Ink is probably the most important material employed in pen-drawing. It must be good, that is, it must be black—it should not shine—it must never settle, it must flow easily, dry quickly, and never clog the pen. There are many varieties of good ink, but the only ink I know of to-day, which gives me exactly what I want and is obtainable of the same quality all over the world, all over Europe at any rate—and this is an enormous advantage—is Bourgeois’ Encre de Chine Liquide. During several years it has never varied, and that is more than I can say of any other. It is indelible, a desirable quality in ordinary use. The only bad thing about it is the vile, ill-balanced bottle and the rotten cork, which always breaks and often gets you into a mess. The best bottle I have ever seen is that in which Higgins’ American drawing ink comes.
This is not a talk on inks, but a hint as to what I have found the most satisfactory and reliable—if you do not like this one, every colourman makes an ink or sells some one else’s; try it. Among the best are Higgins’, Winsor and Newton’s, Newman’s, Rowney’s, Reeves’, Stevens’ ebony stain.
Freshly-ground Indian ink is the best of all, but to grind up your ink is too much trouble, too tedious and too unreliable to be worth the bother it entails. Indian ink, under certain conditions, shines and glitters, and this is not pleasant, and hinders photography. Lamp black and ivory black are quite dead and free from shine, but they are not fixed colours. They may be easily fixed with gall or gum.
Writing inks usually, if not always, have blue in them; therefore they will not photograph, they run about, blot, and generally misbehave. Sometimes one gets good black writing-ink; when you do get it, use it. But Indian or Chinese ink is best, and as I know of no better preparation at present, I commend Bourgeois’ Encre de Chine Liquide; it comes in the tall bottle with the diagonal black and yellow dragon on the label. Coloured inks, save blue, may be used, but unless the illustration is to be printed in that colour the result is almost always disappointing; delicate washes of brown, for instance, becoming staring solid blacks.
In sketching out of doors with ink, a method I most strongly recommend, pour your ink, or rather enough of it, into an exciseman’s ink-bottle, one of those unspillable affairs which you can cork up—though, save to keep the dust out of them, there is no occasion to do so—and attach it by a sort of watch-guard to your buttonhole, putting the bottle in your pocket. Messrs. Newman, 24, Soho Square, have fixed up some of these bottles for me, and they will, I have no doubt, supply them.
The general way with artists is to put their uncorked ink-bottle in their waistcoat pocket; if they should happen to lean over, on straightening up the ink is found upon their trousers or frocks, or sketch-block—in the male a result most conducive to strong language, especially if the trousers are spoiled; the drawing doesn’t so much matter.
Also provide yourself with a hardish lead pencil H., or, better, a blue one, as the blue doesn’t photograph, but it’s hard to get off the paper, and don’t look well; also some lithographic crayon or Wolff’s carbon pencils; a good rubber, pure rubber or bread for the pencil, an ink rubber or eraser for the ink; some Chinese white and gum for patching up things; and for use in the house, an old razor to scratch out, and out of doors a folding eraser, such as Mr. Percy Young, of Gower Street, supplies: get the folding ones, as the others are not only less convenient but rather dangerous to carry.
Lastly, the paper: the photo-engraver will tell you Bristol board. Certainly, a simple open line drawing in pure black upon pure white smooth paper, very little reduced, should give a truer result than anything else. But what it does really is to give engraver and printer less trouble, and that is what most of them want; in the majority of cases it is best to aid them, otherwise your work is spoiled. Therefore, if you like Bristol board, use it, and use it whether you like it or no, if you are doing work for ordinary printing. But if your illustration is to be well engraved and well printed, use what paper you like. But to get satisfactory results from rough paper requires much experience, and you had better arrive at that experience by doing simple things, in a fashion which will engrave well; go to printing offices and engravers’ shops, find out what is necessary, try to work in harmony with the engraver and printer, and they will do their best for you: most of them care about their work, and are genuinely sorry if they cannot make yours look well, so work with them, and they will work with you.
As to the Bristol board, get the best; if the drawing is large and has to be rolled up, the thin, if not the thicker quality; it is known as so many sheets, two, four, six sheets the heaviest. You must get the best quality, otherwise there is a risk of bad spongy places in it, which may almost ruin the drawing, at any rate its appearance, and necessitate patching up which is delaying and annoying. Bristol boards, too, may always be made up into books or blocks. Some boards are now mounted so that they can be stripped off the mount when the drawing is finished, among them are Turnbull’s Art Tablets; while the best surface of all, which is like marble or ivory to work on, a surface which may be rubbed or scratched without harm, is the old mounted thin Whatman or Bank Note paper prepared by Messrs. Roberson and Newman. These thin papers are mounted on heavy boards and kept under hydraulic pressure for weeks, until the whole becomes a solid mass. This mounted Whatman, when well made, is the best paper in the world; it is also the most expensive. Thin foreign correspondence paper may also be used, putting it over the sketch like tracing paper, and when the drawing is finished mounting it on card board; tracing paper may also be mounted. One scheme not much in vogue yet is to draw upon black paper with Chinese white, making the drawing in white lines instead of black. Any sort of writing paper, or all varieties of rough or smooth Whatman are useful. Of course in drawing on rough paper you are bound to get a rough broken result in printing; however, if you know what you are after, no one will object but the engraver. In fact any sort of white paper may be used for pen and ink work; only, the smooth gives the most certain results. There are also many grained papers which give a tint; that is, a mechanical tint is printed on the paper, lights are scratched in it, blacks are put in with a pen or brush, another tint in pencil or chalk is added, and many tricks may be played, one usually only a little less satisfactory than the other. These papers are made by Gillott, of Paris, and Anger and Goeschl, of Vienna, and generally supplied by colourmen; they are called Gillott or scratch papers.
There are also various clay or chalk surfaced papers which, after being drawn upon, may be scratched to get light in the design. The results are, however, rarely satisfactory. In fact, it is best to use a good handmade white paper; you will be surer of your result, and that is what you are working for.