As to paper, Bristol-board has the best smooth surface for lettering. The English board is in some ways better than the American, but has the disadvantage of being made in smaller sheets. The difficulty with any smooth board is that erasures, even of pencil lines, are likely to spoil its surface. The rough "Strathmore" American board has a very grateful surface upon which the pen may be used with almost as much freedom as the pencil. All rough surfaces, however, while tending to promote interesting lines, are not suited for careful lettering, and the classic and Italian forms especially require to be drawn upon the smoothest possible surface. The American "Strathmore" board may also be obtained in smooth finish; and, indeed, is less injured by erasures than most Bristol-boards.
The prepared India or carbon inks such as "Higgin's" or "Carter's" are best for the beginner; although all prepared inks have a tendency to get muddy if allowed to stand open, and the so-called "waterproof" inks are easily smudged.
In devising a panel of lettering, such as a title-page for example, the draughtsman's first step would naturally be to sketch out the whole design at a very small size, say an inch and a half high, in pencil. This small sketch should determine, first, the general balance of the page; second, the inter-relations and spacings of the various lines and words and their relative importance and sizes. From this thumb-nail sketch the design should be drawn out at full size in pencil, and much more carefully. In this redrawing the separate letter shapes and their harmonious relations to each other should be determined, and such deviations made from the smaller sketch as seem to benefit the effect.
Some draughtsmen sketch out each line of lettering separately on thin paper, and then, after blackening the back of this sheet, lay each line over the place where it is needed in the design, tracing the outlines of the letters with a hard point, and thus transferring them to the design beneath. In this way a page of lettering may be studied out line by line, and accurately placed or centered; but the process is tedious, and there is always danger of losing sight of the effect as a whole.
In outlining letters which are ultimately intended to be solidly blacked-in, the beginner should guard against making his outlines too wide, especially as regards the thin lines, for the eye in judging an outline sketch follows the insides of the bounding lines rather than the outsides which will really be the outlines of the blacked-in letter, so that when finished the letter is likely to look heavier and more clumsy than in the sketch.
When the entire pencil scheme seems satisfactory in every detail, and each line has been exactly determined, the whole should be carefully inked-in. In inking-in letters the swing of the arm should be as free and unobstructed as possible. For the best result it is absolutely necessary to work at a wide board on a solid table of convenient height and angle. It is impossible to letter well in a cramped or unsteady position. One thing cannot be too strongly urged upon the beginner. Never use a T-square, triangle or ruling pen in inking-in lettering. It will be found ultimately much easier to train hand and eye to make a straight and true line free-hand than to attempt to satisfactorily combine a ruled and free-hand line. The free-hand method is, be it acknowledged, both more lengthy and
difficult at first, but when the draughtsman does finally gain a mastery over his line he has achieved something which he will find of the greatest value.
In a drawing to be reproduced by mechanical processes, the proportions of the design are, of course, unalterably determined by the required panel or page; but the size of the drawing may be such as best suits the inclination and convenience of the draughtsman. If the drawing is to be reduced in size (and that is the usual method, because, in general, it is easier to draw large rather than small), the draughtsman must first decide on the amount of reduction to which his style of rendering and the subject itself are best adapted, remembering, however, that a drawing is sure to suffer from excessive reduction, not only in general effect but in interest, for the quality of the line is sure in a measure to disappear. A reduction of height or width by one-third is the usual amount; but many of our modern designers obtain their best effects by making their drawings but a trifle larger than the required reproduction. Some even make their drawings of the same size; others only from a twelfth to a sixth larger. As a rule, the less the reduction the less the departure from the effect of the original, and the more certainly satisfactory the result, although more careful drawing and greater exactness of line are necessary.
