Free-Hand Drawing.
A free-hand drawing is executed with the unaided hand and eye, without guiding instruments or other artificial help. It is necessary to be known that all drawing required cannot possibly be done by rule and compass, but that some portions must be drawn “free-hand,” trusting to the eye alone.
Hence, it is important that the student should be able to sketch at sight from objects he may see, or to draw roughly, with a piece of chalk or a pencil, pieces of mechanism required to be represented.
Practice in free-hand should go along with mechanical drawing as progress is made, and thus cultivating both branches equally.
“A simple sketch will often,” as has been rather roughly said, “express more than yards of talk.”
Even a slight sketch refreshes the memory, and in the case of the preparation of a complete set of drawings, with a view to the making of a thoroughly finished mechanical drawing, the proper course to pursue is, to make a general sketch, letter the various parts for reference, and then prepare a series of detailed sketches, similarly lettered, and diffuse with dimensions.
Everyone, whatever his specialty, feels to-day that the ability to sketch rapidly and clearly is among the absolute necessities for correct and prompt transactions of business, in giving and executing orders and doing business with persons outside his profession.
Mistakes and misunderstandings may be averted by means of rough sketches taken at the time and shown for confirmation; this also saves assistants from getting into trouble, especially if they pin the sketch to the order, for reference, in case of the arising of any dispute. These are a few of the advantages of knowing how to sketch quickly and correctly.
In “free-hand” any sort of pencil is better than none, but there is a considerable advantage in having a good serviceable article—a pencil not too soft nor too hard, and one which will retain its point for some little time.
[Fig. 55] shows the approved position in which the pencil should be held while sketching. The pencil should be held firmly between the thumb and first finger of the right hand; press the second finger against the pencil at the opposite side to the thumb pressure, so that the pencil is firmly held by the contact of the thumb and two fingers—the third and fourth fingers just coming into easy reach of the paper surface—the wrist or ball of the hand resting lightly on the surface of the work—the arm resting on the desk or drawing-board for steadiness.
The motion of the pencil is produced from the movement of the fingers and thumb, principally in the vertical strokes, and the horizontal strokes are produced by fingers and thumb, combined with a wrist or elbow motion; the oblique lines and curves are produced with a free movement, with nothing cramped or confined about the finger joints.