LANDSCAPE.
Charcoal is a favorite medium with many artists for landscape subjects, and it is, as before stated, especially useful in sketching from nature.
In beginning to draw a landscape in charcoal, first sketch in lightly the horizon line, the outlines of the trees and different objects, in their general aspect.
It is always well to select a subject where there is a good effect of light and shade and sufficient variety to give interest.
After the composition is sketched in, look for the large masses of shadow, and divide the whole into two distinct masses of light and shade, as in figure drawing. The sky is covered with a light tone, at first, and even the masses of light are also covered with a delicate half-tint.
The whole drawing may be made entirely with the point if it is desired, but the French artist Allongé, who is celebrated for his charcoal landscapes, prefers the use of the stump, with the point in finishing.
If in place of the stump the finger sometimes is used to blend the charcoal, and for rapid sketches, this is very effective.
After the general masses are put in, the details are drawn with the point, being somewhat softened with the stump, though in trunks of trees, dark branches, rocks, etc., the marks of the point are left unsoftened to give strength.
The lights are taken out with bread or rubber; sometimes a piece of chamois skin is found useful in lightening a tone. The light clouds are taken out with bread from the sky which has been covered with a half-tint, and the dark clouds are put in with the stump or point, according to the method employed.
In sketching from nature out of doors, it is always well to adopt some prominent object as a standard of measurement; for instance, take a house or tree in the middle distance, and compare this in height with objects in the background and foreground. In this way your perspective, if simple, may be made correct without any elaborate rules.
Objects in the distance are naturally smaller than those in the foreground, and the exact proportions can be determined by comparative measurement.
In drawing a road or path, notice that it will become narrower as it recedes into the distance. For those who have never studied perspective such suggestions are useful.
It is very important also that the values should be carefully studied; it is a good thing to establish the darkest spot of shadow in the whole sketch, and compare all the other darks with it, as already suggested in figure drawing. Determine also the brightest light, and let the other lights be in their proper relation to it.
Either crayon or charcoal, or both, may be used for landscapes; it is always better to sketch in the drawing with charcoal, even if crayon is used afterward.
Some very good effects are produced by using crayon or charcoal on tinted paper, either gray, blue, or light brown, and, leaving the tone of the paper for the half-tint, put in the high lights with white chalk.
In such drawings the stump must not be used, nor should the tones be rubbed or blended in any way. Use the crayon or charcoal point in the manner already described, and put the lights in at the last with crisp, strong touches.
As the student continues his practice he will find out the resources of these most interesting materials, and will develop new possibilities for himself as he becomes more adept, but it must be remembered that there is no “royal road to learning,” and to succeed in acquiring proficiency in drawing of any kind, requires patience and perseverance, with constant practice.
APPENDIX.
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.
The intention of the author in presenting these plates is that the student, by copying a series of progressive drawings, may be prepared to study from the cast and from life. For those who are entirely inexperienced, it is much easier to learn this method from such flat copies at first, as it not only teaches the use of the materials, but familiarizes the student with the forms of the different features, so that when confronted with nature he finds his difficulties considerably lessened.