Lessons in chalk modeling: The new method of map drawing

by Ida Cassa Heffron

REMARKS.

Chalk Modeling of surface forms is the easiest and simplest method of geographical drawing, and one of the best ways of beginning art work in the school-room, for absolute definiteness of form and detail is not required, and we know that generalities are represented much more easily than details—large masses more easily than small objects.

No one need hesitate to try to draw who can write or gesture: this last we are all doing continually, either consciously or unconsciously.

Watch the friend while telling some interesting story, or while giving a description of some object or landscape. Note the gestures unconsciously employed and how truthful to the subject they are. Also notice that the more intense the desire to make you understand, the more adequate is the gesture.

No conscious thought is required as to what motion to make, for the very desire to express brings with it both the required word and action. This is spontaneity, and if a pencil or crayon were in the hand of the narrator, with paper or a blackboard near, a sketch might be the result, and one quite adequate to its purpose.

If you are in earnest and truly desire to express your thought by drawing or chalk modeling, you will forget yourself in your effort to be understood. You will find a way to accomplish your object, choosing and using the right direction of line and giving the right accentuation or emphasis without any special attention as to the method of working.

Drawings may be made on the blackboard with common blackboard crayon of medium softness, or with charcoal or crayon upon paper. The blackboard is much the more serviceable, as upon that you can draw with great freedom, without fear of wasting paper or of spoiling your work. Swing the arm out freely from the shoulder as you work, give out that which you have to give, without fear, generously. If it is but a line to indicate the edge of a table, draw that line as though you were glad to draw it. Express your thought boldly regarding the fact or object you wish to make your statement about—fear not.

REPRESENTATION OF SURFACES WITH HINTS ON THE DELINEATION OF DISTANCES. LAND SLOPING FROM THE OBSERVER. LIGHT AND SHADE.

The most convenient length of crayon to use, is a piece about an inch and a half or two inches long, yet we may often profitably use the whole side or length of the crayon. If we wish to represent broad surfaces, we will naturally use the side of the crayon, as a child does. To show narrower widths of surface press more upon the end of the crayon, also use a long edge to represent the edges or the meeting of surface planes. This manner of using the crayon seems the most natural for the purpose, and it certainly economizes time.

Line represents direction. When applied to surface we understand it to indicate horizontal, vertical, oblique, and curved surface directions. Try it and see if it is not true that lines in one direction never indicate any other direction; the vertical can never be mistaken for the horizontal, or the reverse. For the representation of a level plain, make simple strokes in the horizontal direction with the side of the crayon, and to represent a vertical surface as a cliff, make a stroke in the vertical direction with the same broad side of the crayon. Oblique surfaces, as slopes, are to be drawn with oblique strokes, and curved surfaces like rounded hills, represented by continuous upward and downward strokes. (See [Fig. 1].) In the delineation of mountain masses, that are high with abrupt declivities as well as gradual slopes, we use the side of the crayon with an oblique stroke as in [Fig. 2]. We see then that right direction of lines of themselves illustrate surface planes, elevations or depressions.

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Detail of structure, however, cannot be well brought out except by effects of light and shade. Choose from which direction your map or sketch is to be lighted, and keep it always in mind while drawing. Study the effects of light and shade everywhere. Note the length of shadows at different times of the day, and their relation to the position of the sun.

To represent an unbroken sweep of land or water, as of a plain or lake, draw a broad unbroken line for the distance, as all detail of surface forms seems to merge into one horizontal mass; nearer to us, we perceive more detail of landscape or broken land surface, which we may represent with broken lines. This is the most simple representation of level distance. (Note [Fig. 3].)

In [Fig. 4], or the representation of a plateau (upraised mass of land), there are horizontal, vertical, and oblique surfaces combined. The detail of structure in the foreground is represented with some definiteness of line, while the mountain slopes are quite indefinite. Notice that the oblique and vertical lines are shorter in the distance than in the foreground, and that the land seems to rise as it recedes from us. Look out of doors and see if it is not so. Notice rows of trees, houses, or telegraph poles, in their relative height, also in their relation to the ground on which they stand.

In the delineation of a valley between parallel mountain ranges, keep in mind the proportionate height of mountains to width of valley; for example, think of the apparent width of street or railroad track at the farther end, in comparison with the width of the same close by you, and also notice that it decreases in definiteness as it recedes into the distance. Note the width of the valley in [Fig. 4].

[Fig. 5] represents land sloping from us as it recedes. Note the more definite lines in the foreground, indicating some detail of structure, and the indefiniteness, or less distinct lines that indicate the distant hills, these lines becoming more and more indistinct as the hills recede.

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