In Making a Bird’s Eye View of a village or city, the first thing to be done is to get a plat, or outline, of the streets and blocks, and mark them on the sketch-book in squares, (or rather diamond shape), each line and cross line representing a street. Commence sketching in the buildings from the point chosen, which should be the one nearest the business center, and where the best houses stand, or from a point where you can secure the best material for a foreground, such as a stream of water and bridge, or a forest, etc. Transfer each block to paper, showing the fronts of one side and the rear of the buildings of the other side, and so on through the entire row of blocks, when you return to the place of starting, and go down the second row, always working toward the vanishing point.
After you have gone over the entire city, and taken every building, tree, and other objects of interest, and completed the sketch, you are ready for working it up. Lay out the blocks and streets on drawing paper, with pencil, in perspective, ruling from the vanishing point, the center of the picture, toward the point of view, which enlarges the objects of the foreground, and diminishes those in the distance.
In drawing in the buildings, begin with the first house in the foreground, drawing the roof lines, which should be parallel with the lines of the street; next the gables, after which the corner lines, which should be perpendicular to the drawing paper.
The drawing should be made first with pencil, and then in ink, with fine pointed steel pen; for shading, use small camel hair brush and India ink.
Lights and Shades. In a sketch it is found that mere outline is insufficient to the representation of an object in relief; it cannot give substance, nor define relative distances so as to maintain the objects in their proper places. The matter of fact representation of the breadth of a meridian light, and the same passage of landscape viewed under the shades of evening, affects the feeling very differently. In the latter, there is a charm which operates even upon minds least susceptible of impressions from the beauties of nature. The general principle acted upon by artists, is to dispose the lights and shades in the manner best suited to the treatment they propose for their work.
There are two extremes of light and shade, and between these lie all those half tints and reflected lights, and exquisite gradations of shade, which must be so carefully placed in the drawing as to clearly indicate the graceful curve of each individual petal, without in any way destroying the roundness and breadth of a flower. The gradations of shade are sometimes perplexing to the learner; but in this respect the eye is a very safe guide. It requires no cultivated taste—not even any great amount of critical observation—to see when an object which should look perfectly round, appears flattened on the one side, or swell too much on the other. The theory of foreground and middle distances and background, has much to do with the principles of light and shade. It is not the line of perspective alone which makes one portion of a picture retreat, and another come forward.
In the drawing of a round object, apple or ball, the shades fall on the concave part, and incline toward the side opposite to light. All shades of objects in the same picture must fall the same way, or farthest from the light. That part lying nearest to the light must receive the least shade. This rule will be noticed in the face, folds of the drapery, etc. Landscapes show the heaviest shades nearest us, the greater the distance the lighter grows the picture. In clouds, the shades are the lightest that are nearest the horizon, it being the greatest distance from us, and those nearest the center of the picture the strongest.
Colors in NATURE.
