {107} depressor of the angle of the lips; this, in the ordinary old person, creates a long line, starting at the corner of the lip, running down considerably. This line is very conspicuous in the Brontolone, but absent in the Young Girl and the Lefebvre. It is seen plainly in the Choudieu, and we do not see how you can ask for a better lesson in drawing than the comparing of the highly finished Brontolone with the very simple Choudieu!

Once more, above the eyes the forehead is covered with the frontal muscle. The fibers run perpendicularly, but when they contract, as when a person frowns, the folds in the flesh run horizontally; these folds are particularly perceptible in old age. Though every mother will remember their alarming occurence in babyhood, we do not associate them with youth; and so in the Grellet Young Girl we find no lines in the forehead, nor are they in the Lœwe-Marchand, hence a placid temperament is suggested in that portrait. Many men no older than Monsieur X. have constant lines in their forehead, and the actor uses these muscles continually for expression. We write the plural because the muscle is frequently divided into right and left portions which follow the direction of the eyebrows, so that when the muscle is contracted the eyebrow’s are no longer horizontal but have an M shape across the forehead. In the Watts there is a very perceptible line which curves over the right eye, taking the direction of the eyebrow; this is part of the frontalis muscle. If the line on the other side were completed it would take a similar direction over the left eye.

{108}

ENGLISH NEWSPAPER PORTRAITS.

Sir John Willoughby, Mr. Colquhoun, and Mr. H. H. Champion, from the _Pall Mall Gazette_. Undoubtedly traced from photographs. Executed in a simple manner, suitable for quick printing on a cylinder press. Note absence of naso-labial line, except perhaps in the case of the right-hand side of Mr. Colquhoun’s head. This is either a slip of the pen, meant to come lower down to represent the mustache, or it is the naso-labial line, and its companion was lost in the engraving process. (This line could very well have remained in Mr. Colquhoun’s face, as he is evidently much older than Mr. Champion and Sir John Willoughby.) Also note absence of strong marking about the orbicular muscles, and absence of lines in the frontalis. The absence of these lines indicates youth. Compare with the Choudieu and Watts, where the introduction of these lines represents old age.]

{109}

From Bust of Brontolone by Luca della Robbia, by F. Grellet.

Reproduced by half-tone. The original was 12 by 9 inches. Strong marking of the naso-labial line, line at the corner of the lips, crow’s-feet, and orbicular muscle, typical of old age. To be compared with the Bonnard Choudieu.]

We have thus covered the muscles of the face which have most to do with expression, and so you see that, besides drawing the eyebrows, eyelashes, eyeballs, the bridge of the nose, the nostril, the lips, and the chin, the artist has to do with a great many muscles, and the novice must not only be warned about them, that he may know when to introduce them, but he must remember that they have principally to do with old age or {110} abnormal expression (laughter, grief, hate, etc.), and they must be used to express such attributes only. Hence the three English drawings represent very admirably the normal, placid expression of middle-aged men. If with the foregoing hints you attempt to draw a portrait for your newspaper, we fancy that, if you follow our advice faithfully, you will meet with more success than you imagine.

{111} CHAPTER XII.

THE SCIENCE OF PEN DRAWING — PEN DRAWING MAY BE ANY SIZE — THE WATTS IN TWO SIZES — DRAWING MAY BE ENLARGED OR REDUCED — FROM THE PRINTER’S VIEWPOINT PEN TECHNIC LESS IMPORTANT AS REGARDS ITS ADAPTABILITY TO REDUCTION THAN AS REGARDS THE PRINTABILITY OF THE CUT MADE FROM IT — THE PRINTER’S OWN EXPERIENCE A GUIDE IN THIS MATTER — THREE KINDS OF PRINTING CONSIDERED, FOR CONVENIENCE CHARACTERIZED AS I. “MAGAZINE,” II. “CITY NEWSPAPER,” III. “COUNTRY NEWSPAPER” PRINTING — CROSS-HATCHED LINES SUPPOSED TO FILL UP MORE RAPIDLY THAN SINGLE LINES — PORTRAIT OF STEVENSON BY WYATT EATON THE NE PLUS ULTRA OF NEWSPAPER PORTRAITURE — THE NASO-LABIAL LINE IN THIS DRAWING SUGGESTED BY SHADING, NOT BY A SINGLE LINE — A DRAWING BY SICKERT — ANY PEN MAY BE USED FOR THESE DRAWINGS, BUT THE LINES MAINLY TO BE CONSIDERED AS THICK OR THIN, SINCE THEY MAY BE PUT UPON CHALK PLATE, AND NOT DRAWN IN PEN-AND-INK AT ALL.

In our last chapter we said that we believed that if you would attempt to draw a portrait for your newspaper, following our advice faithfully, you would meet with more success than you would imagine. But you say, perhaps, that you are not prepared to attempt a portrait because we have given you no directions for pen drawing. Well, here you are partly right and partly wrong. There _is_ a science of pen drawing that■

{112}

An English newspaper cut—from _Tit-Bits_, artist unknown. An excellent example of newspaper work. Note that the skull-cap is not represented partly gray and partly black because the artist meant to indicate a cap that was one color in front and another in the back, but he meant to show the rounding of the cranium, just as Gaillard did in varying the tones in the hair of the old woman.

An enlargement of this cut was given in Chapter VIII. If a drawing is made the size of that enlargement, it can satisfactorily be reduced to the size of the cut above. Of course it may reduce to smaller dimensions; the greater the reduction the nearer the lines come together, and their closeness makes them more difficult to print.]

■{113} you may study with profit, but in order to draw a simple portrait for your newspaper it is not necessary for you to have any further instruction than we have given you. If it is going to pay you to follow drawing at all, you should be able at this stage of progress to make a tolerably good drawing for a newspaper portrait. But, you say, “What size should I make the drawing?” We reply, “Almost any size, though usually not smaller than the cut is to appear.” But that it may be smaller is seen by our two Watts cuts. Here is a cut the exact size of the original Watts, as it went to the engraver, who by mistake enlarged it to the size it appeared in Chapter VIII. I accepted this enlargement gladly, so as to show you that a drawing may be enlarged or reduced, but more especially with the idea of showing you the usual size that a drawing is made for reduction; for you will always be safe in making your portrait the size of the Watts in Chapter VIII if you wish it to appear the size of the present cut. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of your realizing that you have been told sufficient about pen drawing for you to go ahead and make drawings for your paper. If there is anything more to be learned I am candid in saying that you are better able to find out what it is than I am, for it is almost entirely a matter of printing, and not of engraving. Photo-engravers can nowadays reproduce almost any kind of a drawing, but a cut which might print well in a magazine might not print at all in your country newspaper. You know better than I do the trouble of “bringing up” a fine cut on poor■

{114}

Pen Drawing, by E. Renard, from a French Catalogue.

The parallel lines in the background represent a tint, and herein is the foundation of pen drawing, as distinguished from wash drawing: parallel lines are used to represent a tint; if they are farther apart they represent a lighter tint, if nearer together a darker tint; or again, if the artist presses on his pen more heavily on one set of lines than another, he can also get a darker tone without putting the lines any closer together. For newspaper work such a method is preferable to placing the lines near together; the Wyatt Eaton shows the pressing on the pen method perfectly.]

■{115} paper, on a cylinder press, and when you are making your drawing it is for you to keep in mind the kind of paper it is to be printed on, and to keep your lines sufficiently open accordingly. Ordinary intelligence should be your guide. Let us take the Renard Grandmother for an example; in the background is a series of the simplest lines imaginable. If you should make your drawing the same size as our cut, and the lines the same distance apart, it could be easily reduced to an inch wide, and print in a magazine, but it would not then print in a country newspaper; the lines would be so near together that they would fill up. The cut might print in a city newspaper, but it is not likely. The truth is that a printer can tell better about this than I can. All I can say is that as a general thing a set of parallel lines print better than cross-hatched lines.

(In using the expressions, “a magazine,” “a city newspaper” and “a country newspaper,” to represent first, second and third class printing, I am well aware that the distinction is an arbitrary and not a real one; that sometimes by using good ink, good stock and by printing _slowly_, the country printer can run a cut in his newspaper with better results than can a city paper using poorer stock and ink for the sake of economy, and printing at lightning speed. But the reader will kindly let the expressions stand for (1) perfect press, good stock and ink, and expert overlaying; (2) perfect press, ordinary “news” stock, poor ink, and little overlaying; (3) poorest stock, ink, cheap press, and not expert overlaying.)

{116}

Drawn, probably with a quill pen, by Wyatt Eaton, in 1888, the original 8 by 10 inches. The drawing was made in an open manner so that it would print on the poorest kind of paper, as it was used as a placard to announce a story by Stevenson, in the New York _Sun_. Reproduced by kind permission of the S. S. McClure Co., by whom it is copyrighted. A reduction of this drawing, greater than the above, adorned the cover of the March, 1897, _McClure’s Magazine_.]

{117}

Next to the preference of one set of lines to cross-hatched lines, it is to be said that a dark is better obtained by pressing on the pen than by putting the lines near together. We publish a superb example of pen drawing for newspaper work—the Stevenson, by Wyatt Eaton. We believe that this is the _ne plus ultra_ of newspaper portraiture, for the lines are strong and vigorous, there being no possibility of their running together in printing. I should advise you to look at this portrait under a magnifying glass that you may realize how very simple the treatment is.

McClure’s “Human Documents” contains a baker’s dozen of half-tones of Stevenson, from photographs. You might procure this pamphlet and copy the half-tones in pen, using the Wyatt Eaton as a guide.

(And in parentheses I would say you will notice that the naso-labial lines on both sides of the face are strongly marked, and yet instead of there being one line going in the direction of the muscle, as in Bonnard’s “Choudieu,” we have on the light side of the face eight perpendicular lines, and on the shaded side six blots with almost horizonal, but slightly oblique, direction! Do you not, therefore, see that it is not the kind of line you use, not a matter of “what way the lines go,” but where you put your tones, that counts in drawing? If Wyatt Eaton had not seen the strongly marked naso-labial line on Stevenson’s face, he would not have put these two triangular forms radiating from the nostril. Moreover, Eaton could have represented these lines in another way just as well. Also, it would {118} take too long to explain other subtle features of this drawing, but we would add that you will rarely see so much tone on the light cheek as in this drawing. Stevenson was an invalid, and this tone represents the sunken cheek of ill-health.)

Now, if you will examine the Sickert portrait of Wilson, you will find an equally artistic drawing, but one not quite so adaptable to newspaper printing; for the darks are partly obtained by putting the lines near together rather than by great pressure, and in our reproduction they have frequently run together where in the original print, which was 6 by 9 inches, they were separated. And so also in printing on poor paper; there is a chance that the interstices will fill up, while they would not in the Eaton.

As, however, this drawing was made for printing on a thin manila paper, not on coated paper, and there is great deal of pressure on the pen (note especially the side of the nose), which was put on knowingly by the artist, it contains much that should be imitated in newspaper work.

In regard to the way to make such heavy lines, we would say that it is a mere matter of practice; the selection of pen has little to do with it. Excellent results may be got by using a brush instead of the pen, and we dare say that Mr. Eaton used a quill pen. But as a matter of fact, the artist usually prefers to use a very fine pen such as a crow quill, or mapping pen, which is flexible, it thus being that a dark line is got, not by a blunt-pointed pen, but by allowing the nibs of■

{119}

Pen drawing by Walter Sickert. From the London _Whirlwind_, 1890. An example of artistic portrait-drawing suitable for newspapers, showing darks obtained both by placing fine lines near together (see just above mustache on shaded side), and darks obtained by pressing on the pen (see heavy lines on shaded side of nose).]

■{120} a flexible pen to spread so that the ink flows very freely from it. For ordinary purposes a Gillot 303 or 170 is frequently used by the artists. But it is a matter of practice mainly, and the pen you usually write with is apt to be the best medium for practice at first. In fact, we are particularly anxious to have our reader not worry about pen technic. Let him realize that he might wish to put his drawing upon the chalk plate, in which case he would make a tracing of a photograph, and, placing it upon the chalk, press upon it with a hard-pointed pencil, and thus transfer his outline into an indentation on the chalk. He would then take the scraping tool and clear away the chalk wherever he wishes a line. The fact being that he would introduce lines only where he knew there should be lines in nature, as in the case of the naso-labial line, the eyelids, etc.; and he would broaden his lines only where he knew the tones should be darker in nature than where he had used a set of fine lines. There would be no use of pen at all!

So you see we have come right to the milk in the cocoanut—right to the matter this series was to teach. Many readers no doubt were disgusted when they did not find in our first chapters directions for the use of the pen and a list of materials for pen drawing, but those who may have occasion to do their portraits in chalk plate will thank us for our hints on the study of nature and the study of lines, no matter how made.

{121} CHAPTER XIII.

STUDY OF PEN TECHNIC CONTINUED — THE PRINTER MUST NOT EXPECT THE KNOWLEDGE OF PEN TECHNIC TO TAKE THE PLACE OF KNOWLEDGE OF DRAWING — EXAMPLES CONSIDERED — THE GRANDMOTHER BY RENARD — THE MARCHETTI, THE VIERGE, THE ST. ELME, ARE GOOD EXAMPLES OF PEN DRAWING — THE GUILLAUME AN AMUSING EXAMPLE OF USE OF PARALLEL LINES — THE FORAIN A GOOD EXAMPLE OF NEWSPAPER CARTOON STYLE; THE VALLET, OF NEWSPAPER NEWS STYLE — THE MOULLIER AN EXAMPLE OF ECCENTRIC USE OF DOTS — METHOD OF PEN PRACTICE SUGGESTED.

Pen drawing from _Paris Illustré_.]

Judicious study of pen technic is helpful to the printer-designer. I use the adjective “judicious” because I need a word beginning with J for our initial letter. What I mean is, that just so far as the printer studies drawing, he may study pen technic, but he must not expect to progress further in the latter than he has progressed in the former; so while this chapter will be exceedingly helpful to the reader who has followed the previous ones, it will only lead to failure■

{122}

Pen drawing by Daniel Vierge, one of the most celebrated of modern pen-draftsmen. If you will scrutinize this drawing under a magnifying glass you can examine this technic with more ease than with the naked eye.]

■{123} if the reader does not follow our advice in regard to training the eyes to see as well as in regard to pen technic.

We said in our last chapter that the parallel lines in the background of “The Grandmother,” by Renard, showed the foundation of pen drawing. The same is■

■true of our initial letter, in which we find a set of parallel lines which, contrasted with the white of the illumination thrown by the lantern, gives us an effect of gray. This is found again in the other drawing by Marchetti; and if you will study these two drawings, and then turn to the Vierge, you will find that nine-tenths of it is drawn in the same way. Here and there to get a certain vibration of tone, Vierge uses crosshatch, but you will notice that the lightest gray and the intensest dark are got without crosshatching.

In the St. Elme you may also distinguish very clever use of parallel lines, without much crosshatching. We have purposely reproduced this, together with the page it decorated, so that you may see the artist had a good reason for not crosshatching; he wished his drawing to form a decoration about the page, and he did not want it to be too heavy, so he abstained from crosshatching.■

{124}

■{125} The best practice for you is to make drawings for your publication in any manner you see fit, and after you have had experience in printing the same, you can tell very well how much crosshatching is advisable, and how much clogs up in the printing. There are■

■several caricaturists in this country whose work is printed in daily papers in a thoroughly satisfactory manner, and yet they use a great deal of crosshatching, but of course they know just how open to keep the lines, for they know just what results their printer can {126} get and what not. But we would say it is a good principle, to begin with, that the less crosshatching in your work the better it will print. Hence the Marchetti and St. Elme drawings are given as examples.

In the portrait of the painter Carrière, we have an amusing example of the effective use of parallel lines. Instead of giving us a black silhouette, the artist—Guillaume—has given us a gray one, which suggests the subject seen through a fog. Had the artist wished to represent the palette as being of dark wood he could have pressed on his pen lines and thus given us that effect. Had he wished to show that the canvas was lighter than the figure, he could have refrained from pressing so heavily on his pen lines, or, better still, distributed his lines farther apart and thus obtained the effect of a lighter tone. Bear in mind, however, that I used the term pen lines in speaking of this drawing because the original was made in that medium, but the same graduation or contrast of lines is applicable to nearly all methods of line drawing; to etching and chalk plate as well. You will, perhaps, have a better grasp of the subject by thinking of it as—the theory of tone imitation by lines.

When you have grasped the theory of this pen technic, _alias_ the representing of tone by lines, you will be prepared to make your own deductions from various specimens of illustration.

Some of our friends, for example, who might have been interested in our first chapters and the specimens of caricature given therein, may have been disappointed {127} that we have given so much attention to portraiture recently, so we have made an effort in this chapter to give a _mélange_ that will cover many fields of newspaper illustration. In the Forain we have a splendid example of such work. It was printed on very poor paper stock, but it came out admirably, harmonizing with the type, which is larger than that used in this country, long■

By Forain, from _Figaro_. This composition evidently makes fun of Mr. Berthelot, who has had, or expects to have, some dealings with England, for the visitor says, “May I see my honorable master?” and the maid responds, “Mr. Berthelot is not receiving; he is taking an English lesson.” The cut in _Figaro_ was 8 by 8, and it represents an excellent method of newspaper drawing, and one that could be easily imitated in chalk plate. We would also call attention to the drawing of the broom. Our readers who followed the directions of our first chapters will see that the silhouette of the broom is indicated in a masterly manner.]

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■{129} primer predominating. The drawing of the still-life objects is particularly interesting. Look at the duster the woman holds: is not its form exactly what you would see if it were held up against the window and viewed in silhouette?

A good example of a news illustration is given in the Vallet page, which could easily be imitated in chalk plate. The artist viewed a collection of English army costumes, or witnessed a drill, and he shows us in very simple lines the style of accouterment. Any newspaper editor who could sketch tolerably well could do the same thing for his county fair.

In the Moullier we have a specimen that is well-nigh as amusing as the artist in the fog, for here we have a pen drawing that is not made by lines, but by a series of stipples. While the newspaper tyro should not employ this technic too frequently in his practice, still, realizing that the tone effect is graphically gained without the use of the conventional line, it must quickly dawn upon him that there are many technics, and, having practiced drawing mantelshelves according to the instructions in our early chapters, he will also appreciate the fact that the artist was in front of this mantelshelf, as the horizontal lines do not tip, and that the shelf was higher than his eye, as the top of the mantel is not shown. This knowledge gathered allows the student to see that various technics may represent the same truth in nature.

A good method of practice for pen work is as follows: Take a wood engraving or half-tone from some■

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■{131} periodical, the larger the better, go over the back of it with a blue pencil, lay it on a sheet of bristol board or paper, face upward, and go over the outline with a hard pencil, using such a pressure as will transfer to the bristol board a blue outline. The object in using blue is, that you do not have to erase it, but may work over it with a pen, as the blue does not photograph. Besides transferring the outline it is also advisable to outline the shape of any of the shadows you intend to introduce. You then endeavor with the pen lines to imitate the delicate shadows of the half-tone or wood cut. Perhaps instead of saying imitate, we would better say approximate, for you must not expect to be able to imitate with pen the extreme delicacy of a half-tone.

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