Drawing for Printers. / A practical treatise on the art of designing and illustrating in connection with typography. Containing complete instruction, fully illustrated, concerning the art of drawing, for the beginner as well as the more advanced student.

by Ernest Knaufft

CHAPTER X.

THE ANALYZATION OF THE NASO-LABIAL LINE INDICATES THE FOUNDATION OF ART STUDY — WHEN THE LINE IS PROPERLY SEEN IT MAY BE DRAWN WITH ANY MEDIUM — CHOUDIEU HEAD BY BONNARD — ITS SIMILARITY TO THE WATTS — STRONG MARKING OF THE NASO-LABIAL LINE IN IT — A SIMILAR ANALYZATION TO THAT GIVEN THE WATTS DRAWING — PORTRAIT BY TOUSSAINT — HOW IT MIGHT BE RENDERED IN SIMPLE PEN LINES LIKE THE WATTS — DRAWING BY BONNARD — ITS HEAVY OUTLINE APPROPRIATE TO PRINTING — THE MEANING OF BLACKS IN A DRAWING — DRAWING BY BONNAT — EXAMPLE OF DRAWING BY LIGHT AND DARK MASSES — THE EMPLOYMENT OF WHITES IN SCRATCH-BOARD AND IN WOOD ENGRAVING — BONNARD’S DRAWING OF CURTAIN — BRUN DRAWING CORRECT IN COLOR VALUES — DIGRESSION IN REGARD TO FRENCH NAMES — DRAWING OF A FOOT SHOWING ART SCHOOL METHODS.

SOME of the most valuable hints we have given our readers are those of Chapters VIII and IX, in connection with the naso-labial line. In these you will find the foundation of our teaching—that is, we do not say that a human face must be made by putting in a black line running obliquely from the nose to the lip, made with such or such a pen, such or such a crayon, ink, or charcoal, but we point out the line in nature, and say that because it is found in nature, artists put it in their drawings. When not found in a face, as that of a young person, then it is left out in a good artist’s drawing of a young face. Whether he uses pen, wash, {87} or crayon, has very little to do with the case. There are some methods of using the pen, wash, or crayon, that are better than others; but, if you are taught to see the naso-labial line in nature, it is very easy to learn to draw it in one of those mediums, and having drawn it in one, it is easier to learn to draw it in other mediums.

We give, with this chapter, the head of Choudieu, in which this line is marked as conspicuously as in the

HEAD OF PIERRE RENE CHOUDIEU. Drawn by Pierre Bonnard (probably from a medallion, and possibly with a quill pen), for La Revue Blanche.

Watts. This drawing might have been made with an ordinary pen, somewhat worn, or (as was probably the case) with a quill pen, or with a camel’s-hair brush, or with a Japanese brush (which, like the quill pen, is a delightful instrument with which to draw heavy lines); but are we not right in surmising that you are better prepared to draw such a head because we pointed out in {88} the last chapter that the naso-labial line was a characteristic mark of an old man’s face than if we had given you directions for using the quill pen or the brush and said nothing about this line? Of course, we do not mean to suggest that, were you making a copy from this line drawing, you would be so careless as to leave out the naso-labial line, but if you were drawing an old man’s face from a photograph, might you not easily overlook this line if it had never been pointed out to you? If you agree with this proposition you will be in thorough sympathy with the spirit in which this work is written, and when our chapter on expression comes you will not at all regret that it is not a technical chapter on the use of a drawing instrument.

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}

THE LATE DUC D’AUMALE. 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}

PORTRAIT OF LEON COGNIET. 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}

A FETE AT BRUSSELS. 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}

TAILPIECE, BY PIERRE BONNARD.

{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}

AT THE CAFÉ APHRODITE. Pen Drawing by A. Brun.

{98}

Example of French Art School studies, from plates published under the direction of Bargue and Gérôme, showing method of blocking in a cast, both outline and shadows.

{99}

Example of French Art School studies, from plates published under the direction of Bargue and Gérôme, showing method of shading in simple tones without much reflected light or half-tones.

{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.