CHAPTER XIV.

A CHAPTER OF ILLUS­TRA­TIONS AND A RÉSUMÉ — VAL­LOT­TON HEADS ONLY UNDER­STOOD BY THOSE WHO CAN SEE LIGHT AND SHADE UPON OB­JECTS — ME­DAL­LIONS BY DAVID D’ANGERS SHOWING THE PLANES OF THE FACE — THESE PLANES BROUGHT OUT IN SOME OF THE VALLOTTON HEADS, AND IN MEDALLIONS BY LORMIER AND D’ILLZACH, AND IN DRAWING BY CHAUME — LANDSCAPE BY LE ROUX, CARICATURE BY FORAIN — THE LE ROUX AND THE PAUL DRAWINGS INDICATE THE FORCE OF OUTLINE — EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF TECHNIC.

THE definite character of our illustrations to the last two chapters should have made so strong an impression upon the reader (if he practices drawing) that there ought to be little necessity of further letterpress explaining the different technics of pen drawing. {133} So please permit us to introduce a large number of illustrations in this chapter, with slight comment; it being surmised that the reader will, however, give a fuller consideration to the drawings themselves than we do. Each one should be studied again and again, the reader not copying it, but making a drawing in the same style of some similar object. This chapter, moreover, must serve as a general résumé of our instruction in freehand drawing and pen drawing; it virtually ends the first part of our text-book; the succeeding matter will be confined to the consideration of different methods of decorating title-pages, and of designing chapter headings, tailpieces, etc.; and the third part will consist of the consideration of different methods of engraving, chalk-plate, wood engraving and color printing.

Now for our résumé.

In order to learn to draw you must first learn to discern the outline of objects, which you may do by seeing them in silhouette.

To draw the hair in outline, as in Vallotton’s third Nietzsche, you must first see the hair as in the first Nietzsche; that is, see it in mass or in silhouette in nature. Before Vallotton took a brush in hand to put on the solid black of the hair in number one you may be sure he drew a pencil outline like the outline in number three; but before he drew that outline he saw the mass as in number one.

The Vallotton drawings may be further studied from two very different view-points. The third Friedrich Nietzsche is pure outline, like the examples of Engström {134}

HEADS DESIGNED BY F. VALLOTTON.

{135}

HEADS DESIGNED BY F. VALLOTTON. Vallotton has made it a practice to engrave a great many of his own designs. We do not know whether these heads were engraved by him, or merely drawn by him and photo-engraved, but the manner in which they are designed—that is, with great economy of line, and a few simple, telling spots—is one which is the outgrowth of his practice in wood engraving; he would work exactly like this if drawing on wood. (We shall treat of wood engraving for printers in a future chapter.)

{136} given in our early chapters, and is very simple and easy to understand, though not by any means easy to draw. The drawing of Malthus, on the other hand, is not easy to understand, for in addition to the outlines it is modeled—that is, it contains masses of shadow which bring out the different planes of the face. And it is necessary to study light and shade, as indicated in Chapter VII, before we can fully understand a drawing of this kind.

In order to model, you must learn to see the light and shade upon objects. When your eye is trained to see light and shade, you can draw the hair as in the second Nietzsche, and you can see planes in the face, as in the Malthus.

Although the David d’Angers diagrams were drawn to show the general masses of the head as they are brought out in successive stages by a sculptor, yet they become very interesting to the printer who has not had the benefit of an art school education, for they show him at a glance how much of the character of the human head is dependent upon the different planes of the face, and it explains better than words what is meant by planes. Chapter VIII should be read in connection with it, and the Vallotton portraits, especially that of Malthus, may be examined critically with this in mind, for you will then see that Vallotton has introduced masses of black with the idea of suggesting planes in the face.

We introduce the de Chaume to accompany the David d’Angers, Lormier and d’Illzach medallions, to emphasize the matter of the planes of the human face. {137}

Medallion portrait of Hahnemann, after David d’Angers. Drawing by Carl Robert. Showing successive stages in modeling, from the flat to the relief.

We do not want our readers to think that the shadows we have pointed out in our text are the only ones to be noticed in the human face. Under certain circumstances, notably when an actor’s face is illuminated by the footlights, there are shadows upon it quite different from those we have analyzed in previous chapters. But the shadows we have pointed out are those most prominent in a photograph, and those most frequently employed by the artist, but if your drawing is to be very extensive you must learn to look for new shadows in new aspects; and the de Chaume shows some such shadows, yet in the case of the naso-labial line it is easy to see that {138}

Crayon drawing, from a medallion of Alf. Leroux, by E. Lormier. Drawn on stipple tinted board; or else on plain paper, and the mechanical stipple added to the same after the drawing was made.

Medallion portrait of M. A. Soisson, by Ringel d’Illzach. Drawn by the sculptor on scratchboard with horizontal line tint, the blacks drawn with crayon, the whites scratched out with a penknife. As in the Monet, our engraver, instead of reducing the cut by the direct process, reduced it by half-tone, through a screen with diagonal lines, hence the horizontal lines have disappeared. (See page [148])

{139} it is not far different from other naso-labial lines which we have considered.

Again, much of our instruction has been given using the human face as a basis of study; but it is not for a moment to be surmised that the study of drawing should be limited to the human face. We have intended only to suggest a process of study; this process may be

“HAWKS DINNA PIKE OUT HAWKS’ EEN.” J. C. DOLLMAN, R.I. Pen drawing from the artist’s water color, made for an exhibition catalogue. This cut shows an excellent style of newspaper drawing, consisting of outline, and a gray got by parallel lines, without crosshatching.

applied to anything under the sun. Hence we give the Forain and the Le Roux outline to portray still life and landscape. And it is worthy of note that still life need not be circumscribed to mere drill; on the contrary, it is very frequently introduced into drawing—much to the perfecting of the composition. The dishpans, pots {140}

ON THE BANKS OF THE ISOLE. BY E. LE ROUX. Pen drawing by the artist from his painting.

{141}

Mask of Béranger. Drawing by Geoffroy de Chaume. Drawn by the sculptor from his model, with (lithographic) crayon, on grained paper with a specially prepared tooth.

{142}

Newspaper caricature, by Forain, from Figaro. The butler says: “I have heard him say that you spice your dishes too much.” The chef says: “Yes, he misses his Blanchette du Havre.” (Some local hit, blanchette in cookery being a wrapper of pastry, bacon, etc.) “If he is not satisfied why doesn’t he leave?” There are few draughtsmen in the world more expert in the use of line than Forain. He is most wonderful in his construction of forms; every line means something. The French do not mind a free line—one that runs a little too far out—if it has meaning to it; hence we see a line through the butler’s nose, and his mouth extends to the right of the naso-labial line in quite an unnatural fashion, but since the line of the cheek is beautifully attached to the eyesocket and upper eyelid, it does not annoy the French at all.

{143}

Pen drawing by Guillaume, from the French daily paper Gil Blas. This is given as a good example of newspaper work of a kind that could be easily imitated on chalk plate. It is reproduced with adjacent head-line and type that you may get an idea of the typographical appearance of the French newspaper. The legend says: “Today Gil Blas publishes its twelfth supplement, which should be delivered gratuitously (by the news agents) to all the purchasers of the paper.” The cut, then, is merely a little joke to call attention to the more important supplement inside, which supplement in itself is a pictorial one; French readers are fonder of illustrations than American readers.

{144}

An example of pen drawing. Book illustration, by F. H. Lucas. This shows splendid modeling with very delicate pen work, and a certain amount of variety in the background. It is less adaptable to newspaper work than our other illustrations. It is given as a specimen of eccentric line work as regards the background, which is not unlike the Moullier.

and coal shovel, in the Forain, are particularly suggestive from this view-point. The Le Roux is given in order that our text-book may include an example of landscape, and also that the pupil may realize that drawing is frequently a matter of the right line in the right place. As we said in Chapter XIII, just as we studied the matter of the naso-labial line, and the orbicular muscle, one should study the direction of the wickers of a trash basket, so the artist has studied here the characteristic lines of tree trunk, foliage, hillside, and grasses. If you will study a city street or a shipyard in the same spirit—that is, search for the characteristic lines—you will be able to make a drawing which, even though it lacks {145}

Illustration from the Paris Illustré. An example of combined use of outline, parallel lines and solid black, with very little crosshatch. Mainly interesting because of the introduction of still-life objects, which hint at subjects suitable for practice. The novice would do well to select a group of similar objects and endeavor to render them in a similar manner.

artistic finish, will have a certain graphic value; and for this very reason (we mean, to show that outline may be graphic) we purposely introduce into this chapter the Paul caricatures, consisting mainly of outlines, like those we gave in our first chapters, and we bid you harp upon them with the fact ever in your mind that they are not arbitrary, but each line stands for some prototype in nature; and that we may go a little farther in the analyzation of the face, we publish some models in relief in which the planes of the face are brought out. These planes were considered in Chapter VII, and you must {146}

Illustration from Paris Illustré. Pen drawing, by M. Luque, evidently from an instantaneous photograph, containing all the elements of pen drawing without crosshatch. This has been reduced too much; the shadows in the building seem black because the lines have run together. In the original illustration the lines on the building were separated, and the effect was one of gray, which is the right tone for shadows seen at a distance on a clear day. The outlines of the clouds were probably drawn with an unbroken line, and after they were engraved were rouletted on the plate, and hence print as a series of dots.

{147}

Pen drawing, by Maurice Leloir, showing admirable effect gained by use of parallel lines without crosshatch; a splendid example for the novice to study.

{148} look at Fantin-La-Tour’s cast head in order to understand them. Do so, and then let your eye jump to the Vallotton heads, and we think you will grasp their characteristics immediately, for you will see wherein they differ from the Engström drawings. They differ in this: that in addition to pure outline, they mass the constructive shadows found in the David d’Angers. In other

Marine, by Claude Monet. Drawn with lithographic crayon on scratchboard, the lines running perpendicularly, instead of horizontally as in the d’Illzach, the lights scratched out with the penknife. This cut has a peculiar interest technically. The foregoing was dictated with the original in hand, which was a direct process cut in which one set of lines ran perpendicularly. Our engraver, however, instead of reducing the cut by the direct process, reduced it by half-tone, through a screen with diagonal lines, hence the perpendicular lines have disappeared.

words, the black under Vallotton’s eyebrows does not mean that his eyebrows are abnormally thick, but it means that he has deep sunken eyes, and that there is {149}

Portrait of Fred Walker, by E. G. T., from an English periodical. Reduced to a smaller area than when given in Chapter XI. By comparing this with the cut on page [102] we notice that the drawing is so simple that there is very little difference in the general aspect of the two, but here and there, as under the jaw, the lines have run together a little more in the smaller cut, giving a darker effect than in the larger one; the lesson is obvious.

a shadow under the eyebrows and in the plane of the superior orbicular muscle, which recedes, and Vallotton wishes to emphasize this. And in the Malthus he does not mean that Malthus had a triangular birth-mark on his right cheek, but he means that he had a prominent cheekbone, and a sunken cheek beneath it; hence the shadow, which is what we call “a modeling shadow.”

{150}

Portrait of C. Rivers Wilson. Pen draw­ing by Wal­ter Sickert. From The Lon­don Whirl­wind, 1890. Re­duced to a smal­ler area than when given in Chapter XII. By comparing this with the cut on page [119] you will see that many of the lines, especially in the shadow of the nose, have run together, and we do not find as strong a contrast between the black accents on the nose and the gray half-tones produced by the open lines in the larger cut. It is often the case when a drawing is too greatly reduced that it loses snap, because the graduation from the grays to the blacks is not so perceptible as in the original. Still the lines were so open in this drawing that the present cut is a very fair one. The result is much better than could have been got from so fine a drawing as the Renard. (See page [114].)

We cannot complete our chapter without mentioning that the styles of drawing we have suggested by no means exhaust the different methods at your disposal. While it is well to confine yourself to outline, or outline and solid black, or outline and slight shading, yet you may experiment in many more complicated methods, as seen in the Monet, and the Ringel d’Illzach, for even if you do not use these methods for illustrations they help you to observe the capital lights and darks in nature.