Title: A Handbook of Illustration
Author: Hinton, A. Horsley
Language: English
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[Illustration: FROM THE ORIGINAL PAINTING BY R.C. MINOR. N.Y.
PHOTOGRAVURE CO.

_Evening_]



  A HANDBOOK OF
  ILLUSTRATION

  BY

  A. HORSLEY HINTON

  [Illustration]

  WITH REPRODUCTIONS
  FROM
  PHOTOGRAMS
  AND SKETCHES
  BY THE AUTHOR
  AND OTHER ARTISTS

  NEW YORK, U.S.A.
  G. GENNERT, 24 and 26 EAST THIRTEENTH ST.

  LONDON, ENG.
  DAWBARN & WARD, LIMITED



CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER I.--INTRODUCTION.--Primitive illustrations--Art and
    illustration--Influence in photography--Illustrations from the
    Author's aspect--Some uses of illustration.

  CHAPTER II.--A NEGLECTED FIELD.

  CHAPTER III.--THEORY AND PRINCIPLES OF ILLUSTRATION.--Different kinds
    of illustration--Maps or plans--Scientific diagrams--Topographical
    views--In fiction--Author and Illustrator--Pictorial or
    artistic--Decorative--The "Two things."

  CHAPTER IV.--REPRODUCTION BY HALF-TONE PROCESS.--Processes other than
    photo-mechanical--The object of mechanical process--Intaglio, relief,
    and separate printing process--Description of half-tone process--The
    screen--Printing on the gelatine--Development--Etching--Inherent
    disadvantage of the screen--Cutting out lights--Comparative results.

  CHAPTER V.--PREPARATION OF ORIGINALS FOR REPRODUCTION BY
  HALF-TONE.--I.--Photograms--The best kind of Photograms for
    reproduction--Negative and print--Legitimate hand work--Relieving the
    shadows--Helping the high light and shadows--Application of
    photograms--"Stopping out"--Backgrounds not essential--Composition and
    arrangement--Decorative initials, &c.

  CHAPTER VI.--PREPARATION OF ORIGINALS FOR HALF-TONE. II.--Wash drawings,
    oil paintings, pencil and other drawings--Character of wash drawing or
    grey surface--Monochrome oil painting--Painting on a photographic
    basis--Mixed drawings--Pencil drawings--Coloured sketches for
    illustration--Thin reproduction.

  CHAPTER VII.--LINE PROCESS.--Requirements of the process--The processes
    described: Gelatine, Albumen, and Bitumen--Copying, printing,
    developing, mounting--Description of the copy
    negative--Reduction--Diminishing glasses--Pencil marks,
    &c.--Non-photographic methods.

  CHAPTER VIII.--METHODS OF LINE REPRODUCTION. I.--Pen-and-ink
    drawing--Character of line drawings--"Tone" interpreted into
    line--Various styles of line--Suggestion of colour, textures, &c.--The
    art of leaving out--What to copy and study--Line shading--Flat
    tints--Outlines--Reduction and thickening.

  CHAPTER IX.--MATERIALS FOR SIMPLE LINE DRAWING.--Papers and
    cardboards--Inks and fluids--Pens.

  CHAPTER X.--COMPARISON OF LINE PROCESSES.--Some characteristics of each
    described, and results in each compared--The roulette.

  CHAPTER XI.--OTHER METHODS FOR LINE REPRODUCTION. The Materials
    Required.--Mechanical tints--Their application--"Splatter" work--How
    produced--Grained clay surface boards or "scrape" boards--Their use
    described--Pencil and chalk drawing for line reproduction.

  CHAPTER XII.--MECHANICAL AIDS TO DRAWING.--Methods of tracing from a
    photogram--Drawing on a photogram--Drawing on a "blue" print--Tracing
    on transfer paper--Drawing from nature--Conclusion.



Authors preface


Increased use of the =Photographic Reproduction= process and a
prevailing ignorance of their nature and application, made desirable a
simple practical =Handbook of Illustration Methods=

Such a book it has been my endeavour to produce

  A.H.H.
  London November 1894

[Illustration: PEN DRAWING.

(_Original_ 9 x 5-1/8.)]



A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION



CHAPTER I.

_INTRODUCTION--THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION._


Introduced to this country, in round numbers, some fifty years ago,
Photography has progressed beyond its contemporaries of the present
century. It has obtained a hold upon the people, entering equally into
their work and their amusements; the speed, the reality, the brilliancy
of it fit it peculiarly for the age into which it has been born. It has
survived, and will survive, amidst the decay of other things, because of
its extraordinary adaptability to changing circumstances, its readiness
to meet altering tastes and requirements; versatile in aspect, elastic
in its application.

Amidst all its adaptations of modern date, in none has it been more
successful than in that to which this book is devoted: that wherein
photography, directly or indirectly, is employed to introduce into our
literature expressions of thought, which are better so conveyed than by
written or printed words. Be the language never so rich in words, or the
writer's power in using them never so great, a clearer and a more
lasting impression may be conveyed, even to the cultivated, and
certainly to the popular mind, by the arrangement of lines and markings
in such form as may be felt to actually represent the objects, and
indicate the relative position and size of other objects or parts of the
same.

This may be said to be the primary and normal function of an
Illustration. Throughout the pages of this book, and to whatever extent
the student may practise the methods herein described, it may be well to
keep very clearly in mind the legitimate function of an illustration,
namely: to describe, to portray, and to do this _chiefly_ as an
auxiliary to written language.

To such a kind belongs the rude scratchings of the primæval man, whose
limited powers of speech forbade his adequately describing the forms of
those creatures whose pursuit meant life, whose disregard would mean
death, and of such kind were the hieroglyphics of the East. Nay, who
shall say that the very forms of letters themselves are not the outcome
of early effort to convey to the eye of another what might otherwise
only have been imperfectly communicated through other senses: a means to
an end; a servant, a tool, in the hands of him who would wield it.

But in the beginning there was a making of drawings and designs which
had another purpose. The gourd, or rough clay vessel, was graved and
marked with devices and forms suggested by the curves and shapes in
Nature, but this was merely for decoration; to please the eye, and not
to serve any purpose but to give pleasure. A means to an end in this
sense perhaps, but note that the end was in the commencement of it, and
went no further after completion; it gave pleasure to the beholder and
no more, and nothing more was intended or asked. Thus was Art born--not
to teach, nor to explain, nor to illustrate.

Nor is this distinction out of place in the present work. The tendency
to-day is too often to make a pretty picture rather than a good
illustration; to sacrifice accuracy to beauty; to strive rather after
the æsthetic pleasure in art, than the truth and fidelity of
illustration. The artist is what he is from the possession of certain
instinctive attributes which he is powerless to teach to another,
whereas the simpler and expressive forms of draughtsmanship _may be
attained by almost all_. From confusing art with illustration we find
a man saying "I cannot do this, or that, because I am no artist," and it
is with a hope of placing in the hands of such, at least to some extent,
a means of graphic expression, that the present book has been
undertaken.

[Illustration: AN ESSEX LANDSCAPE.

_Half-tone from oil sketch in monochrome._ (_Original_ 10-1/8 x 6-1/2).
[See p. 51.]]

Take also such a simple matter as a letter from a friend, and notice how
often words alone fail to convey a correct impression, yet a few lines
of simple form at once present a graphic description.

Mr. Blackburn gives a capital example of such a case in his "Art of
Illustration." He says: "A newspaper correspondent is in a boat on one
of the Italian lakes, and wishes to describe the scene on a calm summer
day. This is how he proceeds:

"'We are shut in by mountains,' he says, 'but the blue lake seems as
wide as the sea. On a rocky promontory on the left hand the trees grow
down to the water's edge and the banks are precipitous, indicating the
great depth of this part of the lake. The water is as smooth as glass;
on its surface is one vessel, a heavily laden market boat' (and so on).
There is no need to repeat it all; but when half a column of
word-painting had been written (and well written) the correspondent
failed to present the picture clearly to the eye without these _four_
explanatory lines (no more) which should of course have been sent with
his letter."

[Illustration]

In the same way small sketch plans (no matter how roughly made) are of
great assistance in describing the position of a fire, a murder, or
anything else of public importance; not to mention the value such
descriptive lines often are in private letters.

Whilst, then, Art and Illustration are distinct, and much of the latter
may be within the reach of many to whom the former is impossible, there
is no reason why either should needlessly offend the canons of the
other. Art--seeking, as it should, to awaken a sense of pleasure in the
beautiful--adheres to truth, in idea if not in fact. Illustration, which
portrays fact truthfully, may yet do so in such manner as shall not
annoy the cultivated and artistic senses; and this is the art of
illustration.

Here, as in other matters, much depends on a knowledge and exercise of
the mere technique or craftsmanship: the means to be employed, and the
manner of employing them.

With pen or pencil we might satisfactorily produce such a diagram or
drawing as should _illustrate_ our speech, but the exigencies of such
gigantic institutions of civilisation as books, magazines, and
newspapers, demand that the same illustration shall be presented to
thousands of readers at the same time. In former times the original
drawing was copied by craftsmen on to wood or metal, and then carved so
that a "block," containing the design in relief, might be set up in the
printing press and printed in conjunction with the letterpress type.

Wonderful skill did the wood-engraver acquire in reproducing the
original and in interpreting the artist's idea; but his work took time,
which had to be paid for, and sometimes the artist found that in passing
through the intermediary wood-engraver, his intention had been wrongly
construed, and even a departure made from the accuracy of his drawing.
Then came Photography, and it was found possible to photograph the
original on to the surface of the block instead of drawing it. It was
next found possible, under given conditions, to substitute for the
engraver a purely mechanical means, whereby the surface of the block was
suitably carved to print with ink the requisite design.

Thus a photographic and chemical _process_ supplants the hand-work of
the engraver, and a perfect replica of the original, in no way dependent
upon the personal ability of the engraver, is obtained. The same
process, working blindly, produces a facsimile equivalent to the
artist's own drawing; and does so with such speed, and at such small
expense, that for one penny we may purchase to-day a newspaper filled
with exact copies of drawings of events which happened only yesterday.
Thousands of books and papers, the world over, are now replete with
illustrations: the expense of producing which by the older methods would
have made impossible such welcome additions to the printed page.

Nor does it appear that the gigantic dimensions, and high state of
perfection, which Process illustration has reached, in any way
represents the limit of its possibilities in either respect. It has been
reasonably conjectured that in the near future every newspaper and
periodical publication will be illustrated, and almost each day sees
some advancement, some improvement, in the daily practice of the various
processes of reproduction, so that in writing a book of the present kind
it is difficult to keep the information therein contained fully abreast
of the times. While it is in the hands of the printer some new thing may
be found out, some new application of a method successfully attempted,
which shall make the novelty of yesterday give place to the invention of
to-day.

The pride of the _littérateur_ may make him feel that the use of
pictures, as an assistance to writing, indicates incapacity or
feebleness on the part of the author. Yet, able as is the description of
such familiar characters as Mr. Pecksniff, Pickwick, Jingle, and others,
how various would have been the idea conjured up by different readers,
were it not for the inimitable drawings of Cruickshank or "Phiz." Were
not Shakespeare's characters intended to be illustrated--not by drawings
perhaps, but by "living pictures"?

And, finally, out of the simple instruments for illustration there has
been evolved a greater thing. The same means as are employed to
reproduce the draughtsman's drawing, may also reproduce, and place in
the hands of the multitude, reproductions of the works of great master
artists; so that something of the treasures of the Pitti, and the
Louvre, may be seen in English homes to-day. The same simple methods,
used for mere illustration, have been wrestled with by those who
possess art as a birthright from the gods, and through their efforts our
books may now contain pictures (process reproductions) which are full of
fine artistic feeling; not merely illustrating the text, but awakening a
sense of pleasure and exaltation at the representation of nature's
beauties. Decorative pages, ornate with noble designs, brighten a book
like gleaming crystals in a rich but dark mine, and relieve the monotony
of too perfect a symmetry. A chapter heading, a tail piece, a decorated
initial, and here and there a picture page, exert an influence like
sparkling spring and smiling flowers, for joy and sweet refreshment by
the way.

[Illustration]



[Illustration]

CHAPTER II.

_A NEGLECTED FIELD._


A form of book illustration too much neglected, and one possessing
peculiar advantages, is Margina Illustration. Decorated or illustrated
margins may be associated in idea with the early monastic work, when the
solitude and gloom of the recluse's life was relieved by the little
enjoyment which must have attended the illumination of holy books, but
it is not quite the purely decorative to which I would refer.

In some modern editions, in which an old style is affected, a wide
margin on the top, bottom, and outer edge of the letterpress is
preserved so wide that ample space might be found to introduce such
trifling illustrations as would be amply sufficient to fix an impression
or suggest to the imagination of the reader ideas which the mere
letterpress might fail to awaken.

[Illustration: CANTO THE SECOND

  Night wanes--the vapours round the mountains curl'd
  Melt into the morn, and Light awakes the world.
  Man has another day to swell the past,
  And lead him near to little, but his last;
  But mighty Nature bounds as from her birth.
  The sun is in the heavens and life on earth;
  Flowers in the valley, splendour in the beam,
  Heath on the gale, and freshness in the stream.
  Immortan Man I behold her glory shine,
  And cry exulting inly, "They are thine!"
  Gaze on, while yet thy gladden'd eye may see,
  A morrow comes when they are not for thee;
  And Grieve what may above thy sensless bier,
  Nor earth Nor sky will yeild a single tear;
  Nor cloud shall gather more nor leaf shall fall,
  Nor gale breathe forth one sigh for thee, for all;
  But creeping things shall revel in their spoil,
  And fit thy clay to fertilize the soil.

  'Tis morn--'tis noon--assembled in the hall,
  The gather'd chieftains come to Otho's call;
  'Tis now the promised hour that must proclaim
  The life or death of Lara's future fame.
  When Ezzlin has charge may here unfold.

LINE REPRODUCTION FROM PEN SKETCH.

(_Original 13 x 9 inches._)]

Too often our illustrations in books are separated from the text to such
a degree that a continuity of idea is all but impossible. We read,
perhaps--"Night wanes--the vapours round the mountains curl'd melt into
morn, and Light awakes the world. Man has another day to swell the
past," &c., &c., &c.; but long before we come to the page which
illustrates this delightfully pictorial passage from one of Lord Byron's
romantic works we read--"'Tis morn--'tis noon--assembled in the hall.
The gathered chieftains come to Otho's call:" and not perhaps until we
have passed the third or fourth stanza, and are trying to picture in our
minds the brilliant assemblage of Spanish chieftains, and the fierce
challenge of the accused Lara terminating with "Demand thy life!" do we
turn over a page and confront a dainty illustration of the opening lines
"Night wanes," &c.--an interruption as undesirable and distracting as
when the lecturer, through some mistake in the arranging of his lantern
slides, sees projected on the screen a photogram of the grim walls of
Newgate Prison, when, with the words "I will now show you a picture of
where some of England's heroes have found a resting-place," he expected
his assistant to put up a slide of Westminster Abbey. It is not always
possible even to get our book illustrations to face the matter which
refers to it, and even if that can be arranged, or the illustration can
actually come into the same page, the act of turning from text to
picture means an interruption and severing the continuous thought. Could
our illustrations appear in the margin, between the lines, mingled with
the letterpress, how smoothly we might _read_ the _illustrations_ along
with the text, and how bright and pleasing would the pages appear!

I have given a specimen page which may serve to better show the idea.

We will suppose some book of travel or poetry be set up in type by the
printer, and a proof copy be made up with broad margins under the
direction of the illustrator, who then takes it in hand and decorates
each page as desired; or the pages are pulled as proofs on two or three
kinds of paper, smooth for pen work, rough for crayon, or medium for
wash drawings--what delightful variety might be secured! When the artist
has added his marginal and inter-paragraph illustrations the pages are
photo-reproduced, the complete block including both letterpress and
drawings.

[Illustration: PENNED BY W.T. WHITEHEAD.

(_Original_ 15 x 12 _inches._)]

Of course the illustrations, if confined to the margins, could be
reproduced separately, and set up with the type in the same form. In
the example I have given on page 15, the letterpress was set up by the
printer to occupy a given space, the type used being a clear, bold
letter. This was printed from on two or three kinds of paper, and handed
to me to add the illustrative matter. The proof used was about thirteen
by nine inches, and this was subsequently reproduced by a simple zinco
process to the size here shown.

Of course the amount of letterpress possible on each page is small if
the illustrating be carried to any great extent. An edition of
Shakespeare's works treated in this fashion would of itself constitute a
small library, but for smaller works, or for single plays or single
poems, many a plain piece of reading might be by such means converted
into a very delightful and beloved book.

I have often thought that in fiction, when we read that the dainty
little _billet doux_ slipped under the door, written in my lady's
delicate and graceful style; or, the mysterious letter handed to the
hero written in a strange handwriting "ran as follows," how much more
forcible the thing would be if the author had given us a facsimile of
the letter. I never read a letter in a story without feeling it was the
author of the romance, instead of the character in the book, who
composed the letter. Thus an author might, in addition to feature,
figure, and dress, give us a fine suggestion of his _dramatis personæ_
by showing a little bit of their handwriting.



CHAPTER III.

_THE THEORY AND PRINCIPLES OF ILLUSTRATION._


Here it will probably be well to consider the different classes into
which illustrations naturally seem to fall, and this because it is the
common custom to regard the contents of an illustrated book as all
belonging to one.

Perhaps the simplest and most spontaneous form of illustration is seen
when one is describing a position or locality, and takes pencil and
paper to draw a rough plan showing this or that road, cross-road,
turning, &c. We do this without any forethought, without any artistic
ability, and never for a moment considering that we are fulfilling the
first theoretical function of the illustrator, and we make this
sketch-plan partly because we could not so graphically describe what we
wish in words; and, again, the drawing will produce a more lasting
impression upon the person appealed to, and that without so great an
effort of memory on his part. "Seeing is believing," and to _see_ is
also to _remember_. It is the same with the diagrams which illustrate
the problems of Euclid, a tourist's map, an architect's plan; these are
all illustrations of a diagrammatic kind.

Only a little higher in the scale are the illustrations in scientific
and physiological books. I say _higher_, because of the difficulties
attaching to the photographing of such objects, and their more complex
forms, which sometimes necessitate their being drawn from the objects at
first hand by one possessing some amount of skill as a draughtsman. But
the intention is to explain the text, added to which is perhaps the
special office of enabling the student to recognise and identify the
particular animal or vegetable structure, or a certain rock formation or
crystal, when found; for which purpose it is of primary importance that
the essential and specific characters of the particular object are
carefully portrayed, and the entire figure be of faultless accuracy.

This same quality must also be secured in topographical views with which
the book of travels, with its description of far-distant places and
people, is illustrated; it is in this class of drawings that there is
most danger of a desire to make a pretty picture--overwhelming the
purely descriptive or explanatory function.

The representation of the principal characters in a story, with which it
is the custom to illustrate a novel or work of fiction, has often
appeared to me to be one of the least successful departments of
illustration. Probably this arises from the fact that the artist has no
actual models to work from; he creates, out of the author's description,
imaginary beings, and portrays them accordingly. Therefore, unless
author and artist have been in very close communication, it is as likely
as not that the artist may get a conception of certain characters quite
remote from the author's intention. At least, it must have occurred to
many a reader to find the pictures in a favourite novel often quite fail
to realise the ideal which he had himself formed of the hero or heroine,
of whom, at the very outset, he had conjured up an image and an
environment.

Somewhat lately the experiment has been made of illustrating fiction
with actual photograms from life, in which case the illustrator must
select with great care individuals answering very exactly to the
descriptions given, and use these as models grouped as required.

Obviously this method must be confined to such books whose plot is laid
in comparatively recent times and in ordinary scenes of life; for the
difficulties, which are in any case great, assume insurmountable
proportions when one conceives the idea of illustrating by photograms
such books as "Robinson Crusoe," "Pilgrim's Progress," or "Don Quixote."

[Illustration: PEN DRAWING BY W.T. WHITEHEAD.

(_Original_ 8 x 5.)]

The ideal condition would be for the author to illustrate his own
writings, then indeed should we be sure of getting a glimpse of the
character intended; and we can imagine with what care he would fashion
the child of his imagination.

Failing this, the author should control to a greater extent the work of
the man who is to illustrate his writings, a point far too often
overlooked in the making of a book.

It will be seen that in this section of illustration the draughtsman
draws upon his imagination, so that, to some extent at least, his art is
_creative_. It must, however, be borne in mind that he is not at liberty
to paint or draw his own unaided imaginings; he is merely interpreting
another's words into a graphic representation; so that, be he never so
fine an artist, his art, like Pegasus in harness, is restrained under
the yoke of the illustrator.

We may, however, find illustration ascending a step higher towards the
sphere of art proper and creative, and that is in the _edition de luxe_,
in which, with or without printed matter, we have plates which are
pictures in the best sense, and appeal chiefly, or exclusively, to the
æsthetic sense. Also in some dramatic works, in poetry, and in some
prose, there is a much wider scope for the imagination of the artist,
and we have high-class books of a real artistic merit.

[Illustration: PEN DRAWING BY W.T. WHITEHEAD.

(_Original_ 8 x 2.)]

One other notable form of illustration remains, and that is the purely
decorative. This is seen to advantage in the book-plates in which a
device bears the name of the owner and is affixed to each book; to
revive which custom an effort has happily been made of late. In
allegorical figures and scrollwork on title-pages, at heads of chapters,
in borders, in large initial letters, at the termination of a chapter,
or a design interspersed with the type on a page, and in many other
forms beyond the prescribed shape which its position determines, there
is little to restrict the artist. Some examples of designs for
book-plates were recently given in that excellent magazine _The Studio_;
and some interesting and wholly praiseworthy "initials," formed on an
actual photogram, appeared recently in _The Photogram_. These are two
instances out of the many which may be seen on every hand, and in this
connection I have long felt that photograms from nature might be more
largely applied to book illustration or decoration.

[Illustration]

Thus I have endeavoured to indicate the principal uses of illustrations.
Now in every work of art, its strength and its success are dependent in
a great measure upon its composition and purpose possessing simplicity
and unity, and I think that it cannot be too deeply impressed upon the
illustrator that singleness of purpose will be a strong contributory to
success.

If the purpose of the illustration be to explain or to describe, then
let it do that at the sacrifice, if need be, of all else; and if, at the
same time, it be possible to introduce such qualities as will make it
void of offence to the more cultivated eye, so much the better; but the
particular aim and intention must be paramount. In like manner, if the
illustration be for purely ornamental purposes, or purely pictorial,
giving pleasure to the eye and the sense of beauty: then to attempt to
make it fulfil the function of a teacher, to anything more than a
subordinate degree, is to divide, and therefore to weaken, both
capacities.

An illustration, therefore, should be thought out, designed, and
produced, with a definite and single purpose.

Speaking of the rise and development of newspaper illustration, in a
lecture delivered before the Society of Arts, in November, 1893, Mr.
Henry Blackburn quoted from a discussion held at the same place in 1875,
when the following conclusion was arrived at: "In the production of
illustrations we have arrived at great proficiency, and from London are
issued the best illustrated newspapers in the world. But our artistic
skill has led us into temptation, and by degrees engendered a habit of
making pictures when we ought to be recording facts. We have thus,
through our cleverness, created a fashion, and a demand from the public,
for something which is often elaborately untrue.

"Would it, then, be too much to ask those who cater for (and really
create) the public taste, that they should give us one of two things, or
rather _two things_, in our illustrated papers--the real and the ideal.

"1st. Pictorial records of events in the simplest and truest manner
possible."

"2nd. Pictures of the highest class that can be printed in a newspaper."

This, it appears, was said before the mechanical process block was much
used or even known; but what was true in principle in the old
wood-engraving days is as true now that we have new and rapid means of
reproduction.

Having, in any given case, decided what is the purpose of the
illustration required, it will next be necessary to determine by which
of the methods at our disposal the scheme can best be carried out, both
as regards the method of producing the original, and the method of
reproducing it in print. And this naturally brings us to the subject of
our next chapter.

[Illustration]



CHAPTER IV.

_REPRODUCTION BY HALF-TONE PROCESS._


From the processes with which I propose to engage my reader's attention,
wood and steel engraving, and kindred methods, stand apart.

Were we dependent upon these alone, not one-thousandth part of the
illustration matter of to-day could ever have been produced, encumbered
as the older methods are with the two things which, in the production of
anything "for the million," are serious drawbacks, namely, time and
expense of production.

Whilst these older methods undoubtedly possess characteristics which
will always give them a peculiar value, and secure for them immunity
from extermination (and make them, indeed, essential for certain
purposes), there was long ago felt a need for a method of rapid
reproduction unattended with individual artistic skill on the part of
each worker employed, and, above all, free from heavy expense. Such a
need has been more than met by what we now know as the mechanical
processes. I say more than met, because, gradual improvement in the
processes themselves, and an increased knowledge of the particular
requirements of these processes on the part of the draughtsmen or
artists, has resulted in giving us a process which is not only rapid and
cheap, but which produces prints of high quality and merit.

It will of course be at once apparent that in order to get our
illustration into the printed pages of book or newspaper we must first
transfer the original to a plate, or block, and then so manipulate the
surface that, like a printer's type, it shall take the printing ink in
such manner as shall leave an exact imprint upon the paper, or other
surface, upon which it is pressed.

The transfer of the original is accomplished by photography. The
preparation of the surface is effected by a chemical or mechanical
process. Correctly defined, these processes are "photo-mechanical," and
such are generally understood by the literally ambiguous title
"process," which is colloquially applied to all such methods.

It is not the intention of the present book to give instructions whereby
to work the processes, beyond a general outline which shall make the
illustrator acquainted with the method in which his drawing or photogram
is utilised. This knowledge will enable him, to some extent, to adapt
himself and his work to its special requirements.

Photo-mechanical processes are of two kinds: those by which the image is
_ingraved_, known as _intaglio_, and those in which the image is
produced in _relief_, or _relievo_. In the first of these the result is
more or less similar to an ordinary engraved copper-plate, which, being
wiped after inking, retains the ink in the engraved or indented
portions, and prints accordingly. The intaglio processes are confined to
what is known as Photogravure, or Photo-etching, and modifications
thereof. This will not engage our attention, for, beautiful as are its
results, it is comparatively expensive, and lacks that characteristic of
speed which has made the _relief_ processes so useful. The engraved
plate must be printed _separately_; it cannot be set up with type and
printed as letterpress. At the same time, in order to clear my reader's
mind, and my own course, before proceeding further, mention may be made
of other separate-printing processes, such as Collotype.[1] (also
known under many fancy titles), in which the image is printed on a
machine or press from an inked gelatine surface. These can easily be
distinguished by the image having a perfectly even appearance as though
produced by a water-colour wash, without grain, reticulation, or lines.
Photo-lithography, in which, as the name implies, the picture is
transferred on to stone, from which it is then printed as in ordinary
lithography, may also be mentioned here.

[Illustration: HALF-TONE FROM PHOTOGRAM; HIGH LIGHTS STRENGTHENED WITH
CHINESE WHITE.]

Another beautiful process of reproduction is the Woodbury-type, named
after its inventor, Walter B. Woodbury, in which a bichromated gelatine
film is exposed under a negative, and the soluble portions afterwards
removed by hot water. The resulting gelatine relief, which contains a
facsimile picture, is allowed to dry, when it becomes as hard as stone.
It is next forced by hydraulic pressure into a sheet of polished lead,
leaving therein an exact counterpart of its every elevation and
depression. The lead plate (_intaglio_) is next placed in a handpress,
and flowed with a pool of hot gelatinous colour; a piece of paper is
next placed on top and pressure applied, when all surplus colour oozes
from the sides. After a few moments, when the gelatine becomes
sufficiently cool, the paper bearing its delicate gelatine print is
pulled off and dried.

[Illustration: LINE REPRODUCTION FROM PEN AND INK.

(_Original 14 x 11 inches._)]

Beautiful as many of these are, they can only be applied where the
expense attending them and the slower printing is not an objection, and
where letterpress is not required on the same sheet at the same
printing. Printing matter can of course be afterwards introduced, but
this must be by a second operation.

We have now left for consideration the relief processes, in which the
design to be printed is produced similar in character and appearance to
that of the movable letterpress type used by printers.

[Illustration: FEEDING THE CHICKENS.

(_Half-tone from photogram. Original 14 x 11 inches._)]

These processes are roughly divisible into two sections, "tone" and
"line," to understand which I will refer the reader to the accompanying
illustrations.

In these the image appears to be respectively composed of _lines_ of
varying strength and proximity in the one, and of _tints_ ranging from
grey to black in the other. If the latter be closely examined, however,
or looked at through a magnifying glass, it will be found that what at
first appears to be a flat even tint is composed of an infinite number
of dots arranged in a reticulated or geometrical pattern. We will now
see how this effect is produced, and what are the especial uses of this
so-called "tone" or "half-tone" process.

[Illustration: THE HERON HOUSE.

_Half-tone from photogram._ (_Original 14 x 11 inches._)]


HALF-TONE PROCESS.

As has been already said, it is of course necessary to produce from the
original a printing surface of such a kind as shall take ink and print
an image therefrom. Now it will of course be obvious that with ink and
white paper we can only produce two things--black and white--and that
therefore all the intermediate shades must be produced by a greater or
less number of black dots. The process under consideration, in common
with some others, is based upon the fact that gelatine or albumen
sensitised with bichromate of ammonium or potassium, becomes _insoluble_
after being acted upon by light. A solution of bitumen in benzole also
forms a light sensitive coating which is frequently used in these
processes. If we were to expose such a sensitive film to light under
(for example) a photographic negative of a figure taken against a light
background and then washed it in a suitable solvent, those parts which
had been protected from light by the opaque portions of the negative,
such as the background, the face, hands, and white portions of the
dress, would dissolve away, leaving the insoluble or light affected
portions standing.

[Illustration: LINE REPRODUCTION FROM PEN AND INK.

(_Original 14 x 11 inches._)]

If we were now to ink these portions, we could print a black image which
would represent the general form of the portrait like the old-fashioned
silhouettes, or shadow pictures; but the "half-tone" process provides
for the breaking up of the solid black image, substituting for it black
dots closer and more numerous where the darker greys are, and less so
where the shading is lighter. A very considerable variation in apparent
tint may thus be effected.

The actual method is briefly thus:--What is known as a "screen" is first
made by taking a photographic negative of a print from a copper-plate,
on which has been ruled about 120 fine parallel lines to the inch. This
is done with extreme care and exactness, so that the negative gives a
clear transparent copy of the ruled lines of microscopic sharpness. In
many cases the ruled copy is moved round a quarter of a circle during
the exposure, thus resulting in the effect of double ruling, the lines
intersecting each other at right angles. Or two printings may be made
from the copper-plate to produce the same result and the negative then
taken. We shall thus have a negative having the appearance of a very
fine lattice of transparent glass on an opaque ground.

With this "screen" placed nearly in contact with an ordinary
photographic plate, film to film, we proceed to make a copy negative, in
the camera, of the original picture. This, when developed, will give the
picture _and_ an image of the screen, which has been interposed,
together on one plate.

If this is now clear to my readers, they will probably at once see what
will result when such a plate is used on a sensitised sheet of zinc or
copper, and the soluble parts of the film washed away as before
suggested.

The parts of the film made insoluble from exposure to light will be
reticulated all over by minute soluble dots or lines where the image of
the screen has interrupted the light, and more so or less in proportion
to the lightness or deeper shade of the original, and by this means what
would have been unbroken blacks are sprinkled over, so to speak, with
tiny white interstices, the ink when applied remaining on the
alternating projections of undissolved film.

Suppose the film to have been of bitumen and spread upon a sheet of
zinc, we should have a reticulated image in insoluble bitumen with
interstices of plain zinc. This bitumen forms a protective coating, so
that when immersed in a weak solution of nitric acid the acid only eats
a way into the bare metal. Gradually, and by subsequent acid baths, the
parts covered by the film are left in strong relief, and in a fit
condition to print from. The film which has thus resisted the acid is
then washed away, leaving the zinc relief.

To carry out the above process many details, which I have not thought it
the office of this book to enter into, will be required. Thus the
solvent used for developing, or, in other words, washing away the
soluble portions of a bitumen film, is turpentine; but water is used in
the case of bichromatised albumen. An acid resisting preparation is
finally applied to the plain zinc relief, and the whole block re-etched
or "re-bitten," so as to strengthen the image; certain precautions,
moreover, are taken to prevent the acid "under etching" the image--and a
great deal more which, of course, would have to be clearly described
were it intended to teach the process of block-making.

In the variety of half-tone blocks, known as Typogravure, a different
method of breaking up the surface is adopted; no intervening screen is
used, but the surface of the metal has imparted to it a preliminary
roughness or grain, and the image is printed and etched on this rough
surface. These blocks, when carefully printed from, yield exceedingly
nice results, the grain having something of an "aquatint" character,
which appears to be more discriminating than that derived through the
use of the ruled screen. The softness of outline and freedom from
anything like a mechanical texture is well seen in blocks made by this
method. The remarkable difference obtained from the same block by
different printers will at once suggest that a very great deal depends
upon the printing quite irrespective of the quality of the block itself.
Many letterpress printers make a specialty of block-printing, the chief
art being in the "making-ready" and "underlaying," by which terms is
understood the careful adjusting of the block, so that its surface be at
exactly the proper elevation to secure the proper amount of pressure,
neither more nor less, when on the printing machine. Some further
remarks on this subject will be found in Chapter X.

[Illustration]

I trust, however, enough has been said to give a general idea to the
uninitiated of how we arrive at the dotted ink print, which we recognise
as a reproduction from a photogram, or wash-drawing, or indeed anything
which is similarly made up of flat tints.

[Illustration: UNTOUCHED HALF-TONE FROM PHOTOGRAM.

(_Original 4 x 3._)]

[Illustration: HALF-TONE FROM PHOTOGRAM--THE BLOCK ENGRAVED ON BY HAND.

(_Original 4 x 3._)]

It will, of course, have been understood that the ruled "screen," which
is interposed between the picture to be copied and the plate on which it
is copied, will appear over _the whole_ of the copy negative, whether
the image extend so far or not, so that, in the reproduction, even what
should be blank whites will be covered with the fine black dots or
grain, though more widely separated by little white spaces.

If the accompanying reproductions be examined, this will be found to be
the case.

To any one who has given pictorial matters much thought, the
disadvantage of this will be at once apparent.

[Illustration: ON SLAPTON LEY, SOUTH DEVON.

_Photogram touched up by hand--block untouched._

(_Original 4 x 3._)]

In black-and-white pictures, white is the highest expression of light,
and yet how far the whitest paper is from sunlight, and how much shorter
the whole gamut of tones, from blackest ink to whitest paper, is when
compared with the scale of Nature, have often been pointed out and are
now generally understood. But our half-tone process makes the range of
tones still shorter by curtailing it at the top of the scale and cutting
off the white: the pervading "tint," or "grain," reducing white to a
light grey, and not even the deepest blacks and intermediate tones are
nicely rendered except by very careful printing. The printing of
half-tone process blocks has received great attention amongst
better-class printers of late, with the result that marked improvement
has taken place, and it is clearly seen that be a half-tone block ever
so well made it is only admirable when special ink and special paper
(notably a fine clay surface paper) are used, and more than ordinary
knowledge and care expended in the machining.

While the ideal process block is one in which, when the process is
completed, the block is ready for the press (and many process houses
pride themselves upon turning out "untouched" blocks), yet there are few
houses who do not employ some hands who are constantly working with
engraver's tools to "improve" the blocks after the last etching is done.

Much brilliancy of contrast and effect may be accomplished if the
engraver cut away the grain altogether on that part of the surface of
the block where it should print white; but this must necessarily be done
by men of instinctive taste and good judgment, for immediately hand
carving be admitted the essential character of an _automatic facsimile_
process is lost. The illustrator or artist will, therefore, unless he
give careful and precise instruction as to what parts are to be cut
away, or can superintend the work himself, feel considerable hesitation
in entrusting such a delicate task to a stranger. One little touch in
the wrong place, one bit of plain white too many, and the harmony of the
whole illustration will be upset; so that many will reasonably prefer a
weak flat print to the uncertainty which must attend the leaving of a
block to a mechanic's mercies.

In the accompanying three illustrations we have, first, an untouched
"half-tone" block from an ordinary photogram; secondly, a block from
the same original, "fine etched" or with the etching controlled so as to
brighten the effect; and thirdly, a block made from the same photogram
which, in order to compensate for any failings of the process, has been
worked on _by the artist_, strengthening the shadows and brightening the
lights.

[Illustration]

This brings us to consider the subject of working on photograms by hand,
and the preparation of illustrations generally, which is dealt with in a
separate chapter.

[Illustration]



CHAPTER V.

_THE PREPARATION OF ORIGINALS FOR REPRODUCTION BY HALF-TONE PROCESS._

I. PHOTOGRAMS.


It will be understood from the foregoing chapter that in every case
where the original to be reproduced is of such a nature that before a
print in ink can be made the image must be broken up, the reproduction
will have to be effected by means of the half-tone process.

Of the various kinds of originals thus utilised, probably the two most
common are photograms and wash-drawings.

The rapidity, comparative ease, and absence of the draughtsman's skill,
with which photograms can now be made, has placed a wonderful power in
the hands of author or illustrator. But a short series of photograms of
some subject of interest with a very little descriptive letterpress will
often form an acceptable contribution to magazine or newspaper, and yet
a thoughtful consideration of such illustrations can hardly fail to
impress any one with the drawbacks and defects of the method.

Such illustrations too often strike us as dull, misty, grey, and lacking
brilliancy, when compared with black and white reproductions of another
kind.

This dulness is attributable to a great extent to the gauze-like screen
through which the copy is made, as described in our last chapter. The
bright lights are grained over with fine dots reducing white to grey,
and the soft finely graduated half-tones are often lost altogether.

In order to counteract these defects, the process worker will often take
upon himself to "doctor" the negative made from the original before
proceeding to make the block, a practice to be condemned because such an
operator is rarely possessed of artistic judgment, and his "touching up"
may often produce a result unexpected and unacceptable to the artist.

A similar "touching up" may also be effected on the block itself, as
previously suggested, which is only preferable because the artist may
more directly control the engraver's tool by giving definite
instructions.

As far as possible, however, the block should not be meddled with by any
one, if the originals have been produced in such a manner as to ensure
the best possible effect by the mere mechanical process.

In making photograms especially for reproduction a clear, bright
negative, with good strong contrasts, should be aimed at. Probably the
kind of negatives which it was customary to strive after in the older
days of wet-plate photography would be the best; but, as wet-plate
photography is hardly practicable for the illustrator of to-day, similar
results with dry-plates should be sought.

Unhappily, the extreme softness and exquisite gradations of some of the
most modern and artistic work of photographers is thrown away in the
process of reproduction, and little more than a flat, meaningless smudge
is the best the process block can make of it. For this reason our
photograms for illustration should somewhat exaggerate the effect we
wish to reproduce: a matter which has led to the working on photograms
with the brush to heighten the effect, of which I shall have more to say
anon.

Given the proper kind of negative the next care will be to make such a
photographic print as shall not detract from the qualities secured in
the negative, and shall in every possible way assist the "process."

Many of the best and most pleasing photograms of our day are printed
upon coarse-grained, rough-surfaced paper, presenting a difficulty to
the reproductive process almost certain to prove disastrous to the
result; for if, whilst being copied, the original is not very skilfully
lighted, the inequalities of the surface reproduce as little lights and
shadows in a very unpleasing manner, and the texture of even a
comparatively smooth paper seems remarkably exaggerated.

Almost as undesirable will be the very highly enamelled surfaces of some
photographic papers, the surface gloss producing reflections which
interfere with the copying. The best for general use will be the
smoothest platinotype paper, or a not too highly-glazed _white_
albumenised paper, either of which are obtainable at most chemists and
all photographic dealers. The print should be of a medium depth, not so
dark as to give heavy solid shadows, nor so light as to omit all detail
from the lightest portions. The various manipulations necessary for
"toning" and "fixing" the print should be carried out carefully,
especially avoiding staining or discoloration of the white paper. The
print thus made, when mounted on card, is as far as an ordinary
photogram can go for this purpose.

It now remains to be seen, bearing in mind what we know of the method by
which it is to be reproduced, what may be done to improve it, never
forgetting, however, that the chief value of a photogram for
illustrative purposes is its unimpeachable fidelity to truth. Additional
hand-work should not violate this truthfulness by the introduction of
any fresh matter, or the painting out of any characteristic detail,
unless, of course, the illustration is merely for pictorial or
decorative purposes. The inscription "From a photogram" usually
possesses a charm over the popular mind, inspiring confidence and
carrying conviction, and if the hand-work be discreetly introduced, only
to improve the effect and counteract the inherent defects of the final
process, the legend may be honestly used.

In the first place, a photogram in which there are some large very dark
objects, which by reason of their dark colour are disagreeably heavy,
or obtrusive masses of deep shadow, may be made to reproduce better if a
thin transparent wash of blue be applied to such portions. The great
photogenic power of blue is, of course, the reason of this, but until
some experience be gained as to the proper amount of blue required, I
should recommend that a duplicate untouched photogram be sent in as
well, with a few words of explanation and instruction to the process
man. If the photogram be upon a glossy surface paper, a few drops of ox
gall, procurable in bottles from the artists' colourman, will make the
water-colour wash flow readily over the slimy surface.

For working with a brush upon the photogram, the materials are simple
and few. Our purpose is to strengthen the lights and deepen the darks,
for which purpose Chinese white and two or three water-colours
respectively will be used.

The surface and general character of a platinotype or matt paper print
will be pleasantest to work on; with an albumenised paper, ox gall will
again be essential.

If a liberal amount of hand-work is intended, the print had better be a
light one, and it can then be built up to any degree.

Chinese white, when applied thinly, has a bluish hue, and will
consequently reproduce somewhat lighter than it appears. Therefore to
produce a grey, it will sometimes be better, instead of using thin
Chinese white, to make an admixture of Chinese white and Indian ink, or
some suitable pigment, and apply it as a grey where grey is wanted. Such
portions of the Chinese white which, when dry, appear harsh, may be
softened with a clean almost dry sable brush; or the soft part of the
finger, with little more than its natural moisture, carefully rubbed
over the harsh parts may have the desired effect. By such and any tricks
which may suggest themselves it is advisable to blend the hand-work with
the actual photographic image.

In applying pigment to the dark parts, to make them darker or sharper,
it will be desirable to match the colour of the photographic print as
nearly as possible. With platinotypes this may easily be done with
Indian ink, with a little blue added according to whether the print is a
warm or cold black. The precise colour of a silver print, whether on
matt or albumenised paper, is not so easy to match, but may be best
accomplished with sepia and cobalt, with a trace of crimson lake; one or
two other colours, such as burnt umber, vandyke brown, sienna, &c.,
being kept in reserve for emergencies. Fine-pointed small sable-hair
brushes will be found the best for all purposes.

[Illustration: "STOPPED OUT" PHOTOGRAM.

(_Original 6 x 4._)]

In the process of reproduction the original may be enlarged upon or
reduced. The former is not often attended with happy results, especially
if there is much hand-work, but reduction may to some extent be relied
on to clear away any trifling blemishes, should such exist. I should,
however, lay emphasis upon making the original as perfect as possible;
the "improving" effect of the process is an altogether too uncertain and
unknown factor to be trusted.

Having thus given particulars as to the preparation of photograms for
reproduction, we may now suggest some various applications thereof.

There is a great charm about illustrations which possess a spontaneous
and a suggestive character, and in this direction photograms are too
often painfully deficient. On rare occasions only, and in the hands of a
few artistic workers alone, does photography rise above a certain
mechanical and laboured impression, and the rare exceptions are of a
character ill-suited for "half-tone" reproduction.

For complete whole-page illustrations a photogram has few drawbacks; but
when inserted with letterpress, and required for chapter headings and
odd corners, the fact that the picture occupies the whole space enclosed
within the boundary lines, and includes a great deal of detail which is
not required, makes them less attractive. Their form and style is dull
and monotonous.

The accompanying illustration will suggest the manner in which I would
recommend photograms to be sometimes employed--especially when the
illustrator does not possess the requisite skill to produce the same
thing with his brush.

The "Little Gate-keepers" may be taken as an example of what I will call
a "stopped-out" photogram; practically no hand-work has been employed
upon it beyond the "stopping out" of the original negative. The figures
of the children holding open the gate appear in the foreground of a
large negative, a landscape near Dunster Castle; the background is
composed of trees of an unpleasing form, and, beyond the topographical
interest, the bulk of the subject has little to recommend it.

The method of stopping-out is as follows:--The negative should be placed
in such a position as to secure a strong transmitted light; it may be
fastened to the window, so as to be able to look through it towards the
sky, or may be placed in a retouching desk, as used by photographers, if
very large plates. In my own practice I use an ordinary easel, sitting
to it with my face to the window. On the film side of the negative
carefully draw round the more critical outlines, such as figures, faces,
trees, &c., with a very fine-pointed brush, or a pen, dipped in opaque
black varnish, gradually broadening the line to about a quarter of an
inch. Now on the reverse, or glass side of the negative, paint out with
black varnish all the rest as required; the effect of painting-out on
the reverse side being to give a slightly softer or vignetted effect as
is seen in the ground and gate-posts of the accompanying illustration.

Where it is desired to carry the vignetted effect to a greater length,
some oil colour, red by preference (which may be thinned with copal
varnish), may be used, and when partially dry the finger may be used as
a dabber to remove just sufficient to admit of the plate printing very
faintly.

In such a practice as this a little resourcefulness and ingenuity will
stand the operator in good stead, and many modifications and "dodges"
will occur as the work proceeds. Thus, for instance, if the whole of the
painting out be done on the film side, the bare outline of the
background and surroundings may be scratched in with a needle so as to
give a sketchy appearance in the print; such sketched outline may adhere
to the original form or may be entirely invented. Some taste must be
exercised to prevent the elaborate photographic image from appearing
incongruous with the sketched outline.

In the accompanying "Boy gathering Wortleberries," two children have
been taken out of an unfortunately grouped trio, a badly developed
transparent sky has been converted into a hill in the background, and
some little details of landscape have been painted on to the print.

A good deal has been said of the modern illustrator shirking or ignoring
backgrounds in his illustrations, yet I am inclined to think that in
such cases as these, and very many others, the background is best only
suggested or omitted altogether. In an illustration which purposes to
tell us some little fact, or is designed to beautify and enliven a page,
we do not want a whole chapter from nature's book, but just such
selected passages which the judgment of the artist illustrator shall
select.

In utilising photograms in this or any similar manner, it is difficult
to place such methods in the hands of those unlearned in art matters
without a word of caution and advice on the subject of composition and
arrangement; but as it is not within the province of the present work to
instruct my readers in art principles, such remarks must be of the
briefest.

It will be at once seen that whatever be the arrangement or
"composition" of nature (as photographed), as soon as the illustrator
commences stopping-out certain portions, the form or composition is at
once entirely under his control, and the pleasing effect of the finished
result will very greatly depend upon a nice arrangement of lines. Thus
in my "Little Gate-keepers" the upper outline of the gate forms a
striking line running obliquely upward from left to right, and so, to
counteract this, I have let the ground take an oblique form in an
opposite direction. To have done otherwise and repeated the first-named
line would have given the whole thing a one-sided, running-upwards,
effect. As a general rule (subject, as all such rules must be, to
numerous exceptions), strong oblique lines should converge towards an
imaginary centre some distance outside the picture, with some lesser
opposing lines to form contrast and promote a balance. Neither should
the sketched-in or created background repeat the form of the chief
object. Thus in the "Boy gathering Wortleberries" the figure forms a
vertical line; there are no strong oblique lines, and therefore the
middle distance takes the form of a horizontal line. The summit of the
hill, had it come directly over the boy's head, would have too evidently
repeated his outline, and is therefore placed a little to the right.
These are matters of taste, rather than the obedience to prescribed
rules, but the reader who desires guidance can hardly do better than
read Burnett's "Essays on Art." There are several handbooks to artistic
photography which treat of this subject, such as "Pictorial Effect in
Photography" and "Picture-making by Photography," both by H.P. Robinson;
also "Studies in Photography," by J. Andrews; and many books for the art
student.

[Illustration: WORKED-UP PHOTOGRAM.

(_Original 6 x 4._)]

But, as already said, these are matters of individual taste and artistic
instinct, and although I hope by this little book to make the path easy
for those who have no especial artistic aptitude, yet, in such things as
this, the possessor of such instinctive sense of form is at an
advantage, lacking which the attentive study of other people's work and
some amount of imitation seems to be the only possible substitute. Much
knowledge may be gained from analysing, to this end, illustrations which
greet the eye on nearly every page of current literature. While many
methods of illustration _may_ be learned and practised in a mechanical
manner, the course is beset with difficulties and pitfalls, and, to the
artistically unlearned, the alternative dangers of gross error and sheer
imitation are ever present. Mr. Henry Blackburn has justly said, "The
illustrator's best protection against this tendency, his whole armour
and coat of mail, is to be an artist first and an illustrator
afterwards." Yet men have won battles without armour, and when the
stripling slew the giant it was the latter who wore the coat of mail.
Zeal and patient application will do much.

In speaking of the application of the photogram to illustrative and
decorative purposes, we can hardly leave the subject without making
reference to the use to which they may be put for decorative initials,
chapter headings, and the like. Some very excellent examples of initials
were given in Mr. Gleeson White's articles on "Photographing the Nude,"
published in _The Photogram_, one of which we reproduce (see p. 48). The
subject must be selected so as to harmonise in character and form with
the letter required, and such letter may then be pasted, or painted, on
the original negative, in which case it will print white; or it may be
worked on the photogram with brush and pigment. In only a few cases
would the initial, if represented in deep black, have any other than an
overpowering and heavy effect. The "tail-piece" on page 56 is a further
example which needs little explanation. Photograms cut to certain form,
and arranged suitably, may make a great variety of chapter headings or
tail-pieces.

In the example here given, the background or distance was painted out on
the negative, and ink lines were drawn around the print before
reproduction.

In order to ensure a symmetrical and sharp outline, a paper mask may be
attached to the negative, and a scroll design painted on the negative,
details being drawn in ink on the resulting print.

[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA; 42ND HIGHLANDERS GUARDING
FRENCH PRISONERS.

_By permission of the proprietors of "The Illustrated London News."
Engraved from a wash drawing in black and white by The Meisenbach Co.,
Ltd., West Norwood._]

[Illustration]



CHAPTER VI.

_THE PREPARATION OF ORIGINALS FOR HALF-TONE REPRODUCTION._

II. WASH DRAWINGS, OIL PAINTINGS, PENCIL AND OTHER DRAWINGS.


Of the remaining methods, whereby originals for reproduction by
half-tone process may be made, much less need be said. The same
principles of avoiding too fine and delicate gradations of tone apply as
when making a simple photogram, and the methods of brush and pencil
appeal almost exclusively to the naturally artistic.

The wash drawing, which is practically water-colour painting in
monochrome, is the most popular, and, in the hands of those artists who
have applied themselves to illustration for photo-reproduction, some
very wonderful achievements are possible. Avoiding blue, green, red,
orange, or colours approaching thereto, it matters little what colour is
used, but probably black, such as Indian ink, or a good neutral grey or
sepia, is the best to use. In any case, body colour reproduces better
than transparent washes, the delicacy of which are wasted. Hence a
liberal use of Chinese white to lighten the tints is preferable to
making the colour thinner with water. Lamp black and Chinese white work
well together and reproduce excellently. In using Indian ink, or indeed
any colour, successive washes should not be made until each preceding
one is dry, thereby escaping a "messy" effect and securing greater
vigour.

The brush-work must be bold and strong, and, as was said with regard to
photograms, include as little of the softer half-tones as possible, the
contrasts of light and shade must be accentuated and effect exaggerated
to compensate for the degradation of contrast brought about by the
process. Unless this be remembered, the result can hardly fail to give
anything but a very flat poor copy of the original. The artist should
hold himself under restraint, and instead of blending one tone with
another keep them nicely distinct, limiting himself to some half-dozen
different shades or tones between the extremes of white and black, and
even then some portions of the white may require to be cut away on the
block.

Many illustrations from wash drawings of to-day are of a daring,
spirited style in which figures are drawn with or without backgrounds,
and when _well_ done they are undeniably attractive, and may be
abundantly met with in such publications as _The Graphic_, _Illustrated
London News_, _Sketch_, _In Town_, _St. Paul's_, and many others. Were
we considering the subject of art in illustrations, comment on this sort
of work not wholly in approbation might be made, but that it is
thoroughly up to date, effective, and in ready demand cannot be denied,
and it should be carefully studied by the student, who will no doubt
profit by the suggestions of technique without necessarily copying or
being unduly influenced by the style.

Some capital effects may be obtained by making a wash drawing on
grey-tinted paper and putting in the lights with white, an example of
which is here given. Decorative designs done in Chinese white on
dark-brown paper may be successfully produced, but should be made
several times larger than required; the reduction in size usually
improving the effect.

Painting in oil in monochrome will offer a welcome field for
illustration work to those who are more accustomed to use this medium.
A smooth surface canvas or board should be chosen, however, and the
painting should be smooth, all _strong_ brush marks, especially in the
whites, being omitted or softened out with a badger. In thus softening,
however, care should be exercised not to graduate one tone into another,
but leave everything firm and distinct, the same restriction of tones
being observed as in the other methods referred to previously. In using
oil colours, turpentine must be liberally used, or benzine, as this will
destroy the excessive gloss on the surface, a feature not liked by the
process worker.

[Illustration: ON THE RIVER ROTHER.

_Half-tone from Indian-ink wash drawing on grey paper._ (_Original 5-5/8
x 3-7/8._)]

Either water colour or oil may be worked upon a photographic basis in
order to save labour or difficulties in drawing. In such cases the
photographic print should be as faint as possible; any photographic
paper may be used for water colour, but smooth platinotype will probably
be the most pleasant. The surfaces to which oil colour may be applied
will be naturally more limited, but ready-sized canvas for printing in
bromide by artificial light is made, and is largely used for oil
painting for the commoner kind of portraits.

[Illustration: DESIGN--CHINESE WHITE ON ORDINARY BROWN PAPER--HALF-TONE.

(_Original 7-1/4 x 4-3/4._)]

It will, however, sometimes be found desirable to economise labour by
using a photogram to paint on, thus saving time in re-drawing and
ensuring accuracy of elaborate details. Moreover, paint may be put upon
a photogram, and much matter that is not required, or which may be
judged as injurious to the pictorial effect, can be omitted. After the
painting is finished, the photographic basis or original will then
require to be removed.

Almost any photographic print may be prepared to receive oil paint by
giving it a coating of common "size," and drying it _slowly_ by a fire
or otherwise. The painting-on being then proceeded with, and the paint
dry, the _back_ of the print is to be sponged or brushed with the iodine
solution mentioned on page 114. Platinotype paper being already sized
requires no further sizing, and by making a weak under-exposed print the
subsequent reduction or bleaching of the image can be rendered
unnecessary.

[Illustration: _By permission of the proprietors of "The English
Illustrated Magazine"._

_Engraved from pencil sketch by The Meisenbach Co., Ltd., West
Norwood._]

Many illustrators are fond of making wash drawings and then
strengthening them with pen or pencil. The advantage is not easy to see,
a mixed and indifferent character being usually felt.

Pencil drawing with a reinforcement of a few ink lines, or pencil by
itself, is a method which appears to me to be deserving of much more
attention and cultivation than it has usually received.

[Illustration: EVENING AT WEST MERSEA.

_Half-tone from pencil drawing._ (_Original 4-1/2 x 3-1/2._)]

Average pencil drawing is inclined to be too weak, and wanting in those
characteristics which have been already pointed out as essential in wash
drawings, but if the drawing be vigorous, and the pencil strokes clean
and distinct, some capital results may be obtained. In order to procure
the grey of pencil work a very fine screen is used, and the printing
carefully attended to, so that pencil sketches are hardly suitable for
the cheaper and more rapid class of printing. The lights should be cut
away on the block.

The accompanying sketch of a cottage is simply torn from the leaf of a
sketch-book in which it was made without any regard for the requirements
of the process; the strong shadows were slightly reinforced with pen
and ink, and the whole carefully reproduced.

[Illustration: COTTAGE AT HERONGATE.

_Half-tone from pencil sketch slightly strengthened with pen and ink._
(_Original 4-1/2 x 3-1/2._)]

It seems scarcely necessary to refer to the use of water colour and oil
paintings in colour as illustrations, inasmuch as if produced for
purposes of reproduction, colour would hardly be employed. Occasionally,
however, one may require to make a photogram of a painting for some such
purpose, in doing which it will be best to employ a professed
photographer who is accustomed to copying, and this because the
photographing of coloured objects possesses peculiar difficulties.

Plates known as "Isochromatic" are used, these having certain dyes mixed
with the sensitive film which makes them more sensitive to the least
active colours, such as reds and yellows, and in addition a stained film
of gelatine or glass is introduced into the lens to further correct the
action of the colours. Special care, too, in lighting the picture to be
copied is requisite, some experts recommending the use of coloured
reflectors.

If the greens, reds, and yellows are not very pronounced, or the effect
is not greatly dependent upon blue and such hues which by reason of
their great light activity photograph as white, a fair copy photogram
may be produced under ordinary circumstances; but where any doubt
exists, I should recommend that the work be done by an experienced
operator.

Throughout the foregoing remarks on the half-tone process, it will have
been gathered that its inherent defects constantly stand in the way of
our giving it unqualified approval. A recent writer on the subject, Mr.
C.G. Harper, says of half-tone process that it is "inconstant and for
ever incapable of rendering wash drawings as well as the wood-engraver."

Be this as it may--and it may not be possible to gainsay it--each day
sees such improvements made in the processes, that even before these
sheets are in my reader's hands circumstances may require a change of
opinion, and prejudices may have given way under the convincing
influences of modern improvements.

We may now turn our attention to the more direct processes of
reproducing in _line_, in which, more than in any other direction, the
revolution which photography has brought about in the art of
illustration is evident.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]



CHAPTER VII.

_LINE PROCESS._


The methods of drawing for reproduction by, and in compliance with the
requirements of, a line process, are numerous and varied. They include
pen, pencil, and crayon, and modifications and combinations of all
three.

The information which I shall give is intended chiefly for such as know
little or nothing of the manner in which such illustrations should be
produced. Having already mastered the primary methods, the more
practised draughtsman, knowing what any special reproduction process
requires, will, to some extent, invent his own methods and often resort
to some "dodge" which may occur to him, thereby producing some
delightful and original result.

In describing the half-tone process we found the necessity of having an
image in relief of such a character that we could print from it in ink,
hence the intervention of a ruled screen, which broke up the flat even
tints of the original picture into minute dots. Line processes, as the
term implies, are used to reproduce an illustration which, as in a pen
and ink sketch, possesses no flat tints, and requires no screen, the
actual lines being reproduced in relief and printed in facsimile.

It will, of course, be remembered that a mechanical process block can
only produce in simple black and white: that is, it either reproduces a
line, to print black, or omits it altogether; so that a line drawn in
grey ink, and another in black, would each reproduce exactly the same,
namely black. Whereas in wash drawing we were limited to a few varying
tones, we are now restricted to two--white and black--and, as may be
seen by looking at any good line drawing, various degrees of shade are
produced by a multiplicity of lines in greater or less proximity and of
varying thickness.

Before proceeding further, I will give an outline of the three principal
processes used for producing drawing in line. These are the swelled
gelatine, the albumen, and the bitumen processes;--other processes exist
but are little practised, and offer no advantages over the above. The
albumen and bitumen methods are processes of etching on zinc and
familiarly known as "zinco" line process; not so the swelled gelatine,
as will be seen from the following description of it. Gelatine of a hard
variety is melted in water with the addition of a small quantity of
sugar and chrome-alum, and is then spread evenly upon a perfectly clean
glass plate. This gelatine film is, when required for use, sensitised by
immersion in a solution of bichromate of potassium, methylated spirits,
and water. The effect of this is to render the film, to some extent,
insoluble where acted upon by light; or, more correctly speaking,
non-absorbent when affected by light. A negative, made from the original
to be reproduced, is placed in contact with the sensitised film and
exposed to light. The film, which it will be remembered is resting upon
a glass plate, is then placed in cold water, with the result that those
parts which have been protected from light absorb water and swell up,
leaving the non-absorbent parts, which represent the image, sunk in.
When this operation has been carried far enough, a plaster of Paris cast
is taken, and from this a wax mould is made, which is practically a
duplicate of the gelatine mould from which the plaster cast was made.
Into the wax mould copper is deposited, precisely as in ordinary
electrotyping, thus giving us a copper relief from a gelatine or wax
mould made direct from the original.[2] This process, while a favourite
with the artist, is not so readily used by the process worker because it
is somewhat expensive, the average cost of a block being from 9d. to 1s.
6d. per inch. But the results are very fine, especially when a drawing
has been made in ignorance or regardless of the requirements of process
reproduction.

The zinc etching processes, by which the great mass of newspaper blocks
are made, are less regardful of delicacies of execution which the
swelled gelatine often reproduces with astonishing fidelity.[3]

In the albumen process the sensitive film is composed of egg albumen,
bichromate of ammonium or potassium, and water, which is spread upon a
_zinc_ plate. After exposure to light under the negative, the whole
surface is inked over with transfer ink, and then immersed in cold water
and gently rubbed. The ink will wash away from those portions which have
been protected from light by the opaque portions of the negative, and
will adhere to those affected by light. Thus on a bed of zinc we have an
ink image on a substratum of albumen, the exact copy of the original.
The zinc has now to be etched with acid.

With bitumen the procedure is somewhat similar. The bitumen is first
treated with ether, which will dissolve out only those constituents
which, not being sensitive to light, are not required. The residue is
dissolved in benzole and spread upon a zinc plate, as with the albumen
process. After exposure to light under the negative, the bitumen film is
washed with turpentine, which takes away all except those portions acted
upon by light. The film is next washed in water and placed in a very
weak solution of nitric acid, which at once attacks those portions of
the zinc unprotected by bitumen. If what now remains of the film be
inked over we shall have, as in the last process, an ink image of the
drawing on a zinc base, and the plate is now ready for etching.

The etching is performed by successive baths of diluted nitric acid, gum
and powdered resin being applied to the plate after each etching, and
heated so as to run down the sides of the ridges of metal (which at each
successive etching bath are gradually growing deeper) until the "biting"
or etching be considered deep enough. The ink and substratum of albumen
or bitumen are then cleaned off with American potash, and the plate is
finally washed. Rebiting, or still further etching, may be required
before the zinc relief is ready to be mounted on a wood block "type
high" for printing purposes.

As in the half-tone process, I do not pretend to have given working
instructions, but only such general particulars as may interest the
artist or draughtsman whose work is to be reproduced. For either of
these processes the average cost is 4d. to 6d. per square inch, with a
minimum charge of 5s. for a single block. Each process has its special
uses and applications; the process craftsman (whom nothing delights so
much as a sharp, brilliant line) will usually recommend the bitumen, but
the albumen method will often give a more pleasing result. As a general
rule, if your work is placed in good hands, the particular process to be
used is best left to them to decide, and if a proof be submitted some
little alterations may be suggested which can be carried out by an
engraver.

In the subsequent pages of this book I shall make little reference to
these processes; enough has been said, and they are no part of the
draughtsman's business, only it will be well to keep in mind throughout
such general particulars as have just been given.

Little has been said with reference to the negatives used in
reproduction; but as the draughtsman who also possesses some knowledge
of photography may be tempted to copy his work himself, it may be well
to point out that the negative image must be as sharp as it is possible
to get it. The most trifling deviation in focussing, unnoticeable in
ordinary photography, will tell seriously in making a reproduction;
moreover the kind of negative one may have learned to make for ordinary
photographic purposes will not do here. The function of the negative is,
it will be remembered, to protect certain portions of the film from
light, and to freely admit light where the image is, hence the denser
portions of the negative must be very nearly, if not absolutely, opaque,
and the image as nearly transparent as possible; thus giving what
photography proper has taught us to abhor--a black and white print. With
ordinary plates, the required amount of density is not always easy to
get, and special photo-mechanical plates are supplied by Mr. John
Carbutt, of Wayne Junction, Philadelphia, Pa., which give the desired
result. These plates are slow, thickly coated, and capable of giving
great density, all of which are characteristics peculiarly suitable to
the purpose. But in the end the process man will not thank you for
saving him the trouble of making a negative; he is accustomed to make
negatives of a certain kind, and very properly prefers to do this
himself.

Not the least contributory towards a good reproduction is the power
which reduction from the original places in our hands. When making the
copy negative it is most usual to make it much smaller, or, inversely,
the original drawing is made a good deal larger than it is required to
appear (See Illustration on page 72). A somewhat ragged line of (say)
one-eighth of an inch in width, would, if sufficiently reduced in size,
come out as a fine line no thicker than a hair. Though reduction carried
to such a degree would be impracticable, a drawing twelve inches by nine
inches, reduced to eight by six, will usually be advantageous. Not only
is a certain degree of coarseness and roughness thus removed, but the
lines themselves become smoother and rounder; lines, however, which are
very close together, are apt to close up into a solid mass, both from
the reduction and because lines sometimes have a tendency to thicken in
reproduction--a point to be guarded against when drawing.

If a drawing be examined through a simple double concave lens, that is
to say the reverse of a magnifying-glass, the effect of reproduction can
be seen, and the result anticipated; such lenses, called "diminishing
glasses," are sold expressly for the purpose.

The reader need hardly be reminded that everything on the drawing will
be reproduced, except perhaps _blue_ pencil lines, this colour being
photographically white; hence all finger-marks, spots, and stains must
be carefully avoided. No doubt these, and sundry faults in drawing, can
be cut away by the engraver, but an ideal block is one which requires no
such helps to perfection, but which comes from the etcher's hands ready
for use, and to such an ideal even the tyro must work.

The strong point and chief recommendation of a process block is that it
reproduces in _facsimile_ the draughtsman's original; once introduce
hand-work and it begins to lose this character; moreover expense and
delay in production are incurred, again depriving the mechanical block
of its distinctive and valuable features.

Sundry elemental methods of getting an image on to zinc for etching
without the intervention of photography may perhaps suggest themselves
to the reader. Thus, for instance, an outline drawing may be made in
transfer ink on transfer paper and at once laid down on the zinc and
etched. A glass plate, coated with a soft opaque substance, may have a
design scratched thereon and be used in place of a negative; but such
methods are crude and limited, and need not be considered here.

We will now pass to an examination of the various kinds of drawings
suitable for reproduction by relief process blocks, describing as nearly
as possible how they are made and with what materials.

[Illustration]



CHAPTER VIII.

_METHODS OF LINE REPRODUCTION._


To those who have not previously given the matter attention, it will be
a source of some astonishment to find a wide range of tones, that is
varying degrees of light and shade, may be suggested by so simple and
unpromising a means as black lines on a white ground. Perhaps no better
means exists for getting some insight of this than by careful and
persistent study of the line illustrations constantly appearing in the
better class periodicals, such as _The English Illustrated_, _The
Strand_, _Harper's_, _Sketch_, _Black and White_, and many others. In
these we get frequent examples of the work of different men, and shall
soon begin to realise not only the wide possibilities of line work, but
the extremely different styles of various artists; and so long as the
practice is not too long continued, or too much relied on, some
advantageous exercise may be found in carefully copying such examples;
being watchful in so doing that, quite independent of outline, our copy
suggests the same materials, fabrics, &c., as are suggested in the
original, and that this suggestion be arrived at by the same kind of
treatment.

In this kind of drawing there is obviously no such thing actually as
"tone," everything being black or white, and yet it is possible to
suggest every gradation and most delicate tonal relationships of
colours by this elementary means; the varied textures of objects can
also be most convincingly suggested.[4]

Probably one of the first things that will strike us, on inspecting many
styles of drawing, is the fact that while some draughtsmen expend
enormous labour in filling the whole design with multitudinous strokes
of the pen, others obtain effect by a very few lines and great expanses
of white paper. A great number of strokes rapidly put in, in the manner
of shading with pencil, and a few bold lines slowly and deliberately
drawn, constitute the two chief differences of style. In the latter, the
principal study is perhaps to know _what to leave out_, and nowhere is
the knowledge and skill of the artist better seen than when the subject
is satisfactorily rendered with the least possible amount of labour,
there being not one unnecessary or superfluous line. Such powerful
sketches, by Mr. Reginald Cleaver, may be seen in _The Daily Graphic_,
and by Mr. Phil May in _The Sketch_. In these drawings a maximum of
effect is attained with a minimum of work, and one feels that every line
is essential and not one can be spared.

In most cases, for all the purposes of illustration, a black coat need
not be suggested by any more lines of shading than a white gown; but the
artist who so determines may carry his work to a higher standard and,
with greater labour, even succeed in giving a suggestion of colour in
the objects portrayed. But, even in such elaborate work, there should be
no more execution than is essential, and the finished drawing should in
no case make its elaborate execution felt. The thing which must first
impress the spectator is the success of the general effect; never should
there be first awakened a feeling of astonishment at the extraordinary
amount of patience bestowed, or labour expended. If the first remark
called forth is one of admiration for the extraordinary _dexterity_, we
may be pretty sure that the draughtsman has been betrayed into the
commonly besetting sin of over-elaboration, and whatever success has
been attained in the effect rendered it would have been probably better
if produced with less effort. It would have been more forcible if not
overwhelmed, as it were, with so much work.

[Illustration: DRAWING BY MR. PHIL. MAY.

_From "English Illustrated Magazine". An example of bold open drawing._]

Never, then, let the delight which we may feel in making a pretty
"finished" drawing get the better of our judgment when drawing for
reproduction. Remember that "prettiness" comes very near to "pettiness,"
and delicacy and fineness are apt to become "niggling" and pedantic;
coarseness is a lesser danger than excessive neatness.

Much of this, as already suggested, may be more clearly learned from the
careful examination and comparison of good published drawings.

Imitate, and copy if you like, up to a certain degree, remembering
always that you are thus copying merely _to ascertain by what means
other men express their ideas in line, and not for your own practice_.

In like manner etchings, engravings, and indeed every kind of print made
up of _lines_, may be studied and, to some extent, copied; but only in
order to familiarise oneself with what lines, and combinations of lines,
may be made to do; but the danger of continuing such a practice cannot
be too much emphasised. Every artist or draughtsman, be he beginner or
expert, must draw for himself and according to his own feelings and
promptings. In every department of art the successful have had their
imitators, and these again their imitators, and at each successive stage
the further one gets from originality, the more trammelled, the more
impotent and hopelessly beyond the possibility of really great work.

That the drawing is not the end in view, but merely a means to an end
(that end being the reproduction), is a matter to which I shall refer
later on; but it should here be noted, and moreover the student may be
reminded, that every line and every mark which he makes will be
_similarly reproduced_ by the process. When drawing for wood engraving,
the engraver could be instructed to strengthen this or leave out that;
not so the mechanical block, which is to be regarded as normally an
untouched and purely mechanical thing, only to be altered by hand on the
rarest possible occasions, and then only when time and circumstances
permit. This character of indiscriminating _facsimile_ is not to be
considered as a disadvantage in any way; the good draughtsman is
thankful for it, he knows what to reckon upon, and to all it must be an
incentive to do one's best. It is the same difference as between a
mirror and an average photographer's portrait: the mirror may show us
all our faults and yet, if we have any beauty, it does not belie us;
while we know how often the ordinary commercial _carte-de-visite_ is
unreliable.

In the course of studying various reproductions we shall probably have
become aware that the same things may be very differently rendered by
different hands. Thus trees and foliage in landscape may be represented
by an outline, and a few black patches and dots, or by numerous clearly
drawn parallel lines, or yet again by irregular strokes crossing and
recrossing each other; evidently, then, there is no intention here of
_imitating_ nature. And so, throughout, the aim of the pen draughtsman
is to _suggest_, rather than to portray things exactly as they are.
Lines, scratches, or dots, cannot pretend to imitate leafy foliage; and,
be it noted, the same lines, scratches, or dots, may be similarly
employed, in the same drawing, to suggest something quite different. It
is in this employment of various pen marks, to suggest the composition
of distinct objects, that individuality of style reveals itself; as does
the discreet using of white blanks to express or suggest widely
different things.

I have presumed throughout these pages that I may be addressing many to
whom the idea of drawing in pen and ink (or other material) for
reproduction, is entirely a new one; hence it will be necessary to
examine the pen strokes which go to make up a complete drawing. Let it
be well understood that many things are possible to the accomplished
artist which must not be attempted by the beginner; later on we may
learn, from our own experience, little freaks and tricks of our own, but
we must first of all content ourselves with simple conscientious work.

In the following examples of pen and ink shading we have first the kind
of strokes which the pen would make if used rapidly, as in writing, and
without any particular care. In bold sketchy work this sort of handling
may be permissible, but the student should practise shading by such
lines as in No. 2. These are drawn rapidly in succession, the wrist
being rested firmly on the table and the hand quite free, as in rapid
writing. Commence at the top left-hand corner and work downwards; notice
that each stroke is equidistant, parallel, and of the same thickness
throughout its length. Look at this from a little distance and it
appears like a grey, flat, even tint. This simple "shading" should be
tried many times until perfect ease and certainty is acquired, each
stroke of the pen being firm, distinct, and black; each stroke intended
and nothing uncertain about it.

[Illustration: No. I. No. II. No. III.

EXAMPLES OF PEN AND INK SHADING.

_Reduced to about half the size of original._]

A good exercise will be to draw a square, and practise filling it with a
flat tint consisting of lines either in the same direction, or else of
lines in varying directions, and then with lines crossing each other or
"cross-hatching."

Having now discovered how a flat tint may be laid down, and how such may
be made uniformly or gradually darker, we may apply such methods to
simple objects as the cube and vase here shown.

[Illustration: (_Original 1-1/2 x 1-1/4._)]

By this time we may feel well on the road towards accomplishing any
general subject which we are skilful enough to outline. Of the various
mechanical helps to drawing outline, for those who lack the required
skill, I shall speak hereafter.

[Illusutration: (_Original 4 x 2-1/4._)]

It need hardly be pointed out that as there is, in nature, no such thing
as outline: it is purely an arbitrary means of indicating form, and
separating one space from another; whether such spaces be occupied with
shading or not, but especially where there is no shading.

At first it may perhaps be best to make a clear sharp outline of uniform
thickness; but later we shall find we may often advantageously dispense
entirely with outline, letting the shading only distinguish one object
from another. Notice the absence of outline in the hills in "Near Berry
Head," page 94.

A little experience will show us that an imperfect outline, and one
which varies in thickness with various objects, will greatly assist in
the attractiveness of our sketches. A too rigid outline, as also a too
close adherence to what has been said about the precision of the shading
strokes, tends to a stiff formal appearance which is not to be desired,
and destroys anything like originality and individuality of style.

In the accompanying drawing notice these points--the irregularity of
_outline_, in some parts its entire absence, the value of white spaces,
and the suggestive little dots on the white foreground.

I have already remarked that the drawing is only to be regarded as a
means to an end, and must therefore be made not so as to give
satisfaction in itself, but so as to produce a good mechanical
reproduction. However irksome some artists may feel this working for
process reproduction, it is not accompanied with any great difficulties,
nor are its special requirements so very restricting, if only we
understand what is wanted.

Two influences, for good or for evil, exist between the original and the
reproduction (two influences to be taken into account, and reckoned with
when we are drawing, so as to produce a definite effect in the
reproduction), and these are reduction and thickening of the lines.

A diminishing glass, used to examine any drawings, will at once show the
effect of reduction or diminishing, and in rough and rapid drawing this
reduction is depended upon to remove irregularities and coarseness.[5]

[Illustration: IN HARBOUR.

_Pen drawing._ (_Original 7 x 6._)]

It may be taken for granted that nearly every reproduction we see has
been reduced from the original, some more, some less, and while
generally speaking we may say that the effect of reduction is to refine
and soften; the beginner, however, will sometimes be troubled by finding
an increase in the thickness of the lines which is less agreeable, and
is very fickle, and can only to a limited degree be counted upon as to
the result. Hence the need for keeping darkly shaded portions as open as
possible: that is to say, when lines are very close together, or there
is cross-hatching, see that the lines do not needlessly run into each
other, but that the little white interstices are well preserved. Keep
the shading open (the rough net-like effect can be got rid of by
reduction), and remember that not only do some lines thicken up, and so
engulf the intervening white, but in reduction the white spaces reduce
as well as the black lines, and may be reduced into invisibility.

Some definite rules have sometimes been suggested to guide the process
man as to the amount of reduction best suited for average work; these,
however, like many other rules of the kind, are quite arbitrary. On this
subject Mr. Henry Blackburn says, with an authority based upon the
experience of reducing, to various scales, some thousands of drawings:
"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."

[Illustration: _Same size as original._]

In some instances no reduction is required, and the reproduction is so
exact a replica of the original that it can hardly be distinguished,
yet, "On the other hand, the value of reduction for certain styles of
drawing can hardly be over-estimated"; and again, "Every drawing has its
scale, to which it is best reduced."

The effect of the reduction may be seen in the accompanying three
examples, the first being the same size as the original, and the others
reduced as marked.

[Illustration: (_Original 4-3/4 x 4-1/4._)]

Until some experience has been gained in this direction, and apart from
the exigencies of the space the illustration is required to fill, the
process engraver will probably be the best authority for us to consult
as regards the amount of reduction suitable to each individual drawing.
A reduction of one-third is a very usual one, so long as the drawing is
not unusually rough or clumsy.

Referring to the effect of reduction upon lines laid down to express a
flat tint, Mr. H.R. Robertson gives some interesting notes upon the
number of lines required to be drawn in an inch square to produce an
even grey tint. I do not think too much importance should be attached
to such calculations, as they are likely to embarrass the draughtsman
and make him far too much concerned with the mere mechanism of his work;
still, the matter is an interesting one. He says that from experiment he
finds it will usually require about 108 to 120 lines within an inch to
give to the naked eye the idea of a flat tint or wash, but that about 80
to an inch is as many as can be drawn to the inch by unaided vision;
eighty lines to the inch gives 120 in 1-1/2 inches, which, if reduced in
reproduction by one-third, will give the requisite number of 120 to the
inch which Mr. Robertson finds desirable. The effect produced, however,
by parallel lines of shading alters considerably when the direction of
the lines alters, and I think it is only necessary for us to glance
through "Academy Notes," or any similar collection of sketches made by
artists who understand the importance of conveying suggestions with
pencil or pen, to assure us that far fewer lines are in many cases quite
capable of giving the idea of an even tint. Such rules and figures are
interesting, and perhaps useful, but they are certainly dangerous if the
student places himself too much in subjection to their influence.

The beginner in pen drawing is probably destined to meet with severe
disappointments at first from the manner in which the process will
reproduce his work, and the inclination is to blame the process as
unsympathetic, or the process man as incompetent, whereas the fault lies
with the drawing, which is unsuitable through a want of proper regard
for the requirements of process.

For instance, nothing is commoner with the student than to find such
portions of our drawing as distance, sky, and the more delicate shading
come up heavy and black--quite different to the original, and robbing
such parts of it of all delicacy; or it may be that lines which we
believed to be fine, smooth, flowing lines, reproduce as broken and
irregular.

[Illustration: THE WILLOW HARVEST.

(_Original 7 x 14._)]

The root of both these evils will probably be found in the fact that
in our drawing we have been producing light and distant effects by
_grey_ lines instead of fine black ones. Drawing with the pen
insufficiently charged with ink, or with ink diluted with water, will
give these grey lines; but the line process, recognising nothing but
black and white, either reproduces the grey lines as black, or
reproduces them imperfectly as broken and irregular. Here, then, will be
another matter for the beginner to exercise himself in: namely, the
drawing of good _black_ lines and an avoidance of _grey_ ones. With
drawings made on a fairly large scale, so that every line can be made
firmly and boldly, we are less likely to fall into making grey lines.

With etchings, in which the image is in intaglio, gradation in the lines
is possible; because, according to the depth of the etched line, a
greater or less amount of ink is contained, and a grey line can be
printed therefrom. And so, for this reason, etchings are misleading if
used as copies or examples from which to draw in pen and ink.

When the drawing has been first drawn in with pencil and inked over,
every vestige of pencil marks must be carefully removed, otherwise the
process reproduces them, not as soft grey marks, but as black as those
made in ink, and some very unpleasant surprises will be the result.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]



CHAPTER IX.

_TOOLS AND MATERIALS FOR LINE DRAWING._


To produce a line drawing which shall comprise such characteristics as
have now been enunciated, three essentials will be required: a white
surface, a black fluid, and a suitable instrument to convey the fluid at
will. These we will take _seriatim_, in their conventional
order--Papers, Inks, and Pens.

The material most largely used for drawing on is probably white Bristol
board, of four-sheet or six-sheet thickness, and this will answer better
than anything else in almost all cases. Some attention should be paid to
the tint of the card, many cardboards having a tendency to turn yellow
with age and exposure. A cardboard of a pure white, or a slight tendency
to a bluish tint, is what we require, a blue card being in photographic
reproduction practically the same as white. Upon the surface of the
cardboard will greatly depend the ease with which we shall get clean
sharp lines. With many cardboards, in which the surface is apparently
smooth, the pen finds irregularities and sometimes obstacles to its
smooth and even progress, catching and "spluttering" over little
particles of hard matter or hair.

A good Bristol board, such as is procurable at any artists' colourman,
presents no such difficulties, and the making of a fine smooth line
should be quite easy. Messrs. Reynolds and Sons supply various kinds of
boards equally suitable for pen work. The bank note Bristol manufactured
by F.W. Devoe & Co. is also especially adapted to this work.

The process man will very likely recommend you to use a "clay surface"
board, and no doubt in some instances these have their advantages. On
these clay boards the pen strokes are remarkably clean and crisp, and
have a good deal the appearance of having been produced mechanically
rather than by hand; a very fine line, however, is difficult to produce,
the result being rather like, but in a much less degree, drawing on an
enamelled card on which the ink spreads; at the same time, however,
there will be less liability to make grey lines. A further advantage of
a clay surface is that the surface is easily removable with the blade of
a penknife, so that faults may be scraped or cut away--a feature put to
very important use in boards specially made for scraping, which are
described on p. 96. For large, bold work a clay board is useful, but it
should not be too often used on account of the hard, mechanical
appearance of the drawing.

Whatman papers, or boards having a surface of Whatman paper, are also
much used, and these are procurable in two surfaces: H.-P., or
"Hot-pressed," the smoothest; and N., or "_Not_ hot-pressed," the
surface of which is sufficiently rough to make it very pleasant to work
on, but not too much so. If using the H.-P., the surface must be wiped
over with a clean wet sponge to remove a certain gloss which the process
of hot-pressing imparts to it.

There is no particular virtue in any special paper or board beyond
whiteness, evenness, and purity; any paper having these qualities may be
used with success. I should not recommend the beginner to experiment
with too many kinds; he will in the end be probably no nearer
satisfaction than at the outset. Start on ordinary white Bristol and
persevere, attributing failures to your own incompetence rather than to
any fault in the materials. Some of the very best things have been
produced on any scrap of notepaper or other white surface that has been
at hand.

Of suitable black fluids there are many varieties, and the beginner may
as easily concern himself a great deal too much about inks as about any
other part of the necessary materials.

Cakes or sticks of dry pigment, or pans and tubes of moist colour, may
be employed, but for general convenience a fluid black will be best.
These are of two kinds: "fixed," which is not removable by water, and
"ordinary"; and it may be well to consider beforehand the work we are
going to do, and use the indelible, or fixed, ink if necessary.

I mean by this that we may sometimes require to use Chinese white over
our black lines to produce whites, which could not easily be left as
blanks, in which case it will be necessary to use a fixed black, else
the Chinese white would smear and spoil the black.

The introduction of Chinese white is, however, an exception rather than
the rule, and when the use of an indelible ink is not important,
Stephens' Ebony Stain is admirable. It works easily, and although it
dries with a slight gloss, which is usually a disadvantage, it
reproduces well. It can be immediately thinned when becoming too thick
by the addition of a little water, care being taken not to dilute it
sufficiently to make it grey. It is sold in bottles at sixpence and a
shilling, and is manufactured by the well-known makers of writing ink,
but may be procured from the artists' colourmen. Messrs. Reeves and Sons
have introduced a fluid black, called Artists' Black; this is made both
"indelible" and "not indelible." This has become very popular of late,
and is largely used; the not indelible, with water, making fine greys
for wash drawing. Higgins' American "Waterproof" India Ink is also
extensively used, and has received high commendation. Fixed Indian Ink
is sold in fluid form, and Lampblack and Ivoryblack in tubes and cakes.

Ordinary writing ink is quite unsuitable; it "runs" when fine lines
cross, and is either too blue or too brown in colour. Common Indian Ink
is also too brown to reproduce well, so that the beginner will do wisely
to use one of the above-named blacks, which are prepared for the
purpose, and so diminish his chances of failure. All are sold in bottles
at sixpence or one shilling.

Not taking account of eccentricities of accomplished artists, who may
use some special medium to their fancy, and whose very mastership
guarantees their success in whatever medium they may work, a dull
intense black line on a pure white surface is the ideal to be attained.

It may be mentioned that if for any exceptional purpose the reproduction
is to be printed in coloured ink, the original had better be drawn in a
like colour, always excepting blue or anything approaching thereto. But
brown, green, red, and orange are permissible, and will photograph
correctly. A black drawing, reproduced in brown or other colour, is apt
to give a very different impression, and still more so if a colour be
reproduced in black.

Chinese white has been referred to, and should certainly always be at
hand. If applied fairly thickly with a fine brush it will efface any
faulty ink marks, and may also be used to introduce lights into shading
which has been worked up too solid. It is also useful for putting in
small lights, as in windows, or longitudinal white streaks on water
which has been shaded in dark. It should be of good quality, and kept
well stoppered in a strong glass or stone bottle.

With regard to the pen to be used there is more latitude for individual
taste, as what one man can do with a given pen another cannot. The
manufacturers who have given most attention to the requirements of
draughtsmen are J. Gillott and Sons, the well-known makers of pens of
all kinds. Many kinds of Brandauer's and Blanzy Poure and Co.'s pens are
also very good.

It should not be supposed that a very fine-pointed pen is essential,
for on the contrary a small tool often seems to lead to the making of
small, niggling work. Mr. C.G. Harper finds a well-cut quill pen
delightful for making pen studies, and says "it flies over all
descriptions of paper, rough or smooth, without the least catching of
fibres or spluttering. It is the freest and least trammelling of pens,
and seems almost to draw of its own volition." A glass drawing-pen, such
as is used by mechanical designers, &c., has its uses, but it is only
capable of making a uniformly thick line.

An assortment of one dozen of Gillott's pens can be obtained for one
shilling, and from these our selection can be made. Brandauer's No. 515
and No. 342 E.F. are well spoken of, and have the advantage of not
becoming scratchy with use. A flexible pen, capable of making fine as
well as thick strokes, working evenly, and not soon worn out, is what
should be sought, and having found two or three kinds to suit, stick to
them, and make yourself thoroughly master of their capabilities. Should
any difficulty exist in obtaining a special pen, an ordinary "F" writing
nib will not lead you far wrong, while for bold vigorous drawing I
should prefer a gold "J"; it is clear from this that mere fineness of
point is not an essential matter.

The possibilities of a particular pen are not learnt all at once, it
should be persevered with and understood. It has been recommended that
two or three pens of different character should respectively be used on
different portions of the same drawing. There may be advantages in this,
especially if a drawing contain a very wide variation in quality of its
lines. It may sometimes be that very bold thick work in foreground is
associated with fine delicate work in distance and sky.

Some artists prefer to use a fine brush instead of a pen. A small sable
brush, having the outside hairs cut away, or a long hair brush known as
"tracer" or "rigger," is capable of making fine lines hardly to be
distinguished from pen strokes. At first they are slow to work with,
but considerable rapidity may be acquired with practice. The lines are
rounder and not so harsh as those made with the pen, and it is said that
an artist who has once accustomed himself to use a brush never goes back
to pens.

[Illustration: A FIELD PATH.

_Bitumen process._ (_Original 7-1/2 x 6-1/2_).

  [_See p. 86._]
]

The foregoing materials and pens are for the production of simple black
line drawings on a white ground, and it is in this direction that I
should advise the student to persevere and cultivate himself. All the
beauty and expressiveness of lines is only realised after long practice;
and, of the many ways of illustrating by line process, it is the best
means of self-education, compared with which all others are flippant and
inconsequent.

[Illustration: A FIELD PATH.

_Swelled gelatine._ (_Original 7-1/2 x 6-1/2._)

[_See p. 86._]]

Still, with some truth it has been said that it is only by experiment
that we learn to achieve distinction, and so after a while we may
indulge in experiments in other directions, and try our hand at the
various tricks which the ingenious have placed within our reach. These
will be described in Chapter XI.

[Illustration]



CHAPTER X.

_COMPARISON OF PROCESSES._


The method of drawing in line referred to in the two preceding chapters
may be regarded as traditional and of the normal character, and we shall
next take under consideration various other methods of drawing equally
suitable for reproduction by line process.

In the meantime, we will see how the processes for producing blocks in
relief may be applied and see by a few examples how the results compare.

With the artist, the Swelled Gelatine process will probably rank as
first favourite, and this because it is less exacting in its
requirements.

Although only rendering the drawing in black and white, it is certainly
more sympathetic, and does to some extent recognise the weaker
impression of a grey line. By this process many ordinary black and white
drawings, made without any regard for the demands of the process man,
reproduce well, but would be impossible by the cheaper zinc etching;
moreover, it is admirably suited to reproduce drawings in which a
mixture of pen and pencil has been employed, an example of which will be
given later.

[Illustration: MOONLIGHT.

_Example of medium tint._ (_Original 4 x 7._)]

The artist or draughtsman is not, however, usually master of the
situation; the printer and publisher will use the cheaper methods, to
suit which we must adopt, to a certain degree, a conventional manner. If
a drawing be seriously studied, it is often surprising how much of the
feeling of the draughtsman is conveyed to us through the strokes of his
pen or pencil, and it is just this feeling which the Gelatine process
preserves in great measure, but which the commoner methods sift out and
give us a mere mechanical translation. Still, by suiting ourselves to
these more ordinary processes, much may be done to compensate for the
lack of sympathy which they display.

I have given (pp. 82, 83) two reproductions from the identical drawing,
in order that comparison may be made.

The Bitumen process is characterised by the crude, sincere, line given,
ignoring many finer lines, and bringing others up black and hard.

The Albumen process is the one by which probably the greatest number of
blocks are made in this country, and, when carried to a high degree of
perfection, yields some very pleasing results which, though inferior to
swelled Gelatine, are better than the Bitumen. Ordinarily, however,
there is not very much to choose between these two, and a very great
number of examples would have to be examined in order to properly
exhibit the differences.

The comparison of results by these three processes is a subject which
has given rise to some controversy. The artist, who has also usually
been the author in this matter, has pronounced favourably for the
swelled gelatine; but in this the process expert is in disagreement.
After comparing carefully a variety of results, I am inclined to think
that perhaps too much importance is attached to the supposed advantages
of the swelled gelatine, and two powerful contributories to success are
not sufficiently considered. Swelled gelatine is not used for ordinary
newspaper work, and is charged at a much higher rate; and for this
reason, probably, greater care is taken in the block-making, and, being
used in higher class publications, it is more carefully printed from
than is possible in the vast majority of cases when the cheaper blocks
are used. The use of zinc blocks in cheap, rapidly printed publications
probably prohibits the process having full justice done to it, and we
are apt to judge its possibilities by the examples we too often see.
Cheapness, short time, and rapid printing are factors calculated to
spoil the reputation of any process. If bitumen and albumen could
receive the same amount of care and attention as is customarily bestowed
upon the more expensive swelled gelatine, there seems little reason why
results should not be equal.

[Illustration: PEN DRAWING.

_Three different shading media._ (_Original 8 x 5-3/4._)]

[Illustration: UNTOUCHED LINE BLOCK.

(_Original 7 x 6._)]

In considering the application of such various methods, we are brought
to that somewhat singular contest which seems to exist in every sphere
of work wherein art is concerned, it is the disagreement and
misunderstanding which exists between artist and craftsman.

The enterprising endeavour of the process-block maker is to perfect his
process to produce a clean, bright, faultless piece of technical work; a
process which shall produce from all kinds of originals an equally
brilliant print, so that, when he is called to reproduce a special
effect which the artist may desire, he seems incapable of understanding
as desirable anything which falls short of his own arbitrary standard.
It is as though the artist's colourman said to the painter, you must
varnish all your picture so as to show the full richness and gloss of
the colours, no matter whether the painter reckoned on some degree of
dulness to give a certain effect.

[Illustration: LINE BLOCK LIGHTENED BY ROULETTE.

(_Original 7 x 6._)]

So the material maker will aim at supplying canvas or board of as fine
and smooth a surface as possible, and it is at first difficult to
persuade him that the artist is right in desiring a coarse, rough
surface. The process man and material maker are ever on the side of
polish, brilliancy, and fineness.

Execution and craft invariably seem to be at war with feeling and art,
and I would strongly caution my reader against being too much concerned
about the relative virtues of various processes, or too much prejudiced
by what others may have to say. Whatever your artist friend may advise
is pretty certain to be discounted by your block-maker; and in course of
time, and after experience, you will probably form your own individual
opinion, which will be at variance with both.

It is at this stage that more particular mention may be made of the use
of the _roulette_ to correct by hand, on the zinc block, the
misinterpretations of the process. The roulette consists of a
sharp-edged toothed wheel of minute proportions, which is passed
backwards and forwards across lines which have come up too black, thus
breaking such lines into tiny dots, which therefore print greyer.

It is well to know that such a revision of the block, as first turned
out, is possible, and we shall sometimes be glad to make use of it.
Still, as before pointed out, such hand-work must not be relied upon.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]



CHAPTER XI.

_OTHER METHODS ADAPTED FOR LINE REPRODUCTION._


When a large space is required to be covered with an even tint, an
immense saving of labour and time may be effected by the use of "Shading
media"; but beyond a mere saving of labour they may, if discreetly used,
be made to produce some very desirable effects.

[Illustration]

If applied to the entire surface, the result is very like a half-tone
process block in appearance. This is seen in the illustration on page
85, in which the shading medium has been applied everywhere except in
the few white spots.

Such an application is particularly useful for evening or twilight
subjects, but it is more usual to employ them locally, especially for
skies. They are also largely used by some artists for figures, in the
manner shown in illustration on page 65, in which the shading is so
effectively used on the waistcoat and hat of the man.

The pattern of the tint varies greatly, there being more than a dozen
distinct designs, a few examples of which are given on page 91.

[Illustration: SHADING MEDIUM ON PEN SKETCH VIGNETTE.

(_Original 5 x 4._)]

These shading media are introduced on to the zinc block after printing
from the negative (see Chap. VII.), for which purpose transparent sheets
of gelatine, on which the required pattern has been engraved and
previously inked, are used. By pressing these on to the albumen or other
surface of the block, an ink impression is transferred, which
accordingly protects the surface during etching in the same manner as
the rest of the picture. The "shading" need not be restricted to the
blank spaces only, but may be pressed on to any part or the whole of the
block; and there is no reason why two or more different patterns should
not be used in combination on the same subject. The gelatine sheets
being transparent, the process worker can see exactly where to apply
them, and can do so with considerably intricacy.

In sending to the etchers a drawing in which a shading medium is to be
introduced, the practice is to mark such portions as are to be shaded by
scribbling over with blue pencil; this is at once understood better than
written instructions. It had better be stated whether a dark or light
tint be required; also whether it is to be vignetted or shaded all over.
Vignetting is the most usual, as seen in the accompanying block, page
92. It is usual for the process people to make a slight additional
charge for the introduction of tints; especially if at all complicated.
And, of course, if special experiments in the combination of various
tints be intended, requiring special care, fair consideration must be
made for the additional trouble and labour.

Like most mechanical aids to drawing, shading media must be adopted with
discretion, and they can at best be considered as a poor substitute for
pure hand-work; they economise time and are useful in an emergency, but
I should certainly caution the beginner against the too frequent use of
them.

An ingenious method of imparting a certain greyness to some portions of
a drawing is illustrated by the accompanying sketch "Near Berry Head."

This is known as "Splatter work," and consists of sprinkling minute dots
of the black drawing fluid wherever required.

The drawing is first executed in the usual way, and all portions which
are not to be "splattered" upon are covered over with pieces of paper
cut to the necessary shape and size.

A stiff bristle brush is then inked; nothing serving for the purpose
better than an ordinary tooth-brush. Holding the brush in the left hand,
with the bristles downwards, the bristles are to be briskly stroked with
any handy stick of wood; in this manner a spray of tiny dots of ink is
splashed on to the paper beneath.

[Illustration: NEAR BERRY HEAD.

_Pen drawing--foreground dotted by "splatter" work._ (_Original 6-1/4 x
5._)]

Perhaps a finer and more regular spray may be obtained by taking the
brush in the right hand and brushing it over the fine teeth of a comb,
by which means the splashes can be with more certainty directed to a
particular spot. Superfluous ink should be struck off the brush before
sprinkling the drawing, and some portions of the protecting paper masks
can be removed before others if some of the "splattering" be required to
extend further.

It will be best to use an indelible or fixed ink for this work, as, even
after practice, some ugly splashes are apt to occur, which will have to
be afterwards corrected with Chinese white. Splatter work is more
largely practised in America, and is just one of those tricks which in
dexterous hands is sometimes so peculiarly happy in its results, and yet
so apparently unresponsive in others.

We now come to consider an important group of drawing methods, known as
"Scratch boards."

In speaking of white cardboards, reference was made to clay surface
boards, and the possibility of removing any fault by scraping with a
knife. We have now to do with a selection of boards in which the clay
surface and the scraping-out possibilities are carried to the utmost
practical extent, and made use of as a chief method of representation,
not as a means to correct mistakes. These boards are of two principal
kinds: 1st. White, on which are impressed white indented lines, giving
the whole a ribbed appearance; and, 2nd, Black reticulations, or lines
printed at right angles to the impressed grain or ribs.

Canvas-like reticulations, irregular grain or "Aquatint" dots, and
diagonal or vertical lines, are the most useful patterns (of which there
are many); they may be obtained at F.W. Devoe & C.T. Raynolds Co. and
most of the dealers in materials, and are known as scratch-out,
scrape-out or stipple boards.

Both boards are of a somewhat similar description, differing only in the
method of producing the pattern. In the white boards the marks are
_impressed_; whereas in the black ones they are _printed_.

Taking the black patterns first, the grain printed thereon supplies us
with a flat grey tint composed of numerous fine black lines; this for
convenience we will call the _full_ tint. Now if we gently scrape the
clay surface with the sharp point of a knife, moving it _across_ the
black lines, they will be removed from the top of the impressed ridges
which cross at right angles, thus at once converting the _black lines_
into rows of _black dots_, and giving a lighter tint which we will call
a half-tint. Closely examine the accompanying series of specimens, and
this will be at once recognised.

[Illustration:
No. I. No. II.
DOTS. HORIZONTAL LINES.]

[Illustration:
No. III. No. IV.
DIAGONAL LINES. AQUATINT.]

[Illustration:
THE SCRAPER.]

EXAMPLES OF BLACK GRAIN "SCRAPE BOARDS." (_Original size._)

In No. 1 we have a board with parallel ruling, as supplied by the
makers; in No. 2, a few strokes of the knife have converted some of the
lines into dots; in No. 3, the knife has been used more vigorously,
scraping away lines altogether and thus producing plain whites. This,
then, gives us full tint, half-tint, and white. Now if we work with
pencil or pen on the full tint, building up the drawing precisely as if
drawing on plain white card, and then scrape out, as just illustrated,
it will be seen what a wide range of "tones" will be suggested.

[Illustration: No. I. No. II. No. III.]

The drawing is to be put in first either with crayon, pencil, or ink,
and the scraping done afterwards; by this means any mistakes can readily
be scratched out; no small consolation to the unpractised. But, on the
other hand, a faulty scratch or scrape cannot be rectified, hence the
greater need for care.

The manner of handling the knife (an ordinary penknife, or a specially
constructed blade, may be used) differs a good deal in individual
workers, but the safer manner is perhaps to keep the knife well up and
nearly vertical. Avoid outlines, allowing the different degrees of tint
to separate one object from another, as one would do in a wash drawing,
and proceed somewhat in the manner illustrated by the accompanying
figures.

[Illustration: A MISTY MOONRISE.

(_Original 4 x 2-1/2._)]

[Illustration: (_Original 4 x 2-1/2._)]

One of the difficulties to be guarded against is the too great evidence
of scraping, the knife marks often revealing themselves much more
plainly in the reproduction than in the original, also the too sudden
contrast between the full tint and the scratched half-tint. Notice in
the two accompanying sketches on diagonal grain boards, by Mr. C.J.
Vine, how the full tint, when it meets the half-tint, is broken up by
slight irregular scratches; especially is this seen in the sky of "A
Misty Moonrise." In this sketch, sky, sea, and the sails of the two more
distant boats, are almost entirely made up by the diagonal tint and the
scraped half-tint. Only in the hulls of the boats and the sails of the
nearest boat is pen-work introduced, the lines being drawn diagonally
from right to left, at right angles to the grain of the full tint.[6]

[Illustration: PEN AND INK ON BLACK LINE SCRAPE BOARD. FIRST STAGE.

(_Original 5-3/4 x 3._)]

[Illustration: PEN AND INK ON BLACK LINE SCRAPE BOARD WITH WHITE SCRAPED
OUT.

(_Original 5-1/2 x 3-1/4._)]

A more rapid way of obtaining an effect can hardly be imagined than by
these "scraped" boards, and in good hands, or with practice, the
effects obtainable are often very charming. The drawings should, as a
rule, be not greatly larger than the reproduction intended--a reduction
of one-third or one-half being about the best. All the different kinds
of black grain boards are treated in the same manner as above described.

[Illustration: PENCIL ON VERTICAL GRAIN WHITE SCRAPE BOARD.

_By C.J. Vine._ (_Original 4 x 3._)]

Now the use of white grained boards is less a scraping method than pure
line drawing, much of the "line" being almost mechanically produced by
drawing upon the "ribbed" surface with pencil. We know if we place a
piece of paper upon a rough, cloth-covered book and rub a blacklead
pencil over it we get a mottled effect, the blacks and whites of which
are reproductions of the projections and depressions on the book cover;
so if we draw on a ribbed surface clay-board with pen and ink, the ink
follows elevation and depression in one continuous pen stroke. If,
however, we draw with a black pencil, without undue pressure, the pencil
passes from one elevation to another, or from one "rib" to another, and
thus forms a broken or dotted line, which, although in actual colour as
black as an ink line, yet being broken and not solid, will reproduce
lighter or greyer. A number of adjacent pencil lines would therefore
produce a flat tint of dots, very similar to the tint of a "half-tone"
block or a "shading medium," in addition to which, and upon which, ink
lines may be made to produce deeper blacks. On the accompanying
illustration are pencil marks and ink strokes drawn on a piece of
grained white board, the grain or "ribs" being vertical. To the left, a
single detached pencil stroke forming dotted lines; next are adjacent
pencil lines constituting a grained tint, something very like the full
tone of the black-grained blocks before considered, and coarser or finer
in proportion as the pencil is pressed more or less heavily; next we
have some pen and ink lines, the difference of which will at once be
seen; and finally, a mixture of pencil and pen, on which the knife has
subsequently been used to scratch some small lights. This exhausts the
practical possibilities of white grained scrape boards.

[Illustration]

The accompanying sketches will show somewhat the kind of things
obtainable.

[Illustration: PENCIL AND PEN ON VERTICAL LINE WHITE SCRAPE BOARD.

_By C.J. Vine._ (_Original 4 x 3._)]

Reduction causes a very marked improvement, and the drawings should be
looked at from time to time whilst in progress with a "diminishing"
glass. An indelible ink should be used, or one that does not penetrate
but rests on the surface: such as ivory-black, lamp-black, or Indian
ink. Instead of pencil, a stick of lithographic chalk will be of
advantage. In the first place, the greyness of pencil is deceptive, and
reproduces blacker than we expect, moreover pencil rubs and smears; not
so lithographic chalk, which does not rub, and is black. The scratching
or scraping must be the final stage of a drawing, as only solid pen
marks can be put on the white board after the grained clay surface has
been removed.


DRAWINGS IN PENCIL OR CHALK ON ROUGH PAPERS.

By the foregoing description of pencil or chalk drawing on ribbed
surfaces, we see how a pencil drawing may be translated by an ordinary
line zinco block, instead of the more expensive half-tone process
described in the earlier chapters. The pencil or crayon point, in
passing over a rough or broken surface, forms a series of dots instead
of a continuous line. The same thing occurs when pencil is used on a
rough surface drawing paper. Such pencillings, being examined, are found
to be lead marks, interspersed with minute interstices of white paper,
the whole giving a sort of grey tint of greater or less intensity.

For broad sketchy effects such a drawing method is exceedingly valuable;
some very delightful things may be done without the least appearance of
the mechanical.

[Illustration: SEWARDSTONE MARSHES.

_Drawing on Conté crayon on rough paper._ (_Original 6 x 4._)]

As may be readily understood from the accompanying examples, such
drawings are best adapted for purely artistic impressions, and not for
the portrayal of detail.

Practically any paper may be used which is white, and whose surface is
sufficiently rough; some particular kinds, about to be mentioned, have
proved especially successful under experiment. Any material may be used
to draw with, preference being given to a black substance which will not
smear or rub on being touched.

A good "B" blacklead pencil has the advantage of being pleasant to
handle, and capable of being used with a sufficiently fine point to
render some details; it has, however, the decided disadvantage of
"rubbing" with a very little touching, and the strokes, although fairly
intense, are not so black as crayon; hence, in reproduction, many
portions which were expected to come out soft and delicate, reproduce
much too black. We have, then, for our selection, Hardmuth's or Conté's
crayons, made in several degrees, and also made into cedar-wood
pencils--a cleaner and more handy form. Neither of these is,
unfortunately, free from the disadvantage of blurring when rubbed, and
will hence require to be fixed before being sent away; the
photo-engraver, in the press of his business, rarely failing to subject
drawings to a severe test.

Fixing may be best effected by treating the drawing with a solution of
one part pure gum mastic dissolved in seven parts methylated spirit.

In Lemercier's lithographic crayons we have a drawing medium which gives
as satisfactory results as the Conté or Hardmuth, and does not blur; it
therefore saves the trouble of fixing. Being greasy, they should be used
in a porte-crayon. They are made in three degrees as to hardness, the
No. 1 being the hardest and best suited for drawing the limited amount
of detail which is possible with crayons.

So long as the drawing is not too heavily worked upon, a surprising
improvement is secured by reducing. A reduction of one-half is not too
much.

As to the papers to be used, the following may be mentioned as only some
which I have tested, and which others have spoken well of, but there
must be a great many other rough surface materials well worth a trial.

Of the well-known Whatman papers, both the "Hot-pressed" and "Not," the
latter being, perhaps, preferable.

A French paper, Allongé, has a very pleasing surface grain, and may be
used on the right or wrong side with different results; the right side
being the rougher, and perhaps the better.

[Illustration: CRAYON DRAWING ON ALLONGÉ PAPER.

_Small whites in Chinese white._ (_Original 9 x 6._)]

Next, we have Lalanne and Michallet or Ingres papers, and some examples
of crayon drawing on these are here given.

[Illustration: CRAYON ON PYRAMID PAPER NO. 2.

_Small whites in Chinese white._ (_Original 7 x 6._)]

The most noticeable feature in these will be the lines, or grain, formed
by the texture of the paper; this grain is apparently more perceptible
when vertical, but if the paper is turned round so that the lines come
into a horizontal position, they are much less discernible in the
finished sketch.

In many respects the effect of these papers is a good deal similar to
that gained by using the white lined clay-boards; the grain being,
however, less mechanical. In like manner the crayon sketch may be
effectively helped by the addition of pen and ink, or fine brush work.
Scraping out, however, is not within its capabilities; though Chinese
white, if applied fairly solidly, may successfully stop-out small lights
or efface errors.

[Illustration: CRAYON ON PYRAMID NO. 1. (_Original 9 x 6._)]

Other papers which may be attempted are Arnold's drawing papers, rough
surface cartridge, various crayon papers, &c. Such houses as Penrose &
Co., Amwell Street, E.C., London, or F.W. Devoe & C.T. Raynolds Co., of
New York, would probably supply patterns and information in this
respect.

A paper known as Pyramid Grained paper has a granulated surface,
breaking the crayon marks into a succession of dots rather than broken
lines, and often yields very pleasing results; it is made in two varying
degrees, No. 1 having a grain of 15,000 "pyramids" to the square inch,
and No. 2, 9,000.

For a further variation in effect, a drawing may be executed in crayon
or pencil on a fairly smooth paper previously pressed into close contact
with any rough surface, such as sandpaper or canvas. The unsized side of
a canvas for oil painting, or the cover of a book, will answer the
purpose; openness of work, and the amount of ultimate reduction
desirable, being depended upon and controlled accordingly.

The following sketches, by Mr. C.J. Vine, on Michallet and Lallane
papers (pp. 111, 113, 115, 117), are pure untouched crayon work,
reproduced by zinc line etching, so that these drawings may be safely
entrusted to this cheapest and least sympathetic process; though there
can be little doubt that the swelled gelatine would render fuller
justice to work of this class.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]



CHAPTER XII.

_MECHANICAL AIDS TO DRAUGHTSMANSHIP--DRAWING AND SKETCHING FROM NATURE._


The various methods whereby illustrations may be made for reproduction
have now been reviewed, if not exhaustively, at least with sufficient
completeness to enable the reader to start making those actual
experiments in practice without which the most exact description is
useless.

But thus far, with the exception of such cases in which it is possible
to use a photogram and reproduce it by "half-tone" process, some ability
to draw, some certain amount of native artistry on the part of the
student, has been taken for granted.

Now, while in wash drawings, crayon, or pencil sketches, "scrape"
boards, and the like, there must be some amount of instinctive artistic
ability, not only to guide the hand in execution but to govern taste,
idea, and selection; yet in simple line drawing with the pen, without
any art knowledge or technical ability, it may be possible to produce a
perfectly reproducible drawing, fulfilling in every way the essential
duty of an illustration. And if this be so, there is no reason why very
many more writers should not illustrate what they have to say, making
matters more intelligible and producing a more lasting impression.

For the purpose we shall require a photogram to commence with, and here
is a use and an application of photography not always fully realised or
appreciated. A man may be possessed of considerable taste and judgment
in the selecting of a view, or particular aspect of a building, and yet
be utterly lacking in ability to put down on paper correctly what he
sees; that is, he is not a good draughtsman. No particular taste in
selecting a position may be needed, or possessed, and yet it may be
desirable to portray an object, or scene, and it is to such men that the
camera becomes so important as an indirect means to illustration.
Indirect because, as already pointed out, the reproduction of a
photogram by half-tone process (the only way of reproducing a photogram
for type machine printing) is attended with difficulties, and cannot
always be resorted to. The half-tone block is not suitable for the most
rapid printing in newspapers, &c.; its results are not all that could be
wished; it is more expensive and takes longer to make, apart from such
other drawbacks pointed out in an earlier chapter. Therefore it is
desirable to see how we can utilise a photogram so as to produce the
simpler, and often more acceptable, line block from it, and do this by a
more mechanical method than re-drawing, or copying from it.

Probably the first easy method that will suggest itself will be to make
a tracing from it on tracing paper, and then with carbon paper transfer
it to the desired card, &c.

There is no objection to such a course, except that it is not always
attended with equal satisfaction. To begin with, a photogram is often so
dark in parts as to prevent our seeing many details through the tracing
paper; also, however careful, if we are tracing a face, the slight
deviation in tracing over the outlines and features, which is almost
unavoidable, and further variations when afterwards transferring, will
often seriously interfere with the likeness--presuming a likeness to be
required.

[Illustration: STUDY OF TREES.

_Crayon drawing on Lalanne paper; vertical grain._ (_Original 8 x
4-1/2._)]

An avoidance of error and saving of time may be effected by making a
fairly pale print and, having "fixed" it, cover the back with the
scribble of a blue pencil or chalk.

We can now place this down upon the card board or paper to be drawn
upon, and carefully go over everything that is to be drawn with a sharp
hard point, which will leave a blue outline sketch which can then be
inked in, and the blue need not be rubbed out afterwards as it will not
appear in reproduction.

In the same way the original photogram can be used with a piece of
_blue_ carbon paper instead of chalking the back of the print. No
attempt should be made to draw in all the details of a photogram, but
only such salient points as may be required for illustration.

Another method is as follows:--Make the photogram in the ordinary way,
but on "plain salted paper," or "Matt silver sensitised paper," which
has been previously prepared by immersion for a short while in a
solution of ammonium chlorate, 100 grains; gelatine, 10 grains; water,
10 ounces.

The photogram is to be fixed and washed, toning being unnecessary; when
dry it can be drawn upon with a "_fixed_" or _indelible_ black ink,
carefully putting in just what parts are needed and disregarding the
rest of the picture. As soon as the ink is dry, the print is immersed in
a bath of mercury bichlorate and alcohol, when the photogram will
gradually disappear, leaving the black ink lines on plain white paper.
Nothing more is required beyond mounting on card to fit it for
reproduction. Of course corrections can be made and stains, &c., be
removed with Chinese white. Should it be desired to restore the bleached
photogram, it can be done by immersing in a weak solution of soda
hyposulphite.

The foregoing method is one given by Mr. C.G. Harper in his book
"Drawing for Reproduction"; it appears, however, needlessly elaborate,
and I presume mercury _bichloride_ is intended and not bichlorate. Even
with care the photographic image is sometimes slow to get rid of, and
will often refuse altogether to leave the clear white blank we require.

[Illustration: ADVANCING TWILIGHT.

_Crayon drawing on Lalanne paper; horizontal grain._ (_Original 10-1/2 x
6._)]

A photographic print, however, on either albumenised or "Matt" paper
will certainly disappear utterly if subjected to the following bath, for
which formula I am indebted to Mr. E.J. Wall:--

  Iodine                        1 grain
  Iodide of Potassium          10 grains
  Cyanide of Potassium         20   "
  Water                       102   "

This is a similar solution as is used to remove ink-stains from linen,
&c.

The print may also be bleached by sponging over with the following
preparation, recommended by W. Ethelbert Henry:--

  Saturated Solution Iodine in Alcohol              1 part
   "        " Cyanide of Potassium in Water       2 parts
  Water                                             2   "

After which the print is to be washed well for a few minutes.

Of course the reason for using a "fixed" ink in such processes is
obvious.

Yet another method on similar lines, but even simpler in operation. A
certain photographic printing paper called "Ferro-prussiate" paper
gives, on exposure to light, a _blue_ image, and only requires washing
in water to "fix" or make it permanent. This blue print can now be used
for drawing upon, as in the previous instance, only that the
photographic image, being blue, does not need to be bleached, and will
not interfere with the reproduction of the black lines drawn upon it.

If for any reason it be desired to get rid of the blue print, this can
be bleached by immersion in water containing a little common washing
soda.

[Illustration: BEACHY HEAD.

_Crayon drawing on Michallet paper, right side._ (_Original 8-1/2 x
5-1/2._)]

Thus from a photogram of even the most elaborate subject an absolutely
correct drawing may be made fit for reproduction without the illustrator
having any knowledge or skill as a draughtsman.

By placing the unskilled in such a position, photography appears to have
removed the last obstacle to the more frequent use of appropriate
illustration; and the ease with which both pleasing and _accurate_
outlines can be made should render inexcusable the shamefully untruthful
"sketches" which every day appear in newspaper and magazine.

The method of drawing on thin transfer paper with transfer ink, and then
placing the drawing direct on to a zinc block, hardly needs to be
referred to here. Such a simple means of placing the image on the zinc
and then etching is necessarily of limited application, neither
reduction nor enlargement is possible, and photography is not employed;
it is merely a mechanical etching of the zinc in all parts not protected
by the ink image, as transferred from the drawing in transfer ink, and
is used for very rapid and imperfect portraits, &c., in the commoner
class of newspaper work.

And now, whatever be the special characteristics and advantages of the
camera, it is by no means my intention to advocate its use where even
only a moderate amount of native artistic ability exists; and, in all
probability, the possessor of such ability will more frequently prefer
to use his sketch-book than his camera--and this is as it should be.
There is always something of freshness about a first original sketch, be
it in whatsoever medium, a quality which the most careful copy fails to
repeat.

This brings us to consider whether it would not be well to make our
first impressions or sketches in such a manner that they could be handed
to the process worker right away; and we shall then have to consider
what medium and what materials are suitable for "drawing from life."
Certainly the ordinary pencil sketch, as taken from the pocket
sketch-book, would not do. In the first place such sketches would
rarely be vigorous enough, and whatever vigour they possessed would be
sadly diminished by rubbing and the pressure of the opposite page.

[Illustration: A SUSSEX LANE.

_Crayon drawing on Michallet paper, wrong side of paper used._
(_Original 9 x 4-1/2._)]

Very few have successfully drawn from life in pen and ink. Some few
well-known caricaturists and figure draughtsmen do so, and attain
success purely through their splendid dash and spirit, but such things
are forbidden the average man with whom the pen drawing is a matter of
delicate care. But there seems no reason why the lithographic crayon on
rough paper should not be thus utilised, and slight "touchings-up" added
afterwards. In this way we might often have ready for immediate
reproduction a sketch containing some of that spontaneous feeling which
is so noticeable when glancing through the pages of an artist's
sketch-book.

I have noticed in some a very false idea existing with regard to
draughting in a picture with pencil before using the pen and ink. Now I
do not hesitate to say that the careful sketching in of the subject in
pencil is essential to all except the genius, and I am not writing for
the genius, who knows more than I can tell him and can dispense with
what he does not know. There is nothing to be ashamed of in drawing
first in pencil; one might perhaps be able to draw in quite as correctly
with the pen, but the advantage of a pencil outline as a guide is that
it gives more time and leisure thought for carefully considering the pen
work before putting it in. By this course there is less danger of
confused hesitating lines. From the first let the ink lines be clear,
distinct, and black; no "messing about," to quote Mr. Blackburn's
expressive phrase; be decided as to the sort of shading you are going to
put in a certain place and put it there, once for all, and don't touch
it again. Avoid, by constant self-restraint, over-elaboration or too
much laboured detail; let each part of the drawing be _finished_ from
the first, and do not return to it and work on it over and over again.
And the first step to ensuring this precision will be by carefully
pencilling everything, _indicating_ only where shading is to come. When
the pen and ink drawing is completed, carefully erase the pencil marks
with _bread crumbs_; do not use indiarubber, which will be sure to
abrade the surface, and probably break the continuity of the ink lines.

As we become more conversant with the possibilities of the zinco
process, an intimacy which can only be brought by an experience built up
of experiments and failures, we shall find it possible to sometimes
leave in certain of the pencilling (allowing, of course, for their
coming up as black as ink), but for the beginner such a practice is not
recommended, as it is nearly sure to end in disappointment.

There are many interesting modifications of recognised means which are
possible to the experienced--especially the production of what may be
termed "mixed drawings," either for reproduction in half-tone or line,
drawings in which in order to produce less ordinary effects, wash, pen,
and pencil are employed combinedly; but, by the time my gentle reader
has reached a stage when he may advisedly attempt such excursions from
the orthodox path, he will have passed beyond the sphere of this book
and will be entitled to that liberty which art permits to its
practitioners.

In the meantime let me ask the student to repress for a time his more
lofty aspirations, and content himself with patiently learning to
produce--not a charming sketch, a delightful drawing, but--a drawing in
which there is as much of artistic or pictorial merit as is compatible
with the requirements of the process of reproduction. If you are drawing
professedly for reproduction, no blame can attach to you if you "bear in
mind during the production of your drawing the necessity of its making a
good block, with as little sacrifice of artistic quality as may be."

An exalted position as an art is not necessarily claimed for drawing or
painting for reproduction; but how much of that difficult-to-be-defined
quality which we call "artistic" exists in it, depends not so much upon
the method, the means, or the application, as it does on those who work
at it and their motive. Apart from this, viewed from the lowest aspect,
its utility is beyond question, and at the present time it is an
application of fine art showing the most vitality of any.

The books devoted to the subject which have already been written, have
perhaps given too much attention to the actual processes of
reproduction--they have not appealed to the illustrator; or else, while
professing to be books of instruction in practice, have dealt rather
with the theory of illustration and the comparison of styles. It seemed
to me there was need for a simple description of methods for the
enlightening of a beginner: an elementary guide; a first step; in short,
a Handbook of illustration.

[Illustration]



  Higgins'
  American
  Drawing
  Inks

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

(Blacks and Colors)

  The Standard
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They are used and endorsed by the leading Illustrators, Schools,
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The manufacturers have never solicited a single testimonial, yet the
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equal to it for half a dozen reasons. From the time you open the bottle
until you have put all its contents on paper, you have no reason to find
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The Inks are as follows: BLACKS--Two kinds. Waterproof (insoluble when
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Users are cautioned to refuse untried and experimental inks, which may
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  Originators and Manufacturers Inks and Adhesives,

  =168 to 172 Eighth Street, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.A.=

  =London Office, 106 Charing Cross Road.=



THE FOLDING MONTAUK

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[Illustration]


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PHOTO-CERAMICS

BY

W. ETHELBERT HENRY

AND

H. SNOWDON WARD


Photography applied to the decoration of China, Porcelain, Placques, Art
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  G. GENNERT, PUBLISHER

  24 & 26 East 13th St. NEW YORK



Photo Lithography

     *       *       *       *       *

BY GEORGE FRITZ

VICE-DIRECTOR OF THE COURT AND IMPERIAL STATE PRINTING WORKS AT VIENNA

     *       *       *       *       *

TRANSLATED BY E.J. WALL FELLOW OF THE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

     *       *       *       *       *

CONTAINING SIX FULL PAGE PLATES BY THE IMPERIAL STATE PRINTING WORKS AT
VIENNA

This book treats of the preparation of Collodions, etc., for Negative
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[Illustration]



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In 30 Sizes, Various Patterns.

[Illustration:

  The
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]

5½ in. Condensers, for 3¼ 4¼ plate, without objective, $35; with
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8¼ in. Condensers, for 5×7 plate, without objective, $60; with
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Sole American Agent

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Adams

[Illustration]

"BRILLIANT" VIEW FINDERS

[Illustration]


A perfect, bright and distinct image in direct sunlight, or in a room
where objects are hardly discernible on the ground glass.

STYLE No. 1, FOR REGULAR CAMERAS STYLE No. 2, FOR DETECTIVE CAMERAS

     *       *       *       *       *


  =J.A. LEONARD,
  Civil Engineer.=

  NEWBURGH, N.Y., Oct. 2, 1895.

   The "Adams" Finder received this A.M., and I want to thank you for
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  (Signed)      J.A. LEONARD.

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  Style No. 1.  Size No. 1, $4.50  Size No. 2, $5.50  Size No. 3, $6.50
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G. GENNERT, Sole Agent

24 and 26 East 13th Street, NEW YORK THE "GENNERT"

"UNIVERSAL"

Hard Rubber Fixing Box

[Illustration: No. 1.]

[Illustration: No. 2.]

The "Gennert" Universal Fixing Box is a decided improvement over the
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Buy a "Gennert" Universal Fixing Box, made of pure hard rubber, and save
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G. GENNERT, Manufacturer

24-26 East 13th Street NEW YORK

  CARBUTT'S

  Half-Tone Process Plates
  Specially made for Photo-Etchers
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[Illustration: JOHN CARBUTT

  MANUFACTURER OF

  Dry Plates, Films

  AND

  PHOTOGRAPHIC SPECIALTIES
  WAYNE JUNCTION
  PHILADELPHIA.
]


PRICE LIST--Plain, Orthochromatic and Strippers

       Sizes.      |Per Doz. |Per Doz.  |No. of
                   |Plain    |Strippers.|Doz.
                   |or Ortho.|          |in Case.
    ----------------+---------+----------+---------
    3-1/4 ×  4-1/4 | $0 45   | $0 70    | 36
    4     ×  5     |  0 65   |  0 90    | 36
    4-3/4 ×  6-1/2 |  1 00   |  1 25    | 24
    5     ×  7     |  1 10   |  1 45    | 24
    5     ×  8     |  1 25   |  1 65    | 24
    6-1/2 ×  8-1/2 | $1 65   | $2 20    | 12
    8     × 10     |  2 40   |  3 20    | 12
    10     × 12    |  3 80   |  5 00    |  4
    11     × 14    |  5 00   |  6 65    |  3
    14     × 17    |  9 00   | 12 00    |  2


=CARBUTT'S FLUID STRIPPING MEDIUM=

Which has been arrived at after a series of exhaustive experiments, is
destined to entirely supersede the old gelatine processes. It is
supplied already prepared from the factory. It is applied _cold_, sets
and dries quickly, forming a pellicle negative, _thin, tough and
flexible_, and may be printed from either side. Full particulars for use
accompany each package. Price: Pint bottles, 75c.; quart bottles, $1.35;
per gallon, $5.


=Testimonial=

"We have been in the photo-engraving business over three years. Used
wet-plates for two years, and your process-plates for the last year on
half-tone work. Each lot seemed uniform with the others and worked well.
Have not had a wet-plate bath in the place, even for line work (or
half-tone either), for over a year, and have turned out just as good
half-tone work as can be done, so our customers say. It is as good as we
could ever get with wet plates."--H.... ENG. CO., per G.C.A.

WRITE TO FACTORY FOR CIRCULARS

=JOHN CARBUTT,=

KEYSTONE DRY PLATE AND FILM WORKS

=Wayne Junction, Philadelphia=



Winsor & Newton's

WATERPROOF INDIAN INK

=With Patent Stopper and Quill Feeder=


This new Preparation has been introduced to meet the requirements of
those Artists, Architects and Designers who wish to lay washes of color
over drawings in ink.

Unlike many so-called "Indelible" Inks, Messrs. Winsor & Newton's
Waterproof Indian ink, after it has dried, will be found absolutely
unaffected by subsequent wetting. The lines of the drawing, from the
thickest to the thinnest, remain undisturbed, and the purity of the most
delicate color-wash is retained in an unsullied condition.

Finally, it may be mentioned that Messrs. Winsor and Newton's
preparation is made from genuine Indian Ink, and not, as is frequently
the case, from an imitative article.

Winsor and Newton's Waterproof Ink is made in 21 different colors.
Sample card on application.

[Illustration]

  WINSOR & NEWTON, Limited

  88 Fulton Street      Rathbone Place

  NEW YORK AND LONDON.



PROCESS ILLUSTRATION

PRACTICAL MATERIALS FOR PRACTICAL WORKERS

     *       *       *       *       *

  =ANGERER SCRAPER BOARDS=
    EIGHT VARIETIES. _Sample Packet, 1s. 6d._

  =ANGERER LITHOGRAPHIC GRAINED PAPERS=
    FOUR VARIETIES. _Sample Packet, 6d._

  =GILLOT SCRAPER BOARDS=
    EIGHT VARIETIES. _Sample Packet, 1s. 2d._

  =PENROSE'S NEW STIPPLE BOARDS=
  _Imitating the Lithographic Hand Stipple_
      TWO KINDS. _Sample Packet, 6d._

  =GOODALL'S BRISTOL BOARDS=
    LITHOGRAPHIC TRANSFER PAPERS
      TRACING TRANSFER PAPERS

  =LEMERCIER'S INKS and CRAYONS=
    Gillott's Pens. Fine Sable Brushes

     *       *       *       *       *

T Squares, Set Squares. Tracing Points, Ruling Pens, Magnifying and
Diminishing Glasses

     *       *       *       *       *

_All Materials, Tools, Chemicals, and Appliances for every Branch of
Photo-mechanical Reproduction Catalogue, Sixpence, Post-free_

     *       *       *       *       *

PENROSE & CO.

_The Photo Process Stores_

8a, UPPER BAKER ST., Clerkenwell, LONDON F.W. DEVOE & C.T. RAYNOLDS CO

F.W. DEVOE & C.T. RAYNOLDS CO

MANUFACTURERS OF

=Artists' Materials=

[Illustration]

SUPPLIES FOR

  =Oil and Water
    Color Painting=

  =Pastel and
    Miniature Painting=

  =Charcoal, Crayon and
    Lead Pencil Drawing=

  =Etching, Ornamenting
    and Designing=

  =Materials for
    Tapestry Painting=

  =Pyrography and
    China Painting=

=Materials for Pen and Ink Drawing A Specialty=

  Liquid Inks, Crow Quill Pens, Process Papers,
  Roulettes, F.W. Devoe & Co.'s Superior Liquid
    Chinese White and Indian Ink, "Pen and Ink
      Carton," "Bank Note Bristol," best for Black
        and White Work, "Scratch Board," etc., etc.

     *       *       *       *       *

=A Complete Line of Ross's Hand Stipple Process Papers at Wholesale and
Retail=

     *       *       *       *       *

  =Fulton and William Streets, New York,
    and 176 Randolph Street, Chicago=



GENNERT

Hard Rubber

[Illustration]

[Illustration]


Photographers' DEVELOPING

and

FIXING DISHES

=The Standard of Excellence=

     *       *       *       *       *

=Each Piece Marked=

"GENNERT"

=Manufacturer, New York=



  A.B. Fleming & Co.
  (LIMITED)

Scottish Printing Ink Manufactory

=Caroline Park, EDINBURGH=

  _Warehouse;_
  15 Whitefriars St., London, E.C.

  _Fine Color Department;_
  101 Leadenhall St., London, E.C.

Manufacturers of Every Kind of Black and Colored Inks

=HALF-TONE PRINTING INKS=

=IN BLACK AND ART SHADES A SPECIALTY=

(Any Shade Made to Order)

=Our Half-Tone Inks will not fill up, do not contain Earth-Colors, and
are permanent=

=Photochromic Printing in Three Colors=

THE THREE NEUTRAL COLORS

(=Red, Blue and Yellow=)

SPECIALLY PREPARED AND GUARANTEED ABSOLUTELY PERMANENT

Shades Verified by Lovibond's Patent Tintometer

=HIGH-CLASS COLLOTYPE INKS=

OF ALL SHADES =THE "BRIGHTON" CAMERA=

_Patented 1881-89 and Patent applied for_

[Illustration: AS A FRONT FOCUS.]


The Brighton is the first desired step forward in view cameras for
several years, and can justly be called perfect, as it has all the
features so highly prized by Artists and View Photographers, and is also
adapted for Studio use of the amateur or artist.

1st. It is a Front Focus Camera.

2d. It is a Back Focus Camera as well.

3d. It has more swing than any other Camera.

4th. It has a self-centering, rising and falling front.

5th. It has Rack and Pinion (forward) and slide (backward) movement.

6th. It has a new front board feature, and an extra large front board.

7th. It can be used with an extremely short or long focus lens and no
lens is so wide in its angle that it can take in any part of the bed.

8th. While no Camera is more rigid when the back clamp is set, it can be
taken entirely apart by reversing the tightening lever.

9th. It has an improvement which allows the bed to be raised without the
screw catching.

10th. It can be set up and taken down quicker and easier than any
Camera.

Add to this absolutely perfect workmanship, materials and finish, and
you have the Brighton Camera, the Twentieth Century product.

[Illustration: AS A BACK FOCUS.]

PRICE LIST.--Leather Bellows, Double Swing, including one "Xtralite"
Plate Holder and Carrying Case, 5×7, $24.00; 5×8, $26.00; 6-1/2×8-1/2,
$28.00; 8×10, $30.00; 11×14, $40.00; 14×17, $60.00.


=G. GENNERT, Manufacturer=

=24 & 26 East 13th Street, NEW YORK=

[Illustration]



ROSS LENSES

ROSS ZEISS ANASTIGMATS

ROSS-GOERZ

DOUBLE ANASTIGMATS

[Illustration]

=The Best Photographic Objectives for all purposes. Several series
especially adapted to Reproductions.=

[Illustration]

Catalogue on Application to


G. GENNERT

Sole American Agent

=24 & 26 East 13th Street, NEW YORK=

[Illustration]



There are

WASHING BOXES AND BOXES


=That are Supposed to Wash, But Don't Do It=

[Illustration]


The Gennert Universal Washing Box

[Illustration]


WASHES CLEAN AND QUICK


  No. 1 Holds 22 Plates 3-1/4 × 4-1/4 or 4-1/4 × 6-1/2--11 Plates
  6-1/2 × 8-1/2. Price, $2.00.

  No. 2 Holds 22 Plates 4 × 5, 5 × 7, or 5 × 8--11 Plates 8 × 10.
  Price, $2.25.


G. GENNERT, Sole Mfr.,

=24 and 26 East 13th St. NEW YORK=


"THE NEW YORK PHOTOGRAVURE CO., at 137 West 23d Street, makes perfect
pictures for artistic, scientific and commercial purposes, by special,
inimitable photogravure, photogelatine, and half-tone block processes.
It has a gallery fitted to produce negatives of all sizes up to 24 × 30,
by the best orthochromatic methods. From this department to the packing
room, there is not a phase of any work, however trivial apparently, not
carefully attended with the most zealous supervision."

  =From King's Handbook of New York City=

     *       *       *       *       *


=Photographs in Colors=

"Mr. Edwards spoke from the small stage at the end of the exhibition
hall, and after an interesting résumé of the many 'processes' by which
pictures and illustrations are now made with the aid of photography, the
most important of which he explained in lucid and not too technical
phraseology, he approached the most interesting part of his discourse,
the modern method of three-color printing, which has, under the New York
Photogravure Company, reached so high a state of perfection and resulted
in such surprisingly attractive results."

  =From the Mail and Express, New York=

     *       *       *       *       *


"SUN AND SHADE reproduces, not only the most notable paintings and
portraits, but the best work of amateur and professional photographers.
If it gave nothing but the latter work, it would be deserving of the
most liberal patronage that it receives; but it is an admirable record
of the greatest paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of living
American players, of portraits of celebrated Americans, of great
American painters, with reproductions of their work, and it is a
monument of the New York Photogravure Co., which is a monument of
artistic New York."


FOOTNOTES:

  [1] Our frontispiece, a Collotype by S.B. Bolas and Co., is an
  excellent example of this process.]

  [2] The copper deposited by electro-deposition is little more
  than a thin skin of metal, which is then backed by a block of type-metal
  of the same thickness as the usual letterpress type.]

  [3] See remarks on printing in Chap. X.]

  [4] The term "tone," as used here and elsewhere throughout this
  book, is a word universally employed in art to express varying degrees
  of lightness and darkness irrespective of colour. The word "shade," as
  commonly used and accepted, comes nearest to its meaning, but that shade
  refers rather to varying tint of local colour, as when one says "a
  beautiful shade of pink." "Shade" is also used to express the reverse of
  "light," as "light and shade." Objects in nature, when represented in
  correct relationship of lightness and darkness, are said to be in
  correct relative tone.]

  [5] Refer to p. 72.]

  [6] Here, with all due deference, I may draw attention to the
  unpleasing effect of an illustration of elliptical or "cushion" shape,
  especially when mixed with letterpress on a book page, the general
  scheme of which is square or rectangular. Unless an irregular shape is
  for a special purpose desirable, it will be safer to keep the
  illustrations to a rectangular form.]


  +--------------------------------------------------------------+
  |                                                              |
  |                     Transcribers Notes:                      |
  |                                                              |
  |    Fixed various commas and full-stops.                      |
  |    P.16. 'astist' changed to 'artist'.                       |
  |    P.32. 'ana' changed to 'and'.                             |
  |    P.109. 'reveiwed' changed to 'reviewed'.                  |
  |    Add: Camera: to 'be be raised', changed to 'be raised'.   |
  |                                                              |
  +--------------------------------------------------------------+





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