In connection with this matter, let me read you an extract from a letter recently received by me from the greatest living illustrator (it is therefore unnecessary to mention his name), and read at one of the meetings of the Society of Illustrators:—
“It has for too long been the case that the unsuccessful practitioner of other arts has turned to illustration of the baser sort as a last chance of earning a living. I dare say he has a right to a living, but in these days of cheap and nasty illustrated journals, the low standard of work he brings, as a rule, to a branch of the artistic calling always considered by me a dignified and important branch, I do not believe in recognising or encouraging; and it certainly seems to me that a certain distinction should be made between men who take not the slightest artistic interest in their work and those who conscientiously endeavour to do it well and honestly.
“I have seen the abnormal growth and prosperity of cheap and nasty illustration, to my great regret. I suppose that so long as there is a large market for it, men will be found to supply it, and evidently this is the sort of thing finding favour to-day.
“The standard set up by the ‘Cornhill’ and ‘Once a Week,’ and by Menzel and Meissonier abroad, seems to be out of key with the present taste. It must be that ignorance of good work is responsible”—ignorance, I may add, on the part of the artist and editor—in their case intentional or deplorable; in the case of the public it is but the blind leading the blind.
Therefore, finally, try to do good work, and when you have done it demand to be well paid for it. If you have not the moral or financial backbone for this, go and chop wood—or paint.
LECTURE III.
METHODS OF DRAWING FOR REPRODUCTION IN LINE.
THERE is no doubt that to-day the most popular method of designing the decoration of a book (I use the word book, but I would refer to magazines and papers as well) is by means of line work. By the use of what materials these lines are to be made; how they are to be placed upon paper or metal that they may reproduce and print best; and the way in which that reproduction and printing is done, will be the subject of this and subsequent lectures.
The line has always been employed, not only by artists, but by the artless, to express form; the only difference being that the artist uses a vital line full of meaning, the artless a meaningless line without vitality. But often the work of the two approaches so closely that at times it can scarcely be distinguished; however, that is a critical, and not a technical, matter.
I do not propose to give you a history of the methods employed to obtain lines, in fact, a history of drawing. There are many such books, and as for drawing you study that every day, in the life and antique, and I hope outside as well. But it is to line work and its reproduction in the present, that I wish to call your attention.