In the first place, the charcoal and crayon must always be kept sharpened while drawing, a fine point being most necessary. A sharp knife should always be at hand, and also a piece of sandpaper, as it is very difficult to sharpen the crayons with a knife, they break so easily.
Always buy the best materials, and always keep plenty on hand. Have a box of charcoal, and at least half a dozen crayons, and keep one or two clean stumps in reserve no matter how many you have already in use.
In rubbing on charcoal, and before using the stump, be sure to cover the paper well, so that very little rubbing will spread the tone into an even mass. No matter how much charcoal you get on at first, you can always take off the superfluity with a rag; but if there is not enough one is tempted to rub the paper too hard, and if the surface of the paper gets roughened by too much rubbing at first, you can never do any thing with it afterward.
In putting on the crayon, however, we must be more careful.
Put on a little and try it with the stump; if it does not spread well, add more, and so on. Even when dispensing entirely with the sauce crayon and using only the pointed sticks, it is well to rub off some of the crayon on a small piece of paper and pin it up on one side of the drawing, for using in very light tones where the point must not be employed. For instance, in covering the light side of the face with a delicate tone, the stump is rubbed on this, and tried first on a piece of paper before using it on the drawing.
Never let the hand rest directly upon the drawing itself. If not convenient to rest it upon the margin, have a sheet of clean writing paper to place underneath the hand.
In sketching in, or drawing long, sweeping lines, do not steady the hand upon the paper at all, as one does in writing, but try to acquire freedom of handling by practice, resting the hand upon the paper only when absolutely necessary, as in drawing fine details, or when great precision is required.
CHAPTER V.
MEASUREMENT, ACTUAL AND COMPARATIVE.
By actual measurement is meant the measurement of the object itself by holding against it a ruler or straight strip of paper, and marking off the number of inches or exact distance from one given point to another. These measurements are then compared with the drawing, and the same distances are marked off on the paper.
In mechanical and architectural drawing this system of measurement is in constant use, but in freehand drawing, and in the method practiced by artists, actual measurement is not allowed. Never measure in any way when beginning a drawing, but strike out bravely, resolving to depend upon the eye only, if possible.