139 ggg
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
THE ART m¥
PEN DRAWING
A MANUAL FOR STUDENTS ILLUSTRATORS, AND COMMERCIAL ARTISTS
BY
G. MONTAGUE ELLWOOD
Late JoinUEditor of Draining and Design ” Author of ** English Furniture and Decoration^ itBo-iScx) ” Joints A iithor of ‘ ‘ Studies of the Human Figure " and “ The Human Form and its Use in Art ”
LONDON
B. T. BATSFORD LTD., 94 HIGH HOLBORN
First Published^ 1927
MADE AND," TONTIC li 1 K’^cTreAT BRITAIN AT THE DARIEN PRESS, EDINBURGH
FOREWORD
The object of this little book is twofold. In the first place an attempt has been made to give as practical an account as is possible in cold print of the technique of drawing in pen and ink, setting down a variety of hints that, from the Author’s experience of students’ needs, are likely to prove of practical value in forestalling most of the usual pitfalls experienced by the beginner, and giving advice as to how the medium may best be applied to industrial work in illustration and advertising. Secondly, the aim is to provide in the illustrations a fairly comprehensive survey of the best contemporary pen work, with examples of the greatest masters of all periods, briefly commented upon in the text. This series should demonstrate far better than the written' word the derivation of style and technique, and the main tendencies of present-day practice.
The beginner embarking upon a career as a pen artist will probably find that . the most profitable opening for him is in commercial work. For this reason, considerable stress has been laid on what is wanted and expected of him by agents and advertisers. The standard of drawing for adver- tisement is rising steadily, whilst the demand for first-class drawings is always on,, the increase. Book illustration has reached a stage where- commissions are only given to the chosen few, and it is usually necessary to graduate in periodical illustration or commercial work first.
In magazine illustration the editorial prejudice still in- clines in favour of wash drawings as the next best things to photographs in realism ; but the demand for page decorations and decorative treatment of head and tail pieces in the
VI
FOREWORD
periodical press is on the increase, and signs are evident that the pen is likely to come fully into its own again in this vast field. Humorous drawing, however, has continued the exclusive ground of the pen draughtsman, and here Punch has for years set and led a high standard of drawing and style.
There is, then, immense scope for the pen artist, and a solid demand for good work which, if it inclines first in one direction and then in another, continually increases in volume. Given in the first place a sound knowledge of drawing, observation, imagination, and sufficient staying power to persevere, the artist is in a position to develop from these raw qualities an individuality of style and technical accomplishment that will ensure interesting and profitable work.
These necessary qualities, unless inborn, cannot be de- veloped by any amount of labour ; but should they be present in the first place, it is study and practice only that will develop them to their highest pitch. It is as an aid to this end that the present volume is planned, to facilitate the development of these qualities, and, so far as is possible, to smooth out the thorny path leading towards complete mastery and success.
G. M. E.
London, Septemhir 1927.
NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Author must acknowledge his thanks to the following artists who have kindly permitted him to reproduce examples of their work, namely : — Mr Frank Brangwyn, R.A. ; Mr E. J. Sullivan, A.R.W.S. ; Mr Harold Nelson ; Mr F. L. Griggs, A.R.A. ; Mr L. Raven Hill ; Mr John Austen ; Mr Albert Rutherston ; Mr Arthur Rackham ; Mr W. Curtis Green, A.R.A. ; Mr Randolph Schwabe ; Mr E. H. Blampied, R.E. ; Mr Sydney R. Jones, and Mr W. S. A. Gordon.
He is also indebted to Messrs John Lane (The Bodley Head) Ltd. for permission to reproduce the Frontispiece and the subjects on Figs. 2, 68a, io6, and no; Messrs G. Bell & Sons Ltd. for Figs. 47, 53, and 54; the Authorities of the Archi- tectural Association for Fig. 70, and those of the Victoria and Albert Museum for Figs. 13, 72, 97, 117, and 118; Messrs J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. for Fig. 81 ; Messrs William Heine- mann Ltd. for Fig. 94 ; Messrs G. Routledge & Sons Ltd. for Fig. 108; Messrs G. Duckworth & Co. Ltd. for Fig. 112; Messrs W. S. Crawford Ltd. for Figs. 35, iii, 139, and 143; The Sun Engraving Co. for Fig. 114;- The London Press Exchange for Fig. 99 ; the Houghton Mifflin Co. for Fig. 98 ; and the Press of the American Institute of Architects for Fig. 85.
Thanks are also due to the proprietors of The Christian Science Monitor, Vanity Fair, The Passing Show, and The Little Review for permission to reproduce subjects that formerly appeared in these journals, and to Mrs E. A. Abbey for permission to reproduce the illustration by the late E. A. Abbey on Fig. 12.
viii
NOTE .OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT
A number of firms have kindly permitted the reproduction of original advertisement drawings made for them, and in some cases have courteously placed the blocks at the Publishers’ disposal. Amongst the illustrations are original advertisements for Messrs John Dewar & Sons, Clark of Paisley, John Walker & Sons, Gill & Reigate, Bondman Tobacco Co., E. Brown & Son Ltd., Julius Kayser & Co., J. Lyons & Co. Ltd., Wallis of Holborn, Kerner Greenwood & Co., Waring & Gillow Ltd., The Erasmic Co., The Pepsodent Co., Lea & Perrins Ltd., Zambrene Weather- proofs, Mitchell’s “ Prize Crop ” Tobacco, Bass & Co. Ltd., The General Electric Co. Ltd., Morny & Co., Carr’s Biscuits, John Barker & Co. Ltd., Lincoln Bennett Ltd., Gera Fabrics, R. W. Forsyth Ltd., Compact Powder, etc., etc., to whom the Author must acknowledge his grateful thanks for their inclusion.
CONTENTS
CHAP.
Foreword - Note of Acknowledgment - I. Introductory - - - - -
II. The Evolution of Pen Drawing -
III. Line Technique: Analysis of Methods -
IV. Materials
V. Style in Pen Drawing
VI. The Figure, Faces, and Hands
VII. Landscape and Architectural Illustration
VIII. Architectural Drawing
IX. Modern Pen Illustration—
(i.) The Realistic School - (ii.) The Independents as Inspiration
X. Humorous Illustration
XL Pen Drawing for Advertisers XII. Fashion Drawing in Pen and Ink Index to Text and Illustrations
PAGE
V
vii
3
9
21
“ 45
- 67
■ 83
“ 97
- 107
- 127
- 147
- 159 “ 173
- 193
- 205
X
ART
THE
OF PEN DRAWING
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
ILLUSTRATION is an important, vital, living branch of the Fine Arts, and will live for ever.”
The late Joseph Pennell concluded a book on “ Modern Illustration ” with the above words in 1895, some twelve years after the commercial adaptation of photo-zinco reproduction had made possible the use of comparatively cheap and rapidly produced blocks from line drawings.
“ For ever ” sounds a long time, even allowing for the pardonable enthusiasm of the author-artist in completing a monumental work on a congenial subject and intoxicated with the facilities which the new form of reproduction promised for the future ; but it is fairly safe to prophesy that illustration in some form will persist while people are interested in one another and the world they live in.
Pennell saw a golden future for illustration which should have matured, if the promise of the older magazines had been fulfilled, into a pageant of fine drawings covering every aspect of affairs. Papers have multiplied exceedingly since the publication of his book ; but although the demand for illus- tration is colossal now, compared to conditions in 1895, is mainly for a totally different style of work. The overwhelming facilities of photography are largely responsible for this, in practically deleting illustration of current events from editors’ commissions to artists. Some people, especially some artists, do not agree that the camera gives better results ; but from an editorial point of view the matter does not admit argument
3
4
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
insomuch as the ideal would be to put the reader in front of the actual happenings, and the camera is certainly the next best thing in giving the most faithful record of these.
America alone, with the courage of its huge circulations, has to some extent maintained a public appreciation of really well-produced magazines and weeklies dealing with things other than light fiction or relentless humour. In England, papers have increased in numbers and decreased in artistic interest. Reproductive methods have changed little in thirty years, but the requirements of editors have changed indeed with the expansion of the field of effort. Punch alone of the older papers maintains the tradition of the best procurable in pen drawing, and now carries on in friendly rivalry with many newcomers whose columns show work by some, but never by all, of the Punch men.
In the pages of Punch are to be found the finest flowers of pen artistry since the great times of Keene and Du Maurier in the early ’seventies, and its volumes offer examples of a succession of old and new fashions and styles in handling the pen which well repay serious study.
It cannot be too strongly insisted that study of the older work is the finest training in all essentials concerned with taste as apart from actual drawings ; but also, it cannot be too strongly emphasised that thfe method of study is equally important.
With some men, success, even fame, has come as the result of intensive study of the methods of a favourite master whose drawings were copied, dissected, and analysed until they were grafted anew and commenced to grow into very similar fruit. But this is hardly the process that is recommended, and study can with advantage cover a wider field, where personality may be reinforced rather than obliterated.
For personality is the very essence of enduring work, and the surest way to develop it is in an intelligent search into the principles of presenting things seen, in such a way that they are not only recognisable by others, but convey a sense of distinct pleasure in that recognition.
It has been said that the only things necessary for good pen drawing are personality and a pen. This is literally true, for it carries a deceptive load of reservations in the word personality. Accepted literally, it amply justifies the work of the modern non-representational schools in appealing mainly to the mind
INTRODUCTORY
5
through the senses; for their intensely interesting penwork (in the case of the Nash’s, for instance) shows the very essence of personality strewn over nature, adding a new fragrance to the many she has to offer.
The fragrance is generally a little difficult for the average person to detect ; its charm does not reach his mind owing to severe artistic adenoids, all of which is merely mixed metaphor for the very hard fact that this kind of work has a very restricted appeal, and may be safely left to those who feel the definite urge to neglect tradition, verity,’ and the soft ways of the well- understood and universally wanted for the thorny path of the innovator at second hand. Innovators in art are the salt of the earth, but they are only blessed in offering their own brand, absolutely red-hot.
Freely interpreted, the personality and pen idea is a very workable definition of the right approach to study. The right personality can be very rapidly built up by a bowing acquaint- ance with the technique of the great masters of to-day and yesterday, together with a strong determination to surpass them all. The pen can be bought, together with a tempting block of paper. Then all that remains is to put the pen and paper together in such a way that the result is good to look upon. To do this it is usually necessary to cover much paper with the disappointing results of concentrated efforts, to make drawings of everything in sight, memory, or imagination, and not abandon hope because the coveted technique is shy in developing. Optimism and hard work are the breakfast foods of genius ; it is only necessary to eat enough.
This is the whole art of pen drawing, but the road is rougher than the flippancy of this picture suggests, and it has been the aim throughout the following pages to smooth out the bumps as far as possible, so that the student may travel somewhat easier for having read it.
The infinite possibilities in pen drawing have never yet been dealt with from the standpoint of the interest they hold to the actual or intending producer of professional work. The few books on the subject published in England have been undertaken in the critical vein of the connoisseur, and their appeal is to the collector and amateur rather than the actual worker or student.
The opinions and preferences of a critic are of very little practical value to those who sigh for initiation into the
6
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
mysteries of materials and handling, and seek guidance in the expression of their own observation or invention in definite lines or mass blacks for reproduction by the ordinary line process block, that wonderfully simple invention which called in the aid of photography tg transfer the artist’s drawing on to the metal plate, and by mechanical biting made it possible for the great public to see the work of draughtsmen exactly as it left their hands, without the inevitable change for better or for worse to which it had been previously liable at the hands of the wood-engraver.
The process block, according to Mr J. M. Bulloch’s informative article on ‘‘British Pen Drawing” in the Studio Special Number for 1900, dates from about twelve years previous to that date, and he gives an idea of the progress in that period which seems absurdly small compared with the position of the process engraving business to-day. The following paragraph, quoted from Mr Bulloch’s article, shows an almost uncanny prescience of the newer weekly journals : “I believe there are great possibilities for simple decorative effect that will make a direct appeal. Indeed, the only means of differentiation between one journal and another will be solved by decorative art, for the more photographic our illustration becomes, the less individual will be each journal, unless it undertakes some sort of decorative accompaniment capable of very rapid manipulation. Already the cheapest Sunday papers in America are availing themselves of the decorative artist in a more or less crude way. On this side the editors are chary and conservative, but they are bound to follow.”
It has taken the editors until this last year or two to do it, but they have certainly come with a rush, and the policy indicated by Mr Bulloch is in full swing now, greatly to the advantage of artists of every kind, and especially to those who specialise in pen drawing, the ideal method of illustration for papers which aim at a high level of semi-decorative modernity.
Only in the last few years has technique in pen drawing been manifest to any appreciable extent ; technique being understood as the conscious desire to interest our audience in the manner as well as the matter of our pictorial statement, not with the idea of creating a singular method or bizarre touch that will shout and compel instant attention to our work,
INTRODUCTORY 7
but undertaken sincerely to add interest to the job of producing and also to the resulting drawings, quite apart from their subjects.
One of the best methods of acquiring ease in the manipula- tion of the pen, and thereby taking the first step in the cultivation of technique, is to draw direct from nature — the nude, land- scape, flowers, or everyday costume studies — in pen and ink. Incidentally this is a sure method of discovering one’s limitations, the best incentive to get rid of them.
Many examples exist of the early use of the quill pen as an instrument for purposes of study direct from nature, and such studies reproduce well in line, although they generally give a result strangely modern in effect when printed, caused by the elimination of gradations apparent in the lines of the old masters owing to the thin ink used. Conversely, it is very easy to impart an antique appearance to a quite fresh drawing by the use of antique paper and a quill pen used with diluted ink ; a fact which has been recognised by the spurious art merchants and used to the detriment of many trusting collectors of old drawings.
It is not suggested that work direct from nature or memory should be the ideal of the budding pen draughtsman as a per- manent method. There are many subjects that he will find much better if studied and composed in pencil first, either roughly, as a guide on the actual board or paper intended for the finished drawing, or in one or more separate studies and compositions to be finally translated into the ink state on this final board. But it cannot be too strongly insisted that this direct method is the best possible training for individuality of expression. Something indefinable seems ever to lead the adventurer in this method towards work that counts, and, moreover, it eliminates the ever present danger of following or attempting to follow the same technical method as an admired artist whose work is in demand.
The greatest asset of an illustrator or humorous artist is a sincere personal technique, allied with complete knowledge of the drawing and properties necessary for the range of work he undertakes. Specialism's almost inevitable to-day ; things move too rapidly for the combined animal, figure, and marine artist to keep pace in the journalistic world.
There is danger in the fascination of facility, and many
8 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
great exponents of pen drawing have fallen victims to it. Herbert Railton’s name occurs as an outstanding example of an architectural artist who degenerated by sheer executive ability into a weaver of patterns and reckless employer of stunts of omission which rob his drawings of stability and verisimilitude. He absolutely romped with the pen and undoubtedly enjoyed himself hugely in a way that is permissible only to a limited extent in art. His facility naturally attracted hosts of followers, who accentuated his mannerisms, without a trace of his mitigating brilliance.
CHAPTER II
THE EVOLUTION OF PEN DRAWING
Line was certainly the first method used by man for expressing his thoughts and recording his impressions of natural objects.
That the reindeer hunter of long ago was an artist is shown by the wonderful ** La Madelaine’’ drawing on ivory of a mammoth (Fig. 3), so full of action, so indicative of bulk and power, and interesting as showing the practised self-
Fig. 3. — The La Madelaine Mammoth.
Fig. 4. — Egyptian Decorative Design.
criticism in the artist’s corrections of his own first rendering, proving that the work is that of a really proficient student of line, equal in every respect to present-day animal draughtsmen.
Early civilisations, such as that of Egypt, evolved a more formal manner of treatment, adapting the subject to a decorative scheme to which it was subordinated, and rendering the human form, birds, animals, and the like according to a set code of rules (see Fig. 4). The Egyptians also acquired great power with the brush, using it much as the Japanese do at the present day.
Next in the line of great civilisations is that of Greece, which in its early stages came much under the influence of Egypt. Here again, in the many fine examples that have come
9
10
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
down to us in the figured designs on vases, we see that Greek draughtsmanship, though freer and more fanciful than Egyptian, was ruled by certain conventions which again subordinated it to a general decorative effect (see Fig. 5). There is, however, an extraordinary charm and vigour in these drawings which in their delicacy of line and elimination of all but the essentials have found many disciples in modern French line work.
The first real stimulus to line drawing as we understand it
Fig. 5. — Greek Vase Decoration.
to-day came with the writing of ‘‘ Missals.’’ They were executed with a pen, and the instinct to decorate or in some way develop the use of the pen, led to drawing with it. Thus developed the notion of illustration, for the missal writers soon discovered that things drawn would save much time and labour in lengthy descripfions.
These old craftsmen, as members of strict religious houses, may be relied upon as having given their facts with all the accuracy their technical accomplishment allowed, and as records of customs, costume, and architecture, their crudely executed but often spirited drawings are of extraordinary interest at the present day.
THE EVOLUTION OF PEN DRAWING
II
With the introduction of printing, illustration of books by- means of woodcuts was not long in developing. Fig. 6 shows a typical example of the rather crude methods employed by its early exponents. Though these woodcuts are often of the very poorest technique and childish in treatment, they brought about a veritable revolution, and in fact practically created the art of illustration along the lines on which we know it at the present day.
It only needed the work of a great innovator to raise this engraved illustration from its crude beginnings to a new and high standard, and such a one was found in Albrecht Diirer who, born in 1471, instigated a tradition in decorative line work which has hardly been sur- passed at the present day. Besides his •magnificent achieve- ments as a painter,
Durer was absorbed Fig. 6. — Spirited Delineation of a Terrible Crime, in every process (Early Seventeenth-Century Woodcut.)
connected with his
art. His extraordinary industry is shown in the stupendous tasks with which he constantly grappled in his paintings, engravings, and drawings, and one of the greatest lessons for the modern student to be learnt from his work is his thorough- ness and stern determination to overcome all difficulties connected with technique. Fig. 7, taken from an actual pen drawing by the master, will give some idea of the vigour of his methods and of his masterly and accurate use of line to achieve the required effect. This entailed the elimination of anything approaching the haphazard in method ; each line was deliberate in aim and a definite item in a scheme of decollation as/well as an essential factor in the illustration.
The student is especially recommended to study some of Durer’s^pdst famous works in wood-engraving, among which are the two series illustrating ** The Passion of Our Lord,
The Apocalypse,” and the large series illustrating “ The
12 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
Triumph of the Emperor Maximilian.” Keenly interested in the theory of all branches of his work, he elaborated a “ draw- ing machine,” which the illustration on Fig. 8, from an early woodcut, shows in action. This was mainly used to standardise the proportions of the human figure, much as his famous alphabet served to standardise the construction of letters.
Fig. 7.— ALBRECHT DURER. “ The Courier.”
Meanwhile contemporary artists in Italy were making drawings for the wood-engraver, and in 1499 the “ Hypnero- tomachia Poliphili,” or “ Warring of Love in a Dream,” one of the most famous of illustrated books, was published by Aldus Manutius of Venice, in which Virgil’s “ Eclogues ” and “ Georgies ” were given a new pictorial life in graceful, sunny drawings, far removed from the austerity of the still Gothic North both in conception and execution (see Fig. 9). Many
13
THE EVOLUTION OF PEN DRAWING
moderns, among them Anning Bell, have been to these as inspiration for similar drawings ; as also to the contemporary Florentines for decorative conceits in borders, head and tail pieces, book-plates and initials, etc.
Hans Holbein carried on the Diirer tradition in association with the Basle printers. Born in 149^) greatest work in illustration— the Dance of Death was executed in 1538, and shows a tendency to simplification in blending the Italian
Fig. 8. — DURER’S “ Drawing Machine ” in Action.
treatment of line with Durer’s supernatural imagination. Holbein’s directness and versatility, with his masterly apprecia- tion of the value of expressive line applied to woodcuts, places him as the greatest book illustrator of his age.
The next outstanding name in the development of pen line is Rembrandt ; but Holland produced two great men in the seventeenth century in Jan Lievens and Dirk de Bray. The former was born in Leyden a year before Rembrandt, and they must have worked much together. The black chalk drawing for the ‘‘Portrait of an Ecclesiastic Seated” is in the Boyman*s
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
f4
Fig. 9. — ^An Illustration from the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,” published in
Venice in 1499.
Museum, Rotterdam. Its principal lines show the marks of a stylus, proving that it was the actual drawing used in the transfer to wood for cutting. The engraving gave it a decided pen quality, and it ranks as one of his best portraits, an excellent example of the persistence of good quality in line. Dirk de Bray of Haarlem left only two portraits among the 146 miscel- laneous subjects catalogued ; but one of these, a portrait of his father, Salomon de Bray, is a technical masterpiece well worth the attention of modern portraitists in line.
Rembrandt, a red-hot revolutionist in art, stood for absolute freedom, and attained absolute perfection of style. Mainly concerned with problems of light, his figures are revealed by the light that envelops them, and shade is used as a means of searching out its source. He managed to render this in his etchings with an absolute success which has baffled his imitators. A number of his pen drawings, made generally as a preliminary to etchings, are preserved, and the two reproduced on Figs. 10 and I r are splendid examples of his masterly use of this medium.
THE EVOLUTION OF PEN DRAWING
IS
He remains unsurpassed for the expressiveness and economy of his line and for his wonderful rendering of chiaroscuro and shade.
These masters were in the main responsible for the evolution of line techniqtie as we know it at the present day ; but it was the men of the early nineteenth century, Goya, Menzel, Meissonier and, later, Vierge, who laid the foundations for modern line illustration which was only finally to be perfected by the introduction of the zinco-photographic process early in the present century. Amongst these innovators may be numbered the famous band of English illustrators of the ’sixties, Pinwell, Boyd Houghton, Small, Du Maurier, and the greatest of all, Charles Keene, still without a rival in the purely naturalistic use of the pen line, which he often employed in the manner of Rembrandt as a means of searching for effects of light. Keene’s work in Punchy fine as it is, inadequately represents his tender and sensitive technique with the pen which, as Mr Emanuel says, caressed the paper with fairy- like and almost invisible touches, leaving thereon faultless records of the dainty features of beautiful women and their immaculate early Victorian costumes ; of male persons of every type and walk in life ; of landscape and seascape, architecture and animals — all equally deftly and deliciously turned, and withal so surely, that as a rule pen and ink have been used right away without the aid of pencil preliminaries” (see Fig. 12).
The work of Keene and his contemporaries, Du Maurier, Sambourne, Millais, Tenniel, etc,, inaugurated the formative period of a distinct English school of pen draughtsmen almost as brilliant as the French constellation which included Fortuny and Rico as stars of the first magnitude, with Dore, Detaille, De Neuville, and Jacquemart, the wonderful interpreter of furniture and decoration, scarcely less notable.
After Keene, the history of Punch runs almost parallel with that of line work in England, for all the new men of note have worked for it, Phil May being the next spectacular figure. In breaking with all tradition by exploiting the utmost possi- bilities of rigid economy of means in his finished drawings, he will live as the great eliminator — inimitable — for not one of his many would-be disciples penetrated the secret of his power, and his art remains an interlude in tradition (see Fig. 25). This does not mean that he had no influence on his
THE EVOLUTION OF PEN .DRAWING
17
contemporaries and followers, but merely stresses the fact that his technique was temperamental to a degree which made it entirely elusive ; there was so much more in it than met the keenest eye. His influence was in the useful direction of broadening the outlook of both artists and editors to the possi- bilities of less labour and elaboration, impressing upon both that greatness is not necessarily found in quantity of line, but rather in quality.
A new and startling influence in pen illustration made a meteoric appearance in the late ’nineties in the shape of Aubrey Beardsley, who by the novelty of his technique and the curious and somewhat macabre personality that hall-marked his work created a controversy that was almost a scandal amongst his contemporaries. Savagely attacked in many quarters and enjoying only the appreciation of a group of artists and writers of the time, it was not until after his death that the full sig- nificance of his work was properly and widely understood. The extraordinary freaks of his imagination were conveyed by a stupendously clever use of delicate line combined with well- placed areas of solid black, a very personal method slightly reminiscent of the art of Japan. This manner formed a perfect expression of the strange and subtle imagination underlying all his work (see frontispiece and Fig. 106).
The history of the last forty years shows the rise of specialism in definite subjects, figure, animals, architecture, or decoration, and there is a wonderful record of achievement in each from many countries, France and Germany dividing the honours in strong figure men, the former with such names as Forain, Louis Morin, Vierge — of Spanish birth but French artistry — and Steinlen ; the latter with Menzel, Greiner, Max Bernuth, Bruno Paul, Heinrich Kley, and the ‘‘ Simplicis- simus ” and ‘‘ Jugend ” crowd. England scores mostly with decorative and landscape work, though our record, both in pure illustration and humorous drawing, is certainly far from negligible. E. J. Sullivan, for instance, is a master both of illustration and decoration, with a curiously flexible technique, ’ accomplished and fascinating in much the same way as the dangerous feats of an acrobat who keeps us wondering if he will avoid a cropper, and comes up smiling every time (see Figs. I and 17). Hartrick and Rackham show safer treatments of similar line, one in interpreting country types, the other in
2
■i8 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
fantastic settings of trees for very real and charming childrc (see Fig. 94). Grieffenhagen, H. R. Miller, and Chas. Pea were representative, but have deserted pen work for larg< expression.
America’s finest effort in art has been in illustration, main, in line. E. A. Abbey was her first great illustrator, triumphir over a pen technique of almost incredible fineness and redui dancy of line, which he managed with evident enjoyment < its possibilities in suggesting colour (see Fig. 12). Reinhar Blum, Pennell, and Howard Pyle were all contemporaries <
Abbey in the ear. wood-engravin period, but h, best work was dor when it could I reproduced bypn cess, and th famous series < the comedies < Shakespeari together with He: rick and Golc smith illustration were mechanical! reproduced Howard Pyle, decorator of muc strength, som< what influenced t Vierge and in tur influencing oc own Garth Jone is another name of note. Piexotto and Pennell, almo; parallel exponents of the charm of architecture, gardens, an landscape, attained wonderful dexterity with the pen in technique often suggestive of lace in daintiness, especial! when treating Gothic architectural detail (see Fig. 72).
The evolution of line drawing has been a series of bi jumps from giant to giant. No steady ordered growth can t indicated, supremacy going from one country to another 1 rest for yet another flitting. But there were great personaliti<
Fig. 13.— By CHARLES KEENE.
THE EVOLUTION OF PEN DRAWING
19
all through, and there are giants among us to-day whose work will be competed for in the auction rooms of the future.
The evolution of opportunity, which formerly halted between the making of such great discoveries as the invention of printing blocks and the overcoming of difficulties in printing, has reached a stage where limits are hardly discernible. Oppor- tunity knocks loudly at the door of the well-equipped pen artist to-day, and his range of usefulness is only limited by the power of his mind to direct the cunning of his hand in adding its quota to evolution of his fascinating and useful art.
Ruled with crow- Drawn slowly Drawn quickly Drawn quickly in Accentuated
quill pen. with same with same pen natural direction strokes,
pen. (straight). of stroke.
Contrast in accentuation.
Diminished and increased from right hand.
‘ Matting ” effect.
‘ Saw-tooth " texture.
Rich swelled strokes.
Reinforced lines have great possibJities.
Shadow and shade.
Quick horizontal wave with magnum pen.
Cross-hatching always looks mechanical.
Unless at these angles.
Fig. 14.— pen LINES.
20
CHAPTER III
LINE TECHNIQUE: ANALYSIS OF METHODS
STRICTLY speaking, the materials used in pen drawing are the' pen or pens one draws with and the paper or card one draws upon ; but pencils and charcoal, india- rubber and duster, must certainly be reckoned with as influences on the average pen technique, although they fall out by the
Fig. 15. — “ Direct ” D;rawing with an Ordinary Pen by R. HESSE.
way and, like stage carpenters, are useful to the production as long as they do not show.
To students, especially young students newly attempting the art and (to them) mystery of pen drawing, the pen is some- thing to be treated with much greater respect than the ever- accommodating lead pencil. They know that a mistake, or a round dozen mistakes, will easily fade away when recorded in pencil only, and they realise only too well that the pen line,
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THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
right or wrong, once committed, is, like a post-war official, there until it is dug out ; consequently they tremble at the thought of recording it simply and naturally.
This early stage fright is easily mastered by the method of working direct from objects or people, and there is nothing better than an ordinary fountain pen for the purpose, preferably used on a smooth paper with a slight yield in its surface resist- ance ; a sketch book gives this delightful resilience, which to the practised executant is as grateful as a spring floor to the expert dancer.
For young students a good stylo (somewhat rare) is an excellent cheap substitute for a fountain pen ; with it they can express themselves in lines of uniform thickness and make dots. A good teaching method at this early stage is to encourage pupils to locate points and boundaries of areas by dots, linking these up and filling in shadows afterwards by single and series lines. An amazingly good result is often the outcome of quite tentative efforts in this method, which has at least the merit of being definite, insomuch as it indicates what to look for and offers a quite readily followed and interesting formula for transferring the impressions received to paper.
In using the stylo as this method dictates, the pupil loses terror of the pen^s indelible line in the fun of searching for and fixing the essential points and seeing the drawing grow as these points are linked up by lines, the beginning, direction, and end of which they determine.
The usefulness of the stylo is purely academic, and the idea once grasped and facility of movement acquired, it is advisable to adopt the more sympathetic fountain pen and attempt drawings of everything, everywhere, and at all times — a practice which will inevitably develop a personal technique, influenced by the kind of pen used, just as handwriting is influenced.
Most artists whose wise habit is to sketch constantly from nature, use a pencil, mainly because every one has used pencils for making pictorial notes as a matter of course, without questioning its wisdom ; or because a specious statement soothes them — ^if one can draw with a pencil, one can draw with a pen — a half truth which the ambitious student will be wise to suspect.
Some of the older masters of pen drawing, whose triumphs
LINE TECHNIQUE: ANALYSIS OF METHODS 2^
were achieved before the age of universal fountain pens, carried small unspillable bottles of ink in their waistcoat pocket, or slung from their coat lapel, and used ordinary pen holders with nibs for making their roving notes. That they found it worth while when it entailed such a complicated and messy pro- ceeding, is surely a
strong argument in favour of the use of its convenient modern substitute, so universal and clean in use.
A well-known con- temporary artist habitually carries three fountain pens — one filled with black, one with red, and the other with green ink ; his sketch books are most interesting and brilliant, showing some wonder- ful colour schemes made with the combina- tion of the three inks.
The habit of carry- ing more than one colour is not advocated, and is mentioned merely as the idea of one capable man who finds
added interest in dealing tountaim peis
with variety occasion- ally, for only about 5
per cent, of his notes
reveal the use of more than one pen. The remainder consists
of rapidly executed notes of moving objects, and anyone who has attempted this class of sketching will agree that one pen is quite enough to manipulate in catching action poses; the model makes all the rapid movement the duet can conveniently
deal with.
In making these pen notes, do not attempt too much at
24
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
first, and do not aim at making the sketches look pretty or clever, for this is the surest way to render your work abortive to its real purpose. Fix it in your mind that the main object is to absorb facts, and the next to find a method by which you can convey yopr rendering of them to others in the most interesting way. Both objects will be best attained by direct observation and instant record of things actually seen — an eye, a nose, an ear, the lines made by the play of muscles in an elderly face, hats, boots, hands, and the folds in clothes are all vitally important details which you must find a way of re- presenting. Rapid sketches from photographs are extremely useful, provided the photographs are regarded ’ strictly as sub- stitutes for the living model, and not as copies to be slavishly followed or even traced : for even the best photographs are static, and unintelligent drawings from them translate this quality of lifelessness. Work from motion photography is splendid practice, but is rendered difficult by the lighting conditions in the average cinema theatre, which impart to the ominous words working in the dark ” a too literal meaning.
This insistence on the study from nature in a particular way as a means of developing individuality and clarity of statement will be found of infinite use in practice, and there is little more to be said about it which the student will not discover in trying it out. A word on the selection of a suitable fountain pen may be useful. The nib will be gold, of course, iridium pointed, and a good one will la.st for years in constant use, giving an ever-increasing variety of line. With a medium point the finest lines are possible with light handling, and pressure brings wider lines as the pen gets broken in. A good notion is to adopt a pen which has already been broken in to your touch as a writing instrument.
It is rather difficult to see just how scientific analysis of the constituents of a line can assist students in finding an adequate pen technique, and it is questionable whether it is wise to search for an individual line. Maginnis commences his essay on technique with : ** The first requirement of a good pen technique is a good individual line, a line of feeling and quality.^’ It is certainly safe to try for a line of '' feeling and quality ” and leave individuality out of the initial calculations as something which must develop unconsciously or not at all. Feeling and quality in line must be temperamental, the subconscious mind
LINE TECHNIQUE: ANALYSIS OF METHODS 25
Fig. 17. — Richness of Line in a Book-plate by E. J. SULLIVAN.
26
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
acting upon the conscious desire to express something by a ungrudging expenditure of nervous energy. Individuality i actual stroke is not essential ; many successful men ignore completely ; others deliberately work in the manner of a mast€ they admire and yet produce work of marked originality ; otheri again, absorb the working methods of their favourite mastc and use them as a basis for their own style.
E. J. Sullivan, in his book Line,’’ shows an interestin analysis of the production of curves by combinations of straigl: lines, proving that the apparently impossible task of drawin
a circle with a rule is perfectly simp] in execution, A that is necessary i drawing any curv by this method i that the sections c straight line build ing the curve b short enough to de ceive the eye in com bination as a serie of “ pressed in ' tangents forming ii The notio]
HELD, JuN., showing the Possibilities of Pure apparently amuse Outline. Mr Sullivan in
tensely ; but it i
difficult to see any practical application of it. Everythin] it will do can be better done in a normal way, so even M Sullivan’s tempting paragraph — ‘‘ In the stealthy employmen of a scarcely perceptible angle often lies the beauty of a curve and its character of vigour or languor, its speed or slowness which evidently seeks to justify the many pages and diagram given to its very thorough analysis, is a vague suggestion fo the accomplished artist rather than a practical help to th student.
An interesting line is the direct result of intense feelini and joy in concentration on actual execution. E. J. Sullivan’ work is the best justification of this dictum ; his line is pur revelry with the pen, consequently it shows a complete pe:
Am#»nVan nf»rnraf-ivp Tllnstratinn bv T,.
LINE TECHNIQUE: ANALYSIS OF METHODS 27
quality which is unique in modern illustration (see Fig. 17). The student who troubles to make a comparative analysis of the actual line of the great masters will find very definite qualities of beauty and strength peculiar to each, from the crisp perfection of Vierge to the riot of expressive and colourful line in Wilkinson and the repressions of Rutherston,
Boutet de Monvel, Held,
Benito, and John Nash.
The attempt to express something definite in line is interesting in itself, revealing individuality in the earliest effort of the student. The alphabet is recommended by Sullivan as a pleasant means of forming a system of variation in thickness and direction of line, and is as good as anything else, be- cause it necessarily brings in a complete range of straight lines and curves in various combinations and directions from the thick downstroke of the capital I ” to the thick and thin curves of the large O.’*
It is the drawing which matters — the alphabet is merely something definite to talk about. The capital ** O is, after all, just our familiar friend the circle, and to draw a circle one need not think of an '' O ; in fact, it is much better to get a penny or a plate and draw these in every possible position. Draw the penny first as a flat object, with a flat edge ; it is simpler to commence with. Note well that when the penny is turned in such a way that it is represented on paper by an ellipse, the lines of its sides run sweetly into one another at the ends, suggesting the full circle even in the most fore-
FlG. 19. — Diagram showing the effect of Intersecting Lines on Parallel Uprights.
Fig. 20. — Diagram showing the effect of Intersecting Lines in making Equal Portions of another Line appear Short or Long.
28 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
shortened view. A child usually draws an ellipse with sharp points simply because the childish vision heeds only what it sees and is not influenced by the necessity to retain the impres- sion of the whole object in its representation in perspective. From drawing the flat ellipse representing a piece of money to giving a right impression of the two or three ellipses necessary to show a plate, is a bigger step forward than it appears. It involves the correct placing of the interior ellipse determining the rim of the plate, also the fitting of the under part of the plate to correspond with this rim in positions where both are evident to the eye.
When the student can draw ellipses with the necessary
understanding of their con- struction, and can give a convincing idea of a deep plate in any position, several vital facts in perspective have been acquired, together with an appreciation of sweetness in curves. In drawing an ellipse in ink, the natural way is to draw the top line first (when it is horizontal) from left to right, then half the lower line from the left and the other half from the right to meet it (when vertical), to draw two-thirds of the left side first, from the top downwards, then the top curve and half the right side, lastly the bottom curve and the rest of the right side, upwards, as shown in the drawing herewith (Fig. 21).
A good method of training the hand to execute sweeping, easy pen strokes, graduated or ‘‘ swelled ” at will from the finest line the pen will give, to' its maximum yield in width of stroke, is to practise the old penmanship flourishes fashionable in copperplate days. These are beautiful in themselves, and design of a pleasing ‘‘ bookish ” quality is the inevitable result of devices built of a combination of several.
Pen lettering, which is drawing of letters in a style dictated by the pen, is also good training for decisive control of hands
LINE TECHNIQUE: ANALYSIS OF METHODS 29
in more elaborate work. The deliberate curves with ‘‘ swell ” to be formed in exact position, the various directions and thick- nesses of line, and the necessity for rhythm and flow in the entire work are formative of style.
There are many ’ways of approaching the production of finished work with, the pen, and the kind of finish aimed at will determine the methods employed. It is absolutely necessary for the student who has attained a certain degree of proficiency in drawing and the mechanics of technique, to determine the kind of thing he wishes to do. The possibilities are so vast and diverse that the draughtsman who is not wedded to a certain range of expression is in constant temptation to flirt with methods that please at the moment, but have no root in his temperament.
A working method can be chosen from the rough division into eight definite categories herewith, each a formula for equally good work. Once chosen, the method must be pursued with the utmost loyalty until it fails to respond ; an unlikely happening in actual practice, as devotion to a fixed idea eliminates waste effort, and progress is proportionately rapid.
No. I. Pure outline drawing, unrelieved by solid blacks, tints, or light and shade, other than the thickening of lines to suggest shadow or accentuate parts. This sounds simple, but is actually the supreme test of the master hand. The French and German illustrators are its most successful exponents, and it can be studied in the work of Roubille, Grasset, Fabiano, and Paul Rieth.
No. 2. Pure outline with simply suggested tints and solid black spots to suggest colour. Newspaper illustration of the Phil May type.
No. 3. Chiefly depending on outline, but more freely treated. The outline supplemented by shading, and actually omitted in parts in deference to the determining qualities of masses of lines beginning or ending together. This classification includes the bulk of magazine and journalistic work dealing with grouped figures, generally in modern costume.
No. 4. Rich colour'’ schemes, with full use of contrasts of light and shade, solid blacks and plain whites ; with out- line as a secondary consideration to general richness of pattern. Sullivan, Gibson, Cheney, Wilkinson, and S. E. Scott represent the wide range of work falling within this class.
30
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
No. S. Deliberately designed illustrations to costume periods, imaginary fairy-tale lore, or beautiful landscape and architecture, including the work of Vierge, Abbey, Howard Pyle, H. R. Miller, etc., in figure, and Pennell, Peixotto, Rico, Griggs, and Railton in landscape.
No. 6. Decorative illustration in which nature is used as a basis for convention. The essentials of such work are pleasing arrangement of black and white, beautiful line, and harmony with the type page. There is scope for expression in vastly divergent styles within the limits of the classification, which includes the amazingly strong use of black and white space by Beardsley, the delicate line and fine drawing of Anning Bell, the strong fairy-tale illustrations of Maxfield Parrish and Garth Jones and the latter’s decorative title pages, also the infinite play of fancy in the work of John Austin, the Robinsons, Annie French, and Harry Clarke, to mention only a few of the modern decorators of books.
No. 7. Architectural drawing as a distinct branch of pen work, with a wide range of usefulness, from the strictly mechanical elevation to the free and delightful rendering of proposed or existing buildings.
No. 8. Humorous drawing and caricature, the largest field for the artist in line at the present time, and certain to grow. Every one wants to be amused, and the artist who can make even a portion of the world laugh is not likely to lack appreciation.
Roughly, this list embraces all possible avenues to success as a pen draughtsman, with the exception of advertisement work, which is left out as a separate aim because it involves a nodding acquaintance with all the enumerated methods, plus a nice taste in lettering.
It is obvious that the method of attack to reach proficiency in these very diverse applications of the pen will differ. The exact moment when general training should give way to specialism is a movable quantity ; it depends on the individual and on circumstances. The stronger the personality, the stronger the determination to get down to brass tacks and tackle a branch with the definite intention of being identified with it.
As drawing will be the basis of all, the student cannot have too much of it, and his rendering of the simpler objects in nature will probably have considerable influence on future technique.
LINE TECHNIQUE: ANALYSIS OF METHODS 31
Some students will spend a whole term or even more in prepara- tion of a set of pen drawings of leaves and flowers, while others will turn out the same quantity in a few hours ; both types excellent but entirely different, the odds being that the former will gravitate towards decorative work, the latter to realistic and illustrative.
First Method (see Figs. 22, 23, 24).
Now to deal with the best means of getting to work in the various categories. The first may be dismissed in a very few words. It is the playground of genius, and genius will not need advice. But its •characteristics may usefully be indicated for the benefit of the many who imagine that the absence of elaboration in result implies simplicity in working. It may be taken as an axiom that any drawing which is both simple and satisfying holds more than meets the eye, and this is decidedly the case in the German work of Paul Rieth (Fig. 23) and Karl Arnold (Fig. 22), and the French of Forain, Joseph Hemard, and Marc Carlegle (Fig. 24), to mention only a few of the many clever men who work towards the utmost simplification in the results actually submitted to the public. The methods of all these must necessarily vary to some extent, but one principle dominates them all — truth to a personal conception of nature Fig. 22.— based on acute observation and love of form. KARL ARNOLD. All are capable of perfect drawing in the academic sense, and each takes this cold perfection as a beginning rather than an end, and proceeds to search its accuracy for essential’ lines in which the rhythm of the whole can be conveyed, with additional interest and power, in the minimum number of strokes with the pen.
Interest in this type of work in this country is mainly con- fined to artists who can appreciate its supreme cleverness. The English public rather likes its illustration without problems to solve, so the artists here’ who are capable of producing such work content themselves with the knowledge of reserves of
32
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
Fig. 23. — German. PAUL RIETH.
Fig. 24.— French. CARLfeGJLE.
LINE TECHNIQUE: ANALYSIS OF METHODS 33
power, and give us work which is really in a preliminary stage.
In England two artists only have dared the final stage of selective line, and both, Edmund Dulac and Xavier Kapp, as Frenchmen, are hardly likely to knuckle down to the English point of view in these matters. Miss Fish, who is really in a category by herself, is the only English artist who approximates to the French in the strict economy of line she uses to present the exquisitely dainty little person standing for patrician femininity in the bud. The Fish ’’ girl has only an egg for a head, but the human expression that is put into that oval by the wonderful drawing and placing of eyes and mouth only is such that she has penetrated most civilised countries.
Second Method (see Fig. 25).
Newspaper illustration of the Phil May type indicates a similar aim to the first, but developed on different and more popular lines. The name of Phil May is associated with it merely to focus attention on a well-remembered technique that will help the student to appreciate the difference between the decorative and flowing simplification of Paul Rieth and Karl Boehmer and the much less rigorous elimination of tone in Phil May’s work. In carrying on from the stage when draw- ing is sufficiently mastered to warrant experiments in technique, there are many ways of eliminating the superfluous. Some fortunate men are able to imagine or see in their model the lines which they know will give the desired result, putting them down in pencil in such a way that little alteration is needed in translation into ink ; but this is perfection vouchsafed to the very few, and the student must reckon on making careful draw- ings of his subjects to use as scaffolding for the final efforts. There is much satisfaction in removing the scaffolding to reveal the work as it is to stand. The preliminary drawing or studies for this kind of work should be fully explanatory, with a definite intention of finding the building lines ; the advantage of this being, that when these studies are used away from the model, that model is recalled in all essentials, and the simplifying process is undertaken with the assurance of definite information.
One very illuminating point is that it is much easier to see what makes the drawing ” in a careful drawing from nature than it is to detect the leading lines in actual figures, landscape,
3
LINE TECHNIQUE: ANALYSIS OF METHODS 35
or still life. With such fully explanatory sketches, the obvious way to rehearse the desired effect is to try it out on tracing paper, placed over the figure (or whatever is the principal object), roughly grouping accessories from separate studies, if necessary, by drawing them in scale with the central interest. Another method is to draw selectively on the actual card on which the. finished drawing is to be made, grouping the pre- liminary studies in the process, as in drawing for methods Nos. 4 and S- The disadvantage of the latter method is that the card is liable to lose its freshness in the course of many trials, and the very desirable effect of spontaneity may be jeopardised, to say nothing of the disadvantage of working on a disturbed surface.
Other methods, such as making preliminary semi-finished drawings on separate cards for final choice and redoing, necessitate much unnecessary work ; so we come back to the tracing paper as the best way to get the necessary conviction that the element of safety has been respected in the cutting- out process.
The complete procedure for method No. 2 is, therefore : First, the idea and studies from nature to support its adequate carrying out. Second, the grouping and arrangement of these, and the reduction of their complex detail to an interesting and easily comprehended artistic shorthand by means of significant lines drawn over the studies on a transparent surface. Third, the transfer of this simplified plan of action to the card for finished drawing. Fourth, the finisKed drawing made with strict reference to the original sketches, but on the general outlines extracted by the experimental work on tracing paper.
Third Method (see Fig. 26).
The third method. Free, broken outline, supplemented by shading, is the timid version of the fourth method, which in the hands of the really strong draughtsman develops naturally from it in practice. Perhaps a go'od workable distinction between the two methods is that the former is always a little conscious ; the effort is not entirely hidden ; the drawing is still tentative and experimental, and the pen is treated with more respect than abandon, while the latter is the very essence of inevitability, giving the impression of mastery over materials and subject so certain and powerful that technique is merged
36 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
in fine drawing, and incredibly difficult problems of lighting are tackled and conquered with evident joy in the victories.
Nearly all the illustrative work in English magazines and periodicals is in the third method, and it is as rare as it is refreshing to find work developed beyond its eminently safe level. Editors like it because it is safe, so it is the exceptionally
Fig. 26.— By S. E. SCOTT.
bold man who deliberately flouts their desire for it in reaching out for greater things.
The characteristic of the method is the employment of any and every device to make the result convincing and accept- able to the public. Townsend was perhaps its most complete and able exponent, which shows that it may give sufficient scope for a certain type of genius. Acquirement of the devices and technique necessary for success in it is so important that a complete section on magazine illustration will deal with this
LINE TECHNIQUE: ANALYSIS OF METHODS 37
at length, supplemented by another on humorous illustration, with special reference to the Punch type of technique.
Fourth Method (see Figs. 27 and 28).
Includes all work that is intensely personal in expression, in which materials and methods have been used with absolute mastery, the artist’s attention focused on character and beauty of form, lighting, and composition. It resembles method No. i, insomuch as it is possible for the genius alone, who must submit to the grind of accuracy of eye and hand as a preliminary to full. freedom. This tends to limit the supply of artists in this category to a very determined and capable few.
Drawing on a large scale is a useful habit peculiar to this type of artist. The usual way with illustrators is to make the original any- thing up to about four times (twice the width) the size of the reproduction ; but these men, Gibson, for instance, frequently make their draw- ings approaching life-size, necessitating the use of Fig. 27.- -A Head by C. DANA very broad pens and clever GIBSON,
management of modelling
in tone obtained by variety in thickness and spacing of line. Many of the Gibson girl heads were drawn two-thirds life-size. But it is obviously impossible to work on this scale when dealing with whole figures or groups of people, and in his figure compositions the largest figures rarely exceed 15 in. in height.
^WING
y attractive field for he elements necessary m the landscape side
.i-a
M
k ^ >'0
Fig. 28.— By LEO CHENEY.
constant association with the loveliest aspects of nature. The main characteristic is the placing of the various tones, from black to pure white, in such a way that their juxtaposition is in itself attractive to the eye as pattern. In Vierge this faculty of using the additional interest of colour pattern without losing the aspect of reality is wonderful, and both Howard Pyle
LINE TECHNIQUE: ANALYSIS OF METHODS 39
and H. R. Millar owe much to him in the realistic side of their work, although each developed a “ fairy-tale manner ” entirely personal and imaginative, more akin to the sixth method.
The work of Menzel, Millais, Sandys, Boyd Houghton, and others of the ’sixties was in this fifth category of decorative realism, and there is much to be learned from them all, but especially from that prince of draughtsmen, Adolph Menzel, in his illustrations to “ Frederic the Great ” ; in itself an education in costume illustration, and incidentally showing some of the most wonderful examples of facsimile wood- engraving extant.
E. A. Abbey’s work in illustrations to Shakespeare and the old ballads of England shows what can be done with a mere pen ; .but it is an elaborate method which is as impervious to copyists as Phil May’s simplicity. Alfred Parsons, in doing some flower and landscape illustrations to accompany the ballad drawings by Abbey, attempted the employment of a similar elaboration of line, merely demonstrating that it was -not the elaboration of style that made the Abbey drawings pure joy to contemplate, but the exquisite sense of style and colour which the amazing technique “ got across.” The method is having some influence on modern magazine illustration ; in the work of the late Warwick Reynolds and “ Blam ” for instances.
Sixth Method (see Fig. 29).
Success in this depends on intensity of vision and feeling, together with fertility of imagination, supported by great resource in actual and theoretical knowledge of drawing. It is not an easy thing to get away from the actual, especially when the figures introduced are naturally drawn, as in Anning Bell’s illustrations. In these every detail is recognisably founded on fact, yet the whole effect transcends earthly limitations in a beatific vision wholly in the spirit of poetry. Anning Bell’s obviously sincere devotion to absolute beauty of form and line has inspired a generation of art students, and as with all -who perfect a method or successfully adopt an old convention to their own handling, his copyists are legion, all unconscious of the- fact that evef-y element of his work depends on one personality for its creation and co-relation. Beardsley, with a manner
40
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
as startling and bizarre as Bell’s is calm, has influenced the same generation towards the free expression of personal views. The fact that his own personality was decidedly exotic had the useful effect of establishing at a stagnant moment the right of the artist to his own soul. Between the line of Bell and that of Beardsley there is a wide choice in the older forms of expres-
Fig. 29.— By HELEN DRYDEN.
sion, and beyond all this the naYvet^ of the moderns gradually coming to us from France and Italy via Germany and America.
In this sixth method there is much vitality; the trend is towards it, as beautifully decorated books are substituted for indifferently illustrated ones. Fine decoration is gradually creeping into commercial printing, and advertising literature promises much for decorative pen work. In America it is a
LINE TECHNIQUE: ANALYSIS OF METHODS 41
commonplace to find articles with no artistic pretensions advertised with drawings by the best workers in this non- representational method. A few years hence it will be the usual thing here in England. We may see Albert Rutherston’s work as an advertisement for a furniture house, infusing a little humour into a dull business.
Fig. so.—By H. CESZINSKL
Seventh Method (see Fig. 30).
This architectural method includes the drawing of interiors and furniture both in elevation and perspective. It is an interesting and lucrative branch of pen work for those with leanings towards the exact and mechanical. It is certainly necessary for anyone contemplating it as a career to undergo some architectural training — even to the extent of becoming a qualified architect. From inside the profession the going is
42
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
better, as commissions depend on the confidence of architectural clients in one's knowledge as well as draughtsmanship.
Although the drawing of actual buildings will form a considerable part of the architectural pen draughtsman's work, the names of Pennell, Railton, Griggs, Peixotto, Rico, etc., are left as practising in method No. 5, because their approach is entirely from the picturesque and pictorial angle, dealing entirely with existing work. The architectural draughtsman's raison d'etre is in showing people what a building or room will be like, hence the need for knowledge of construction, style, and materials.
Eighth Method (see Fig. 31).
Humorous drawing suggests the rollicking artist, rubicund and mellow, to whom the quip is the natural method of expres- sion in speech as in work ; but, alas, it is not so really, and humorous artists are generally rather noticeably anxious to discover humorous items in the experiences of their friends. So students may take comfort from the fact that the humorous artist is not necessarily a humorist, and the conclusion that it is not even essential to possess a strong sense of humour to deal in the variations of the few basic jokes which have existed since the beginnings of things.
Horse sense is more useful than a sense of humour in making people laugh with you week in and week out for life, the power to register hits being safer with well-tried weapons.
To rely on producing a brilliant new joke for every drawing is simply absurd ; so .the wise professional humorist approaches his chief problem in a very business-like way, happy, indeed, if he can create a few types which “ get over " and endear them- selves to a grateful public who will love them and look for them for ever. The born humorist who sees the funny side of small things and the value of exaggerating their effect, has very little advantage over the business-like and energetic person who acquires humour at so much per joke — if accepted — from the professional joke factor.
These are wide generalities, but they are useful. We all know our Tom Webster, Bateman, and d'Egville as heaven- sent laughter providers, each with a personal laughter-provoking formula which is independent of the subject or joke, and is in
LINE TECHNIQUE: ANALYSIS OF METHODS 43
cumulative effect a business in itself, with an extremely valuable stock in trade in the employment of a few lines which vary little in each drawing.
The student adopting humorous drawing as a profession should aim, therefore, at a little niche that he can occupy exclusively, and exhibit his small but lively collection of puppets in his own way, adding to the cast only when those already playing to crowded houses show signs of tiredness.
Fig. 31. — Humorous Advertisement by BREABEY.
'-' I ff ^
Fig. 32. — Comparative Results from Pens.
Gillott’s “ Magnum ” will tend to give a line of an inch wide, or without >ressure give lines as on cheek in drawing.
Gillott’s 303 will offer a little more resistance to very heavy lines, and give finer nes under slight pressure.
( Setten & Durward’s ** Criterion” is an absolutely delightful instrument on the nes of Gillott’s 303, but a little finer in performance and build.
^ Waterlow’s No. 30 is certainly the best pen encountered, and should be tried if till obtainable.
44
CHAPTER IV
MATERIALS
The letters that used to reach me as editor of a technical paper, asking for advice on the materials to use in the practice of various branches of drawing and painting, persuade me that there must be a considerable number of workers and amateurs who really find it difficult to discover the right thing at the right moment, or having discovered it, fail to recognise that it is the right thing.
In the actual words of one puzzled inquirer ; “ How can I know that it is only perseverance that is necessary to overcome the cussedness of some materials, when it may well be that I am using something that is just wrong for what I am aiming at ? The lack of a word of advice from some one who really knows from their own experience in practice or intimate acquaintance with the methods of practical men may leave me struggling for mastery over something that is not worth while ; wasting time which is much too precious to squander in grappling with actual materials.’^
The professional artist is generally rather proud of his ability to get good results on any surface with any kind of tool ; but this is the privilege of those whose hand and eye are trained to a point where the comparative value of experiment can be safely judged. The beginner is generally incapable of judging his own efforts, and is really helped by confidence in his materials.
Any undertaking is helped along by knowledge of the routine which renders progress smooth. No wise student will place reliance upon any formula which promises a short cut to proficiency in actual drawing ; for the utmost that can be expected from pens, ink, and paper is that they obey you and place no obstacles in the way of your own expression. The help that good pens, ink, card, and paper can give is passive
45
46 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
and largely a matter of individual preference and ex- perience.
The preferences of the experienced are generally founded on basic facts which must be of value to the inexperienced, and it is these facts which are drawn upon for the information con- veyed in this chapter. The range of variety in papers, cards, inks, and pens is so wide that the student may spend much time in unprofitable contemplation or expensive trial without striking the best in any direction.
The paper or board used for pen drawing should be pure
Fig. 33. — Distinctly shows use of two different Pens.
white. The charm of the method is in its contrasts, so the maximum effect is obtained by complete contrast between ground and lines. The use of tinted surfaces for pen work is bad from every point of view. Walter Crane used deep cream boards for many of his pen drawings for book illustration, thereby giving the engravers unnecessary trouble in photo- graphing them, besides losing 50 per cent, of their charm as original drawings, the reproductions, printed on white paper, showing a much better effect.
Bristol board has an unassailable vogue as the most popular of all surfaces for pen drawing. It should be fully realised that the words are but a name used by many makers, and that its
MATERIALS
47
quality varies considerably. At its best it is certainly the finest surface for pure line work ; its hard, glossy surface resists the scratch of the steel nib better than anything known. Many of Charles Keene’s drawings were made on notepaper, and the right Bristol board should possess exactly the same surface as this old-fashioned notepaper with the additional advantage of greater thickness to permit the correction of mistakes. Pencil must be lightly used on it, as heavy marks are apt to become indelible and interfere with the subsequent pen lines.
- Extensive alterations to a drawing should be made with a sharp knife. It is possible to remove the surface of a properly made board and work on the erasure. Bristol board surgery is an art in itself, its greatest effort being the actual removal of the offending area in the drawing and inlaying a virgin piece of board which gives fresh hope of success. This operation is performed by cutting with a very sharp knife through the original board and another piece of the same thickness beneath it ; if well done, with the knife held exactly upright, the lower piece should fit the space in the drawing so well as to be imperceptible when dropped into position.
Bristol board is made in foolscap, demy, medium, and royal sizes, and is built up in sheets. The thinnest sold is “ two sheet,” which is quite satisfactory for simple work. Three, four, five, or six sheet should be used for more elaborate work, according to its importance. The operation described above should not be attempted with boards thicker than three or four sheet. Before starting to “ ink in ” a drawing, some artists dust the board over with a pounce ” of fine chalk to give the ink a certain bite. If this is done, care must be taken to remove all trace of the chalk, or it will quickly choke the flow of ink from the pen by the formation of a minute but trouble- some ball of chalk and ink mixture on its point.
Cheaper boards are made by covering cheap cardboard with sheets of white paper. These are quite satisfactory for many purposes, but alteration is practically impossible, as the covering paper used is generally too thin to stand disturbance and the inner card is far from white. For certain and direct work there is nothing against this kind of board, providing the covering is stout enough to stand the pen stroke and the inner filling has a smooth surface without the grain, which has a nasty habit of setting traps for the pen point.
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49
A surface possessing certain advantages over Bristol board is afforded by hot-pressed drawing paper, Whatman’s, Arnold’s, O.W.S., or other good makers, obtainable in sizes from demy, 20 by IS -I, up to the huge double elephant, 40 by 26|, beloved of the architects. The smaller sizes may be used pinned down to a board, but the larger need stretching to remain flat. The usual way to do this is to fold up about an inch of the edge of the sheet all round and place it on a board slightly larger than its full size. After moistening the paper thoroughly with very clean water and a very clean sponge, cover the turned-up edges with photo paste, or, better still, “ shoemakers’ paste,” and turn them down to the board, taking the greatest care that there are no unstuck places. In turning the pasted edges down, pull outwards from centre in all directions to ensure even stretching ; but do not stretch paper overmuch or it may burst as it contracts in drying.
The “ bank ” paper used in “ press sketch books ” com- bines transparency with a useful whiteness and hardness that makes it possible for pen drawing. Its particular quality is that a pencil sketch can be made on one page which can be selectively traced on the preceding page in ink, thereby saving the tiresome process of redrawing. Further, if the first attempt to render the sketch in ink is not entirely satisfactory, the necessary alterations can be made by repetition of the same process with the offending pen drawing.
Tracing paper can obviously be used in the same way, and good pen drawings can be made on it over photographs by those capable of selecting essentials. It is not easy to make a satisfactory drawing in this way, but it can be done. To lose the irritating effect of thin tracing paper, mount the drawing when finished on white card and cut a mount to cover the edges of it.
Although placed second in order of importance, the selection of the best pens to use is perhaps quite as vital as the finding of the best surfaces for them to travel over.
It is utterly impossible to indicate the right ” pen for general use ; such an ideal instrument cannot exist ; so we immediately arrive at the necessity for a range of pens covering individual needs. One of the first things the student will discover in connection with artists’ pens is their extremely short life, due possibly to the action of drawing inks. To obviate
4
50 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
this to some extent, the use of a bristle pen-wiper is recom- mended ; such can be obtained in ordinary office stationers, a small china cup containing a bunch of fairly fine bristles tightly held at the base and less tightly held by the circum-
i
f, o III
In I"
'' III II Iw /// 11/ 11/ 11/^
11/ I//
Fig. 35— Part of a Circular lUustration by ASHLEY HAVINDEN. A Gillott^s 303 will give this type of line.
ference of the cup at the top. The pen should be frequently dipped into this while in use, and the deposit of ink removed before it hardens.
The pens most quoted by pen draughtsmen are Gillott’s crow quill ’’ and Gillott’s mapping pen,’' both excellent
MATERIALS
SI
instruments in their way, and for ordinary size work practically indispensable. The former is a nib with a normal line of extreme fineness, but so beautifully fashioned that it will easily respond to sweeping curves involving differences of thickness, though it should not be used for uniformly thick lines. The range of the mapping pen is greater, although its normal point width is equally delicate ; its life is short, especially if much advantage is taken of its astonishing flexibility ; it literally gives its life to the drawings it is used upon.
There are many useful pens of similar scope to the famous Gillott productions, but cheaper. The Criterion,” for instance, made by Messrs Setten & Durward, Birmingham, is a small mapping pen which gives good results in strength, endurance, and flexibility, and is sold on cards of twelve for one shilling. Waterlow & Sons’ No. 30, a legal writer’s pen, is a serious rival to Gillott’s No. 303, giving even greater flexibility with rather less strength. The points are more liable to snap, owing to the daring arrangement of the ink-holding perforations, to which its extreme flexibility is due.
A stock of these four nibs will satisfy any artist’s needs for the production of fine, flexible lines. The Gillott No, 303 will probably get most use. Next in size, the Gillott No. 404, is worth stocking for use on medium lines, which strain the finer pens.
For stronger work or drawings on a large scale for reduction by photographic processes, there is an immense choice of pens ; but it would be difficult to find a better than Gillott’s “ Magnum ” barrel pen No. 227, which, although called ^‘fine,” will main- tain a line one thirty-second of an inch wide with ease. The medium width nib of this same brand is not very good, from an artist’s point of view, the main reason being that it parts with Indian ink rather too easily for safety. Both these pens are intended for purely writing purposes, but the fine-pointed variety certainly holds Indian ink as well as any artist’s pen (see Fig. 32).
The quill of our fathers,” now used very seldom for writing, is still in favour with many illustrators for broad, effective work in foregrounds. Its flexibility is even greater than the softest steel nib, and it is delightfully responsive. Its life ” is indeed brief, especially if much use is made of its facility in spreading its points.
52
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
For drawings where it is intended to maintain an exactly similar width of line throughout, a “ Stylus ” is useful if it is kept very clean. Fixed inks should not be used, as they block the points immediately.
Fountain pens are lovely things to draw with ; but here, again, the difficulty of fixed inks is encountered. With unfixed Indian ink they work easily and dependably if washed out before each filling ; but it should be possible to get an ordinary black ink of sufficient density and obviate the necessity of this frequent cleaning, which is tiresome.
It is possible to get a ‘‘ double-line pen,” which has a
certain limited usefulness. The name explains it as a two- pointed affair which makes two parallel lines at one stroke, and some interesting textures can be made with it. In private life it is intended for ordinary commercial double ruling.”
Wonderful effects can be ob- tained with a Japanese writing brush or ordinary water-colour Sable No. 2 or 3, cut away about half-way down the hair to leave a small point of hairs about equal to a No. i Sable. Brang- wyn. Will Dyson, and Gordon Brown used this method in illustration with results entirely different in each case. The richness possible is shown in the square cut from a Dyson drawing herewith (Fig. 36) and in the drawing by “ Tell ” (Fig. 37).
With regard to inks, it is almost a foregone conclusion that the ready prepared variety in bottles will be used. The old custom of grinding one’s owq from stick Chinese is happily no longer necessary, for the result is not so good as that now available commercially. There are many varieties, and it will be found that one artist in his time likes many of them, and many artists like none of them at any time. The ideal drawing ink has yet to come ; of all artists’ materials it is the least satisfactory at present. There are many pre- parations of the same stuff, and the “ fixed ” kinds all suffer
Fig. 36.
54
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
from the same complaints — accumulating on nibs, wrecking same, liability to thicken if exposed to air, necessity for distilled water for dilution — all due to the nature of the original materials which must be used to give the dead blackness essential before everything in pen drawing.
A list of the better known inks will perhaps be useful : there is very little to chose between them, but Rowney’s “ Kandahar helps me to keep an even temper better than most, so I will place it first in order of service, merely on that account, without attempting to place ” the others. Higgins’ (American), Bourgeois’ Encre de Chine Liquide ” (French), Pelican (German), Winsor & Newton’s, Reeve’s, Madderton’s, the last-named obtainable only from Madderton & Co., Loughton, direct. Maginnis, in his book on “ Pen Drawing,” mentions another American ink — Carter’s ; but I have not encountered it, and his only recommendation of it is that it is put up for sale in bottles which do not tip over on the slightest pretext.
Chinese white is the best corrective other than actual erasion, and is obtainable in bottles or tubes. In using this it will be found that it is always best to put a small quantity out on a very clean saucer and apply with a very clean and fairly new brush. It is a very unfortunate habit with many to take the white straight from the bottle or tube neck with any brush and run the risk of “ graying ” the entire contents.
White has many uses in addition to its corrective help, the most obvious being to add pattern to black surfaces by drawing over solid ink or massed line areas with a brush or pen charged with Chinese white.
The equipment necessary for successful practice in pen drawing depends much on the scope of the work to be under- taken ; but there are many things additional to pens, ink, and paper which every artist will need. A table of some kind on which to draw is one. The old idea of this was a fairly large table with a drawing board tilted to a fixed angle resting upon it. The new idea is the studio drawing table with adjustable top and shelves at a lower level for materials. The table idea is discredited as not conducive to the greatest efficiency ; the temptation it offers to load the space round the actual drawing board with irrelevant books, papers, and odd materials is too much for the average artist’s power of resistance. The specially made table entirely kills this “ collector ” habit in any artist,
MATERIALS
SS
forcing him for the good of his soul to concentrate on the drawing in hand, with no conflicting interests or worrying interference with the freedom of his hands. Books of reference,
Fig. 38. — Part of a Drawing by GEORGE WHITELAW, showing the per- formance of a Pen under the Pressure of Quick, Sure Strokes to express Folds.
or anything else thicker than a photograph or rough sketch, rmcst be arranged on a separate table drawn up beside the artist’s desk and easily pushed out of the way when finished
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
56
with. Unconscious of sufferings nobly borne under the old system of chaos, it is difficult for the experienced artist to realise the relief "which the possession of one of these desks ’’ can give. The student who starts with one is fortunate. There are several makes on the market. Messrs J. Bryce Smith Ltd., 1 17 Hampstead Road, make one which in their own words is “ roomy, rigid, simple, and cheap,’* and will take all the materials needed with drawing board, 31 by 23 in., for £4.
Failing the attainment of this most useful accessory, with its neat, trim, and workman-like appearance as a constant invitation to sit down and create masterpieces, it is necessary to have a drawing board at least 31 by 23 in. in size, and preferably with an attached rest on one of its longer edges, lilting it at an angle of about 15° with the table ; if a greater angle is desired occasionally, this can be supplemented with wooden blocks at each end.
In choice of a board, the obvious advantage of a hard surface for drawing upon must be weighed together with the necessity of getting drawing pins into it and subsequently out of it. Very close grain in wood indicates slow growth, and has a tenacity which makes it difficult to pin drawings to it. Many old boards show a surface studded with steel — ^the driven-in remains of drawing pins which shed their heads in response to vain attempts to get them out.
The drawing table or desk should be placed at right angles to a window, facing north for preference, and in sitting at it the light should fall from the left side to obviate shadows from the hand falling on the drawing in progress. It is not advisable to face the light directly in working.
An outfit of mathematical instruments will be necessary. Compasses — a separate pair for ink and pencil work is advisable to avoid the waste of time and temper in changing the parts. Springbows (smaller compasses with spring outwards instead of screw hilt for opening) — a full set of three. Ruling pen with lifting side for cleaning.
A pair of proportional compasses is occasionally useful for exact reduction or enlargement of detail from sketches, etc. They are set with a screw so that all measurements taken by the points at one end are proportionally reduced and registered by another set of points at the opposite end.
A T-square with shifting head is useful, as it enables the
MATERIALS
57
artist to get parallel lines in several directions. Its blade should be the same length or slightly less than that of the board it is to serve. Two celluloid (or transparent composition) set-squares, 45° and 6o°, are needed for setting off lines at angles to the T-square.
Cut curves in the same material as the transparent set-
Fig. 39. — A “ Woodcut ” Technique for Decorative Work can be achieved with
a Broad Nib.
squares are used for drawing exact curves with the ruling pen ; they are splendid when the same curve has to be made in opposite directions. Balanced against the T-square and reversed to a marked point, they give the compensating curves with absolute accuracy, without effort on the part of the artist.
For measurements, a ruler marked in inches and a scale of centimetres and millimetres are required. They should be separate, as it is very annoying to find that when both are on one, the scale required is very seldom the first to turn up for use.
58 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
Drawing pins are usually employed to fasten the card to the board, which soon gets full of holes if constantly used for draw- ings of varying sizes. These holes do not matter if thick card only is used on the board ; but if paper is used, the pen has a trick of finding them through it, and it is wise to put card under the paper to get a safe surface. Some artists keep a piece of card on their drawing boards, and instead of drawing pins they use gummed paper to attach their working card or paper to this blank sheet, which is pinned at the extreme corners and needs renewing only at lengthy intervals.
WTien a glass “ board ” is used, this gum-paper method of attachment is the only one possible. Some artists distrust the power of wood to alter and get away from true angles, so for very accurate work they work on plate glass, which cannot alter very much and is also very pleasant to work on, the T-square running beautifully along its polished edge. A good method of working for those who habitually use the same size of boards is to glue to the glass a cardboard frame made from cuttings of these same boards, and large enough on the inside to admit of easily dropping in or taking out the boards for drawings ; very light gummed paper attachments only are needed when this is done, and they may be cut through with a penknife for removing the drawings.
India-rubber is rather a worry to the user of surface boards ; the ideal rubber is another of the things that are very hard to find. It is always best to use soft white rubber for removing pencil marks. The right way to use rubber is very lightly on the drawing and more heavily on a spare piece of paper, which means that the unwanted pencil is gently lifted out of the way instead of distributed over the surface in a fine film of grey. Soiled rubber may be washed in soap and water if care is taken that it is thoroughly dry before it is put into use again. An ordinary typewriter eraser is employable for taking out light ink lines, but the disturbed surface must be made smooth before working upon it once more. This may be done with an illuminator’s agate burnisher, which must be absolutely clean and dry, or it will crush dirt into the grain of the board. A safer method is to keep sheets of thin, smooth bank paper to put over these roughened places while they are pressed smooth by rubbing with the handle or blade-back of a penknife.
A reducing glass, giving a greatly reduced version of the
MATERIALS
59
drawing seen through it, is a necessity. It gives an approxi- mate idea of how the work will come in the size it is to appear
Fig. 40.— By JOHN PIMLOTT.
Clever contrasts in line by employment of two or more nibs.
when reproduced. By it every line is reduced in exact pro- portional thickness to its original. In photo reproduction some thickening in the lines usually happens, so it is not a bad fault
6o
THE ART ‘OF PEN DRAWING
if some of the thin lines in drawing appear over-fine under the reducing glass. It is practically impossible to get a line so thin that the camera will not reproduce it in printable form. A rectangular unmounted lens is the most useful, but the usual circular kind is cheaper and should not be less than 2^ in. in diameter.
Pencils are extremely important to the pen draughtsman. A responsive pencil assists ideas as much as a refractory one hinders their flow. Badly made pencils behave badly under the sharpening process, and a fairly good test of the grade is its ability to stand cutting sharply away from the holder as in the act of whittling a stick, which is the cleanest way to sharpen, as it sends the black powder away from the hand instead of dis- tributing it over the thumb and forefinger, which happens in the case of cutting towards the body. A pencil which breaks repeatedly under the whittling method is generally unfit for artists* use; but the test must be conducted with a very sharp knife ; any pencil will break if it is pushed off instead of cut.
The finding of a suitable pencil is therefore a serious matter to the student. Some can work best with hard pencils, others with soft ; some do everything with the medium grade, H.B., or writing pencil. The best way is to keep a range available, ready sharpened, and including every grade that is likely to be useful. For preliminary studies all will probably bo needed in various ways, but for actual work on the board that is to be inked in, an H. or H.B. is generally best, and should be used very lightly. F. H. Townsend’s pencil drawings from his first studies, when finished on Bristol board and ready for working' over in ink, were models of what should l^e done, having the appearance of highly finished silver-point drawings. They must have given him pure joy in the actual translation into pen and ink, for with every detail of drawing and com- position settled, he could concentrate on technique and fine tone effects.
The pencil grades ” range from 6 B. to 6 H., very soft to very hard. The B. grades include i, 2, 3, 4, and 6 B., and are mainly for sketching and preliminary studies on paper. F. and H.B., the medium grades, contain leads of firm texture useful on either rough or smooth surfaces ; both are suitable for drawing on Bristol board. The harder varieties, H. and H.H., are also useful for work on drawings to be afterwards inked,
MATERIALS
6i
Fig. 41. — The use of a very fine line gives this drawing almost the quality of an etching.
By E. H. BLAMPIEP.
62
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
but great care must be exercised that they do not indent the surface and spoil it. The 3, 4, and 6 H. grades are mainly for mechanical and architectural drawing, but all can be used on Bristol board for very precise work if the above precaution is observed. It is not easy to get a good cheap pencil, and there are several makes of reliable quality such as “ Venus ” and “ Koh-i-noor,” which guarantee care in their production and render the search for cheapness hardly worth the candle.
It is often essential to transfer a preliminary sketch to the final card, necessitating transfer paper of some kind. One method is to cover the back of the sketch with pencil, rubbed to form a solid mass surface, and trace the sketch through on to the card ; this is quite useful, but also wasteful in time, so most artists make a sheet of thin transfer paper by covering very thin bank paper with powdered black or blue pencil, thoroughly rubbed in to its surface on one side. Carbon transfer paper must not be used, as it gives a line which is liable to photograph as well as ink, and is almost indelible.
Tracing paper is necessary for transferring parts from rough sketches, duplicating detail, and tracing drawings which have gone wrong to the extent of making a new start advisable. The best way to trace from thin paper is to hold it up to a window and apply the tracing paper to the back, thereby tracing the drawing on its face in reverse. The advantage of this is that the tracing can then be rubbed down direct on to the drawing card by pressure on the back of the tracing and appears in its correct form.
Finished pen drawings may be made on good tracing paper. The older kinds were too greasy to hold ink properly ; it would , either spread or refuse to make continuous lines, but good modern tracings give a perfectly clean, reproducible line. It is possible, therefore, to make pen drawings direct from photo- graphs or rough sketches by superimposing tracing paper and working on it, a method which is much appreciated in commercial’ work. When using a photograph in this way, it is best to have a duplicate copy, as visibility is low under the tracing paper, and the extra copy is wonderfully explanatory.
A finished drawing on tracing paper should be either cut to the exact size and mounted on stout white card, or a mount should be cut to this size and used to cover the edges of the tracing paper left beyond the actual size required. In. m.QdPl;-'
MATERIALS 63
ing, some clear mountant is essential, otherwise stripes show unpleasantly and detract from the effect.
It is best to get tracing paper in rolls of 50 yards, which should be hung on wire or string through the centre so that the required quantity can be cut as needed. Pure white or bluish-white tracing is best ; the yellowish varieties are apt to deepen in colour, and are in every way unsuitable for artists’ use.
Pen Drawing on a Photographic Basis
The use of photography as a basis for any kind of drawing is quite legitimate. In pen drawing it happens to be specially useful, as the ink used, being waterproof, makes the bleach print process possible.
In this process, which is much used by commercial and press artists, the actual drawing is made on a photographic print which is subsequently removed by “ bleaching,” leaving the pen lines on perfectly clean and undisturbed card.
Numerous examples will be found in the trade papers of the various applications of the process, which is almost indispensable in engineering, motoring, cycling, and kindred types of illustra- tion demanding great accuracy to enable interested parties to distinguish vital points in make. The advertisement for a commodity or article is generally illustrated by what appears to the uninitiated as a marvellous pen drawing, with every mechanical detail in place and important points duly stressed in a way that would be practically impossible without the photographic basis.
The bleach print method is very simple "in working. A light print of the photograph to be used is made on paper suitable for pen work. Any small print can be enlarged to a workable size by the ordinary enlarging apparatus. The drawing is then made over this print in any medium that is quite waterproof, and when finished the photographic basis is removed. If the paper is not flat enough for working in comfort it can be mounted on cardboard and unmounted by soaking in water before it is submitted to the baths necessary in the bleaching process.
Any photographic firm will make a bleach print to any desired size from a photo or snap, and will do the bleaching out after the drawing is completed ; but the process is fairly simple,
64 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
especially to those familiar with photographic developing and printing. It is just possible to draw over an ordinary print if fuller’s earth is first dusted on to give a bite for the pen and ink on the polished surface ; but it is rather difficult to see how the drawing is going over such a strong ground, and the result when this is removed is apt to be very disappointing. There- fore it is best to get specially light prints on thick paper, as this saves mounting and facilitates the work of selection from the abundant detail.
The actual bleaching-out process is simple, according to the formula given by Bernard Foster Stokes in “ Drawing,” and chemical or photographic knowledge is not necessary in carrying it out : —
Two developing dishes must be obtained large enough to take the largest drawing contemplated ; one pound of hypo- sulphite of soda, commonly known as hypo, and an ounce of potassium ferrocyanide, which is generally in a small glass bottle. Both chemicals are in -the form of crystals, and the total cost is about a shilling.
Take a pint dish and half-fill it with water ; into this put about two teaspoonfuls of hypo. When this has dissolved, add potassium crystals until the solution becomes a deep yellow colour. This gives the bleach, which must be mixed fresh and used immediately. Place the print in it, face downwards ; it can afterwards be reversed and the disappearance of the photo- graph observed. The dish should be gently rocked to assist the operation, and the print allowed to remain in the solution for a few minutes after this is apparently completed to ensure against future trouble from stains not immediately apparent.
When all signs of the photograph have disappeared, the process is complete. Transfer the sketch (as it now is) to a second dish, which should be filled with clean water for washing. This should be carried out by several changes of water for from twenty to thirty minutes, and must be conscientiously done, otherwise stains will appear and discoloration take place in the near future.
Drying can be done by hanging up or by laying the sketch face up on a clean blotting pad. It can afterwards be mounted and the drawing touched up, if necessary. To mount, place on a piece of glass, face down ; damp the back, remove surplus moisture, and apply a gop^i paste mountant, working from
materials
the centre to the edges. Remove from the glass to the mount, again place the glass over the sketch, and apply even pressure for a few moments.
The success of the drawing thus obtained depends on the technical skill of the draughtsman ; but the commercial advantages of the process are obvious in great saving of time and the possibility of showing elaborate things adequately in papers where tone blocks are unprintable.
Figs. 42 and 43. — Pen Decorations by MILNER GRAY.
CHAPTER V
STYLE IN PEN DRAWING
The desirable qualities implied in the word “ style ” in pen drawing are those closely connected with the right expression of one’s ideas within the strict limita- tions of the medium.
The folly of reaching out for marked characteristics to develop an exotic style is demonstrated by understanding study of the work of acknowledged masters. The sense of style is in all sincere work simply because it is sincere, and every student who is strong enough to rely entirely upon his own conceptions has already the assurance of impressing upon others that sense of personal authority which underlies style.
Style may be defined as immediate evidence that the drawing is executed with a pen by some one understanding the use of pens to convey personal impressions or abstract ideas.
Artists speak of the “ style ” of other artists as their “ hand- writing ” because, like handwriting, it is a recognisable expres- sion of personality. The precise moment when style degenerates into mannerism is when the artist is consciously seeking the blatancy of “a style ” instead of developing unconsciously the subtlety of “ style ” from the art of selection.
A child exercises selection in showing us things as they appear to the unsophisticated mind. Consequently a child’s drawing has style, while that of a sophisticated and incapable artist has not.
The whole art of pen drawing is selection ; the recognition and separation of essential stimulants to the imagination of the audience. The work of the artist presents vast spaces, .great buildings, masses of figures, accurate characterisation and beautiful form, humour— in %ct, the whole aspect of the world, actual and potential, in a few instinctive lines, with “ style,” because he alone sees instinctively where the interest is
67
68
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
concentrated that “ makes ” the picture, and is literally able to bring things home to us by the supreme skill which enables him to erect a slight but magical scaffolding for our imagination to build upon.
The pen draughtsman who would excel must remain a student, using his pen in the most direct and workmanlike manner as a means to a definite end, which is the record of an impression or an idea. It is well to realise that the pen is an excellent servant, working faithfully and well under a control capable of restraining the tendency to exhibit its paces and become master.
The usual convention of pen drawing is a treatment of selective outline accentuated by massed lines to indicate the infinite tone gradations in nature. It is, of course, possible to dispense with perceptible outline and rely entirely upon planes indicated by gradations of tone ; but the method is obviously less satisfactory because the best characteristic of pen drawing is missing, and the sense of effort to do without something which should be used will be evident in the result.
The main reason for the employment of outline is the great reduction in size the various planes which constitute a picture must undergo in translation to card or paper of manageable proportions. The strengths and varieties of line that may be used to build this outline are inexhaustible, as new men who seriously adopt the pen as a means of expression arc constantly showing us.
It cannot be too strongly insisted upon that a pen line which requires consideration for its own sake is a handicap to expres- sion. A workmanlike and therefore good line must be the direct result of an artist's search for the easiest way to convey his meaning ; nothing good will result from misguided efforts to invent an interesting line as such, apart from this, its obvious, mission.
Mannerisms, even original mannerisms, are tiresome ; but at second hand they become blatant and unbearable. For example, the wonderful architectural work of Herbert Railton (see Fig. *8i) suffered very much from his own amazing facility in handling, the result of a huge output of similar drawings. Railton was an extremely rapid executant, and his passion for ** texture " led him to reduce the various elements composing his drawings to a kind of shorthand which fascinated by its
STYLE IN PEN DRAWING
69
very cleverness. The making of a drawing by Railton in his later years was comparable to the effort of an expert compositor, •putting together with the utmost ease and sureness a set of symbols selected automatically. This fatal facility, unfortun- ately, attracted lesser men to try the same methods, and a school of imitators arose, led by Holland Tringham, copying with the utmost faithfulness everything that was obvious in Railton’s work, and producing thereby soulless drawings which the great vogue enjoyed by Railton enabled them to sell to editors who felt it better to have a bad Railton than be out of the running altogether.
An amusing instance of the blind confidence reposed by these copyists in the infallibility of their inspiration is to be found in their wholesale use of Railton’s “ dot ” mannerism ; so marked that it became the unofficial signature of all these disciples. In the original instance it was the actual result of speedy execution : Railton would rush lines at a terrific rate and in terminating the stroke his pen would strike the paper somewhere and make a distinct dot ; this was seized as easy and effective by the copyists, and dots became an 'integral feature of sham “ Railtons.”
For the greatest exponent of " style ” in pen drawing we must go to the Spanish genius Daniel Vierge, born in 1851, and trained in the art schools of Madrid, having Madrayo, the painter, as a master, and showing outstanding ability from the first in the school competitions. He illustrated his first book, “ Madrid by Night,” in 1867, and journeyed to Paris to study painting two years later. He did not study painting, for the simple reason that the Franco-Prussian War created a demand for neatly efficient pen draughtsmen on the Paris papers, and Vierge was launched on his life-long connection with the Monde Illustri and Vie Moderne. Books illustrated by Vierge include Poe’s “ Tales,” Michelet’s “ History of France,” some of Victor Hugo’s books, and Quevado’s “ Le Grand Toscagno.”
Vierge used a curious staccato line that grew directly from an intense desire to convey an impression of actuality. It succeeds in this, its first duty to the multitude, and in addition is a source of delight and inspiration to artists and connoisseurs for all time. The patient analysis of a series of Vierge drawings will impress upon a student the invaluable lesson that is to be found in all superlative work — ^the hard fact that achievement
70 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
is built upon effort ; in Vierge’s case, stupendous industry and bravery (see Fig. 45).
Among the modern school of landscape men Joseph Pennell is a stylist near to Vierge in actuality and brevity of expression. Like the earlier master, he shows the uncanny power to tear
a
Fig. 45.— By VIERGE.
The Spanish master whose work has influenced most illustrators.
out of a complicated composition everything that can be spared and reveal to us the esseritials of its loveliness. It looks so simple as Pennell does it ; all his experience, his intense interest in nature, and desire to bring beauty to others, unite in unique clarity of vision and a superb power of presentation that is the very epitome of style (see Fig. 72).
John Fothergill, writing on “ The Teaching of Drawing
STYLE IN PEN DRAWING
71
at the Slade School,” says on this very controversial subject : “ There are drawings which make us feel that the draughtsman has been learning at every touch, or if they be not direct from nature they will show a constant effort to represent observations previously made from nature. To the eye accustomed to stylised forms in art and formal style, these drawings may appear other than beautiful. But they have beauty. So long as the artist is making discoveries his work, though it may puzzle or irritate some, will be eloquent to others who have experienced the emotion of form. Now, the only forms we know are those of nature ; therefore, if nature is beautiful, this work of research is the only kind of drawing which can be beautiful. To determine which forms are beautiful in nature and which are not is a work for the theorist and novelist. The lover of natural form knows no such distinction. The painter is not judged by his selection of this or that effect of light, but only by the truth of his representation. Nor, I think, can the draughtsman be logically judged by the forms he selects, but by his representation of them.
“It often occurs that a draughtsman becomes content after a time with what he has learnt from nature, perhaps feeling that he can learn no more ; he proceeds to work with better confidence after an arbitrary manner of his own. He con- fessedly sacrifices the learned and truthful representation of the forms of nature to the attainment of a ‘ style ’ ; is praised for what is called a sense of line, penmanship, and other peculi- arities. Each stylist has his ‘ style ’ which is peculiar to himself. Their forms do not relate to nature but to the stylist who did them, so the searching student cannot find in them an explana- tion of his own difficulties or aspirations. If stylists be not over-scrupulous in their renderings of nature, by what feelings or experiences of our own can they be judged or appreciated, since we know of no other forms than those of nature ? Is the student to acquire style from nature or from the work of a previous stylist ? Are we to get our ideas of life from life itself, or from what has been written about it ? Plainly from nature and from life. Style, then, cannot be acquired by the student in imitating the habits and mannerisms of stylists. ,
“ If the capricious and ignorant representations of nature do not seem to deserve the term style, what is style in drawing, ^n^ i^ow c^n the student hope to attain it ? There have beep^
STYLE IN PEN DRAWING
73
master draughtsmen of every time and country who by their own words, as well as their works, are known to have been infinitely respectful to the form of every detail in nature. Their drawings always recall to our minds reality as we, ourselves, have seen it, i,e., if we have studied form from nature and not from pictures. The drawing of a hand, for instance, by Hokusai, Rembrandt, or Ingres revives in us our own impres- sions of the forms and aspects of real hands. In a word, there is manifest in all these drawings, whatever the difference of medium or superficial appearance, an entire dependence on the forms of nature. Hence it is impossible for us to imagine they were conceived and executed with the conscious effort to obtain some independent and formal * style.’ The style they plainly have can spring only from this common quality, their truthful and well understood representation of the forms of nature. Style^ then^ is the expression of a clear understanding of the raw material from ivhich the artist makes his creation. In drawings this is the forms of nature. Without this clear understanding no style is possible. Now, as there is only one way of understandii:ig one thing, there can be, therefore, only one manner by which it can be rightly expressed. But it does not follow from this that, because the manner of Michelangelo is different from that of Durer, one or both show a lack of understanding. The understanding ‘ of no two people, by reason of their different temperaments and constitution, lies in exactly the same direction. Nature, being so much raw material, is inexhaustible in the conceptions and moods she gives ; hence there are as many manners as there are individuals. No two masters will draw even a finger with the same inter- pretation of what they understand in it ; how much farther must they diverge in the drawing of a whole figure or landscape ! The simplest incident in life will be so. full of varied import that no two people will give the same account of it, yet each account will- be, and also sound, true, so long as the narrator limits himself to telling the truth as he understands it.
Therefore, to attempt to employ the manner of another would be to presuppose in yourself a perfect coincidence of temperament (i.e.^ understanding of things), which, especially if you were not under his immediate influence, would be in- conceivable. Your work would be quickly esteemed unspon- taneous and false by those who know nature and the truth of
74
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
your original. Style, as understanding, cannot be imitated ; it is one and the same thing in all the manifestations of art, thought, and action, and whenever there is a manner of express- ing things (the forms and colours of nature, or the spiritual and intellectual events of life) which does not show a spontaneous and immediate understanding of them, that manner is artificial and spurious, and by its pretence is misleading* to the student. So long as a work is created within the limits of the under- standing, however narrow, and no further, it will have style. To act beyond your understanding is to pose, and such conduct is openly lacking in style to those who know better. Whether this or that manner does show understanding let each man judge according to his own knowledge and personal experience of the events expressed. By this reasoning we can determine what style is, and how alone it can be attained ; but owing to the varied interests, and often the perversity of people, style can never be universally recognised.
“ But there are many so-called principles that profess to teach the student style. There are inculcated into the bewildered student terms such as ‘ the ideal,’ ‘ classical severity,’ ‘ selection,’ ‘ purity of line,’ ‘ tradition,’ ‘ the grand manner,’ ‘ good pen- manship,’ ‘ Greek,’ and so on. These are qualities which are found not in nature but in finished works of art ; they are discovered second hand, so to speak; and they who preach them to students do not regard the fact that the artists who were first in the field with such qualities, however gradually they were developed, could not have had before them any examples or teaching of this kind. For instance, there are some who recommend the student to assume an archaic or primitive simplicity, etc. They little consider that archaic and primitive art was without the teaching of a foregoing advanced art and critical formulae, and that therefore whatever qualities we admire in it must have been drawn from, and developed solely from, the observation of nature. So to teach the inquisitive and ingenuous observation and understanding of nature would be the only principle by which the student might be brought to acquire archaic qualities. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that the student, however much he may be persuaded of the importance of aesthetic and critical notions (the ideal, the essential, etc.), when he sits face to face with nature cannot apply them if l^e would, that is, if he desires to make pse of hi§
STYLE IN PEN DRAWING
75
model and cares for it at that moment more than for works of art/’
This short extract from a lengthy and carefully developed thesis is given because it emphasises the warning that “ style ” is the triumphal arch at the top of the steps of achievement and mastery in pen work ; it is not the slightest use trying to get to it without first climbing.
The later trend of Mr F othergill’s article develops the theory of three-dimensional drawing as taught at the Slade, where ordinary methods of measurement and the use of the plumb line are discouraged as dealing with two dimensions only, students being taught to
estimate by un- Fig- 47— Book Illustratioii by GARTH JONES,
aided vision the
true relation of length, breadth, and depth (thickness), and express them in true relationship.
The old two-dimensional method is at the Slade called “ copying,” and Mr Fothergill gives as an illustration of the method and its inevitable results, a parallel from music : " If a man bom deaf were taught to read music on the piano, he would never be ftble to give ?in . individus^l interpretation of
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
76
expression to a piece, because he could have no idea of sounds and tones and their values. His playing would be, to those who are musical, utterly insignificant. He is playing by sight and not by sound. If it were possible to instruct him where to give ‘ expression,’ the interpretation would not be his own but his master’s. This man could never be a musician. For the same reason the man who draws by sight and abstract measurements, and not instinctively and wholly by touch, is drawing like a parrot, and can never be a draughtsman. . . .
The individuality shown in the works of great draughtsmen is due to their very different ideas of touch. Words will not, of course, express the subtler differences between one draughtsman’s work and another’s. But such phrases as ‘ delicate touch,’ ‘ rough handling,’
‘ nervous feeling,’ etc., as applied to drawings, must be understood in their literal sense. They tell us the manner in which the artist visually touches or handles form. Both the detail as well as the entire character of a master’s work is determined by his temperament : that is, his peculiar
A ivir. <|.y.- — maaiv uy * - - _ /
M. WATSON WILLIAMS, understanding of the forms of nature. Style may be evident in the • • • The construction of any object simplest device and is not or scene in nature, indescribable killed by fun. in words, and vague enough, maybe,
in our minds if we try to recollect it, is yet the first thing that strikes us, and the first and only cause of any appreciation that we may have of it. Therefore, if the draughtsman’s work is adequately to represent what he appreciates, he must not occupy himself with giving numerous striking properties, but he must give a single con- ception of the object’s character, viz., its construction.”
Mr Fothergill’s is the clearest explanation possible of the great principle of expressionism as opposed to the futility of making maps of things seen at a given moment. The striving to get understanding of the figure as a corporate whole is made clear as the right end and aim of the would-be figure draughts- man in a few words : “ A drawing of a human figure must
STYLE IN PEN DRAWING
11
express one conception, viz., the conception of its character or construction, which must be as single in conception and ex- pression as a drawing of a square box.”
The old admonition to look before you leap ” may be translated into think before you draw,” for art is a matter of intellectual selection rather than accurate transcription, and a drawing of a figure must be a blend of attitude, action, and proportion, the concentration of the raw material which nature offers in three dimensions into one, if it is to stand as a work of art.
The student, therefore, in drawing a model or any living object, must force his intellect to form a definite conception of. the ^‘attitude, action, and pro- portion ” of the model, which is in itself a com- plex, rather than a unity, of form.
“In a word, if it be by the corporeous construction of an entire form that we know and appreciate it, is it not by presenting this in its complete isolation that the slightest sketch of a master is of high value, whilst the elaborately finished work of the student without a conception is of no value at all ? ”
One final quote must be made from the end of Mr Fother- gill’s article as it sums up the whole question of “ style ” in a definite and inspiring instruction : “In drawing, the matter is a corporeous unity ; hold this, and the line and shading will follow without you or your critics being conscious of it ; they will follow only in correspondence with the fullness of your conception.”
Fig. 49. — ^Art is a matter of intellectual selection. Drawing by HELEN DRYDEN.
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THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
This apparently simple instruction contains the secret of great achievement in drawing of every kind. But in giving the last short extract, much preliminary qualification has been omitted which anticipates the inevitable inquiry as to how the student is to reach that happy state of ability to visualise a subject and mentally subdue its complications into a com- pletely satisfying unity which he can convey to others by drawing.
Inevitably we come again to the word “selection.” The
student’s mind nm be selective and culnvated. The selective power will be determined by contact with nature and concen- trated effort to tear from her profusion the elements of beauty, using her as the designer uses flowers — selecting and simplifying to the requirements of a pre- conceived and precious effect of pattern. The cultivated mind in art is achieved by storing right impressions both from nature and the rendering of nature by great masters. Intensive analysis Fig. so.— By H. M. BATEMAN. of the outlook which
A new and peculiarly EngUsh technique fOS^ltS in masterly work which is always close to nature. is better than the Study
of mere technique from the actual work ; but there is nothing against the student’s efforts to understand how the conceptions of these men were simplified in actual rendering into line drawings. The adoption of actual technique is even permissible, providing it be not allowed to influence the individuality of the complete synthesis.
In pen drawing technical problems are chiefly concerned with the representation of light and shade. Nature’s scale of colour, when represented as tone and not left for the imagination to fill in to expressive outline, is suggested by lines of varying thickness, drawn more or less
STYLE IN PEN DRAWING
79
closely together, or crossed in various directions on white paper.
Outline is non-existent in nature ; but as a convention in drawing, especially with the pen, the necessity for it is so apparent that it is almost universally used either for the entire construction of the drawing, or to put the necessary definition into light areas left in full tone drawings, with the least possible disturbance of these as white patches in the scheme of pattern.
It is generally a mistake to attempt the elaborate division of tone in pen work ; but there are notable exceptions in the landscape work of F. L. Griggs and the wonderful figure compositions of Gilbert Wilkinson, which shout defiance at the dictum of Mr Charles Maginnis that “ the chief element of style is economy of means.” Maxime Lalanne is given as an example of this economy carried to its extreme in landscape, and Forain occurs to one as a parallel illustration in figure- work (see Fig. 51). Both are excellent; but the success of each depends entirely on splendid drawing and almost uncanny selective power attained by experiment over a long period of
8o
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
drawing from nature. Without immense power such drawing is impossible, and the student must realise that extreme simplicity is reached by methods anything but simple.
A definition more immediately useful than Mr Maginnis’s is suggested to students in a development of the familiar ariis
est cehre artem into “ the chief element of style is the conceal- ment of cflFort.” This leads to the same place, but points out the safer road on which all the great men have travelled, Phil May being, per- haps, the most conspicuous.
First of the modern school of humorous pen draughtsmen, Phil May be- came fatnous as a caricaturist; but he is much better described as a laughing philosopher.
A Ixumorist
with a strange insight into humanity, his estimate of its frailty was shrewd but ever kindly, expressed for a grateful public to laugh at, yet sympathise with. He was lovable, and hi? quaint subjects became lovable in turn.
The extreme economy of line by which his effects were produced covered much preparatory work (see Fig. 52). Phil May was a slow and desperately serious worker, building up his drawings from innumerable sketches and notes as carefully as if the design was for a great histqrical painting.
Fig. 52.-^PHIL MAY.
STYLE IN PEN DRAWING
8i
I-FOVND-NO
TRVTHIN
ONEBEPOKT
ATLEAST’
Fig. S3- — A Book Illustration by BYAM SHAW.
6
82
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
Preliminary to the actual execution in ink, he had before him a pencil drawing of considerable elaboration, worked up from these studies of people and things jotted down in sketch books, on odd scraps of paper, or more elaborately in black chalk on brown paper, with high lights in white, or as studio studies in red chalk.
On this pencil drawing he began a drastic process of elimination ; every touch that could be spared, went ; the elaborate scaffolding had served its purpose in building a perfect thing, and could be taken away to reveal a drawing
wonderfully simple, yet com- pletely satisfying to both connoisseur and layman.
The two figures herewith (Fig. 52) are typical examples of his genius in the delineation of character, and show his method of suggesting clothes in a few lines of surpassing significance.
Between the extremes of simplicity and elaboration of method there is a wide choice of individual expression. Joseph Pennell, in his landscapes and Fig. S4.*-ELEAN0R FORTESCUE architecture, strikes a very happy BRICKDALE. . medium, and Gilbert Wilkinson
in his extremely clever story and joke drawings, also shows a happy blend of fine drawing with a deceptively easy looking pen technique, so fresh, clean cut, and crisp that it has the pleasing quality of playfulness as an element in a style of obviously rare distinction.
Study of the work of Lalanne or Pennell, Townsend, Forain, or Wilkinson will repay the student, providing it is undertaken in a spirit of investigation and not with the intention of mimicry. It is never worth while to mimic the style of anybody, however fine their work. See first how others found themselves, then set about the great adventure of discovering yourself. It is perfectly right to take hints, one or many, from other men's methods, but neither right nor politic to adopt the particular combination of methods employed by any one man and constituting his style.
Fio. 57. — The Figure in Illustration.
CHAPTER VI
THE FIGURE, FACES, AND HANDS
VERY few English artists have seriously exjploifeed.tihe treatment of the nude in pen drawing, and xi/ke exclude those who have used an outline conyention for more or less decorative drawings, the number is reduced almost to vanishing point in English work.
It is no simple matter to deal with the ‘subtleties of the human form in pen line, and this fact is mainly responsible for the apparent surrender to the quaiaif English prejudice against such drawings appearing in the presi.- In France the artist is more free to exercise his art, for there exists a niore enlightened public opinion on the aesthetics of the human form translated into t^rms of print. A distinct school of life draughtsmen has flourished in Paris since the latter half of the nineteenth centurn^ their talents almost exclusively devoted to the ‘representation of beautifub|women ^*||j^itely drawn, and amusingly presented. N.
Prominent nam^ among, these witty and accomplished Frenchmen whose work con3f€ls admiration for its compete artistry, are Auguste Roubillej CairRgle, Jean Veber, J^lin Testeraide, Louis Morin, Forain, Edouard Bourgeois, Jacques -Jl?' *3
84 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
Nam, Ferdinand Misti, Louis Icart, Gil Baer, Cheret, Pr^j^lan, Fabiano, A. Vallee, and Leonnec, all of whom are well worth study for their sympathetic line in dealing with the female form. Maxime Dethomas is another master, but in a different and stronger technique which emphasises anatomy and is therefore doubly interesting to the student.
Some of the best figure drawing in the world is to be found among the avowed humorous draughtsmen of the Continent. Felicien Rops and Heinrich Kley are examples of men whose knowledge of the figure is so complete that it presents no difficulties to them. Kley’s anatomical knowledge is so copious that structure flows from his pen, and every drawing is a tour de force that holds other artists breathless at the skill and knowledge displayed. He is also an expert in drawing com- plicated machinery, and delights in combining his accomplish- ments by representing the spirit of power controlling big machines, and even turning actual machinery into human forms which are often menacing, weird, and titanic, but on occasions quaintly amusing and fantastic. Kley’s work may be found in old numbers of Jugend ” in colour, wash, pen and ink, and combined line and wash, and may be usefully analysed by the student in search of methods of indicating structure.
In an essay on Painting and Drawing,” Max Klinger wrote : “ The pivot upon which all art turns, and the centre to which all its parts bear relation, is the human body. Every elaboration of style must in the end rest solely and alone upon the conception of the nude, for everything imaginable in sculpture as well as in painting, in architecture as well as in the applied arts, can be measured only in so far as it bears relationship to the human form.”
Heinrich Kley, more perhaps than any other artist of our time, demonstrates the truth of this dictum. To Kley the human body is paramount indeed, and the tremendous deter- mination that must have driven him in search of knowledge in the early stages of his career has resulted in a glorious efficiency that enables him to treat great problems with consummate ease. His imagination can soar to any height because he is sure of the technical accomplishment to interpret it adequately to the world.
The strongest recommendation is offered to the student to follow Kley’s example and get familiar with structure, simply
THE FIGURE, FACES, AND HANDS 85
because it makes things so much easier afterwards to know the why and wherefore of surface movements. It is an axiom of pen drawing that the less work put into an actual drawing, the more knowledge is required to know what to omit, so the student should not be deluded by the apparent simplicity of the work of men like those mentioned above into thinking that it is a simple matter because it looks slight and playful. That is the whole matter in a word, with the requisite knowledge the whole of one’s work can be playful and the killing effect of doubt eliminated from effort.
The anatomical knowledge of the sur- geon is not essential to the artist who needs knowledge of outer form and cen- tral support only.
It is perhaps better to know the names of bones and muscles, but it is not vital.
Artistic anatomy is best mastered by repeatedly \drawing first the skeleton from actuality in all kinds of positions, and then adding the musdles as they appear in these positions ; afterwards testing . one's /knowledge by anatomising direct from the model or from photographs.
Fig. 56 shows a direct pen rendering by E. J. Sullivan from a photograph of a posed model (Fig. 55), and reveals the work of a master hand in seizing on the essentials of the figure and adapting them to a very personal pen technique. Most students are scared of the direct use of pen in drawing from life, yet
Fig. 58. — ** Direct ” Pen Portrait by ART YOUNG.
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THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
many will use the pencil with exactly the same precision of line, perfectly happy in feeling that corrections can be made, although they would despise themselves if their hand failed to respond to their vision. Such brilliant draughtsmen have seen fit to substitute the pen for their pencil, and to find it even more responsive to the nervous work of following and interpolating in line the elusive contours of the human form.
Direct portraiture and caricature in pen and ink is the
4 S
Fig. 59. — Some Pen Methods of dealing with the Feminine Head.
I, 2, 3, and s by GILBERT WILKINSON. 4 by WILTON WILLIAMS.
most compelling route to acute observation and analysis of essential lines. The basis on which the successful portrait or caricature depends is the power to seize these essential lines without hesitation, in knowing exactly what it is that separates the individual countenance from every other. If this faculty is missing, it is indeed difficult to make portraits and absolutely hopeless to attempt caricature.
In working with such an unyielding and indelible instrument as a pen, the habit of Searching observation is acquired more rapidly than by careful tone sketching, in which the student waits and hopes for the planes to emerge
92
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
has a model constantly available in his own left hand, which can be studied as a right hand also by an ingenious arrangement of one or two mirrors.
The anatomy essential to drawing hands with authority can be mastered in an hour or two. After this it is merely a
Fig. 67.' — Head of the Modem Girl wonderfully interpreted by GILBERT WILKINSON.
matter of determined practice to find the necessary pen short- hand to suggest them in all positions.
The first tendency is to get too much detail^ especially in dealing with the fingers as a series of hooks in hanging, grasping, or pulling ; but this is a good fault in helping the student to discover by elimination just how much is necessary to convey an adequate impression of graceful tapering roundness in female and square muscular grip in male fingers.
THE FIGURE, FACES, AND HANDS
93
Once the power to work direct from the model in ink is acquired, it is quite usual for artists to revert to pencil as an indication of where the principal lines are to fall. There is no sanctity in any method, and the direct has only been so strongly advocated as the greatest incentive to decision of
i
Fio. 68.~-HANDS.
Drawn by JOHN AUSTEN in the woodcut manner for an advertisement.
The demand for well-drawn hands to show goods is constant with advertisers.
drawing. Many artists prefer to work' in pencil first and make a final selection and modification of their impressions in “ inking in.'
In planning “ figure compositions ” it is usual roughly to pencil the figures and accessories, alter their disposition until satisfactory, then proceed to draw laboriously from sketches
94
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
(again in pencil) until the whole thing is ready to turn into black and white, the whole process tending to induce that tired feeling long before the vital work begins.
For the student who finds joy in the virility of studies direct from life, there is another method, which is to scheme the composition roughly in charcoal, pose the models and make good pen drawings from them, then place these drawings under a sheet of thin but good white paper, arrange them exactly as they are to be and draw over them, filling in the accessories afterwards. The result is a much more vital affair than the usual slow progression gives on any but the most expert hands.
The best preparation for any artistic career is to be able to draw the figure with ease and authority ; everything is possible to those who can. It helps in everything, and in most careers in art means simply the difference between failure and success.
There is a certain vogue among dealers for excellent life drawings, and some artists have held exhibitions mainly composed of such in various mediums and found purchasers. A life study by Meninsky or Schwabe is certainly desirable, and of greater interest framed in the house of an appreciative con- noisseur than buried in the portfolio of its creator. It is good news that there is a public for drawings as such, and a new interest is promised in the range of exhibitions.
Fig. 68a.— Drawing of Old Cottages by E. H. NEW.
A simple and direct technique appropriate to the subject.
95
Fig. 69. — Cloth Fair. Portion of Drawing by F. L. GRIGGS, A.R.A.
96
CHAPTER VII
LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION
This is an occupation quite distinct from professional architects’ work, and as a branch of illustration has suffered more than any other from the competition of photography.
Editors of thirty years ago were in competition for drawings- by H. Railton, J. Pennell, Holland Tringham, R. Randall, Burke Downing, etc., showing places of immediate news ” value, as when royalty or distinguished people visited a provincial town or country house. This work has been almost entirely taken over by the press photographer, who is considerably cheaper and gives actuality ’’’ready for block-makirg in an hour or two.
The demand for landscape and architectural illustration at present is for books of travel, such as Macmillan’s ‘‘ Highways and Byways ” series ; and in advertising, for showing premises or location of factories, although there may be possibilities in the weekly papers of standing, the Sunday Times having published several series of Hanslip Fletcher’s artistic and convincing drawings of London streets and buildings.
There are a few journals dealing with automobiles, cycles, and travel which use pen drawings of landscape. F. Patterson’s work on ‘‘ Cycling,” for example, is well known, and a newer man, Sydney R. Jones, contributes good work to many technical papers, though making the almost inevitable plunge into etching. His style is exemplified in Fig. 77.
F. L. Griggs, A.R.A., is our most distinguished exponent of landscape pen drawing, with an almost incredible range of tones and variety of line, involving infinite labour and skill, which is amply repaid in the ‘‘quality” of his lighting and atmospheric effects. Griggs is now interested in etching, and treats his plates exactly like his pen drawings, which are pre- 7 97
Fig. 7o.-~By ADRIAN HERRINGTON. ♦
An architect’s sketch, “ Building the County Hall,” showing clever simplification of a complicated subject in pen and ink direct from nature.
ferable to the etchings, as the line is more free and the black ink gives a quality not equalled in the plate impressions.
Students can learn much from Griggs’s work in its sheer triumph over the resistance of materials. The impression given by his technique is that of reduction from large originals ; but this is not so, for his drawings are seldom large, and it is the extremely fine and clear pen work in them which creates the impression. ^
The Griggs ” here given (Tig. 69) is a portion only of a monumental drawing of ‘'Cloth Fair” made some years ago, It shows meticulous care for detail maintained without loss of breadth and atmosphere ; in fact, it is all study and calculation ; nothing is left to chance or accidental effects.
LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURAL
99
Fig. 71.— rain. By LEONARD SQUIRREL, A.R.E.
His treatment of white stone buildings against dark trees graduated sky tones is very characteristic ; but the “ St Albans bey ” and “ St Peter’s Church, St Albans,” in the Hertford- re “ Highways and B5rways,” are equally successful with towers toned against clear white light. The possibilities :ast shadows are shown in the “ Hoo End Kimpton ” draw- , and brilliant hot sunshine in that “ At Aspenden.” Con- 3ted dramatic effect as in ” St Ippolyt’s Church ” and the •ceful evening light in “ Farm at Knebworth ” show the ge of expression, and in ‘‘A Hertfordshire Lane,” “Minsden ins,” “Wymondley Magna — Morning,” and “Near Ayot Peter,” the various ways of dealing with foliage and light 1 shade in trees may be compared.
Architecture, magnificent or simple, lives in his work, one can get the spirit of its conception and materials as can, or realise so fully its strength and subtlety.
His early experiences in construction and professional erspectives ” for architects have given such thorough under- nding, that, in throwing off the restraints of the latter, he i and does revel in elaborate pen drawings of beautiful Idings, such as “ Hatfield House ” or “ Stansteadbury mor,” and quaint streets, as the ” Honey Lane, Hertford,” “ High Street, Hemel Hempstead.”
Leqnard -Squirrel, A.R.E., etcher, paJnter, and pastellist,
I a sympathetic pen technique, and is perhaps next to Griggs sincere treatment of nature. His buildings are entirely king in the architectural qualities of Griggs, but. his skies are I'reridered, and he can get quality, convincing perspective.
100
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
and fine colour into landscape which he keeps typically English (see Fig. 71).
Herbert Railton and Joseph Pennell have been held up as examples to students for more than thirty years, and there is something to learn from both. The young admirer of the
Fig, 72.— JOSEPH PENN^i'
A drawing probably photographic in inspiration, but with much spirit, colour, and suggestion of weather-worn textures.
LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURAL
103
excelled with a daintiness concealing infinite strength and resource (see Fig. 72).
If there is danger of confusing the mind with many masters in holding up three such different men as examples, it is more apparent than real, for it hurts no student to know the methods by which others have achieved success.
There is a decided tendency among the advanced ” artists to revert to the Prout tradition of pure line drawings of land- scape and architec- ture, entirely without shading. It is a very difficult technique, but decidedly inter- esting both to do and to see. The secret of success lies in suggest- ing enough for the spectator’s eye un- consciously to fill in the rest, and the ex- ecution of such draw- ings is an education in avoiding the crime Fig. 76.— By GILBERT WILKINSON,
of superfluous lines. Something may be learned from the light touch
E. H. New, work- employed by professional illustrators in suggest- ing somewhat in the architectural backgrounds.
old woodcut manner,
evolved an interesting pen technique for topographical illustra- tion which goes extremely well with the printed page in well- printed books, but fights with ordinary magazine type-setting.
New revived the idea of accurate but decoratively rendered panoramic views of towns and groups of buildings, and his drawings of Oxford Colleges are widely appreciated and treasured by Oxonians in memory of their college days. The
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THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
'6a. Elaboration in a Drawing by CHARLES WADE.
LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURAL 105
idea is a good one and worthy of extension, especially in these days of aerial photography when data is available without the hard work which cider drawings entailed.
A satisfactory topographical drawing entails loving care in preparation ; the hasty sketch, unless it is something instinct with genius, is quite out of place in view of the bigness and permanence of one’s subjects. A fairly good test of composition and general placing in such pen drawings is to consider them as works of art intended to stand alone ; to ask oneself if they are good enough for translation to the copper as etched plates, and reconsider them if they fail in the test, which is applicable to both the elaborate and simple methods.
There is a certain monumental quality which fits a drawing for the permanence of biting on metal. Railton seems to have missed this ; Pennell, on the other hand, thought naturally in terms of bitten copper, and his pen drawings were always potential etchings. The line of demarcation between drawings possible and impossible as etchings is perhaps fine, but it is there, and can be made useful in self-criticism.
?*IG. 78. — ^Architectural Drawing by J. B. FUDTON.
iple of the painstaking accuratgr necessary in this style of work.
Fig. 79.^ — ^Use of Architectural Forms in Book Decoration by ROBERT ATKINSON.
CHAPTER VIII
ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING
STRICTLY speaking, this title should embrace all drawings of architecture ; but by long usage it is associated with the profession, and implies the sketches made to show clients their buildings as they are to look in the built state.
The clean, brittle effect obtainable with the pen is peculiarly fitted for this purpose, and pen drawing, therefore, is a favourite method in use for those enticing imaginative efforts, which share with railway posters the distinction of flattering the place they represent without being traceably unlike it in any way.
Architectural drawing tends more and more towards simplicity and suggestion — more thought and fewer lines. The vogue of hard, exact perspectives and elevations, showing every joint and brick to scale, is dead, and for the student interesting only as history.
It is difficult to talk about architectural drawing without mention of Railton and Griggs, whose work is classified with that of Pennell, Rico, and Peixotto in method No. $, simply because they elected to work as book illustrators and adapted their methods to that end. Railton was trained as an architect, and F. L. Griggs was intimately associated with the technical side of architecture in doing perspectives before he turned first to book illustration and later to etching, the method which
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ro8 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
sooner or later attracts every architectural draughtsman of genius,
Railton’s name persists in association with a very definite standard of style which has influenced professional draughts- manship more than the manner of any other artist, and laid the foundation of the complete freedom now enjoyed.
F. L. Griggs, A.R.A., interprets the poetry and mystery of old buildings in a technique of monumental quality which gets as near perfection as is possible in this world. It is precise and almost geometrically correct, often intricate in line and tone, yet the effect is invariably one of superlative strength.
Peixotto, Rico, and Pennell are interpreters of the picturesque in landscape. Architecture is incidental to their aims, and treated entirely from the pictorial angle, with no passionate interest in it as structure. This gives their work a unity which is generally absent from the avowed architectural drawing, where the building is stressed at the expense of complete unison between foreground, trees, and sky.
An architect who is busy with actual building has little time to make drawings other than the working designs for these buildings, and so employs specialists whose business it is to interpret rough notes and scale drawings into fine perspectives, easily understood by clients and assessors in competitions. It must be conceded to the glory of these men that they often do much with very unpromising material, and many architects owe much of their reputation to the sea change which their ideas undergo in pen and ink by a brilliant draughtsman.
Life would be considerably sweeter for the perspective man if all the buildings he was called upon to visualise and present in realistic form were within measurable distance of beauty ; but, alas, they are generally pretty tough propositions to invest with charm of any kind, and it is easy to forgive the somewhat violent pen work sometimes used, in sheer desperation, to infuse a little life into Regent Street classic, the eternal shop elevations which form the bulk of modern practice.
Architectural perspectives are business propositions and seldom made for fun, hence the necessity to subordinate picturesque accessories to the building, unless the placing of this in beautiful country or garden setting will help it commercially.
It is a good notion for the student to first get ideas for
ARCHITECTURA.L DRAWING
the rendering of the various detaUs, surfaces,
that comprise entire drawings; m other words, t g
‘‘ vocabulary.” Railton’s work is of the utmost value a
* V.i=; “vocabulary” contains every possible expression
stage; his that he worked this overmuch
^ „„ Hea
IS no detriment if his drawing variations.
;LSt;^L'ugEfa“d shade, and dean shorthand method of
no
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
indicating stone joints, brickwork, doors, windows, and mould- ings. Most students will derive confidence from actually copying parts of his drawings and analysing the marvellous dexterity of hand by which they were put together.
Railton was an extremely rapid worker. His pencil lay-out for working on in ink was merely the roughest indication in soft lines of where he intended the big masses to fall in the finished state. For this he used soft pencils, some round and some of the Carpenter ” type with broad chisel surface, which evidently suggested his curious technique in dealing with trees. His pencil drawings were even more mannered than his pen work in their exaggerations of the picturesque and broken aspects of old buildings.
He revelled in the Tudor period, and in Hood's Haunted House," which he illustrated in his second and best period. His imagination could run riot in a very delightful conception of a gabled ruin with its features well enough preserved to show the effectiveness of his touch in all the useful tricks of architectural drawing.
The drawing, “ For over all there hung a cloud of fear " (Fig. 91A), is one of several illustrations in the book in which variety of tone is carried to the excess of rivalry with steel engraving, but it is valuable as showing what is possible in range of colour obtainable with pen line. The contrast of the dark balustrading and gate-post against the dark grey of the distant gable, and the wonderful gradation of tone from behind the broken gate up to the light on the ruined roof, are useful exercises for the student in pen control.
For richness in gradation of line in an altogether lighter key, the “ Porch " on p. 77 of Loftie's Inns of Court and Chancery " would be difficult to beat as an example of masterly facility and much suggestion with little definition. Railton's transgression into wanton curliness is almost absent, and the slight but adequate touches representing stonework and windows are informative. To copy this drawing on the same scale as Railton usually worked — about 18 in. high — will test the student's power over his pen and give a certain stock in trade of handling on which to found an individual style.
Railton’s first period, altogether harder, is represented by his illustrations to Coaching Days and Coaching Ways," published in the long defunct English IllitstraUd Magazine^
ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING in
and his later over-florid style, with mannerisms exaggerated beyond toleration, is shown in some of his published drawings of Westminster.
Useful work by Railton will be found in the “ Inns of Court and Chancery,” by W. J. Loftie, and in the volumes of Good Words for the ’nineties, obtainable at the old booksellers.
m
„
-A Typical “ RAILTON.*’
It must not be concluded that Railton is the ideal model for students ; but in a style which is so definite and compendious there is much that can be studied and usefully adapted to modern usage. Briefly, his good points are such that they atone for the meretricious picturesqueness which is his chief fault.
It is wise to study the work of many master draughtsmen in the intervals of making independent efforts to render such
II2
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
simple subjects as parts of buildings. Something is gained when the average door, window, cornice, and chimney-stack can be made interesting by some personal touch which lifts them out of their “ builders’ catalogue ” plainness. In drawing windows, for instance, there are many points which it is wise to think about and evolve standard methods of dealing with. The fact that glass reflects, altering from dark to light as the cloud shadows flit across a building, gives a valuable hint to use them in getting variety and interest.
The treatment of detail depends on its size in the drawing so much that it is impossible to lay down fixed rules ; but some hints generally applicable may be useful. In dealing with Norman, Gothic, and Tudor shapes in doors and windows, the important thing is to get the drawing right. If this is successful, the pen work will look after itself, as the. slightest suggestion of the beautiful old work, convincingly drawn, is infinitely preferable to the most elaborate pen work on drawing which is fundamentally wrong. The best, proof of this is in the work of W. Walcot, in which elaborate architectural detail is invariably reduced to the utmost simplicity of statement, with entire success, because there are no sins of omission or commission in the drawing on which the few surviving lines depend. The fact that Walcot seldom deals with buildings other than classic does not alter the application of this reference to his thoroughness in preparation.
The late fifteenth-century doorway to Eastington Hall, reproduced herewith (Fig. 83), is a good example for the student to attempt as a pen drawing. The first thing to do is to make an enlarged pencil drawing at least 6 in. high (but preferably larger), searching for the construction and endeavouring to think out in pencil the subsequent treatment in ink. The formation of the various elements should be carefully studied and understood. The cornice moulding, for instance, shows its true section at the extrenie corner ; this should be carefully drawn and the lines defining its members taken back in per- spective from a point determined by the intersection of its top line with the line of the edge of the lowest step, produced to meet on the right of the photograph. This point will give all the horizontals and keep the drawing true. Next, put in all the vertical lines and the trusses supporting the cornice, and finally the door interior and steps.
ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 1 13
In proceeding' to ink, decide which is to be the darkest part, and leave this blank until the whole surrounding portion is put in as lightly as possible. The necessary weight of dark can then be judged in relation to the whole eifect desired. In this subject the darkest part will be the interior of the entry, the equal weight of the foliage at right hand in photo being reduced, but still left strong enough to balance the drawing, the com- position of which will be upset if the projecting corner of the building is not supported by considerable weight of colour. It will be advisable to break the stiff corner in this foliage, which coincides too exactly with the line of the upper story of the building, and the general direction of the lines indicating it should be upwards away from the house to counter the strong downward thrust of the cornice and door head.
The sketch herewith (Fig. 82), made on a rough tracing of the photograph, gives an indication of a possible result from the treatment described. Owing to the small scale on which the drawing was made, the difficulty of showing the cornice properly is apparent ; with an enlarged drawing it would be easier to show the corner and to get the right proportions of the members. It will be noticed that the soffit under cornice is left white, a forced value which relies for justification on reflection from below and gives an effect of strong light. The whole of the surround to door opening was drawn with the back of a Gillott’s crow quill, and the actual interior with the right side of the same pen. In working on tracing paper the back of the pen will often give better results than its usual side owing to the sharpness of its ‘‘ bite on a surface which eludes the yield of^the easily opened points.
Next try later doorways, especially some of the beautiful Renaissance and Georgian varieties, which make excellent subjects. Do these from the actual doors, if possible ; if not, from photographs.
These exercises all deal with doorways which are in themselves picturesque, and the resulting drawings should at least maintain that quality, and in execution give the student considerable knowledge of the various problems that arise in dealing with mouldings, shadows, textures, etc., and indicating stone and brickwork, ornament and timberwork.
In dealing with mouldings, as already mentioned, there is generally a point where they terminate or intersect, at which 8
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
1 14
their nature can be clearly shown, otherwise they must be suggested by line and shadow, which is not easy, and should not be laboured. It is best to leave much to the imagination.
Shadows are an interesting study in themselves. It will be found that in short shadows, cast by slight projections, the accentuation of the lower edge of shadow will give an additionally sunny effect. This is difficult to explain, but it is true. Also it is best to let the lines forming a shadow follow the direction in which it is falling. Shadows are the only means of indicating projection in many cases, so their importance in the scheme of things is apparent. A method of showing the shadow accentu- ated at the lower edge is shown on Fig. 14, “ Shadow and Shade,” where quickly made strokes, roughly parallel and at an angle of about 45°, run together at the base owing to a slightly harder pressure as the pen leaves the paper.
The expert pen draughtsman generally develops a passion for textures, which certainly are tempting, especially in interior work. It is a hobby which can very easily be overdone, for the indication must be subtle and the differences felt rather than seen in the drawing. Some materials, such as brickwork and tiles, become texture in small scale drawings, and a method of indicating both must be found. Bricks are generally dealt with by getting the prevailing tone and indicating the bond in places, sometimes by filling the whole space with bond lines in black or tiny bricks irregularly drawn, both very obvious methods which are very seldom resorted to by the great Dutch interpreter of architecture, J. W. R. Wenckenbach, whose em- ployment of tones and contrasts expresses not only materials, but materials seen through atmosphere (see Fig. 84). Griggs is the only man approaching him in sympathetic accord with the spirit of fine building, and his perfection lacks the warmth of these wonderfully intimate renderings of old Holland, masterly in their variety of colour and texture,. the absence of shadows suggesting the prevailing greyness of the climate.
Time spent in the preliminary stages of a pen drawing is time well expended. The student is naturally impatient to get to grips with the actual pen and ink, but experience teaches that the best results are obtained when the entire subject is very definitely planned in pencil first, the drawing quite convincing and the “ values ” thought out in pencil with full allowance for translation.
ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING
ns
In the making of a pen drawing it is well to remember that things are not always what they seem, and success does not depend on accurate rendering of parts, or their relations to adjacent parts, but on the relation of each part to the entire scheme. A window, by contrast with the stone wall contain- ing it, may appear black ; but in the whole scheme a pattern of
Fig. 84.— J. W. R. WENCKENBACH. Old Holland.
black windows may be very disturbing and obviously wrong. Such things are found out in a careful preliminary plan or scaffolding for the ultimate building of the satisfactory drawing.
A student who has experienced the delight of working with pen and ink on a thoroughly well-prepared foundation drawing, seeing it grow inevitably and in order towards significance, will not grudge the effort necessary to produce such useful ground- work for subsequent drawings.
ii6 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
It is possible to produce fine pen drawings of architecture or landscape with only the merest pencil indication of what is to be — or even with none ; but it involves genius and experience beyond the ordinary. Railton’s preliminaries were slight indeed, but his formula was so definite that the method of attack was instantly decided upon and the drawing built up according
ijtfti'
iiMlt
Fig. 85.— Drawing by BERTRAM GROSVKNOR GOODTIDR. A preliminary rendering in pen and ink of one of his own designs.
to plans retained in the artist’s inner consciousness from former battles with similar problems.
Of all the men inspired by Railton’s methods, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, the great American architect and decorative artist; was most successful in adapting the good points to his own use and escaping the pitfalls which the apparent ease of Railton’s work holds for the unw^iry, Jn Goodhue’s.
ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING
ti7
case the influence of Railton is most apparent in drawings executed about 1895-96, at which period he had evidently- assimilated all he needed for the formation of a sound and interesting personal style, giving perhaps a safer source of inspiration for the student than Railton. The drawing on Fig. 85 shows a mellowed return to his own style, previously hard and accomplished in the accepted architectural manner of the period, but here made interesting by his excursions into Railton technique, although adhering with uncanny fidelity to the actual photographic detail and colouring.
Fig. 86.— Drawing by C. E. MALLOWS. The typically workmanlike architectural style.
“ A Book of Architectural and Decorative Drawings,” by Goodhue, published by the Architectural Publishing Co. of New York, and in England by B. T. Batsford Ltd., contains various solutions of all the problems an architectural draughts- man is likely to encounter. The monumental drawings of his own churches and cathedrals are inspiring in their breadth and .actuality, and the whole collection is an education in the use ,of the pen for purely professional architectural drawings. Goodhue’s work is also illustrated in a fine record volume by Dr Cram and others.
Beauty in an architectural drawing is frequently discounted by indifferent figures introduced because they are believed to
THE ART OP PEN DRAWING
ii8
lend animation. ItTis a golden rule to leave figures out unless they can be well done ; badly drawn, they attract attention and detract from the dignity of the architecture. Goodhue has spoiled many of his best drawings by hasty and unconvincing figures, and Railton enlisted the help of his friend Jellico to put in human interest ’’ where he thought it necessary, with the unfortunate result that the figures always look conscious interlopers with no real connection or use in the scheme.
The method of William Walcot, the greatest living master of architectural suggestion, is to indicate figures just sufficiently to give scale without attracting attention to themselves : a very sound idea, but the figure must be understood thoroughly to be able to treat it thus playfully and keep it within the picture. The main characteristic of Walcot’s treatment of architecture is that there is so much more in it than actually meets the casual glance. A basis of superb drawing, the salient points of which are emphasised with a wizard's touch in the handling of the etching needle or brush, accounts for the complete impression of accuracy and actuality.
Modern architectural training wisely includes life drawing, and an architectural draughtsman should supplement this by cultivating the art of sketching figures in everyday costume with vitality and movement. The facility thus attained will react on the treatment of entire compositions, bringing architecture and figures into the harmonious relationship evident in the architectural etchings of Brangwyn and Walcot.
With the confidence born of knowledge, much can be done with figures and vehicles in bringing drawings together. In a tall office building or block of shops, for instance, a certain dullness obtains unless some definite connection with every- day life is given by the bustle and interest of pedestrians and traffic, which can be manipulated to give interesting lights and darks where needed, and break the monotony of angles and straight lines by free contrast. An excellent method is to draw one's “ human interest " from good photographs of crowds in movement, such as are often given in the illustrated papers, selecting from these groups and single figures to fit the situation, and giving very free and suggestive renderings in which swing and vitality are more in mind than detail and solidity.
The lazy habit of putting in figures from memory because they are small is the basis of most failures. Few people have
ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 119
visual memory capable of dealing with figures in action, and the slight extra trouble involved in basing them on actual sketches from life or photographic data will certainly pay.
Fig. 87.— a Delicate Rendering of the Difficult Details of Gothic Tracery by W. S. A. GORDON.
Muirhead Bone and Henry Rushbury are examples of perfect technique in the relation of figures and architecture, and should be studied by those in search of a high ideal, admitting no compromise with effort.
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THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
Muirhead Bone’s pencil drawing of the Pincian Gardens, Rome, shows very clearly the decisive yet slight means employed to give the effect of figures in strong sunlight, all obviously intent on their own business and unconscious of their necessity in the scheme.
Some hints as to the employment of figures to do certain things in a drawing may be gathered from the ** Bank of Peru ” sketch on Fig. 88, in which the figures were put in in ink deliber- ately from photographs without previous pencil drawing. The dark mass of the car on left shows the use of a vehicle to give a defined break to the lower line of a direct elevation and intensify its whiteness if in stone. The figure on the road, indicated by a minimum expenditure of line and without shadow inflexion, shows the use of a figure to break the lower line and give distance and scale without contrast, serving to bring the elevation “through” to the roadway. The rest of the figures are simply rapid translations of actual photographic poses, and the actuality survives in a certain liveliness that is almost invariably missing when the introduction of freely-drawn figures is attempted from memory. An efiective trick is the strongly accentuated light on the building to the right of entrance given by the V-shaped composition of the group formed of contrasted light and dark figures.
In suggesting that figures should be drawn direct in ink
Fig. 88.
ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING
I2I
Fig. K9.— The Mount, Westerham, by E. L. WRATTEN.
to secure the freedom of actual drawing from life or photo, it is not meant that light and shade and composition should not be planned. This is best done by indicating weight of colour in soft dark pencil where the groups or single figures are needed, working on this afterwards and endeavouring to keep the same relative weight in ink. This is Brangwyn’s method of obtaining the stereoscopic effect of receding groups of figures which is so characteristic and effective in his etchings.
Mr Wratten's drawing of ** The Mount, Westerham ” (Fig. 89), is a good example of colour in pen work combined with the touch of the professional architect. The handling of trees is an expert treatment of growth reduced to a flat unobtrusive mass which serves as a foil to the building.
The acquisition of professional draughtsmanship equal to the best modern standard of practice must be a labour of love. It can be approached in no other spirit if it is to succeed. The gradual addition of knowledge laboriously acquired is. according to Mr Robert Atkinson, who should know, invaluable in installing the rudiments of taste, proportion, restraint.
122 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
and many other qualities which would otherwise be neglected.”
Fig. 90. — Clever German Interior suggested in Pen Outline.
There is room only for the properly and thoroughly trained man who can think in terms of building and merely draw buildings. “ In draughtsmanship, for effect the structural
ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING
123
problems are necessarily omitted ; but it is obvious that the draughtsman must possess a very thorough knowledge of both historic ornament and constructive details-’’ To quote Mr Atkinson again : “ Designs may be called the expression on paper of voids and solids drawn in such a way as to convey
Fig. 91. — Strong Treatment of a Period ” Interior.
an intelligible impression of the ultimate building. To achieve this result, rapid and accurate drawing of ornament and features ^is necessary. The feeling of the design can only be properly judged when the whole of the ornaments are placed in proper juxtaposition. Many such drawings may be necessary, and though each may be no more finished than the first, a gradual
124
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
feeling will develop that the voids and solids are right and that the ornament is right.
“These drawings must be rapid and clear, and indication plays a great part in their preparation. When the feeling is right, more careful drawings are necessary. They are not wasted labour, but are made to satisfy the canons of taste, and should be masterpieces of rendered drawings, showing all lights and shadows. Even the most minute mouldings or ornaments may be too coarse or too light ; their value can only be judged by careful projection of cast shadows in their relation to the general effect.”
Mr Atkinson is quoted as authoritative evidence that the profession of architectural draughtsman is not to be lightly regarded : “A modern school of architectural draughtsmen is now arising who hope to revive the ancient glories of drawing, and are not satisfied with a perspective unless it is perfectly drawn, perfectly rendered, beautifully designed, and all sculpture or coloured decoration fittingly suggested.”
To fill this programme adequately is obviously no mean task ; but there are several men who are doing it, and only hard work is needed to join them in one of the definite ways of adding to the beauty and dignity of life.
A definite branch of modern architectural practice is the drawing of interiors, and the range of possibilities in this direction is wide : from the simple outline suggestions of Palmer Jones and the Viennese and German moderns (see Fig. 90), through the heavy architectural line shown in the advertise- ments for Warings herewith (Fig. 91), to the solid black and white of Fred Taylor’s drawings for Heals. That the drawings of the future will be simpler is fairly certain, as the modern tendency is to leave something to the spectator’s imagination, giving stimulus to thought rather than attention to detail.
CHAPTER IX
MODERN PEN ILLUSTRATION
1. The Realistic School
By realists must be understood those wise people who present nature as they believe she appears to other people. The fact that they see it the same way enables them to do this. They are eminently sane. Lacking the something that twists the normal mind into the abnormal state of genius, they are thoroughly equipped to deal with all the problems of actuality.
Absolute sanity is rare, and the small proportion of artists whose mentality prompts them in the safe and uneventful path of representational work prosper exceedingly.
Most artists graduate through periodical or magazine illustration, and it is difficult to recall more than one prominent name which has not been familiar in the editorial pages of the press. Bernard Partridge, F. H. Townsend, L. Raven Hill, Fred Pegram, Leo Cheney, H. M. Bateman, Frank Reynolds, E. J. Sullivan, and all the others have distinguished records in illustration, and all deal with life as it is generally understood, either in serious vein or in a spirit of kindly fun. A good illustrator with a universally understood style has only to get a few drawings into prominent papers to be a marked man in advertising circles, where everybody is keen to find new stars whose qualities have been revealed as suitable for the advertising constellation. Septimus E. Scott is the only prominent pen- man in advertising whose reputation did not come from illus- tration, and pen work is a minor activity of his, overshadowed by his work as a painter.
The popular magazines of a few years ago were illustrated mainly by pen drawings, and F. H. Townsend and Fred Pegram must have executed some thousands of drawings between them
*37
128 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
for publication as story illustrations. There is very little pen work in the magazines to-day ; the editorial tastes have veered round to half-tone reproductions of wash drawings, which are not to be compared in artistic interest with good line work, but are nearer to the popular conception of life, which has been influenced by photography.
Pegram’s work is the embodiment of neatness and clean finish ; there are no loose ends (see Fig. 92). He is the ideal man for showing us athletic types of English men and women, beautiful children, and comfortable types of old people. His limitations are the inevitable result of his excellence in dealing with the refinements of life, and his labourers and country folk are unconvincing. They are not robust, the refinement obtrudes, and a patrician atmosphere pervades the simple cottage interior when Pegram draws it. His drawing seldom falters, but his vision is attracted by the comfortable side of life, glancing over the rougher places in search of it — an asset in advertising, where the rosy side of things cannot be too strongly emphasised.
Perfectly straightforward and sincere, Pegram’s method shows no striving after style. It is pure drawing throughout, the subject first drawn in pencil and the ink applied to get the desired effect without fuss. The main characteristic of the actual technique is the heavy outline given to figures which are to stand out against a white or light background. Folds, shadows, and textures within this outline are kept subservient to it by lighter treatment. Textures are recognisable ; a wool jersey, a tweed suit or skirt are wonderfully dealt with in strokes which are seldom long and never out of control. The secret of the appeal of such drawings to the business world lies in their complete presentation of its own ideas of things. The people in them are drawn with such stereoscopic accuracy, they are such solid realities, that the advertiser feels confident they will convey his message to the great majority.
The work of F. H. Townsend (see Fig. 99) achieves realism without the tightness of Pegram’s technique, Townsend was interested in harmonious tone effects, and managed to convey incident with almost photographic accuracy in an unobtrusive technique of surprising freedom. He possessed a genius for hard work, and there was a story in the building up of most of his drawings. He worked entirely from models, and would
MODERN PEN ILLUSTRATION
129
go to infinite trouble to track them to earth for a particular subject. No one type persisted in his work, which dealt faith- fully with all sorts and conditions of people. It is impossible to look at a Townsend without marvelling at the work involved in producing it, the studies from the model, the studies for accessories, for setting, for lighting, and the wonderfully free yet faithful translation into pen and ink of interiors and exteriors by night and by day. A London street at night or a cricket match in the blazing sunshine, a Mayfair drawing-room or a villa at Colder *s Green would be conjured up with magical conviction in the prevailing atmosphere.
Bernard Partridge, another magician with a realistic pen, completes a great trio of pen draughtsmen whose work is peculiarly English. Partridge is now concerned with cartooning for Punchy but he has tackled almost every kind of drawing for that paper during the thirty odd years he has been associated with it. His best known book illustrations are the delightful realisations of Georgian modes and manners in ‘‘ Proverbs in Porcelain.’* The technique in these is a little under the influence of Abbey’s wonderful hair-line treatment in illustrating the Old English Comedies,” but it is a good blend with the more definite statement of Partridge’s own interpretation, which resembles that of Abbey in its tranquillity and absence of sensational contrasts of light and dark.
Raven Hill is another of the Punch men with a genius for actuality, which he obtains with a free and hasty technique, reminiscent of Chas. Keene (see Fig. 93). He excels in presenting humorous and easily recognised types from all classes. It is probable that his quick grip of the possibilities of a joke makes him impatient of the actual drawing which is necessary to convey it to others. He is more interested in character than technique.
The mantle of F. H. Townsend, in the shape of the art editorship of Punch, has now fallen upon Frank Reynolds, a worthy successor in carrying on the tradition of good drawing and good fun. He is a believer in the efficiency of the curved line, and evidently sees life as a good round business. He does not often use professional models, relying upon himself, his family, or his friends for poses, which he is quite able to turn into the characters he wants by drawing upon a well-stocked storehouse of miscellaneous characteristics usefully located
9
130 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
in his brain. His general method is the obviously expedient one of finding out what he wants and getting it economically in time and effort, if possible, but getting it anyhow. The directness and simplicity of Frank Reynolds’s technique is deceptive ; it all looks so easy, and perhaps more than that of
him
Fig. 93— a Book lUustration by L. RAVEN HILL.
any other man justifies the definition given elsewhere in this book, that the chief element of style is the concealment of effort.
These names exhaust the list of pen draughtsmen in England who may be said successfully to hold the mirror up to nature, putting on record exactly what they see, without the inter- vention of temperamental arrangements of form, or the employ- ment of distinctive line. But there is a crowd of good men
MODERN PEN ILLUSTRATION
132 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
unwilling to knu^e down to the actual, who give^us nature seen through more adventurous temperaments : E. J. Sullivan, a master of Rembrandtesque chiaroscuro and creator of the most intellectual pen line of to-day (see Figs, i and 17), which may be studied in his book, “Line.” A. S. Hartrick, now mainly interested in lithography,but formerly a prolific illustrator with a flair for rural characters. Arthur Rackham, with
Fig. 95.— By the late CLAUDE SHEPPERSON, A.R.A.
a wonderful technique now mainly employed as a basis for colour illustrations to fairy lore (see Fig. 94). A. H. Shepherd, probably the greatest interpreter of “ Society ” foibles now Shepperson is no longer with us ; an inspired draughtsman who can give us the smartest English girl or the rustiest farm hand with equal penetration in a style which is always distinguished.
Shepperson was an illustrator many years ago, specialising in “ costume ” subjects. But later he turned to the society note, for which his temperament was admirably fitted, and his
MODERN PEN ILLUSTRATION
133
subsequent drawings in Punch are classic examples of the ultimate in patrician atmosphere (see Fig. 95).
The Brocks, H. M. and C. E., are two of the most accom- plished stylists in illustration to-day. H. M. draws with a decision and inevitability which is uncanny (see Fig. 135). All things, animate and inanimate, spring from his pen in a flexible technique which is the direct result of infinite study from nature. If it is more workmanlike than artistic, it still has the power to charm in its unfailing dexterity. He once illustrated
Fio. 96. — An Advertisement Drawing embodying the Ideal Young People of the Average Magazine Editor.
The importance of conformity to accepted types of good looks is a limitation wisely accepted by most illustrators.
a book on .old furniture which revealed the connoisseur, and the accessories in his story and joke illustrations have a con- vincing quality even in the slightest suggestion, indicating texture and solidity as few other men can in deliberate work to that end.
Costume illustration, especially Georgian and early Victorian, has attracted both the Brocks, and each gives a different, but equally facile, rendering of the Georgian, which they re-create as a period, fortunately capturing the popular conception and “ Beau Nash ” atmosphere of the century.
Hugh Thompson and Abbey gave us the last word in
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THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
dealing with the manners and men of a slightly earlier period, and the Brocks may claim the Georgian and Victorian as peculiarly their own. Hugh Thomson’s men and women were, perhaps, finer as interpretations of the spirit of a period (see Fig. 97), but, then, Thomson confined his atten- tion strictly to that period, while the Brocks run the whole gamut of commercial illustration from children’s books to advertising drawings, which makes their pre-eminence in costume illustration the more remarkable.
Pen drawing for the illustration of stories in the cheaper magazines is a big field for the artist’s cultivation. But with strange unreason pen drawings are under a financial cloud in comparison with wash drawings, editors considering them less effective in conveying actuality and less impressive in the general make-up of the magazine.
In editorial estimation, ’therefore, pen drawing has degener- ated so much that it is seldom found in our few remaining magazines with any pretensions to serious illustration, and many of the best penmen have deserted into advertising and etching. The big demand is now for comparatively cheap illustrations for the railway journey type of magazine and the more or less domestic journals, and some surprisingly good work is found in these which proves that rapidly produced work can be kept to a very fair standard in good hands.
A large percentage of the stories illustrated give opportunities only for drawing “ nice boys,” strong ” men, and the usually recognised type of beautiful girl in situations so recurrent as to be almost stereotyped ; yet the variety and interest discernible in the various treatments of these is a tribute to the power of the pen artists in conveying the infinite variety in types of people, similarly dressed and doing the same things. The tribute is the more deserved as the variety of type is achieved in the face of enforced conformity to certain accepted standards of beauty, strength, and niceness held by the wise editor as necessary for the prosperity of his magazine.
There is a smaller demand for more interesting work in the strenuous illustrations for adventure and detective stories, also a very limited market for nature drawings of the kind so admirably done by Warwick Reynolds, one of the strongest draughtsmen in illustration (see Fig.- 132).
For the illustrator of adventure stories it is absolutely
MODERN PEN ILLUSTRATION 135
essential to keep a good classified reference for details of in- cidental landscape, houses, furnishings, and implements, etc., of all periods and countries, to get local colour and. prevent the editor from annoyance in letters pointing out that “ white
Fig. 97.— By HUGH THOMSON.
A good example of sympathetic ** Period illustration.
ducks are not worn in May at Spitzbergen,” or similar alleged errors. Photographs of everyday life abroad are of the utmost value to the artist doing modern adventure stories or tales of life abroad, and such work to-day is generally convincing because it is based upon such authority or the artist’s own travel notes. In illustrating tales concerned with times other than the present, details must necessarily be taken from work
136 THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
by other men who have searched them out, or else built up laboriously from reference books or museums, a very costly method indulged in by the great illustrators of more spacious days, but very difficult to manage in these commercial times.
The best type of illustration for adventure stories is that in which the interest is centred on good drawing and dramatic action, with convincing setting and lighting and an unobtrusive style or technique. Albert Morrow's pen drawings in Cassell's Magazine are good examples of this ; their present excellence is the result of many years' experience in work. ■ Morrow evidently enjoys and treats in a spirit of adventure with the pen which gets both local colour and a decoratively rich patch on the magazine page.
Gordon Browne's drawings in Cassell's World of Adventure are also good examples of dash combined with accomplishment in making stirring incidents live on paper ; but his handling of the pen is more obtrusively clever than Morrow’s, and to that extent less good for its purpose, the style tending to come in front of the interest of the incident.
Another stylist was the American illustrator, Howard Pyle, whose life story by Chas. D. Abbott, published by Harpers, is an inspiration to students as a record of sincere effort. His illustrations can be found in most American magazines prior to his journey to Italy, and ranges from the severe woodcut line adopted for his early fairy tales and used throughout his life for similar illustrations, to the strong incisive line used in the pirate stories and its delightful modification in such drawings as those for The One Horse Shay " of Oliver Wendell Holmes (see Fig. 98).
Howard Pyle’s work, apart from the deliberate use of Diirer’s method in decorative illustration, was entirely the outcome of whole-hearted interest in striving to give the atmosphere of the works he illustrated. That style ” resulted, as it undoubtedly did, was beside the mark and incidental to a sincerity in work that involves infinite pains but brings great rewards.
He found some time from a life of incessant effort for teaching the younger generation, considering this a duty. The greatness of his conception of the undertaking is indicated in the following quotation from one of his letters on the subject ;
I think first of all that they should be taught in the very
MODERN PEN ILLUSTRATION
137
beginning to believe that all they are learning of technique is only a dead husk in which must be enclosed the divine life of creative impulse. I think they should be stimulated to think things out of doors ; to talk of living things and to draw them, describing them maybe in words as well as in pictures.”
There is a good deal in this idea of students writing down the scheme for an illustration before working on it as such.
Fig. 98.~By HOWARD PYLE.
It helps the creative faculty to function in visualising a definite situation from the author’s lines, and also reveals the line of approach, which can be tested by its pictorial result and used again if successful.
There is so much inspiring material by illustrators through- out the world that students should certainly be brought into touch with some of it. Rembrandt, Menzel, and Vierge are usually and rightly mentioned as outstanding examples of technical accomplishment. But if we analyse the majority of story illustrations now published, I think we shall find their
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•pic. 99.— Masterly use of technique in a Drawing by F. H. TOWNSEND.
inspiration nearer to our own times in C. Dana Gibson and Montgomery Flagg of America, or F. H. Townsend, whose work as an illustrator is .almost eclipsed by his later fame as a contributor of wonderful joke drawings to Pimch.
MODERN PEN ILLUSTRATION 139
Townsend’s work represents pen drawing taken to its utmost limit of accurate representation. Its technique is complicated, for he used all kinds of devices in thickening lines or crossing them to get the tone he wanted. His drawing was spirited and convincing, acceptable alike to the artistic and lay public, and he was certainly our greatest master of facial expression. Sheer love of his art and passionate desire to give his best forced him to “ get it right ” at whatever cost to himself in trouble or expense. He not only used models for all his drawings, but went to infinite lengths in finding suitable ones for particular t5rpes if the names on his list yielded nothing just right. In fact, his pen drawings were prepared in much the same manner as an academician would set about a subject picture (see Fig. 99).
With Townsend’s work as an objective, the hard-working student could not go very wrong, and pretty much the same may be said of the two great Americans, who differ from hiin only in the manner of their actual pen technique. All three stand for perfection in preparation, and to that extent at least they are admirable examples for students to follow. Towns- end’s technique is easily followed at a little distance, and many men whose work can be traced to a too sincere admiration for it do this without the necessary equipment in knowledge or preliminary care.
*■ Gibson’s technique is particularly unapproachable by the copyist, as it depends on swift interpretation of modelling and texture, with the pen substituted for the usual charcoal or pencil. His work, therefore, is useful to the student only as an example of perfection in a method which must be developed in a similar way on personal lines (see Fig. 27).
Montgomery Flagg’s illustrations show what can be done in this way, for he was undoubtedly influenced by Gibson and proceeded in similar workmanlike fashion. The style evolved has less freedom from affectation, but is more printable, inso- much as it is more dependent on open line and has no diluted ink effects as in many of Gibson’s drawings, which necessitate work by the process man (see Figs. 100 aq(l loi).
Admitting the pronounced technique in Flagg’s drawings as a defect, it is amply atoned for in the brilliance of the characterisation and drawing. The stages by which Flagg reached his present mastery are all interesting. Always a
140
THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
competent draughtsman, he commenced with an astonishingly “ bright ’’ technique in which the whole drawing appeared to glitter, and a curious mannerism in making heads too large. The glitter gradually toned down and heads became normally proportioned, but for some time his technique remained brittle
Fig. ioo.— Colour in Line. A Wonderfully ** Slick Magazine Illustration by JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG.
until the inevitable result of direct study from the model prevailed in softening his line work to closer affinity with that of his early master, Gibson. Next, he worked for some time on his own types rendered practically in the Gibson technique, arrived at not by imitation but by logical, progression on lines deliberately chosen. His present wonderfully expressive style is obviously derived from reconsideration of this penultimate stage, broadened in effect and simplified in line.
MODERN PEN ILLUSTRATION
141
For illustrating the light literature which forms the major interest in magazines, Flagg’s work is so universal in appeal that it may be taken as a standard, and an analysis of its qualities will show the essentials in perfect story illustration : —
I. It should add to the interest of the story.
Flagg’s drawings always fulfil this condition because he has a keen literary sense and sufficient general knowledge to realise the author’s intention as to types and situations.
Illustration must interpret the plot and stimulate the reader’s
Fio. ioi.~By JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG.
interest in its chfiracters, or it is waste of time and money. If the impression made is disturbed by the artist’s faults either in conception or execution, the story would be much better without his drawings.
2. It should create a definite atmosphere.
Reality or romance is conjured up immediately by Flagg’s treatment of his figures and indication of their surroundings. If the action of the story centres round a French caf6, for instance, it gives the quaint foreign differences which linger in the memory. The smiles of madame, the polite waiters, the solicitous care of the proprietor for his guests, if not actually shown, are brought to mind in the subtle handling of types and environment.
3. It should attract the reader to the story.
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THE ART OF PEN DRAWING
A tale illustrated by Flagg stands a fair chance of being the first read in any magazine. Most readers glance at the illus- trations first and, according to the degree of interest aroused, read or postpone reading the stories.
4. It should decorate the page.
This is not a matter of technique alone, although in Flagg^s
work this is all sufficient. Weight of colour and placing of figures has much to do with success. Editors are fond of irregular silhouette drawings, the type, brought in to the irregularities. Under such circumstances the distribution of light and dark is important, as the type may take up the greyg of a drawing and leave a spot of white or black isolated.
5. It should print clean and bright.
Flagg's work at all stages is an object lesson in keeping materials at concert pitch. New pens, clean ink, dusted boards are necessities of per- fection in printing line.
If no English illustrator since Townsend has the complete mastery of a Gib- son or Flagg, we have, nevertheless, some good men, ranging from those on novel- ettes and boys' and girls' papers, to the better known ones on the shilling magazines. Students should certainly see what these are doing nionth by month in order to understand what is being used, and determine to do better.
The real test of having done at least as well is to get work published. Students often think that their work is better than much that appears in print, and they may be right ; but it
Fig. 102. — Summer Resort Illustration by WALLACE MORGAN.
Courtesy 0/ Saks Company,
MODERN PEN ILLUSTRATION
143
Fig. 103. — Summer Resort lUustration by WALLACE MORGAN.
Courtesy of Saks Company,
may be better in fifty different ways without being right for an editor^s purpose.
Monotony of subject in line illustration -for the cheap magazines is due to immovable obstacles which the budding illustrator must take into consideration, however confident that the quality of his work constitutes an irresistible force. The obstacles are : similarity in the plots of the stories, similarity in the dress of the characters, and editors’ fixed ideas of beautiful young women and strong young men. The editor generally knows what is most pleasing to his readers, and it is his business to get it. So, unless you can convince him that you know better, your work must fit in with his ideas if it is to see daylight in his paper. Once published ” and therefore admitted to the great band of men whose job it is to make authors intelligible at sight, artists usually find editors very
MODERN PEN ILLUSTRATION 14S
amenable to ideas, helpful towards their expression within the limits of their readers’ comprehension and sometimes beyond, if, in their infinite wisdom, they see that the slight mental effort involved will not decrease their circulation and may possibly increase it.
Types are half the battle, and good types depend on suitable models. Moral : find the right types in actuality and draw them until they become part of your mental equipment, enabling you to reproduce similar character and features in using other models for position and lighting, and in an emergency without models at all. Work done consistently without models usually proclaims the fact pretty plainly in lack of human interest ; the worst fault in illustrating which must impress readers with its reality or fail in establishing the subtle bond of sympathy implied in human interest.
Few illustrators get this quality. The average drawing is practically a diagram of one, two, or more figures smartly drawn, but empty, as it must be unless the artist’s genius can triumph over the conditions of dash and hurry necessitated by cheap prices.
Of those who can, the most individual is perhaps Gilbert Wilkinson, who is as interesting in serious mood as he is in humorous (Fig. 105), and can draw most alluring girls in just the right clothes. Graham Simmons, with a technique almost too clean and clever, shows good types of men, and dresses them in good clothes. Wallis Mills applies the Du Maurier tradition in technique to extremely modern people in society drawings of much vitality, Bertram Prance has a useful facility in execution, and represents the public point of view so exactly that he is eminently safe with any story. Thomas Henry is also a safe man, and improves daily. Arthur Ferrier, whose girls are much admired by those who know, trusts to these to carry very little effort in illustrating (see Fig. 127).
All these men know their job very thoroughly and are in demand. There are wide differences between their styles, their .types, and their treatments of plots and situations. But they have a common bond in understanding what editors want ; so study of their various methods is the surest road to similar knowledge and success.
10
Fig. io6.— AUBREY BEARDSLEY. Drawing for ** Salome.^* Tk^ Eyes of Herod.
Fro. io7.--Book Illustration by ALBERT RUTHERSTON.
II. The Independents as Inspiration
Curiously enough, most individualists acquire their style from an overwhelming admiration, in the first place, for some outstanding artist whose work affects them at an impressionable age., Very few evolve it entirely from their own experience. It may be impqssible to trace the derivation in the ultimate development, but it is generally to be discovered either with the aid of the artist concerned or from a knowledge of his early hero worship.
Beardsley, burst upon the world in early numbers of The Studio^ marfe$ the beginning of a new era in the revival of the decorative method of illustrating books. Like most great geniuses he was misunderstood, laughed at, and talked or scoffed out of the brotherhood of the established artists of that day. * , •
But Beardsley’s fsane grew rapidly, and was soon far .-’V ' 147
Fig. io8. — ^Book Illustration by ALAN ODLE.
An imaginative treatment showing the influence of the eighteenth- century caricaturists.
MODERN PEN ILLUSTRATION
149
greater than that of his critics, many of whom became belated admirers. The literary men, showing more tolerance and vision in facing a new force, were immediately enthusiastic in recognition of his genius, and publishers responded with com- missions. Beardsley was assured of congenial work, and produced a comparatively large quantity of drawings in the very few years before his early death.
The drawings were wa3rward, often macabre, but as examples of black and white placing or design they are superb, and have certainly inspired more students and converted more laymen to a new outlook on illustration than those of any other illustrator