The art of laying on a flat-tint consists in allowing the coloured water to flow equally over the paper, which thus becomes uniformly tinged. To facilitate this, the surface of the drawing should be inclined towards the draughtsman at an angle of about five degrees during the process of laying on the colour. Having taken as much colour on the brush as it will safely carry without dropping, the operation of applying it should be begun in the upper left-hand corner, the brush being carried along towards the right, so as to make the colour lie neatly along the upper outline. The brush should then be struck unhesitatingly from right to left and from left to right alternately, so as to bring the colour down in horizontal bands or stripes, taking care not to pass the brush a second time over the same surface during the same wash, and to control it neatly within the proper limits. If the surface of the paper be in this way kept well wetted with the colour, or if, in other words, a flow of colour be kept in motion with the point of the brush, the tint can be carried on with perfect continuity. It is important to keep as nearly as possible the same quantity of colour in the brush until the lower outline is nearly reached, when the quantity must be diminished so as to finish at the lower outline without a great excess of tint, for the excess must be taken up by a damp brush. No accumulations should be allowed to take place anywhere, as on drying, these places would show a darker tint. When the colour has once flowed over the surface, the tint is finished, and must not, as we have said, be touched a second time, for any attempt to remedy defects while the colour is drying will only make them worse. Generally it will be found that the more quickly a tint is laid on, the better is its appearance. A little practice will enable the student to lay on a wash in the proper manner, but to keep within the outlines is a matter of greater difficulty and one that requires some dexterity in the handling of the brush. If the boundary should be exceeded, a finger of the left hand should be instantly applied to brush the colour back. Though the foregoing directions can be followed strictly only on large surfaces, the principles involved in them must in every case be observed.
The alternate or double tint consists of two colours applied alternately, their edges being made to blend into each other. The application of the double tint involves no particular difficulty. Having prepared two tints of equal intensity and provided a brush for each, lay on one of the colours at the upper outline of the figure, and before this dries, take the brush charged with the other colour, and run round its edge, allowing them to blend together. Repeat the first tint in the same manner, and continue the tints alternately till the surface is covered. The forms of the masses of each colour should be varied, and not made in stripes or spots, but irregularly clouded.
All flat-tints should be made very light, and intensity of colour should be produced by repeating the wash. As every surface looks better with two washes than with only one, the strength of the tint should be such as to allow two coats to be laid over the lightest parts. If the colours have been laid on too dark, or the general effect be uneven and disagreeable, the defect may be remedied by sponging. This operation should be performed with a close-grained 6-inch sponge, and be commenced at the upper end of the inclined board. A basin of clean water having been provided, and an empty basin to receive the dirty water from the sponge, first moisten all the white surface of the paper to prevent the tint taken off by the sponge from adhering to it; then, having filled the sponge with water, pass it gently to and fro across the sheet. Press out the dirty water into the basin, refill the sponge, and repeat the operation until hardly any tint comes off. Sponging after five or six coats have been laid on generally improves the appearance of a drawing; it softens down asperities, and makes the tints blend into each other; the surface of the paper also takes the tints more readily after sponging.
Small defects may frequently be remedied by a process called stippling. This consists in making a number of dots with the point of a brush containing an almost imperceptible quantity of colour. The process, though a tedious one, produces a very beautiful effect, similar to that of dotted engravings. Excesses beyond the boundary lines may be washed out with the water-brush, and the stains removed by a piece of clean blotting-paper. White spots left in a tint may be filled up, after the tint is dry, with the point of the brush; but care must be taken not to touch beyond the edges of the tint, as that would double the intensity at the edges and produce a ring.
All flat surfaces in a drawing should be lighter or darker, in accordance with their distance from the eye. In laying on flat-tints when the surface is not in shade, it must be borne in mind (1) that all surfaces which are parallel to the plane of the picture, and therefore equally distant from the eye, should receive a tint of uniform intensity; (2) that those surfaces which are farthest from the eye should receive the darkest tint; and (3) that surfaces which are inclined to the plane of the drawing should receive a tint of varying intensity, the depth of the tint increasing as the surface recedes from the eye. When the surfaces are in shade, the converse of these rules holds good.
Conventional Colours.
—In representing objects by means of colours, the natural colours of the objects are in some cases adhered to; and in others, for the sake of greater distinctness, a conventional colour is adopted. In engineering, architectural, and mechanical drawings, the latter mode is nearly always resorted to, while in plans of estates the former is very frequently employed. Unfortunately, practice is not uniform among draughtsmen in the conventional use of colours; but the following Table shows the colours mostly employed, and represents the general practice.
| Carmine or crimson lake | For brickwork in plan or section to be executed. |
| Prussian blue | Flintwork, lead, or parts of brickwork to be removed by alterations. |
| Venetian red | Brickwork in elevation. |
| Violet carmine | Granite. |
| Raw sienna | English timber, not oak. |
| Burnt sienna | Oak, teak. |
| Indian yellow | Fir timber. |
| Indian red | Mahogany. |
| Sepia | Concrete works, stone. |
| Burnt umber | Clay, earth. |
| Payne’s grey | Cast iron, rough wrought iron. |
| Dark cadmium or orange | Gun metal. |
| Gamboge | Brass. |
| Indigo | Wrought iron—bright. |
| Indigo, with a little lake | Steel—bright. |
| Hooker’s green | Meadow land. |
| Cobalt blue | Sky effects. |
| And some few others occasionally for special purpose. | |
Sections are represented either by lines of the colour drawn with the pen or the point of the brush, or by a darker shade of the colour. In mechanical drawings, sections are frequently shown by ink lines drawn over the colour.
In plans and maps, as we have said, some attempt is made to give the true appearance of things. As this—which may be called the natural mode of representation—allows more scope for artistic skill than the conventional, a great deal must be left to the judgment and the taste of the draughtsman. But there are general principles and features that may be laid down and described, and such are the following:—