Read Ebook: The Art of Illustration 2nd ed. by Blackburn Henry

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There are, roughly, two methods of obtaining effect with a pen--one by few lines, laid slowly, and the other by many lines, drawn with rapidity. If the intention is to see what effect may be obtained with comparatively few lines deliberately drawn, we may refer to the woodcuts after Albert D?rer and Holbein, and the line engraving of Marc Antonio. The engraved plates by D?rer furnish excellent examples of work, with more and finer lines than his woodcuts . "Some of the etchings of Rembrandt are examples of what may be fairly reproduced in pen and ink, but in them we find the effect to depend upon innumerable lines in all directions. In the matter of landscape the etched plates by Claude and Ruysdael are good examples for study, and in animal life the work of Paul Potter and Dujardin."

Thus, for style, for mastery of effect and management of line, we must go back to the old masters; to work produced generally in a reposeful life, to which the younger generation are strangers. But the mere copying of other men's lines is of little avail without mastering the principles of the art of line drawing. The skilful copies, the fac-similes of engravings and etchings drawn in pen and ink, which are the admiration of the young artist's friends, are of little or no value in deciding the aptitude of the student. The following words are worth placing on the walls of every art school:--

In line work, as now understood, we are going back, in a measure, to the point of view of the missal writer and the illuminator, who, with no thought of the possibilities of reproduction, produced many of his decorative pages by management of line alone . No amount of patience, thought, and labour was spared for this one copy. What would he have said if told that in centuries to come this line work would be revived in its integrity, with the possibility of the artist's own lines being reproduced 100,000 times, at the rate of several thousand an hour. And what would he have thought if told that, out of thousands of students in centuries to come, a few, a very few only, could produce a decorative page; and that few could be brought to realise that a work which was to be repeated, say a thousand times, was worthy of as much attention as his ancestors gave to a single copy!

We cannot live, easily, in the "cloistered silence of the past," but we can emulate the deliberate and thoughtful work of Mantegna, of Holbein, of Albert D?rer, and the great men of the past, who, if they were alive to-day, would undoubtedly have preferred drawing for process to the labour of etching and engraving; and, if their work were to be reproduced by others, they would have perceived, what it does not require much insight in us to realise, that the individuality of the artist is better preserved, by making his own lines.

To do this successfully in these days, the artist must give his best and most deliberate drawings to the processes; founding his style, to a limited extent it may be, on old work, but preserving his own individuality.

As to copying the work of living artists, it should be remembered that the manner and the method of a line drawing is each artist's property, and the repetition of it by others is injurious to him. It would be an easy method indeed if the young artist, fresh from the schools, could, in a few weeks, imitate the mannerism, say of Sir John Gilbert, whose style is founded upon the labour of 50 years. There is no such royal road.

This refers to fac-simile work, but the engraver, as we know, also interprets wash into clean lines, helps out the timid and often unsteady draughtsman, and in little matters puts his drawing right.

Nobody knows--nobody ever will know--how much the engraver has done for the artist in years past. "For good or evil,"--it may be said; but I am thinking now only of the good, of occasions when the engraver has had to interpret the artist's meaning, and sometimes, it must be confessed, to come to the rescue and perfect imperfect work.

The artist who draws for reproduction by chemical and mechanical means is thrown upon his own resources. He cannot say to the acid, "Make these lines a little sharper," or to the sun's rays, "Give a little more light"; and so--as we cannot often have good wood engraving, as it is not always cheap enough or rapid enough for our needs--we draw on paper what we want reproduced, and resort to one of the photographic processes described in this book.

I do not think the modern illustrator realises how much depends upon him in taking the place, so to speak, of the wood engraver. The interpretation of tone into line fitted for the type press, to which the wood engraver gave a lifetime, will devolve more and more upon him. We cannot keep this too continually in mind, for in spite of the limitations in mechanically-produced blocks in obtaining delicate effects of tone in line, much can be done in which the engraver has no part.

I purposely place these two pen-and-ink drawings by Mr. Gore side by side, to show what delicacy of line and tone may be obtained on a relief block by proper treatment. One could hardly point to better examples of pure line. They were drawn on ordinary cardboard and reproduced by the gelatine relief process.

All this, it will be observed, points to a more delicate and intelligent use of the process block than is generally allowed, to something, in short very different to the thin sketchy outlines and scribbles which are considered the proper style for the "pen-and-ink artist."

To "gradate well with pure black lines" is, so to speak, the whole art and mystery of drawing for the photo-zinc process, of which one London firm alone turns out more than a thousand blocks a week.

As to the amount of reduction that a drawing will bear in reproduction, it cannot be sufficiently widely known, that in spite of rules laid down, there is no rule about it.

It is interesting to compare this reproduction with the larger one overleaf. There is no limit to the experiments which may be made in reduction, if pursued on scientific principles.

As to sketching in line from life, ready for reproduction on a process block, it is necessary to say a few words here. The system is, I know, followed by a few illustrators for newspapers , and who, by incessant practice, have become proficient. They have special ability for this kind of work, and their manner and style is their capital and attraction.

Sketching from life is, of course, necessary to the student , but for line work it should be done first in pencil, or whatever medium is easiest at the moment. The lines for reproduction require thinking about, thinking what to leave out, how to interpret the grey of a pencil, or the tints of a brush sketch in the fewest lines. Thus, and thus only, the student learns "the art of leaving out," "the value of a line."

The tendency of modern illustrators is to imitate somebody; and in line drawing for the processes, where the artist, and not the engraver, has to make the lines, imitation of some man's method is almost inevitable.

As a matter of education and outlook for the younger generation of illustrators, this imitation of other men's lines deserves our special consideration. Nothing is easier in line work than to copy from the daily press. Nothing is more prejudicial to good art, or more fatal to progress.

The drawing of portraits in line from photographs gives employment to some illustrators, as line blocks will print in newspapers much better than photographs. But for newspaper printing they must be done with something of the precision of this portrait, in which the whites are cut deep and where there are few broken lines.

As line drawing is the basis of the best drawing for the press, I have interspersed through these pages examples and achievements in this direction; examples which in nearly every case are the result of knowledge and consideration of the requirements of process, as an antidote to the sketchy, careless methods so much in vogue. Here we may see--as has probably never been seen before in one volume--what harmonies and discords may be played on this instrument with one string. One string--no "messing about," if the phrase may be excused--pure black lines on Bristol board , photographed on to a zinc plate, the white parts etched away and the drawing made to stand in relief, ready to print with the letterpress of a book; every line and touch coming out a black one, or rejected altogether by the process.

Drawings thus made, upon Bristol board or paper of similar surface, with lamp black, Indian ink, or any of the numerous inks now in use, which dry with a dull, not shiny, surface, will always reproduce well. The pen should be of medium point, or a brush may be used as a pen. The lines should be clear and sharp, and are capable of much variation in style and treatment, as we see in these pages. I purposely do not dwell here upon some special surfaces and papers by which different tones and effects may be produced by the line processes; there is too much tendency already with the artist to be interested in the mechanical side. I have not recommended the use of "clay board," for instance, for the line draughtsman, although it is much used for giving a crisp line to process work, and has a useful surface for scraping out lights, &c. The results are nearly always mechanical looking.

On the next page are two simple, straightforward drawings, which, it will be observed, are well suited to the method of reproduction for the type press. The first is by Mr. H. S. Marks, R. A. , skilfully drawn upon Bristol board, about 7 x 5 in.

Here every line tells, and none are superfluous; the figure of the monk, the texture of his dress, the old stone doorway, the creeper growing on the wall, and the basket of provisions, all form a picture, the lines of which harmonise well with the type of a book.

In this deliberate, careful drawing, in which white paper plays by far the principal part, the background and lighting of the picture are considered, also the general balance of a decorative page.

FOOTNOTES:

No one artist can teach drawing in line without a tendency to mannerism, especially in art classes.

One of the most accomplished of English painters told me the other day that when he first drew for illustration, the wood engraver dictated the angle and style of cross-hatching, &c., so as to fit the engraver's tools.

The young "pen-and-ink artist" of to-day generally avoids backgrounds, or renders them by a series of unmeaning scratches; he does not consider enough the true "lighting of a picture," as we shall see further on. The tendency of much modern black-and-white teaching is to ignore backgrounds.

PHOTO-ZINC PROCESS.

In order to turn any of these drawings into blocks for the type press, the first process is to have it photographed to the size required, and to transfer a print of it on to a sensitized zinc plate. This print, or photographic image of the drawing lying upon the zinc plate, is of greasy substance , and is afterwards inked up with a roller; the plate is then immersed in a bath of nitric acid and ether, which cuts away the parts which were left white upon the paper, and leaves the lines of the drawing in relief. This "biting in," as it is called, requires considerable experience and attention, according to the nature of the drawing. Thus, the lines are turned into metal in a few hours, and the plate when mounted on wood to the height of type-letters, is ready to be printed from, if necessary, at the rate of several thousands an hour.

A wonderful and startling invention is here, worthy of a land of enchantment, which, without labour, with little more than a wave of the hand, transfixes the artist's touch, and turns it into concrete; by which the most delicate and hasty strokes of the pen are not merely recorded in fac-simile for the eye to decipher, but are brought out in sharp relief, as bold and strong as if hewn out of a rock! Here is an argument for doing "the best and truest work we can," a process that renders indestructible--so indestructible that nothing short of cremation would get rid of it--every line that we put upon paper; an argument for learning for purposes of illustration the touch and method best adapted for reproduction by the press.

GELATINE PROCESS.

GRAINED PAPERS.

This drawing and the one opposite by Mr. Hume Nisbet show the skilful use of paper with vertical and horizontal black lines; also, in the latter drawing, the different qualities of strength in the sky, and the method of working over the grained paper in pen and ink.

Another skilful use of the black-grained paper to represent snow, glacier, and drifting clouds. The original tone of the paper may be seen in the sky and foreground.

The effect is obtained by scraping out the lighter parts on the paper and strengthening the dark with pen and pencil.

The question may arise in many minds, are these contrivances with their mechanical lines for producing effect, worthy of the time and attention which has been bestowed upon them? I think it is very doubtful if much work ought to be produced by means of the black-grained papers; certainly, in the hands of the unskilled, the results would prove disastrous. A painter may use them for sketches, especially for landscape. Mr. Compton can express very rapidly and effectively, by scraping out the lights and strengthening the darks, a snowdrift or the surface of a glacier. In the drawing on page 123, Mr. C. J. Watson has shown us how the grained paper can be played with, in artistic hands, to give the effect of a picture.

The difference, artistically speaking, between sketches made on black-grained and white-grained papers seems to me much in favour of the latter.

But at the best, blocks made from drawings on these papers are apt to be unequal, and do not print with the ease and certainty of pure line work; they require good paper and careful printing, which is not always to be obtained. The artist who draws for the processes in this country must not expect to have his work reproduced and printed as in America, or even as well as in this book.

The fact is, that the use of grained papers is, at the best, a makeshift and a degradation of the art of illustration, if judged by the old standards. It will be a bad day for the art of England when these mechanical appliances are put into the hands of young students in art schools.

As a contrast to the foregoing, let us look at a sketch in pure line by the landscape painter, Mr. M. R. Corbet, who, with little more than a scribble of the pen, can express the feeling of sunrise and the still air amongst the trees.

MECHANICAL DOTS.

On the opposite page is an example taken from an English magazine, by which it may be seen that all daylight has been taken ruthlessly from the principal figure, and that it is no longer in tone with the rest of the picture, as an open air sketch. The system is tempting to the hurried illustrator; he has only to draw in line and then mark where the tint is to appear, and the dots are laid on by the maker of the blocks.

Mention should be made here of drawing in line on prepared transfer paper with autographic ink, which is transferred to zinc without the aid of photography, a process very useful for rapid and common work; but it is seldom used for good book illustration, as it is irksome to the artist and not capable of very good results; moreover, the drawing has often to be minute, as the reproduction will be the same size as the original. It is one of the processes which I think the student of art had better not know much about.

Mr. Speed is very daring in his experiments, and students may well puzzle over the means by which he obtains his effects by the line processes.

"HALF-TONE" PROCESS.

First, as to the method of making the blocks. As there are no lines in a wash drawing or in a photograph from nature, it is necessary to obtain some kind of grain, or interstices of white, on the zinc plate, as in a mezzotint; so between the drawing or photograph to be reproduced and the camera, glass screens, covered with lines or dots, are interposed, varying in strength according to the light and shade required; thus turning the image of the wash drawing practically into "line," with sufficient interstices of white for printing purposes.

Thus, all drawings in wash, chalk, pencil, etc., that will not reproduce by the direct line processes, already referred to, are treated for printing at the type press; and thus the uniform, monotonous dulness, with which we are all familiar, pervades the page.

The conditions of drawing for this process have to be carefully studied, to prevent the meaningless smears and blotches which disfigure nearly every magazine and newspaper we take up. There is no necessity for this degradation of illustration.

In spite of the uncertainty of this system of reproduction, it has great attractions for the skilful or the hurried illustrator.

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