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| FIG. 28 | REGINALD BIRCH |
Various Color-Schemes While it is true that every subject is likely to contain some motive or suggestion for its appropriate color-scheme, it still holds that, many times, and especially in those cases where the introduction of foreground features at considerable scale is necessary for the interest of the picture, an artificial arrangement has to be devised. It is well, therefore, to be acquainted with the possibilities of certain color combinations. The most brilliant effect in black and white drawing is that obtained by placing the prominent black against a white area surrounded by gray. The white shows whiter because of the gray around it, so that the contrast of the black against it is extremely vigorous and telling. This may be said to be the illustrator's tour de force. We have it illustrated by Mr. Reginald Birch's drawing, Fig. 28. Observe how the contrast of black and white is framed in by the gray made up of the sky, the left side of the building, the horse, and the knight. In the drawing by Mr. Pennell, Fig. 29, we have the same scheme of color. Notice how the trees are darkest just where they are required to tell most strongly against the white in the centre of the picture. An admirable illustration of the effectiveness of this color-scheme is shown in the "Becket" poster by the "Beggarstaff Brothers," Fig. 69. Another scheme is to have the principal black in the gray area, as in the Vierge drawing, Fig. 26 and in Rico's sketch, Fig. 11.
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| FIG. 29 | JOSEPH PENNELL |
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| FIG. 30 | B. G. GOODHUE |
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| FIG. 31 | JOSEPH PENNELL |
Still another and a more restful scheme is the actual gradation of color. This gradation, from black to white, wherein the white occupies the centre of the picture, is to be noted in Fig. 20. Observe how the dark side of the foreground tree tells against the light side of the one beyond, which, in its turn, is yet so strongly shaded as to count brilliantly against the white building. Still again, in Mr. Goodhue's drawing, Fig. 30, note how the transition from the black tree on the left to the white building is pleasingly softened by the gray shadow. Notice, too, how the brilliancy of the drawing is heightened by the gradual emphasis on the shadows and the openings as they approach the centre of the picture. Yet another example of this color-scheme is the drawing by Mr. Gregg, Fig. 50. The gradation here is from the top of the picture downwards. The sketch of the coster women by Mr. Pennell, Fig. 31, shows this gradation reversed.
The drawing of the hansom cab, Fig. 32, by Mr. Raven Hill, illustrates a very strong color-scheme,—gray and white separated by black, the gray moderating the black on the upper side, leaving it to tell strongly against the white below. Notice how luminous is this same relation of color where it occurs in the Venetian subject by Rico, Fig. 14. The shadow on the water qualifies the blackness of the gondola below, permitting a brilliant contrast with the white walls of the building above.
It is interesting to observe how Vierge and Pennell, but chiefly the former, very often depend for their grays merely upon the delicate tone resulting from the rendering of form and of direct shadow, without any local color. This may be seen in the Vierge drawing, Fig. 33. Observe in this, as a consequence, how brilliantly the tiny black counts in the little figure in the centre. Notice, too, in the drawing of the soldiers by Jeanniot, Fig. 34, that there is very little black; and yet see how brilliant is the effect, owing largely to the figures being permitted to stand out against a white ground in which nothing is indicated but the sky-line of the large building in the distance.
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| FIG. 32 | L. RAVEN HILL |
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| FIG. 33 | DANIEL VIERGE |