Fig. 2.
Having provided themselves with the necessary materials, pupils may begin by drawing simple lines. These must be drawn without the assistance of a scale or ruler, by the hand alone. The line a, Fig. 1, will be parallel to the side of the board or slate, and perpendicular to the ends. Pupils should endeavor to make the line as regular as possible, and to run in one direction—-that is, inclined neither to the right nor left. They should next draw horizontal lines, as b, beginning at the left and going towards the right hand. In drawing lines as a, pupils should begin at the top and go towards the bottom; in a more advanced stage they should try to draw them from either end. The oblique lines, d, e, and f, should next be drawn. In all these exercises the lines should be drawn boldly, in a length at a time, not piece by piece; the hand should not rest on the board or slate while drawing, but should be free, so that the line may be drawn in at one sweep, as it were, of the arm or wrist. Irregular or "waved" lines should next be drawn, as at c; this style of line is useful in drawing broken lines, as in old ruins, trees, gates, stones, &c. &c. Pupils must not content themselves with drawing a few examples of the lines we have given. They must practise for a long time, until they can at once with ease draw lines in any direction correctly; they ought to progress from simple to difficult, not hastily overlook the importance of mastering simple elementary lessons. With a view to assist them in arranging these, and to afford not only examples for practice, but also to prove by a gradation of attempts the connection—too apt to be overlooked by many—between simple lines and complex figures, simple parallel lines, as a, b, c, Fig. 2, should be drawn; but not only must pupils endeavor to keep each line straight from beginning to end, free from waviness and indecision, and also parallel to one another, but another object must be kept in view; that is, the distance between the lines; hitherto they have drawn lines with no reference to this, but merely to their position and direction. No mechanical aids must be allowed to measure the distances, this must be ascertained by the eye alone; and a readiness in this will be attained only by practice. The eye is like the memory; it must be kept in constant training before it will do its work. By inspecting the diagram, it will be perceived that the lines marked c c are farther apart than those above. All gradations of distances should be carefully delineated; and if, after the lines are drawn, the eye should detect, or fancy it detects, any error in this respect, let the lines be at once rubbed out, and a new trial made; and let this be done again and again until the lines appear to be correctly drawn, both as regards boldness and correctness and distance apart. After drawing the horizontal lines, the student may then proceed to perpendicular lines. It may here be noted, to save future explanation, that when we use the term perpendicular, we mean it to be that applied to a line or lines which run parallel to the side of the board or slate; and horizontal, those parallel to the ends. Strictly speaking, both lines thus drawn are perpendicular to others which may be drawn parallel to their opposite sides. We, however, suppose the surface on which the pupil is drawing to be in the same position as this book while held open for reading; the sides to represent the sides, and the ends, the ends of the drawing-board or slate. Lines are horizontal when parallel with the lines of type, and perpendicular when parallel with the sides of the page; it is in this sense, then, that we shall use the terms horizontal and perpendicular. Perpendicular lines, as in Fig. 3, may next be drawn, close to one another at the sides, at a and c, and farther separate at b; they may also be drawn horizontally in the same way; this practice will be useful in more advanced stages. As the pupil will observe, the lines thus drawn give the appearance of roundness; it is, in fact, the way by which engravers obtain this effect: the pupil will find it useful in fine pencil drawing.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
The drawing of diagonal or oblique lines may next be practised, as in Fig. 4. In all these examples, the board or slate should never be moved or reversed; the end forming the topmost one should always remain so. We are aware that some parties have greater facilities for drawing lines in one direction than in another; thus, the majority of beginners would draw lines sloping from right to left with much more ease than in the reverse position. We have seen cases where, in lessons like the foregoing, the lines sloping from right to left were drawn first, the board reversed, and lines to represent those sloping the reverse way drawn in the same direction exactly; the board was then turned to its original position, when the sets of lines appeared sloping different ways, while, in reality, they were done both in the same manner. This practice is not honest either to the teacher or pupil, and should at once be discarded.
Fig. 5.