Fig. 10. The Lesser Celandine. After Fuchs.

(From Hatton's Craftsman's Handbook.)

An examination of figures 10 and 12 will shew that Fuchs* attained his object by simple outline drawings; he never employed local colour, and shading he used very sparsely indeed, and then only to give expression to the form of some thick part. Fuchs's celandine (Fig. 10) should be compared with the drawing of the same plant (Fig. 9) by R. G. Hatton.

*The methods followed by the illustrators of the Herbals may be conveniently studied in Hatton's "The Craftsman's Plant Book," London, 1909, and Arber's "Herbals," Cambridge, 1912.

Fig. 11. The Apple (Pyrus Malus). After Matthiolus.

(From Hatton's Craftsman's Handbook).

The methods of Matthiolus (Figs. 11 and 13) were somewhat more advanced, for he used shading not only to express form but also to give a certain amount of relief. It will be noticed that he shaded by lines which followed the moulding of the parts.

The work of Riocreux (Fig. 8) should also be studied; it will be observed that he managed to get a very high relief in his drawings by the simple means of straight or curved lines, according to the shape of the part, of varying thicknesses.

Fig. 12. Charlock (Brassica Sinapis). After Fuchs.

(From Hatton's Craftsman's Handbook)

There is no necessity for keeping all the lines of even thickness. For instance, provided the character of the form is not altered, the outline on the shaded side may be made thicker than on the illuminated side; also distance can be indicated by the use of thinner lines, for these, although really black, will give the impression of greyness. Then again, a line may be drawn with local increases and decreases in thickness, as in ordinary writing, and such lines drawn by a skilled hand can be made to express a marvellous amount of modelling.

Fig. 13. Sea Lavender (Statice Limonium). After Matthiolus.

(From Hatton's Craftsman's Handbook.)

The draughtsman, however, is not restricted to lines; any marks which can be made with a pen and black ink may be employed, provided they be sufficiently firm and large.

The accompanying figure (14) which is a reduction of an illustration in Church's Floral Mechanisms, illustrates the use of lines of varying lengths for shading.

Fig. 14. Viola odorata: Floral morphology.

A reduction of a figure in Church's Floral Mechanisms.

In shading, the effect of shadow may be obtained by increasing the thickness of the lines, but they must not be drawn too closely together; on the other hand, the lighter parts can be represented by thinner lines placed further and further apart, and the lightest parts by the white of the paper. Cross hatching may also be employed (see Fig. 15), but the crossed lines must not be too close together, for otherwise they will tend to thicken in the making of the block and so will print too black.

Fig. 15. A Seedling
of Abronia villosa.

For very delicate shading and tinting, stipple may be employed, but the dots must be quite definite, sufficiently large to stand reduction, and not too close together (Figs. 18, 28c, and 32). A particularly good example of this method will be found in Butler's paper on Allomyces in the Annals of Botany, 1911, vol. 25. Dots have also been employed in Fig. 28c (p. 69).

With regard to local colour; this may be indicated by shading, by a white space, or by a black space.

Hitherto, drawing with black ink on white paper alone has been considered, but the reverse is equally available; much can be expressed by drawing with white ink on black paper.

Drawing in white upon a black ground is not frequently attempted, but an excellent example by Miss Janet Robertson is shewn in figure 16, which is well worthy of study, since it illustrates to a nicety some of the means at the disposal of the draughtsman for line blocks. The black surface is best obtained by the use of a waterproof Indian ink applied with a brush to a white surface, the drawing being made with a dense white ink, using a pen or a brush. The white ink may be made by diluting any good opaque white water-colour paint, or process white may be used. The composition of this should be zinc oxide or baryta, for these do not darken with age; the author once used for this purpose a white pigment which proved excellent at the time; the drawings, however, subsequently turned dark brown owing to the fact that the basis of the paint was apparently a compound of silver.

Fig. 16. Neuropteris Heterophylla.

A line reproduction of a drawing by Miss Janet Robertson.

The top part of the drawing (Fig. 16), shewing the general morphology of the plant, was drawn with a brush charged with white ink upon a black ground. In the simplest possible way relief has been obtained by representing the leaflets of the nearer fronds by white spaces, whilst those further away are represented by white outlines. An enlargement of a frond is shewn on the lower part of the picture, and here the parts are represented in black on a white ground. The leaflets are in black outline and the fruits are made to stand out, as in the upper part, by the use of local colour—in this instance black—their shape being indicated by the curve of the higher lights. In brief, a very effective drawing has been made by the simplest use of the white line, the white space, the black line and the black space.

Fig. 17. Fucus volubilis, var. Flexuosus, a seaweed.

(From a drawing by Miss Baker.)

This may be compared with figure 17, which was drawn by Miss Baker; the method pursued is entirely different to the last, it being a pure pen and ink drawing on white paper. No local colour has been employed, and the modelling has been expressed by the lines used for shading which have been made by short strokes with a fine pen. The result is suggestive of an engraving but this was not intentional; under no circumstances should an attempt be made to imitate in a relief block effects which can only be obtained by intaglio.

From what has been said it is obvious that the photo-mechanical line block can be used for the reproduction of all kinds of drawings in pure black and white; to illustrate this figures 18-26 have been inserted.