Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/515

* DRAWING. eation of form upon a given surface, usually plane, by lucans of lines and tints or shades. Painting and drawing are broadly dislinguislied by the use of varied color in painting, reproducing the colors of lliu object represented, while in drawing only the form and light and shade (or 'modeling') are represented. The forms deline- ated may be visible objects, forms imagined and presented as if actually seen, or purely arbi- trary or abstract forms, as in ornamental pat- terns and mathematical diagrams. As the de- lineation of form lies at the foundation of all the plastic arts, drawing is the most important single branch of study in schools of art and of engineering. Since, moreover, the study of draw- ing trains the faculties of observation and mem- cry to a high degree, and develops an effective co- ordination of the action of hand and eye, it has come to be recognized as of the highest educa- tional value in any system of mental discipline. It is therefore systematically taught in the pil)lic schools of nearly all countries that make any pretensions to a well-organized educational system. The drawing of visible objects is really the eiaphic recording of mental impressions received through the eye. The draughtsman seeks to pro- duce upon the paper, by means of lines and tints, visual images which shall awaken in the be- holder mental images and impressions as nearly as possible like those evoked directly by the ob- jects represented. But since the limitations of drawing in black and Avhite on a plane .surface forbid the complete presentation of all the visible facts and aspects of the original object, it is evi- dent that the desired mental impression must be produced largely by siinaf.itions. which stimulate the beholder's imagination to supply whatever is lacking in the representation. The drawing, in spite of being merely (for instance) an aggre- gation of black lines and dots on white paper, and but an inch or two in height and width, may so visibly suggest the outline, foliage, masses, light and shade of a tree, that it evokes in the mind the impressions one experiences in seeing such a tree, and the imagination at once supplies the size, distance, detail, and color which the drawing lacks. Artistic power in drawing con- sists largely in the ability thvis to create by sug- gestion a vivid impression of reality. A sketch is a drawing which attempts to present in a summary way only partial and momentary as- pects of the thing represented. An effective sketch is one in which the simplicity and vigor of the artist's personal interpretation of what he sees has not been sacrificed in the effort after elaborate finish. The judicious choice of what to show and what to omit calls for a highly devel- oped taste, and can be mastered only by long experience. A master's sketch is worth a score of highly elaborated drawings by 'prentice hands. Free-II.^xd DRA^xc. Drawing in which the hand receives no assistance from mechanical ap- pliances is called free-hand drawing. It lies at the foundation of all the arts of plastic design, sculiitnre not excepted, and constitutes an art in itself. Its greatest masters, like Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo, have been among the geniuses of their times. Even the greatness of such colorists as Titian and Veronese dep<'nd< in large measure upon their consum- mate draui.'htsman«hip. See Paixtin'c. The restrictions under which the artist labors 447 DRAWING. in seeking to represent in black and white upon .1 plane surface the multitudinous aspects of visible objects have already been referred to. The differ- ent kinds and schools of drawing are distin- guished by the waj's in which these restrictions are evaded or overcome. In outline drawings and in some sketches, only the exterior outlines and contours or salient edges and markings of an ob- ject or scene are shown. The ])ower which these may liave of evoking complete mental pictures is indicated in the simple outline drawings (in Greek vases and by black silhouettes of faces and figures. The power of pure line, even divest- ed of accompanying color, to suggest the most varied modeling of surfaces, and to express the minutest detail, is admirably exemplified in .Jap- anese pictorial art. The European schools, on the other hand, lay great stress upon rallies, or the rendering of the varied luminosities and grada- tions of light and dark in the objects represented, by corresponding gradations of the tones of the drawing: that is, of the mixtures of black and white produced by the use of the pen-and-ink, pen- cil, crayon, charcoal, or sepia-brush upon the paper. Even different colors may be to a certain extent suggested, or rather interpreted, in black and white by a careful rendering of their appar- ent values: a dark red, for instance, being indi- cated by darker shading than a light blue or a yellow. The great artists of the Renaissance stand midway between the Japanese exponents of pure line and the modern European interpreters of values. Their drawings are wonderful for the purity, vigor, and delicacy of their lines, as well as for the skillful though somewhat conventional 'modeling" of the forms as expressed by shading. See the articles LiXE, and Impressioxist School OF Paixtixg. Techxic of Free-Hand Drawtxg. The funda- mental principles of the art are the same, what- ever the medium employed. Good drawing de- mands, first of all, a trained sense of form : that is, the power to observe, to understand and ap- preciate, to remember, and to represent, form in general ; or. in other words, the mastery of pro- portion. In drawing from any object or model, the first essential is to observe, and sketch in. the dominant sti'uctural lines, contours, and masses, including the conspicuous high lights and deeper shades and shadows. The more important details are next added and corrected, and the minor details are left to the last. In executing these various stages of the drawing, lightness of touch and sureness of line are important qualities, at- tained only by long and patient discipline. Taste and imagination are both exercised in the choice of what to show and what to omit, while experi- ence alone endows the artist with the knowledge of the most effective methods for expressing the facts and aspects he is seeking to record. But the detailed technitiue of drawing varies greatly with the medium employed. The chief instruments are Ihe pencil, pen, black crayon, charcoal, and brush. Of these, the pen is the most exacting, since it makes an absolutely black mark on the white paper, and tints must be ex- pressed by dots, closely serried lines, and cross- hatching. The masters of pen drawing are in- variably masters of pure line. With charcoal or crayon sauce the artist must, as it were, paint on his paper, fine lines being out of the question; so also with the brusli. in sepia and other 'wash' drawings. The pencil and crayon occupy a mid-