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| FIG. 24 | D. A. GREGG |
Principality in the Color-Scheme Since, as I said before, color is the factor which makes for the unity of the result, the first principle to be regarded in its arrangement is that of Principality,—there must be some dominant note in the rendering. There should not, for instance, be two principal dark spots of equal value in the same drawing, nor two equally prominent areas of white. The Vierge drawing, Fig. 25, and that by Mr. Pennell, Fig. 5, are no exceptions to this rule; the black figure of the old man counting as one note in the former, as do the dark arches of the bridge in the latter. The work of both these artists is eminently worthy of study for the knowing manner in which they dispose their values.
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| FIG. 25 | DANIEL VIERGE |
Variety The next thing to be sought is Variety. Too obvious or positive a scheme, while possibly not unsuitable for a conventional decorative drawing, may not be well adapted to a perspective subject. The large color areas should be echoed by smaller ones throughout the picture. Take, for example, the Vierge drawing shown in Fig. 26. Observe how the mass of shadow is relieved by the two light holes seen through the inn door. Without this repetition of the white the drawing would lose much of its character. In Rico's drawing, Fig. 11, a tiny white spot in the shadow cast over the street would, I venture to think, be helpful, beautifully clear as it is; and the black area at the end of the wall seems a defect as it competes in value with the dark figure.
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| FIG. 26 | DANIEL VIERGE |
Breadth of Effect Lastly, Breadth of Effect has to be considered. It is requisite that, however numerous the tones are (and they should not be too numerous), the general effect should be simple and homogeneous. The color must count together broadly, and not be cut up into patches.
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| FIG. 27 | HARRY FENN |
It is important to remember that the gamut from black to white is a short one for the pen. One need only try to faithfully render the high lights of an ordinary table glass set against a gray background, to be assured of its limitations in this respect. To represent even approximately the subtle values would require so much ink that nothing short of a positively black background would suffice to give a semblance of the delicate transparent effect of the glass as a whole. The gray background would, therefore, be lost, and if a really black object were also part of the picture it could not be represented at all. Observe, in Fig. 27, how just such a problem has been worked out by Mr. Harry Fenn.
It will be manifest that the student must learn to think of things in their broad relation. To be specific,—in the example just considered, in order to introduce a black object the scheme of color would have needed broadening so that the gray background could be given its proper value, thus demanding that the elaborate values of the glass be ignored, and just enough suggested to give the general effect. This reasoning would equally apply were the light object, instead of a glass, something of intricate design, presenting positive shadows. Just so much of such a design should be rendered as not to darken the object below its proper relative value as a whole. In this faculty of suggesting things without literally rendering them consists the subtlety of pen drawing.
It may be said, therefore, that large light areas resulting from the necessary elimination of values are characteristic of pen drawing. The degree of such elimination depends, of course, upon the character of the subject, this being entirely a matter of relation. The more black there is in a drawing the greater the number of values that can be represented. Generally speaking, three or four are all that can be managed, and the beginner had better get along with three,—black, half-tone, and white.