REMARKS TO THE STUDENT 



XXVll 



marks and color to indicate shadows. If you will place yourself so 

 that there is but one source of light, as when you sit at a table with 

 a window or desk lamp to the left, you will see that a shadow borders 

 each finger where your hand is outspread upon a sheet of paper. 

 Elevating individual fingers will show how the shadows are changed 

 by different positions of the parts. In a room with windows on more 

 than one side or with many lights, the shadows are confused, and out 

 of doors the conditions are often complicated. Their representation is 

 one of the great problems of the artist. In our understanding of 

 familiar objects seen at a distance, shadows, perhaps even more than 

 lines, are the indicators of the third dimension. Look at the next 

 building you approach when the sun is shining, and see how the lines 

 change as you shift the angle of view and how the shadows bring out 



Fig. 5. — Principles of shading applied to different objects. 



various parts. Perspective, or the way lines are projected on a plane 

 surface, and shading, or the way shadows fall, are constantly seen by 

 human beings and unconsciously interpreted with precision. It is an 

 interesting study to analyze the impressions that make us conclude 

 that one object is here and another beyond it as we walk out of doors 

 or look from a window. 



As is the case with black and w^hite contrast, many teachers dis- 

 approve of shading, because it is so commonly misused by unskillful 

 students. Unless carefully done, it is likely to result only in concealing 

 inaccuracies of outline. We believe, however, that a minimum of 

 shading gives very satisfactory results and that it may be recom- 

 mended after the student has learned the principles of the line draw- 

 ing, which should always be completed before shading is begun. How 

 simple shading may be used is indicated by Fig. 5 and by the head 

 parts of the worm shown in Fig. 4. When we look at most objects, the 

 light, as has been said, comes from more than one source. To obviate 

 this difficulty, architects and engineers, in making mechanical draw- 



