DRAWING. 



The materials for drawing are, black- 

 lead cut into long pieces, and inclosed in 

 red cedar; the greatest care should be 

 taken in the choicest' black-lead pencils, 

 as the inferior are nothing more than frag- 

 ments of tliis mineral united by glue, 

 which cannot be brought to a point by a 

 knife, or made to produce a line for a 

 minute together ; on the contrary, the ge- 

 nuine black-lead cuts with ease, and yet 

 has so much solidity, that considerable 

 pressure will not break a taper point. 



Indian-rubber, which is used for cleans- 

 ing oft' erroneous lines made by the black- 

 lead pencil ; this singular substance, im- 

 ported principally from South America in 

 the shape of small bottles, and the East In- 

 dies in other forms, is composed of the 

 gum of a tree, which in hardening be- 

 comes elastic, and possesses a strong ad- 

 hesive property, extremely useful for re- 

 moving dirt from drawings and prints. 



Indian-ink is another valuable material, 

 brought from China, where the secret of 

 making it still remains ; the real import- 

 ed ink bears certain Chinese characters, 

 breaks smooth and shining, is not gritty, 

 and when used appears of a clear brown- 

 ish black. The English imitation may be 

 known by the harshness of its component 

 parts. 



Hair-pencils. The Chinese who use 

 the Indian-ink for writing, with a brush, 

 make them very excellent for drawing, 

 with white hair drawn through a ree,d; 

 but those are difficult to procure, and 

 camel's hair inserted in various sized 

 quills are substituted, which are tried by 

 slightly wetting them ; if they form a 

 point without separating, they are fit for 

 use. 



Chalks. It is common to sketch the 

 outlines of figures with charcoal made 

 from the willow, previous to the use of 

 the chalk, as whatever errors may be 

 committed with this material are easily 

 effaced by the feathers from the wing of 

 a duck or goose. 



White chalk, for drawing, is harder 

 than the common chalk, and pipe clay 

 will make a good substitute. 



Black chalk, is a hard fossil substance, 

 cut into the shape of slate pencils, and 

 used in steel or brass port-crayons, and 

 with the white is constantly preferred in 

 the model room of the Royal Academy, 

 the professors of which consider it the 

 best material for drawing from plaster 

 figures or the life ; red chalk is but little 

 used at present. The French chalk is 

 $ofter than the Italian. 



Stumps made of soft leather, or paper 



rolled into cylinders, and pointed, are 

 necessary for blending the lights and 

 shades. 



Thus prepared, the student must con- 

 fine himself to the copying of single sub- 

 jects, and by no means attempt groupes 

 of objects, as the eye, more rapid than 

 thought, will wander over them, and 

 confound his ideas, not yet taught the 

 faculty of discrimination ; to attain this 

 faculty, it is absolutely necessary to ad- 

 vance progressively, commencing with 

 the geometrical figures of arches, cir- 

 cles, ovals, cones, cylinders, and squares, 

 which, except the latter, have an evident 

 resemblance to many of the forms of na- 

 ture, and accurately attain the shading 

 which produces their rotundity, convexi- 

 ty, angles, and most remote parts from 

 the eye. Grapes detached from, or ad- 

 hering in clusters to the stalk, and many 

 other fruits with their leaves, furnish ex- 

 cellent hints for the acquiring of graceful 

 turns, and the art of placing justly, strong, 

 direct, and reflected lights. Those re- 

 quire no rules or directions whatever, 

 even in the colouring, as the tints may 

 be composed from the originals. Trees 

 should also be drawn singly, carefully ob- 

 serving the nature of the bark, the cha- 

 racteristics of the trunk, the particular 

 ramifications of the branches, the form 

 of the leaves, and their appearance in 

 the aggregate, so that an observer shall, 

 upon the first inspection of the drawing, 

 pronounce whether it is an oak, an elm, 

 an ash, or a poplar. 



Animals may be the next object of the 

 learner's attention, a .knowledge of the 

 forms of which will be best obtained by 

 examining the most approved drawings 

 and prints, copying them and comparing 

 them with living subjects, carefully avoid- 

 ing in future such errors as may be dis- 

 covered; he may then proceed to the 

 human figure, commencing his labours 

 with drawing the eye, mouth, nose, feet, 

 hands, &c. separately, till he is perfect, 

 when the whole figure may be attempt- 

 ed. The copying of inanimate substances 

 requires but few directions, as they lay 

 fixed, and may be placed in any position; 

 but it is far otherwise ui drawing from 

 animals or man, for which reason an ac- 

 curate knowledge of the true shape of 

 the bones, the disposition of the mus- 

 cles, and the exact relative proportions 

 of the different parts of the body, must 

 absolutely be acquired ; nor is this all 

 that is necessary; motion continually va- 

 rying the appearance of the muscles, the 

 student must learn from living subjects 



