The Art of Illustration Part 8

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. XXVIII.

_Ill.u.s.tration from_ "_Black and White_," by G. G. MANTON.

This is a good example of wash drawing for process; that is to say, a good example from the "process man's" point of view.

Here the artist has used his utmost endeavours to meet the process half-way; he has been careful to use broad, clear, firm washes, and has done them with certainty of hand, the result of experience. If, in the endeavour to get strength, and the _best results out of a few tones_, the work lacks some artistic qualities, it is almost a necessity.

Mr. Manton has a peculiar method of lining, or stippling, over his wash work, which lends itself admirably for reproduction; but the practice can hardly be recommended to the attention of students. It is as difficult to achieve artistic results by these means, as in the combination of line and chalk in one drawing, advocated by some experts.

At the same time, Mr. Manton's indication of surfaces and textures by process are both interesting and valuable.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: "A SUNNY LAND." (FROM THE PAINTING BY GEORGE WETHERBEE.)

(_New Gallery, 1891._)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: DECORATIVE DESIGN BY RANDOLPH CALDECOTT.]

(The above design, from the _Memoir of R. Caldecott_, is lent by Messrs. Sampson Low & Co.)

One of the many uses which artists may make of the half-tone process is suggested by the reproduction of one of Mr. Caldecott's decorative designs, drawn freely with a brush full of white, on brown paper on a large scale (sometimes two or even three feet long), and reduced as above; the reduction refining and improving the design.

This is a most legitimate and practical use of "process" for ill.u.s.trating books, architectural and others, which in artistic hands might well be further developed.

Of the ill.u.s.trators who use this process in a more free-and-easy way we will now take an example, cut out of the pages of _Sketch_ (_see_ overleaf, p. 155).

Here truths of light and shade are disregarded, the figure stands out in unnatural darkness against white paper, and flat mechanical shadows are cast upon nothing. Only sheer ability on the part of a few modern ill.u.s.trators has saved these coa.r.s.e ungainly sketches from universal condemnation. But the splashes, and spots, and stains, which are taking the place of more serious work in ill.u.s.tration, have become a vogue in 1894. The sketch is made in two or three hours, instead of a week; the process is also much cheaper to the publisher than wood engraving, and the public seems satisfied with a sketch where formerly a finished ill.u.s.tration was required, if the subject be treated dramatically and in a lively manner. If the sketch comes out an unsightly smear on the page, it at least answers the purpose of topical ill.u.s.tration, and apparently suits the times. It is little short of a revolution in ill.u.s.tration, of which we do not yet see the end.[16]

The bookstalls are laden with the daring achievements of Phil May, Raven Hill, Dudley Hardy, and others, but it is not the object of this book to exhibit the works of genius, either for emulation or imitation. It is rather to suggest to the average student what he may legitimately attempt, and to show him the possibilities of the process block in different hands. It may be said, without disparagement of the numerous clever and experienced ill.u.s.trators of the day, that they are only adapting themselves to the circ.u.mstances of the time. There is a theory--the truth of which I do not question--that the reproductions of rapid sketches from the living model by the half-tone process have more vitality and freedom, more feeling and artistic qualities than can be obtained by any other means. But the young ill.u.s.trator should hesitate before adapting these methods, and should _never have anything reproduced for publication which was "drawn to time" in art cla.s.ses_.

One thing cannot be repeated too often in this connection: that the hastily produced blotches called "ill.u.s.trations," which disfigure the pages of so many books and magazines, are generally the result of want of care on the part of the artist rather than of the maker of the blocks.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. XXIX.

This is part of a page ill.u.s.tration lent by the proprietors of _Sketch_. It does not do justice to the talent (or the taste, we will hope), of the ill.u.s.trator, and is only inserted here to record the kind of work which is popular in 1894. (Perhaps in a second edition we may have other exploits of genius to record.)

It should be noted that this and the ill.u.s.tration on p. 149 are both reproduced by the same hal-ftone process, the difference of result being altogether in the handling of the brush. This sketch would have been intolerable in less artistic hands. Artists will doubtless find more feeling and expression in the broad washes and splashes before us, than in the most careful stippling of Mr. Manton.

Students of wash drawing for process may take a middle course.]

A word here on the influence of

PROCESS-BLOCK MAKERS

on the young ill.u.s.trator. The "process man," the teacher and inciter to achievements by this or that process, is not usually an "artist" in the true sense of the word. He knows better than anyone else what lines he can reproduce, and especially what kind of drawing is best adapted for his own process. He will probably tell the young draughtsman what materials to use, what amount of reduction his drawings will bear, and other things of a purely technical not to say businesslike character.

Let me not be understood to disparage the work of photo-engravers and others engaged on these processes; on the contrary, the amount of patience, industry, activity, and anxious care bestowed upon the reproduction of drawings and paintings is astonishing, and deserves our grat.i.tude.[17] This work is a new industry of an important kind, in which art and craft are bound up together. The day has past when "process work" is to be looked down upon as only fit for the cheapest, most inferior, and inartistic results.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE BROOK." (FROM A PAINTING BY ARNOLD HELCKe.)]

PHOTOGRAPHIC ILl.u.s.tRATIONS.

One result of hasty work in making drawings, and the uncertainty of reproduction, promises to be a very serious one to the ill.u.s.trator, as far as we can see ahead, viz.: the gradual subst.i.tution of photographs from life for other forms of ill.u.s.tration. The "Meisenbach" reproduction of a photograph from life, say a full length figure of an actress in some elaborate costume, seems to answer the purpose of the editor of a newspaper to fill a page, where formerly artists and engravers would have been employed. One reason for this is that the details of the dress are so well rendered by photography on the block as to answer the purpose of a fashion plate, an important matter in some weekly newspapers. The result is generally unsatisfactory from an artist's point of view, but the picture is often most skilfully composed and the values wonderfully rendered, direct from the original.

In the case of the reproduction of photographs, which we are now considering, much may be done by working up a platinotype print before giving it out to be made into a block. Much depends here upon the artistic knowledge of editors and publishers, who have it in their power to have produced good or bad ill.u.s.trations from the same original. The makers of the blocks being confined to time and price, are practically powerless, and seldom have an opportunity of obtaining the best results.

It should be mentioned that blocks made from wash drawings, being shallower than those made from line drawings, suffer more from bad printing and paper.

A good silver print (whether from a photograph from life or from a picture), full of delicate gradations and strong effects, appears on the plate through the film of gauze, dull, flat, and comparatively uninteresting; but _the expression of the original is given with more fidelity_ than could be done by any ordinary wood engraving. This is the best that can be said for it, it is a dull, mechanical process, requiring help from the maker of the blocks; and so a system of touching on the negative (before making the block) to bring out the lights and accents of the picture is the common practice. This is a hazardous business at the best, especially when dealing with the copy of a painting. I mention it to show where "handwork" in the half-tone process first comes in. The block, when made, is also often touched up by an engraver in places, especially where spotty or too dark; and on this work many who were formerly wood-engravers now find employment.

There is no doubt that the makers of process blocks are the best instructors as to the results to be obtained by certain lines and combinations of lines; but in the majority of cases they will tell the artist too much, and lead him to take too much interest in the mechanical side of the business. The ill.u.s.trator's best protection against this tendency, his whole armour and coat of mail, is to be _an artist first and an ill.u.s.trator afterwards_.

This is the sum of the matter. Perhaps some of the examples in this book may help us, and lead to a more thorough testing of results by capable men.

"SKETCH."

It will be interesting here to consider the material of which one number of an ill.u.s.trated paper (_Sketch_) is made up, and how far the artist and wood engraver have part in it. From an economic point of view it will be instructive. I take this "newspaper" as an example, because it is a typical and quite "up-to-date" publication, vieing, in circulation and importance, with the _Ill.u.s.trated London News_, both published by the same proprietors. In one number there are upwards of 30 pages, 10 being advertis.e.m.e.nts. There are in all 151 ill.u.s.trations, of which 63 appear in the text part, and 88 in the advertis.e.m.e.nt pages. Out of the text ill.u.s.trations, 24 only are from original drawings or sketches. Next are 26 _photographs from life_ (several being full pages), and 13 reproductions from engravings, etc., reproduced by mechanical processes--in all 63. Some of the pages reproduced from photographs are undeniably good, and interesting to the public, as is evidenced by the popularity of this paper alone. In the advertis.e.m.e.nt portion are 88 ill.u.s.trations (including many small ones), 85 of which have been engraved on wood; a number of them are electrotypes from old blocks, but there are many new ones every week. The reason for using wood engraving largely for advertis.e.m.e.nts is, that wood blocks print more easily than "process," when mixed with the type, and print better (being cut deeper on the block) where inferior paper and ink are employed. But this cla.s.s of wood engraving may be summed up in the words of one of the craft to me lately:--"It is not worth __2 a week to anybody."

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. x.x.x.

MISS KATE RORKE. (FROM "SKETCH.")

(_Photographed from life by H. S. Mendelssohn_. _Reproduced by half-tone process_)]

Thus it will be seen that in the "text" part of this newspaper two-thirds of the ill.u.s.trations are produced without the aid of artist or wood engraver!

To turn to one of the latest instances where the photographer is the ill.u.s.trator. A photographer, Mr. Burrows, of Camborne, goes down a lead mine in Cornwall with his apparatus, and takes a series of views of the workings, which could probably have been done by no other means. Under most difficult conditions he sets his camera, and by the aid of the magnesium "flash-light," gives us groups of figures at work amidst gloomy and weird surroundings. The results are exceptionally valuable as "ill.u.s.trations" in the true meaning of the word, on account of the clear and accurate definition of details. The remarkable part, artistically, is the good colour and grouping of the figures.[18]

Another instance of the use of photography in ill.u.s.tration. Mr.

Villiers, the special artist of _Black and White_, made a startling statement lately. He said that out of some 150 subjects which he took at the Chicago Exhibition, not more than half-a-dozen were drawn by him; all the rest being "snap-shot" photographs. Some were very good, could hardly be better, the result of many hours' waiting for the favourable grouping of figures. That he would re-draw some of them with his clever pencil for a newspaper is possible, but observe the part photography plays in the matter.

In America novels have been thus ill.u.s.trated both in figure and landscape; the weak point being the _backgrounds_ to the figure subjects. I draw attention to this movement because the neglect of composition, of appropriate backgrounds, and of the true lighting of the figures by so many young artists, is throwing ill.u.s.trations more and more into the hands of the photographer. Thus the rapid "pen-and-ink artist," and the sketcher in wash from an artificially lighted model in a crowded art school, is hastening to his end.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. x.x.xI.

(_A Photograph from life, by Messrs. Cameron & Smith. Reproduced by half-tone process._)]

The time is coming fast when cheap editions of popular novels will be ill.u.s.trated--and many in the following way. The artist, instead of being called upon to draw, will occupy himself in setting and composing pictures through the aid of models trained for the purpose, and the ever-ready photographer. The "process man" and the clever manipulator on the plates, will do the rest, producing pictures vignetted, if desired, as overleaf. Much more the makers of blocks can do--and will do--with the photographs now produced, for they are earnest, untiring, ready to make sacrifices of time and money.

The cheap dramatic ill.u.s.trations, just referred to, which artists'

models in America know so well how to pose for, may be found suitable from the commercial point of view for novels of the b.u.t.terfly kind; but they will seldom be of real artistic interest. And here, for the present, we may draw the line between the ill.u.s.trator and the photographer. But the "black and white man" will obviously have to do his best in every branch of ill.u.s.tration to hold his own in the future.

It may be thought by some artists that these things are hardly worth consideration; but we have only to watch the ill.u.s.trations appearing week by week to see whither we are tending.[19]

The last example of the photographer as ill.u.s.trator, which can be given here, is where a photograph from life engraved on wood is published as a vignette ill.u.s.tration.[20] It is worth observing, because it has been turned into line by the wood engraver, and serves for printing purposes as a popular ill.u.s.tration. The original might have been more artistically posed, but it is pretty as a vignette, and pleases the public. (_See_ opposite page.)

There are hundreds of such subjects now produced by the joint aid of the photographer and the process engraver. It is not the artist and the wood engraver who are really "working hand-in-hand" in these days in the production of ill.u.s.trations, but _the photographer and the maker of process blocks_. This is significant. Happily for us there is much that the photographer cannot do pictorially. But the photographer is, as I said, marching on and on, and the line of demarcation between handwork and photographic ill.u.s.trations becomes less marked every day.

The photographer's daughter goes to an art school, and her influence is shown annually in the exhibitions of the photographic societies.