Pen Drawing Part 1

Pen Drawing.

by Charles Maginnis.

CHAPTER I

STYLE IN PEN DRAWING

Art, with its finite means, cannot hope to record the infinite variety and complexity of Nature, and so contents itself with a partial statement, addressing this to the imagination for the full and perfect meaning. This inadequation, and the artificial adjustments which it involves, are tolerated by right of what is known as artistic convention; and as each art has its own particular limitations, so each has its own particular conventions. Sculpture reproduces the forms of Nature, but discards the color without any shock to our ideas of verity; Painting gives us the color, but not the third dimension, and we are satisfied; and Architecture is _purely_ conventional, since it does not even aim at the imitation of natural form.

[Sidenote: _The Conventions of Line Drawing_]

Of the kindred arts which group themselves under the head of Painting, none is based on such broad conventions as that with which we are immediately concerned--the art of Pen Drawing. In this medium, Nature's variety of color, when not positively ignored, is suggested by means of sharp black lines, of varying thickness, placed more or less closely together upon white paper; while natural form depends primarily for its representation upon arbitrary boundary lines.

There is, of course, no authority in Nature for a positive outline: we see objects only by the difference in color of the other objects behind and around them. The technical capacity of the pen and ink medium, however, does not provide a value corresponding to every natural one, so that a broad interpretation has to be adopted which eliminates the less positive values; and, that form may not likewise be sacrificed, the outline becomes necessary, that light objects may stand relieved against light. This outline is the most characteristic, as it is the most indispensable, of the conventions of line drawing.

To seek to abolish it only involves a resort to expedients no less artificial, and the results of all such attempts, dependent as they necessarily are upon elaboration of color, and a general indirectness of method, lack some of the best characteristics of pen drawing. More frequently, however, an elaborate color-scheme is merely a straining at the technical limitations of the pen in an effort to render the greatest possible number of values.

It may be worth while to inquire whether excellence in pen drawing consists in thus dispensing with its recognized conventions, or in otherwise taxing the technical resources of the instrument.

This involves the question of Style,--of what characteristic pen methods are,--a question which we will briefly consider.

[Side note: _What Const.i.tuted "Style"_]

It is a recognized principle that every medium of art expression should be treated with due regard to its nature and properties.

The sculptor varies his technique according as he works in wood, granite, or marble; the painter handles his water-color in quite another manner than that he would employ on an oil-painting of the same subject; and the architect, with the subtle sense of the craftsman, carries this principle to such a fine issue as to impart an individual expression even to particular woods. He knows that what may be an admirable design when executed in bra.s.s may be a very bad one in wrought-iron and is sure to be an absurdity in wood. An artistic motive for a silver flagon, too, is likely to prove ugly for pottery or cut-gla.s.s, and so on. There is a genius, born of its particular properties, in every medium, which demands individual expression. Observe, therefore, that Art is not satisfied with mere unrelated beauty of form or color. It requires that the result confess some sensible relation to the means by which it has been obtained; and in proportion as it does this, it may claim to possess that individual and distinctive charm which we call "Style." It may be said, therefore, that the technical limitations of particular mediums impose what might properly be called natural conventions; and while misguided ambition may set these conventions aside to hammer out effects from an unwilling medium, the triumph is only mechanical; Art does not lie that way.

[Side note: _The Province of the Pen_]

Ought the pen, then, to be persuaded into the province of the brush?

Since the natures of the two means differ, it does not stultify the water-color that it cannot run the deep gamut of oil. Even if the church-organ be the grandest and most comprehensive of musical instruments we may still be permitted to cherish our piano. Each has its own sphere, its own reason for being. So of the pen,--the piccolo flute of the artistic orchestra. Let it pipe its high treble as merrily as it may, but do not coerce it into mimicking the ba.s.soon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1 JOSEPH PENNELL]

Pen drawing is most apt to lose its individuality when it begins to a.s.sume the characteristics of wash-drawing, such as an elaborate ma.s.sing of grays, small light areas, and a general indirectness of method. A painter once told me that he was almost afraid to handle the pen,--"It is so fearfully direct," he said. He understood the instrument, certainly, for if there is one characteristic more than another which should distinguish pen methods it is Directness.

The nature of the pen seems to mark as its peculiar function that of picking out the really vital features of a subject. Pen drawing has been aptly termed the "shorthand of Art;" the genius of the pen-point is essentially epitome.

If we turn to the brush, we find its capacity such that a high light may be brought down to a minute fraction of an inch with a few swift strokes of it; whereas the tedious labor, not to speak of the actual technical difficulties, encountered in attempting such an effect of color with pen and ink, indicates that we are forcing the medium. Moreover, it is technically impossible to reproduce with the pen the low values which may be obtained with the brush; and it is unwise to attempt it. The way, for example, in which Mr. Joseph Pennell handles his pen as compared with that in which he handles his brush is most instructive as ill.u.s.trating what I have been maintaining. His pen drawings are pitched in a high key,--brilliant blacks and large light areas, with often just enough half-tone to soften the effect. His wash-drawings, on the contrary, are so utterly different in manner as to have nothing in common with the others, distinguished as they are by ma.s.ses of low tone and small light areas. Compare Figs. 1 and 5. Observe that there is no straining at the technical capacity of the pen or of the brush; no attempt to obtain an effect in one medium which seems to be more naturally adapted to the other. Individuality is imparted to each by a frank concession to its peculiar genius.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2 MAXIME LALANNE]

[Side note: _Examples of Good Style_]

I have said that the chief characteristic of pen methods is Directness.

I think I may now say that the chief element of style is Economy of Means. The drawing by M. Maxime Lalanne shown in Fig. 2 is an excellent example of this economy carried to its extreme. Not a stroke could be spared, so direct and simple is it, and yet it is so complete and h.o.m.ogenous that nothing could be added to make it more so. The architecture is left without color, and yet we are made to feel that it is not white--this subtle suggestion of low color being obtained by a careful avoidance of any strong black notes in the rendering, which would have intensified the whites and lighted up the picture. Fig. 3, by the same artist, is even more notable by reason of the masterly breadth which characterizes the treatment of a most complicated subject. A comparison of these with a drawing of the Restoration House, at Rochester, England, Fig.

4, is instructive. In the latter the method is almost painfully elaborate; nothing of the effect is obtained by suggestion. The technique is varied and interesting, but the whole drawing lacks that individual something which we call Style. In the Lalanne drawings we see foliage convincingly represented by means of the mere outlines and a few subtle strokes of the pen. There is no attempt at the literal rendering of natural objects in detail, all is accomplished by suggestion: and while I do not wish to be understood as insisting upon such a severely simple style, much less upon the purist theory that the function of the pen is concerned with form alone, I would impress upon the student that Lalanne's is incomparably the finer manner of the two.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 3 MAXIME LALANNE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4 FROM A PHOTOGRAPH]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5 JOSEPH PENNELL]

[Side note: _A Word of Advice_]

Between these two extremes of method there is a wide lat.i.tude for individual choice. Contrast with the foregoing the accompanying pen drawing by Mr. Pennell, Fig. 5, which gives a fair idea of the manner of this admirable stylist. Compared with the sketches by Lalanne it has more richness of color, but there is the same fine restraint, the same nice regard for the instrument. The student will find it most profitable to study the work of this masterly penman. By way of warning, however, let me remind him here, that in studying the work of any accomplished draughtsman he is selecting a style for the study of principles, not that he may learn to mimic somebody, however excellent the somebody may be; that he must, therefore, do a little thinking himself; that he has an individuality of his own which he does not confess if his work looks like some one's else; and, finally, that he has no more right to consciously appropriate the peculiarities of another's style than he has to appropriate his more tangible property, and no more reason to do so than he has to walk or talk like him.

CHAPTER II

MATERIALS

Every ill.u.s.trator has his special predilections in the matter of materials, just as he has in the matter of methods. The purpose of this chapter is, therefore, rather to a.s.sist the choice of the student by limiting it than to choose for him. It would be advisable for him to become acquainted with the various materials that I may have occasion to mention (all of them are more or less employed by the prominent penmen), and a partiality for particular ones will soon develop itself. He is reminded, however, that it is easily possible to exaggerate the intrinsic values of pens and papers; in fact the beginner invariably expects too much from them. Of course, he should not use any but the best,--even Vierge could not make a good drawing with a bad pen,--but the artistic virtues of a particular instrument are not likely to disclose themselves in the rude scratchings of the beginner. He has to master it, to "break it in," ere he can discover of what excellent service it is capable.

[Side note: _Pens_]

The student will find that most of the steel pens made for artists have but a short period of usefulness. When new they are even more unresponsive than when they are old. At first they are disposed to give a hard, wiry line, then they grow sympathetic, and, finally, lose their temper, when they must be immediately thrown away. As a general rule, the more delicate points are better suited to the smooth surfaces, where they are not likely to get tripped up and "shaken" by the roughness in the paper.

To begin with the smaller points, the "Gillott Crow-quill" is an excellent instrument. The normal thickness of its line is extremely small, but so beautifully is the nib made that it will respond vigorously to a big sweeping stroke. I say a "sweeping stroke,"

as its capacity is not to be taxed for uniformly big lines. An equally delicate point, which surpa.s.ses the crow-quill in range, is "Gillott's Mapping-pen." It is astonishing how large a line may be made with this instrument. It responds most nimbly to the demands made upon it, and in some respects reminds one of a brush.

It has a short life, but it may be a merry one. Mr. Pennell makes mention of a pen, "Perry's Auto-Stylo," which seems to possess an even more wonderful capacity, but of this I cannot speak from experience. A coa.r.s.er, but still a small point, is the "Gillott 192"--a good pen with a fairly large range; and, for any others than the smooth papers, a pen smaller than this will probably be found undesirable for general use. A shade bigger than this is the "Gillott 303," a very good average size. Neither of these two possesses the sensitiveness of those previously mentioned, but for work demanding more or less uniformity of line they will be found more satisfactory. The smaller points are liable to lead one into the quagmire of finicalness. When we get beyond the next in size, the "Gillott 404," there is nothing about the coa.r.s.e steel points to especially commend them for artistic use. They are usually stupid, unreliable affairs, whose really valuable existence is about fifteen working minutes. For decorative drawing the ordinary commercial "stub" will be found a very satisfactory instrument.

Of course one may use several sizes of pens in the same drawing, and it is often necessary to do so.

Before leaving the steel pens, the "double-line pen" may be mentioned, though it has only a limited sphere. It is a two-pointed arrangement, practically two pens in one, by means of which parallel lines may be made with one stroke. Rather interesting effects can be obtained with it, but on the whole it is most valuable as a curiosity. Though somewhat out of fashion for general use, the quill of our fathers is favored by many ill.u.s.trators. It is splendidly adapted for broad, vigorous rendering of foreground effects, and is almost dangerously easy to handle. Reed pens, which have somewhat similar virtues, are now little employed, and cannot be bought. They have to be cut from the natural reed, and used while fresh. For many uses in decorative drawing one of the most satisfactory instruments is the gla.s.s pen, which gives an absolutely uniform line. The point being really the end of a thin tube, the stroke may be made in any direction, a most unique characteristic in a pen. It has, however, the disadvantages of being friable and expensive; and, as it needs to be kept clean, the patent water-proof ink should not be used with it unless absolutely necessary. A flat piece of cork or rubber should be placed inside the ink-bottle when this pen is used, otherwise it is liable to be smashed by striking the bottom of the bottle. The faculty possessed by the j.a.panese brush of retaining its point renders it also available for use as a pen, and it is often so employed.

[Side note: _Inks_]

In drawing for reproduction, the best ink is that which is blackest and least shiny. Until a few years ago it was the custom of penmen to grind their India ink themselves; but, besides the difficulty of always ensuring the proper consistency, it was a c.u.mbersome method, and is now little resorted to, especially as numerous excellent prepared inks are ready to hand. The better known of these prepared inks are, "Higgins' American" (general and waterproof), Bourgeois'

"Encre de Chine Liquide," "Carter's," "Winsor & Newton's," and "Rowney's." Higgins' and Carter's have the extrinsic advantages of being put up in bottles which do not tip over on the slightest provocation, and of being furnished with stoppers which can be handled without smearing the fingers. Otherwise, they cannot be said to possess superiority over the others, certainly not over the "Encre de Chine Liquide." Should the student have occasion to draw over salt-prints he will find it wise to use waterproof ink, as the bleaching acid which is used to fade the photographic image may otherwise cause the ink to run.

[Side note: _Papers_]

Bristol-board is probably the most popular of all surfaces for pen drawing. It is certainly that most approved by the process engraver, whose point of view in such a matter, though a purely mechanical one, is worthy of consideration. It has a perfectly smooth surface, somewhat difficult to erase from with rubber, and which had better be scratched with a knife when any considerable erasure is necessary. As the cheap boards are merely a padding veneered on either side with a thin coating of smooth paper, little sc.r.a.ping is required to develop a fuzzy surface upon which it is impossible to work. Only the best board, such as Reynolds', therefore, should be used. Bristol-board can be procured in sheets of various thicknesses as well as in blocks.

Whatman's "hot-pressed" paper affords another excellent surface and possesses some advantages over the Bristol-board. It comes in sheets of various sizes, which may be either tacked down on a board or else "stretched." Tacking will be satisfactory enough if the drawing is small and is to be completed in a few hours; otherwise the paper is sure to "hump up," especially if the weather be damp. The process of stretching is as follows: Fold up the edges of the sheet all around, forming a margin about an inch wide. After moistening the paper thoroughly with a damp sponge, cover the under side of this turned-up margin with photographic paste or strong mucilage. During this operation the sheet will have softened and "humped up," and will admit of stretching. Now turn down the adhesive margin and press it firmly with the fingers, stretching the paper gently at the same time. As this essential part of the process must be performed quickly, an a.s.sistant is requisite when the sheet is large. Care should be taken that the paper is not strained too much, as it is then likely to burst when it again contracts.

Although generally employed for watercolor drawing, Whatman's "cold-pressed" paper has some advantages as a pen surface. Slightly roughish in texture, it gives an interesting broken line, which is at times desirable.

A peculiar paper which has considerable vogue, especially in France and England, is what is known as "clay-board." Its surface is composed of China clay, grained in various ways, the top of the grain being marked with fine black lines which give a gray tone to the paper, darker or lighter according to the character of the pattern. This tone provides the middle-tint for the drawing. By lightly sc.r.a.ping with a sharp penknife or scratcher, before or after the pen work is done, a more delicate gray tone may be obtained, while vigorous sc.r.a.ping will produce an absolute white. With the pen work added, it will be seen that a good many values are possible; and, if the drawing be not reduced more than one-third, it will print excellently.

The grain, running as it does in straight lines, offers a good deal of obstruction to the pen, however, so that a really good line is impossible.

Thin letter-paper is sometimes recommended for pen and ink work, chiefly on account of its transparency, which obviates the necessity of re-drawing after a preliminary sketch has been worked up in pencil. Over the pencil study a sheet of the letter-paper is placed on which the final drawing may be made with much deliberation. Bond paper, however, possesses the similar advantage of transparency besides affording a better texture for the pen.

CHAPTER III

TECHNIQUE