“THE LOWING HERD WINDS SLOWLY O’ER THE LEA.” (W H. GORE.)
I purposely place these two pen-and-ink drawings by Mr. Gore side by side, to show what delicacy of line and tone may be obtained on a relief block by proper treatment. One could hardly point to better examples of pure line. They were drawn on ordinary cardboard (the one above, 4¼ × 9¾ in.) and reproduced by the gelatine relief process.
All this, it will be observed, points to a more delicate and intelligent use of the process block than is generally allowed, to something, in short very different to the thin sketchy outlines and scribbles which are considered the proper style for the “pen-and-ink artist.”
But “the values” are scarcely ever considered in this connection. Mr. Hamerton makes a curious error in his Graphic Arts, where he advocates the use of the “black blot in pen drawing,” arguing that as we use liberally white paper to express air and various degrees of light, so we may use masses of solid black to represent many gradations of darkness. A little reflection will convince anyone that this is no argument at all.
Mr. Ruskin’s advice in his Elements of Drawing, as to how to lay flat tints by means of pure black lines (although written many years ago, and before mechanical processes of reproduction were in vogue) is singularly applicable and useful to the student of to-day; especially where he reminds him that, “if you cannot gradate well with pure black lines, you will never do so with pale ones.”
To “gradate well with pure black lines” is, so to speak, the whole art and mystery of drawing for the photo-zinc process, of which one London firm alone turns out more than a thousand blocks a week.
As to the amount of reduction that a drawing will bear in reproduction, it cannot be sufficiently widely known, that in spite of rules laid down, there is no rule about it.
“ADVERSITY.” (FRED. HALL.)
It is interesting to compare this reproduction with the larger one overleaf. There is no limit to the experiments which may be made in reduction, if pursued on scientific principles.